Store Rants

I’m related to many entrepreneurs. At least six of them run their own business… quite successfully, too. Most of them don’t do a lot of marketing. This majority has zero graphic design, PR or marketing experience… but they make up for it in excellent customer service, word of mouth and the fact that they’ve been around for dozens of years.

I think I’m somewhere in the middle. I have some PR and graphic design experience, but don’t have the time to make a campaign out of it. So, I relied heavily on word of mouth for my brick and mortar. And this was based on the fact that I had good prices, was unique in my area and I offered great customer service. I’m hoping that, moving forward, I can either hire someone to do my PR and marketing, or set aside time to really work on it and do more research. And now with twitter, blogging etc… it may be easier to reach more people, but it’s very time consuming to promote your business, especially since you have to be consistent and come up with new ideas, compete with thousands of other blogs and tweets and constantly find new ways to keep your audience interested! It’s part giveaways, tips, gorgeous pictures, rants and maybe for some… it’s boobs.

There are a few younger entrepreneurs in the family who… have relied on creative or extreme marketing and stretching the truth to get ahead. I don’t know how I feel about this.

One young relative markets and promotes Las Vegas parties with hot chicks, sex phone chat line things with hot chicks and iphone apps with hot chicks. He does this by plastering pictures of himself on a boat, in a limo or in a club with a dozen hot chicks, tons of booze and… boobs… did I mention that there are a TON of boobs involved? It’s not classy, but maybe it’s totally honest? Boobs… are honest (?). Oh, and you will never ever EVER see him in a photo with someone who isn’t totally HOT. It’s all hot, all the time. But… I still think it’s borderline asshole marketing since he’s one steel drum away from that Girls Gone Wild jerk. (Or I’m bitter that I’m not naked on a boat somewhere getting Cristal poured all over me, too… whatever). So… to recap… “Being surrounded by Boob” marketing. It sells… but has a twist of shame involved. I still don’t know HOW he makes enough money to own three homes and a few boats. The family swears up and down it’s not full out pornography… but I still don’t know WHAT he does specifically. Is this good self-promotion or… not? (Sidenote… when I see him on the boat with 15 big-breasted chicks, all I can think is… perfect flotation devices if the ship goes down… grab onto the chicks! Obviously, I’m not a teenage boy.)

One relative narrowly missed going to jail due to some incorrect labeling on some items that were supposed to get safety approval. Barely barely got away with it. I still don’t know if there were total and complete lies involved… but the whole thing was shady. That business was shut down, but a spin-off business doing almost the exact same thing came out of it. Benefit of the doubt here. Same relative has mentioned the fact that another person in this circle has lied on the books to make a business look more lucrative than it really is so they could sell it at a higher profit. I’m not very close to this person or the person they are speaking of… but the business practices here make me really want to distance myself. Full on lies, here.

One other relative markets herself… with lies. Lied on her resume, lied in interviews, lied on the radio, giggled and lied,… lied lied lied. Name drop LIES. Career LIES. She’s gotten great jobs and lots of positive attention from it. It makes me feel dirty. Fake boobs, fake resume and LIES. (Again, maybe I’m bitter with the boat and Cristal thing… I dunno). What happens if someone actually fact checks some of this?!? Perhaps… I need to focus on my own stuff… but I’m rolling my eyes as I do.

So… here I am… with an honest business sans multiple pairs of silicon boobs… could I lie to self promote? Could I shamelessly plug my business and sprinkle in some celebrity names to get ahead? If I knew one lie or a series of lies could put my business on the map… could I do it?

If you have lied about something to propel your business to the next level… did it work? How did you feel about it?

To clarify… I’ve lied at my store before. If someone obnoxiously asks me in a sad “did-your-dog-die” voice with big eyes, painfully stretched out mouth and teeth clenched (you know the face)… “How is your business doing?” I lie. I tell them that it’s fantastic, better than ever, we’ll be here forever. Why? Because it’s none of their business. I didn’t have to lie on the good months, but during the bad ones… they didn’t need to know. So yes, I have lied. But for the right reasons (I think). But I would not have lied about a product or if a celebrity loved said product.

