Dramatique Designs Featured Shop July 2, 2010

I am excited to announce the premiere of the weekly and bi-weekly features on my favorite shops here on Etsy.

DramatiqueDesigns has graciously agreed to be first. We'll be finding out about more than just what she sells but also, about who she is, how she made the decision to open her shop on Etsy, what she'd like us to know about what goes on behind the shop, and where she hopes her path will lead.

The features will include not just the people and the art, but ideas on marketing, if they've advertised, where, and how it worked out (I'm currently doing Facebook Ads), tips for handling shows, how to handle the various joys of dealing with customers both the good and the ones that teach us new things about managing our businesses. A recent topic that seems to keep coming up, how to calculate international shipping and if that's where you want your shop to go. Different questions for different shops, and the unique people behind them. From the 1st to the 1000th sale, and the journey in between.

I will also be posting a master list of shops that will be featured in the future, and shops that have already been featured. There is nothing more frustrating than finding out about a great shop, and then not being able to find it again. Or reading some great advice and information, then not being able to go back and reference it.

There is a very long list of shops that have already signed on to be featured, so to try to get thru some of those during the summer show season, I'll be having bi-weekly features, and will announce when the change from a weekly feature, to a bi-weekly feature will happen in the coming weeks.

Please check in and read about the shops that are the same teams you're on, in the same forums, clubs, and just shops you've come across. It's a great way to support each other, and you never know who will share that little piece of information that helps drive traffic to your shop and increase sales.

I can thank Kat of H2OWorks, for introducing me to my very first group, the ParadiseBnR forum, and that has resulted in an increase in sales for us and turned things around from Etsy being a chore to be done, into something that is actually growing our business and something we enjoy. It's one of the reasons I wanted to start doing features, because we all have knowledge, but no central place to share it.

So welcome, I hope you meet some new friends, find some great new shops, and find out some things that will help lead your shop to become what you want it to be, whether it's from a part-time income, to a full-time job and eventually into a growing business adding employees of your own, or keeping it just the size it is now but generating greater income.

We all started in different places, with different ideas, and our paths have all led us here together in one place. I am trying to share the how, why, who, when, and so much more.

 

Blog on my Chance

So, I just wanted to say thank you to Patty at CatCalls.Etsy.Com (http://artandsewforth.blogspot.com/) for featuring my tiny cat Chance on her blog. I am so honored. Chance's story is about love,
strength and survival. It made me cry and I know her story from the day she was born to today.

The fundraising drive for HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society is slowly but surely raising
money. A portion of every purchase from my shop, http://www.circleanaturals.etsy.com/, without exception, is being donated until the 4th of July.

I will also be starting a weekly feature about different stores, who operates them, they're goals, ideas behind what they sell. I want it to be more than just what they sell, but who they are, what inspires them, why they sell what they do.

As a stop owner, of course I want to make a profit, but it's so much more than what I sell. It's our hopes for the future, part of what keeps us up at night, part of what inspires us. I want the stories to be a story
of the people behind the store, and then what they sell, not about the merchandise, and then the people.
I hope that whoever reads these stories, knows so much more at the end,
then what is for sale.
Take care.

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So, I just wanted to say thank you to Patty at CatCalls.Etsy.Com for featuring my

tiny cat Chance on her blog.  I am so honored. Chance's story is about love,

strength and survival. It made me cry and I know her story from the day she was born to today.

The fundraising drive for HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society is slowly but surely raising

money.

A portion of every purchase from my shop, http://www.circleanaturals.etsy.com/, without exception, is being donated until the 4th of July.

I will also be starting a weekly feature about different stores, who operates them, they're goals,

ideas behind what they sell. I want it to be more than just what they sell, but

who they are, what inspires them, why they sell what they do.

As a stop owner, of course I want to make a profit, but

it's so much more than what I sell. It's our hopes for

the future, part of what keeps us up at night,

part of what inspires us. I want the stories to be a story

of the people behind the store, and then what they sell,

not about the merchandise, and then the people.

I hope that whoever reads these stories, knows so much more at the end,

then what is for sale.

Take care.

