Archive for the ‘Grow your business’ Category

Craft business tip — BYO booth power

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

I found a powerful idea at Rena Klingenberg’s Jewelry Display Ideas blog:  Ever had a booth that was too far from electricity when you exhibited at craft fairs? Bring your own power, for lights & credit-card processing!

How to BYO?  Virginia Vivier’s article there has two great suggestions, with solid details given:

Portable battery

Portable battery

  • Battery power
  1. Rechargeable 12-volt battery setup — powers the whole booth!
  2. Laptop credit-card processing — use freely downloaded software
  3. Cellphone credit-card processing — get a wireless merchant account

Flexible solar clip light

Flexible solar clip light

  • Solar power
  1. Rechargeable clip lights — LED technology makes these efficient and long-lasting
  2. Solar cellphone charger — self-explanatory

Images here are from Vivier’s excellent article!

How to market your crafts book

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

No general guidance here — just a tip of the hat to someone for a great idea she had!

We received a package of really attractive bookmarks from our blog partner Lisa Crone:

We loved these cute bookmarks :)

We loved these cute bookmarks :)

She combines stylish design, plus her ongoing theme (at least for me, “A Bead A Day” is suggested by the single bead here), plus a quick plug for her upcoming book, “A Bead in Time”.

Lisa made this promo short, sweet enough to make people want to keep it around, useful, and unique.  I’d call this example a great craft business tip!

Start conversations…about your craft jewelry

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

From a thread of conversation over at Twitter.  Thanks, tweeter friends!

Craft business tip (1):  Always carry your business cards with you.

Craft business tip (2):  Wear your craft jewelry wherever you go.

Craft business tip (1+2=3):  Wear your jewelry and hand out your business cards.  It’s amazing how many people have told me about someone approaching them asking “Where did you get that great jewelry? Oh my gosh, you made it??”  The next step from there is obvious: snag a new customer.

Craft business tip (3+1=4):  Make a t-shirt that artfully invites, “Ask me about my jewelry!”  How about a button too?

Ask me about my etsy store

Ask me about my etsy store!

It works.

Share a story about “conversation starters” that led to sales–leave a comment!

Craft business tip: win a contest

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Sometimes the craft business tips I share come from a lot of people’s hard work & experience…

Today I want to talk about the few, the proud, the lucky winners.  And what winning can do for your business.

It's not a gift certificate, but you can cash in on it! (Image from Zoya Gutina's blog)

It's not a gift certificate, but you can cash in on it! (Image from Zoya Gutina's blog)

Earlier today I noticed someone’s item on Etsy that was already familiar to me.*  Know why?  Because it had been one of the really great, and memorable, winners in a Rings & Things design contest.  It’s been awarded other prizes too, so we’re talking about a proven, multiple winner.  I knew all that already.

The remarkable thing to me today, though, was the price on this item.  I’ll just estimate that it’s now going for five times what it would otherwise sell for.  As a jewelry artisan, you know that your creations are legitimately worth money.  Entering them into competitions and being independently judged as high-quality jewelry backs up that claim.

I’m very proud of the jewelry artist whose winning creation I’m talking about.  Assuming you’re going to sell that superb jewelry item that you made, it’s wise to set its price to reflect your reputation.  Good move!

We all know you can’t sell every one of your items at a high price.  But it says a lot about your status as a serious jewelry artisan, if you have some “high-end” items.

Think about what designs you can come up with, create, and enter into design contests.  Besides the prizes available in these contests, and the sheer glory of winning, you may find yourself recouping your investment of materials and labor many times over.

And that can grow your business!

* I’ve kept the artist’s name and the title of the piece anonymous.  They’re tangential to my point!

Have your sales benefited after you’ve won a design contest?  Share your story in a comment!

May giveaway:
* You enter by leaving comments this month
* At the end of May, 2 winners will receive coveted Rings & Things goodie packs!
*
So read the blog regularly, to enter a lot & to see if you won!