And another thing to ponder… if you are self promoting to market your business, is this a great idea? Entrepreneurial gurus like Gary Vaynerchuk turned selling wine into being a small business god by self promoting and became an “internet celebrity” because of it. (Thank you, wikipedia). I knew about him because he talked about business first… only later did I find out that he was a wine expert. It was a bit confusing.

Martha Stewart self promotes and promotes a perfect home… and she just happens to sell the tools to do so. Her strategy has worked out brilliantly. But that’s not the route I want to take.

I often wonder if my blog readers want to hear about arts and crafts, or hear about me and my retail store journey? I normally got more hits and comments on my blog, on average, on a rant about owning a store over me talking about some new bird houses I got in or how to organize your closet. They wanted to hear about the ups and downs of business. But, do I want to write books on running and owning a store? I dunno. It’s not my passion (although I sort of love bitching about it). So… why would I blog about my experiences and not just market my product?? How much do I reveal to my customers… how much do they really want to know about ME and my experiences?? What would actually translate into profit?

I’ve gone to many other artists’ blogs and noticed that they will blog about other artists. Does this work? Sending your readers to a competitor… doesn’t sound smart??

Because my new business is MY art… should I promote myself or my work or both? How much of it is ME and how much is the product? How much of it is just over-exaggerating the truth (i.e… “We’ve sold THOUSANDS of these… but not really“), how much is just being a shameless, self-promoting, ego-maniac and how much of it necessary to grow your business. Argh.

So, I need to find a balance. Mix a bit of me, mostly art and add in a few other stories along the way. I need to ignore the entrepreneurs I’m surrounded by and find my own way… unless I want to use boobs. I know where to get lots of those… cheap.

So… it’s July and I’m only 75% done with the designs for my card line.

On Memorial weekend, my husband (and I) decided that a change of scenery was in order because one of us was going crazy not being close to, uh hem, his friends and old stomping grounds. So, we drove to our home town and stayed there for 2 months.

He can work (and gets a steady paycheck) from any location with an internet connection.

I, on the other hand… did not have my computer or scanner or any way to do layouts. I also didn’t have my huge amount of inventory and so I had to close my online shops while we were gone… not making a dime for two months, but incurred merchant fees… which is just super.

I did have paint… but I didn’t get much done because I didn’t have all my normal supplies or place to paint.

I am *so* angry about this. (Mostly at myself).

Because my business doesn’t make as much as his “career”, it was assumed that I could close shop, stop production, stop all marketing and let everything come to a screeching halt as long as his paycheck was coming in. There isn’t a lot of respect for my business… but I think it’s because he has no idea what I do and little idea of how much I make. It’s not nearly as much as him at this point… But, I do contribute to the household (Although one year at my brick and mortar, I netted quite a bit more than he does in a year… so… neener neener).

Yes, I could have put my foot down, YES I could have stayed here. Looking back, I should have done both. Looking back even further I should have done a lot more things to keep my brick and mortar afloat. BUT… I learned something here. And you should, too.

Business before all else (except the kids and health things… I suppose). If you work from home or have an online business at home, you’ll need to defend it, protect it, nurture it and move it along EVERY DAY. I’m guilty of neglect… and I’m working to change that. But… I’m even more guilty of putting the needs of others before my business. You, my friend… DO NOT let this happen.

I think I’ve said this a million times… I let my people pleasing RUIN my business. I gave unwarranted discounts and listened to hundreds of hours of my customers’ problems and pleased people who were assholes to me and/or didn’t buy a whole lot. It hurt my business. I should have set rules and grown a stronger backbone to deal with these situations. Maybe that’s my lesson in life… to stop the people pleasing and do what’s fair and right for me and my business. Bah. Lame.

So… why does a home based business suck? You have to defend it and defend your time with it. You’ll have to defend your lack of days off and maybe why you didn’t get the laundry done that day. You can’t blame your boss or say “I was stuck at work”… because people will never believe you because they think you can leave whenever you want. Seriously, I’ve been there. YOU are the voice of your business… and you’ll have to have a loud and strong voice. And a strong inner voice, too. I felt guilty ALL THE TIME for missing Thanksgiving dinners, family get-togethers and sleeping through brunch with my friends because it was my only day off. I hurt my business to keep everyone else happy… and… frankly, I got lazy. I’d rather hurt me and my business then have to argue, explain, rationalize and fight with friends and loved ones. I was told that I was selfish for working too much… and I totally believed it.