Follow this blog

I am really excited about a new little friend my tiny cat Chance just got from a lovely shop on Etsy called CatCalls. This wonderful cat lover not only makes the cutest handmade cat pillows, but a pillow for humans has become my cat's best friend.
Since my 11 year old tiny cat lost her best friend Pretty to old age, she's been so lonely. Chance and Pretty were joined at the hip, and because of that, Chance didn't develope whatever goes for kitty manners. She really doesn't like any other cat period, including her own sister (same litter).
So anyway, I ordered this little cat pillow hoping it would keep Chance company in her bed at night, so she wouldn't be so lonely, and I was so happy I cried when she actually decided she liked her new friend, Gus the cat pillow. She curls around him at night, and is actually getting territorial. I imagine the days I have to sneak it away to wash him will be tense. Chance might not be really bright, probably from being premature, but she can hold a grudge for a week or more.
Nothing makes me happier, than making those around me happy. Especially our animals, as they have no voice in decisions being made. Though my husbands horse, Laddie, has been known to get really verbal when he has something to say, and our cattle can rattle the windows if you're half an hour late doing chores.
Hard to imagine some people view animals as nothing but possessions. They should come live here for a week. They'd leave with a new perspective on whether animals have emotions and can get their feelings hurt. I have a steer, that won't eat until he's addressed by name and his own flake of hay is tossed at him. I have worked with humans that have shown less emotion:)
Well, I'm off to bed, it's storming out, I have orders to mail (thank God) later, so I can't sleep in. I pray that my campaign to raise money for HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society, by donating a portion of every sale in my shop, from now until the 4th of July, actually raises some decent money. There's so much need. If all the people that can't start their day, without their $3-$4 cup of coffee, would for just one day, donate that money, there would be a lot less suffering. All for the price of a cup of coffee. It seems so simple to me.
I actually have relatives that think if you help people, you make them lazy and dependant. I pray for them. They've been helped along the way from other family members, and that point seems to completely escape them. Or that not everyone has a large family that can help. There are a lot of people, on their own, with no safety net, and people like some of my relatives, that would watch a person starve, before giving up a single cup of coffee. Like I said, I pray for them. I know I would not want to explain how a cup of coffee, trumped a human life when it's my turn to face judgement. Even if you don't believe in an afterlife, I think everyone would agree, if nothing else, it's just sickeningly selfish and short minded.

My thought for today, is my favorite thing to say to myself, when I'm getting overwhelmed, or really angry, the 23rd Psalm (which, though known as the 23rd Psalm, is actually the 23rd thru the 26th). The Lord is my shepard, I shall not want.......
Night all.

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HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society

So, I've decided until Independence Day, July 4th, a donation will be made to HelpTheGulfCoast and The Humane Society for every sale I make in my shop. The more I watch the news about the oil disaster, the more helpless I feel. So, I'm trying. I've donated the entire purchase price of sterling silver items from my shop and can't continue to operate for free, but can't sit back and do nothing, and still feel like a human being, so what I can do, is stick with one of the motto's I live by, share what I have, when I can. I can live with a little less, to give to those, that are loosing everything. We are so careful at home to farm organically, raise our small herd of beef cattle with dignity, respect, and in a humane manner, and then the gulf oil spill happened. It literally made me want to sit down and cry. It made me feel like all the hard work, extra cost, and commitment to honoring all living things, including mother earth, were flushed down the toilet, because of a multibillion dollar corporation trying to save less than $130,000 in safety measures. In our entire lifetime, we can never personally offset even a tiny amount of the ever mounting damage. I could give away all the organic and natural body products I could ever make, all the jewelry, and it wouldn't be a drop in the bucket. It makes me mad, and sick to my stomache, and frustrated by how little I can do. All I could tell myself is, try to give as much help as we can, do all the right things, and pray. Pray hard. If enough people make a commitment, and pass it down to future generations, maybe at some point, this will be just a terrible chapter in America's history. Though how many generations that will take, I don't know. I hate hawking my shop, but the more people buy, the more it will help. I don't want to make a donation for a hundred dollars, I pray I sell enough to make a donation for hundreds, with a dream goal of $1000. We can't short our shop anymore, so the best we can do, is help with the shop. And Pray, and Pray and Pray.