Back to my domestic drama… So, on top of the change of scenery, my husband has decided he wants to move. I’m not on board. And I’m sort of angry about this, too.

In order to get our finances in order… there is talk of me finding a full time desk job to save up money for said move. I’m also supposed to paint our house back to a white box, list said house, sell all my current inventory to clear out room (so that I don’t have to move it) and put my card line on hold, or do it in the evenings.

So… to recap… I closed my brick and mortar store because my husband was nudging and pushing for us to move here. He wrote an ESSAY to why we should move, citing that the state we were leaving was going bankrupt, it was dirty and icky, the new state was 100 times awesomer and everyone would get a pony. We bought a house that I LOVE in this new state. Now that we’ve been here a few years, he wants to move back and start over in said bankrupt state.

In other words… I have to give up my house with the white picket fence and my damn pony and star in my own hell version of Nine to Five or Office Space so he can get what he wants.

I’m more than angry… I’m sort of pissed.

On one hand… I get that he wants to move back, possibly pursue his new shiny dream career in show business and enjoy his midlife crisis to its full extent. On the other hand, I changed my entire life to move here and support my husband, who still has a great career that is stable and pays well but is now “boring… and stupid”.

It took me 2 years and a dozen hours of therapy to be okay with this new area. Now he gets a hair up his ass and thinks everything is going to change.

So, that’s that. And I have no idea what I’m going to do. All I know is that I’m angry and making art is the last thing I feel like doing.

I guess I can do some mundane photoshop work… not creative, but needs to be done. That and tune up my resume.

There are more rants coming… this week is gonna be full of them!

So, this is taking a lot longer than I thought.

Of course I’ve been changing and rearranging my designs. Agonizing over color choices, layouts etc. It’s irritating, really.

Sprinkled in-between my creative bursts and moments of high productivity, I’ve worked on other things, organized my office, cleaned the house and found other things to aid in my procrastination. And while painting, my mind wanders to other inwardly-focused (aka self involved) issues like my childhood, how much I despise my father, etc. Not something I want to shine through in my art! (unless I want to start a line of dysfunctional cards… telling off your family, absentee parent, drunk uncle etc. The world needs an anti-Hallmark I tell you! I’m already producing the anti-Hallmark commercials in my head to counteract the estrogen-infused guilt-ridden Hallmark commercials of yesteryear. You know exactly what I’m talking about).

Then I’ll flip through a magazine and see other art and drown my sorrows in a venti latte and some cookie dough… convincing myself that my line of cards isn’t “good enough”, inventive enough etc. “How can I compete, I’m just one person!”

And other nonsense.

So… once I take off my highly self critical artist hat, I need to put on my marketing hat. How do I promote my line and stand out from other vendors? What, besides my incredible OCD and use of color, will help me stand out from the rest?

Road block… I will get past ye.

So, I spent this week doing a little bit of procrastinating, started another fire in my domestic life that I had to put out (lame) and did some design work on my new line.

I spend my mornings finding busywork to do, I’m not sure why. It’s like… even though I *love* to do art, I don’t wanna. I’m not sure what my problem is.

So, out of the 30 cards I want to do, I’ve completed nearly one and have the layout of 4 all set up. That’s it.

I cranked out designs in art school and I worked circles around myself at the shop… so this is annoying. I keep finding other things to obsess on like envelope prices and colors, suppliers, and ordering things that I don’t need right now. And ebay… obsessing on my inventory on ebay (which frankly, might be a waste of time at this point).

Oh, and I’ve spent countless hours checking out the competition for pricing structure and overall branding. aka… should I try to be more high end and sell less cards at a higher price or just crank them out at a buck or two each. Branding branding branding. For about a dozen years my “brand” is handmade, not stuffy, a smidge of elegant but mostly quirky, whimsical (I hate the overuse of this word) and never ever “perfect”.

And have I mentioned that I am my own marketing team and PR department? I don’t have time to work on an image/persona/edge. Maybe that’s phase 2.

So… I think right now my biggest hurdle is myself. It’s like… every layout I put together looks “good”, but it’s not “great” (to me). And once I commit to them and have a catalog printed… there they shall stay, forever. (but not really).

So… I need to spend today convincing myself that my line will change, that I won’t have to commit to any one design forever. To stop being so hypercritical and just trust that I know what I’m doing. Ugh.

Evolve. Start small, best foot forward (without tripping yourself or paralyzing yourself in fear) and just… evolve.

Thanks for the pep talk, self… (artists, geesh!)

The last few days I’ve been researching other stationery suppliers, designer cards and handmade cards.

I’m still not 100% sure exactly how much of my product will be strictly “mass produced” by my printer then packaged and how much will be handmade and adorned by me and my future workers.

Do I do a set with a box, or sans box? Do I package them individually in cellophane bags or put a group of a few in a bag? I think the answer is “yes” to all of the above… just have a few different types of cards and card sets (boxed blank sets, elaborate onesies etc). But exactly what these sets will be or look like is still sort of up in the air.

I’m still doing research on how much consumers will pay for a greeting card, too. These days so many cards play licensed songs, record your own message or have elaborate pop-ups, die-cuts and glitter. These cards are $3-7. I’m sure there is a greeting card guild out there somewhere… next on my homework list is to find them, and perhaps find the paper/stationery industry mart or show. I know it exists, I’ve seen others blog about it. Mind you, I don’t plan on becoming a major distributor in the next few years, but it’s good to know where I could be heading and what I should shoot for.

I may already have a rep in a showroom in Los Angeles, so that may be a route to sell my line, too. But, this rep will take 10-15% of my sales, so I think I’m going to try my hand at not having a rep until my overhead shrinks and I’m buying my raw materials in bigger bulk. The more I buy and order, the more I save and therefore have more wiggle room for that profit margin. Also, if I got an order for 1000 cards tomorrow, I would have no way of handling it. So, starting small… working my way up. Baby steps.

Also, last night I did a bunch of painting. Mostly little colorful birds, but my designs are starting to gel… and it’s really exciting.

So, back to photoshop, layouts and painting… hopefully I’ll have at least a set done by Monday. Fingers crossed.

sidenote… the most recent distraction has been ebay’s new fee structure for Spring 2011. A fee increase is expected with ebay every year or so, but… this time… I think they are going to lose a lot of sellers. They are now taking a percentage (8-20%) of your shipping fee, although they claim that overall your fees will go down a wee bit. I know this is to encourage sellers to lower their shipping prices, or get as close to zero as possible, but… charging a % of shipping… who is this really going to benefit?? Everyone is going to raise their prices by 10%+ and the buyers will end up paying for it and only ebay will be making more money. It’s really frustrating. Especially because ebay has been so sneaky about it by hiding it first behind star ratings, and now flat out forcing many to hide shipping costs inside the item cost. Hopefully, everyone’s prices will go up proportionately and we’ll all be on a level playing field… but it’s annoying. Especially when you are a seller with 600+ listings to edit :/ So, just understanding the new structure is hard enough… now I need to figure out how to change all my listings so that they make sense and keep my buyers happy. Oh, and my ebay sales have been completely stale over the last month, too… so… perhaps the buyers are leaving the ‘bay, too. So, to stay with ebay or not… another question I need to tackle!

So, the last few years have been filled with soul searching, celebrating then mourning the loss of my dear sweet store, finding myself (at the bad end of 40 more lbs) and trying to figure out…. what the hell is next?

I have a background in art, a degree in film and have a few retail jobs and one TV studio production job on my resume. Eight years of resume real estate is “owing my own retail store”. *I* thought it was an impressive bullet point, but apparently it really isn’t (Unless I want to be the manager of the Gap… and I really don’t). Even merchandising requires a degree.

After emailing my resume, hesitantly NOT sending my resume to crappy desk jobs or odd real estate photography gigs… I have come to this conclusion(s)…
a. I’ve been a lazy lazy and frustrated princess of a job searcher
b. I don’t wanna work for someone else if I can help it.

I *think* I want another store. I’m not 100% sure, but that is what my heart is singing. (Wishy washy and probably completely irresponsible and selfish of me to think this).

My husband has now come to the conclusion that running a little retail store is a money pit, and could never ever be profitable. That it’s a “hobby” left for bored empty-nesters with too much money. (He has also recently announced that he wants to switch careers from his high-demand, well-paying position to one that is more exciting and hard to achieve and in a totally different field… and might require us to make multiple sacrifices including moving… From one dream chaser to another… lay off).