Chance and Advertising

I am very honored this week to have my cat Chance, and myself being the subject of a big bloggers interview. I love my tiny cat, and she's getting to be an old lady so I don't know how much longer she'll be with me. For the interview, I've been chasing Chance around like an idiot, trying to get a few good pictures of her. She'll play and be so charming, until I need her to, then she looks at me with distain, and walks away. I'm excited about the sales I've been making. A fellow Etsy shop, that has a line of jewerly called 'Gems of my Heart' has become a repeat customer. The line of jewelry is so pretty, I actually did a treasury with the theme built around that line. With a wide variety of customized pieces at super affordable prices, they make great gifts, and the owner is a joy to have as a customer. One of my favorite people on Etsy, aside from doing my thank you cards, sent out with each order, designed the Ad I'll have in Craftopolis, and helped with the ad I currently have running on Facebook. Kat at H2OWorks is a talented graphic artist, and I was very lucky to have found her. I've already placed about a dozen orders with her (a good sign, because the need for thank you cards means, I'm mailing orders and putting thank you cards in them:) and she always has done such a good job, I'm glad she does the ads for advertising campaigns, or I don't know who I would have used. She has a wealth of information she willing shares about where to advertise, aside from also doing the ads. I'm a wreck hoping the money I'm spending on facebook will pay off. How long does it take to start seeing results? How much will it cost me? Where are my ads being displayed? I've read up, and I still don't understand their system of placing ads, so I decided to just jump in and test the water, if it gets too pricy without showing results, I'll stop. Everybody seems to be on facebook and out of thousands of people a day seeing my ad, I pray at least some will follow up and place orders. Time will tell. I'm off now and will update you on how my facebook ad is going in my next posting. Todays thought is an old one, but a good one: Every journey starts with a single step. I'll never know how the ads will do, if I never place them.

If I Reach Out, Will You Grab My Hand

I have a family member who is an excellent and popular blogger. They recently said they'd let me put up an ad for my store on their site. Now they've dropped off the map. If you didn't want to grab my hand, when I reached out, why didn't you just take a pass? I am a hand grabber. If I can help I do. If I have time and no money, I will give you my time. Looking for a donation, I'm there. I look at things, and think, do I still need that, or can somebody else use it? I have a lot of stuff that I am letting go of. Material possessions, not personal baggage. Personal baggage stays with you no matter where you live. I have no idea how I got so much stuff? Now, it just feels like a weight on my shoulders. Clutter actually makes it hard for me to think. Plus, at what point, did I go from having things I loved, to just having a lot of things? I need to make some soap. The pace relaxes me, and I feel like I've accomplished something when I'm done. I also need a nap and a hug. My thought for the day-Why do people buy poor quality crap at big stores, then spend $4 dollars on a cup of coffee, then try to get a discount at my store, when I'm already priced very competitively? Did you ask for a discount when you spent $4 dollars on that cup of coffee? What kind of person are you, that it even entered your mind, to sip that cup of coffee in front of me, while asking for a price that will be below my cost? What do you find valuable?

A Rainy Tuesday in June and a Crazy Customer

So, just like the title says, it's a rainy Tuesday in June. Normally I wouldn't mind that much, but it's been raining a lot. There never seems to be any balance. It's either flooding or drought. I'm tired of gray, and the lawn looks like hell. The oil spill is troubling me. The damage could go on for so many years, and there's no way to hurry anything up, or even know how much damage has already been done. I can't believe that there was no safety shut off, or emergency plan. It's also very sad, that with all the oil spill drama, the 11 workers that lost their lives have hardly been mentioned. I pray for their families. The store. Comments on this would be appreciated. We currently have a customer that emails at all times of the day and night, about orders she didn't place with us, is confused about what she did order from us, and keeps trying to pay me again and again, and is upset I won't send her another invoice. I can just see how easy it would be for other people to take advantage of her, but I'm helpless to do anything, but keep sending her notes about what she ordered and when, and that's it's paid for. The majority of her messages don't make any sense at all, and I really don't know what to do about those. I think she needs some sort of help, but I don't have anybody I could reach out to. She said she doesn't have any close family or friends. It 's bugging me. Last thing today, and then I'm off to bed. I've decided to try to come up with a phrase that has meaning, at least 5 days a week. I am honest enough with myself to know that I'll get it done 7 days a week. Today: Karma remembers the compassion shown to others. Night all.