My friend just opened a little shop near the beach (my dream for retirement… well, it was at one point), and he insists that it isn’t going to do well and she’s just wasting his husband’s money.

I’m here to tell you that this is a half-truth.

And it REALLY pissed me off that this is his opinion right now. (Pissed… yet, glad for the apparent challenge I’ve been presented. Perhaps he knows this).

Yes, the economy is in the toilet, but it’s recovering. Yes, the world has been in some upheaval in the last few years, too (But no, the Mayans are not correct… pshaw). Yes, retail isn’t what it used to be, so you have to be clever.

Clever, disciplined and have a well of energy from which to drink.

I know what I did wrong, and I want a second chance to try it again knowing what I know now.

I also want to follow the Ben and Jerry’s business model and start super slow, just like I did back in 1998. (Read this… it was the first thing I read before I embarked on my business journey).

So, I’m going to start over again… (as I’ve mentioned a few other times before, but now I finally think I know what I have to do).

I’m thinking wholesale… in 3 products… then grown slowly. Very slowly.

The first time I started a business, I started with swap meets then craft fairs… a 10 x 10 booth, several times a month, slowly building a customer base and educating myself and what sells in different areas and how to deal with people and how to run a small business. With the internet and my new knowledge of the wholesale industry, I think I’m going to retire the booth setup and droves of wandering kettle corn consumers and approach other business owners instead.

The goal: Start in my 12 x 12 home office, then migrate to a tiny retail space then to a larger retail space. And ONLY migrate when I have the funds to hire people to wear the different hats I used to wear. Lesson one: You only have one head, and it breaks easily when overly taxed for too long (aka… you start making bad, emotionally driven decisions. This CANNOT happen).

I’m going to stick with a “semi” homemade approach and make things that area 1/2 reproduction of my art, and 1/2 hand embellished. I’d eventually like to have my work produced by other people, but made here in the USA. So, start with me only, add a few other artists one by one then add a production team over the course of a year or two.

In my travels, there weren’t a lot of small wholesalers who did what I’m doing… and of those that I ordered from, they were 6-8 weeks backlogged, and they are still around these days, too. I’m hoping that’s a sign that I’m on the right path.

Seeing as we may be making a move so DH can follow his dreams, establishing a portable business is smart, anyway (take that! horrible theoretical desk job at the college and/or hospital!).

My plan is to document this journey here… I know for a fact there are a few of you out there who can learn from my experience…errr…. mistakes. Because I’ve made some doozies that cost me a ton of money, my sanity and my dainty dainty figure

(p.s… don’t get me wrong… if my family was starving, I wouldn’t be taking the time to start a new business. I would take the first job I was offered. I *know* that I’m lucky to have the luxury to start, nurture and grow a business. Very very lucky, indeed!)

“imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”…

Sure.

When I opened my store, there were a few people who were miffed at me.

Two of my old bosses, for starters. They owned gift shops and I worked for them. One for 5 years, one for one year. I learned a few things about running a retail store from them. Namely… balloons are a must on open house days and remove the “Made in China” stickers, if you can.

I also learned a whole lot about what not to do. But 90% of it… I learned on my own through lots of (fun) blood, sweat and tears. (Have I mentioned that owning and running your own cutesy store is HARD???)

I guess I’m very grateful for these two individuals when it comes to how I ran my store. Perhaps I didn’t thank them enough because both of them never stepped foot in my store and when I saw them, they were rude to me. Years of service to them, I succeed out on my own… they stop talking to me. Nice! (Oh, and another thing… I find that this industry is a tad cut-throat and nobody wants to share secrets).

I’m getting to the reason for this post in a minute, I swear.

I’ve had several, if not dozens, of the items I’ve created and sold copied. Blatantly. By people I like, too. I was okay with it.

One woman purchased some of my handmade silver charms (cost me $1200 to make… lost wax casting with a fimo original etc etc) and had them made in CHINA. That stung.

One lady took my LOGO, erased my business name and added her name and marketed it as her own design.

I got over it.

Okay… so the fact that my friend who helped me at the store occasionally is opening her own store in a month… I’m angry, or jealous… or ????

She learned about all my vendors, where to get the best merchandise, where I got my insurance…. almost a decade of research on my part… she gets to benefit from for free. I kind of wish I wouldn’t have included her on so many decisions.

There are other details I won’t go into, but… I feel like an immature baby about this. Every time I get another email asking about my trade secrets, I want to scream.

This entire rant makes me look like an a-hole… lol.

She did send me a lovely note saying that my store gave her purpose and was the only thing that made her happy in a dark part of her life. It made me cry. So, I guess I get it. But… I’m still grumpy about it.

Maybe this is why I’m crazy… once, my Mom accused me that I should give her all the credit for all of my past, current or future successes because I got the talent from her… gene-speaking. I wonder if they could graph out my DNA and I could give her and my father each a percentage based on my income for the year?

Pffft.

Polymer Clay… an epic retrospective journey…

It’s 1993… I’m enjoying a good bottle of strawberry kiwi Snapple and listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Pearl Jam… possibly wearing a flannel… you probably were, too.

I’m fiddling with Fimo, a polymer clay that you can mold and bake. At the time, it was being made into little plain shapes or you could mold several colors together to make “canes”. I tried both. (Please note, all the following images are NOT things I made… all of my creations are looong gone)

The first thing I made… cliche little red and white polka dot mushroom necklaces. My friends think it’s pretty neat. So, I buy a book on the world of Fimo to dive in deeper.
	Two blocks of color turn into several dozen… had to have every color.
Normally with Fimo, you take individual blocks of color and put them together to make large “canes” of one design that you slice. One cane could take you hours and hours to WEEKS of work to make. You then had that one design to work with until you ran out of that cane. So, you would make as many canes as you could and have a library of images to “slice” from.
	You can make simple mosaic pattern canes…

Or get into some really ornate canes… like this dragon here…

So, I’m deeply obsessed with Fimo at this point in 1993-1995. I’m making Fimo canes and slicing them and sticking slices of said canes onto anything that doesn’t move. Frames, light switch plate covers and other assorted home decor things. Mushrooms, stars, moon faces… lots of celestial beings and sunflowers. A local shop sells my things on consignment… I did pretty well with it.

Then, all of a sudden, Fimo beads start emerging covered in psychedelic patterns and icons. It went hand-in-hand with macrame hemp jewelry. It was showing up all over Lalapalooza, head shops and frankly, it was everywhere besides the cute boutiques I sold my items at. So, at that time, Fimo lost it’s fizzle for me.

After my kneading fingers couldn’t knead any longer (I never did get the pasta maker to flatten and roll out the stuff for me) and I was a bit turned off by the new Fimo movement, I started working with Fimo’s softer, lazier cousin, Sculpey. Sculpey became my friend. I started making little sculptures, ornaments, book covers, figures, jewelry and other little things. Sculpey was great because I would roll it out, add shapes, bake it, sand it, then paint and seal it. I used soft pastel colors and I had the flexibility to change designs and add things you just couldn’t do with Fimo. I made tons of rosettes and three dimensional things. It was pretty great!

Sculpey came in a larger box. It was plain white and oh-so-soft compared to Fimo.

Of course the art of Fimo canes reached China and you can find cheaper designs all over the place. In finished beads, pre-made canes that you slice yourself. Apparently (I’ve been out of the loop so long), they even sell canes of different designs for use on acrylic nails. There’s even Chanel Fimo slices available. How about that.

…

I think my favorite Fimo use has been miniatures. Mini food things for jewelry, doll houses, etc. The work here is really impressive!

…

…

I’m not a fan of “serious” grown-up Fimo jewelry. I like the whimsical stuff. But this bracelet and necklace set… is impressive:

Admittedly, I’m completely intimidated by all of the above Fimo work. You have to have some amazing skill, tiny tools, great hands and GREAT vision to accomplish that stuff. But it may be a fun challenge to tackle? Upon further investigation however, the mini food pieces sell for under $10.00, jewelry pieces sell up to $50.00 but… not much over that. That’s a LOT of work for $10.00.

And Sculpey… I found a few fun things made of the stuff (the rest was mostly dragon sculptures):

I haven’t picked up polymer clay in years… until recently. I was asked to participate in an art show and I decided to use Sculpey. It was food-themed, whimsical and a little silly. I did a few sculptures and some jewelry in the theme of the Art Show. It was received well, although only a few pieces sold (and they didn’t sell for very much). There’s this optimistic voice deep down inside me that says… “do mixed-media art sculptures! One-of-a-kind folk art pieces!” But alas… not sure if that’s the direction I want to go in?

So, as far as bringing polymer clay back into my business plan… hmmm. Buy it in bulk and sculpt all day long? I don’t think so. The time spent vs. the money made using the stuff doesn’t seem to pay off. I’ve seen a lot of work done with it that is phenomenal, but… are there buyers for such a thing? I’m not going to put it away completely, but I don’t want to spend 8 hours a day with it either. Perhaps… as a hobby?

Fimo… I love you, but I’m not in love with you.

p.s… cool polymer clay review & idea blog: Craft Gossip

I’ve worked in the retail gift and home decor industry most of my life. I have many years under my belt as a buyer and merchandiser and have a passion for creating beautiful displays. I have also sold my handcrafted “it” for many many years. I followed trends, whims and whatever seemed fun at the time. Jewelry, bath products, furniture, paper products and so much in-between… I could never focus on one thing. The “it” evolved and changed as I did.

With my brick and mortar closed, the economy helping to slam those doors, I took some time to wallow in self-defeat and wonder what went wrong. I have opinions, but I can’t be sure.

We are flooded with things that are made in China and although the prices are excellent, we’re not getting a lot of unique things anymore. What you see at Target is also at Walmart, Home Goods, Big Lots, Macy’s and it’s also in those sweet little retail boutiques that are becoming an endangered species. The lines of “exclusive”, “unique”, “limited edition” and “designer” have been blurred, mass marketed, ripped off and licensed out to death. China can reproduce something in the blink of an eye for a fraction of the cost.

Before I opened my store, I sold in a little portable ten foot by ten foot booth at street fairs… outdoors, under the sun. Dirt, children with sticky fingers… kettle corn and Peruvian flute music abound. I felt like a modern day gypsy. I made the majority of everything under that EZ-up. There was a lot of pride in that, and a whole lot of work, too.

After a year of tortured bliss owning my very own store, I realized… hey… I could BUY more things and sell them for a profit! Handmade is great, but… how am I going to fill this space, all by myself? So… that’s when I got 1000 square feet of “Made in China” merchandise. Most of my customers didn’t seem to notice… or care… why should I? My deep respect for handmade was sort of… squashed. Why pay ten times as much for something that looks almost identical… but it’s made in China? Made by me or made in the USA didn’t matter anymore. At the time, to me, a full store was a happy store. I no longer had to struggle to keep up with my inventory demands or care where it came from. End of story.

All eco-landfill-social-global-economy-buy-american rants aside… why wouldn’t you want to save money? Why wouldn’t you want to have the newer and shinier… and get in some much-needed retail therapy time? As a store owner… why wouldn’t I want to showcase the new gotta-have-its and make my customers happy? It made sense. Everyone was pleased (yet, a wee bit ignorant).

So… now that we’ve maxed out our credit cards and filled our storage bins with SO much stuff… how could we ever go back? Have less things? How do we start respecting the handmade again? Smaller quantities… keep for a lifetime, not a season… supporting our local friends. There is a culture and a movement going on but… I was queen of consumer whore-ism… how do I change my ways? How do I convince my customers to change their ways? How do I not look like a total hippie? I’d like to buy handmade as well as BE that handmade vendor that people want to buy from because I’d rather not be a hypocrite, thank you very much.

So, I’d like to be a better/different consumer. I’d also like to be a better/different supplier/vendor. But I have NO idea where to start. I guess I’ll start with what I sell. I’m liquidating everything I didn’t make myself on ebay and I’m going to start fresh. A new look, a new philosophy. Ugh. I’m completely overwhelmed.

With that all said, I’m on a quest to find a new handmade medium to pursue. Over the course of my life I’ve worked with so many different types of arts, crafts and materials, but I feel like I have not mastered any one thing. So, I’m going to re-visit my crafting history… one medium at a time… and investigate its trends, popularity, appeal, longevity, profit potential and basically educate myself (and you!) and/or convince myself if this is the direction I’d like to go in. I will investigate a new medium every week. Here I go!

This economy sucks.

I’ve been in retail for… oh wow… 18 years. I have to say, this last holiday and everything that followed was the WORST on record (for me, anyway).

I ordered 1/4 of what I normally order for Halloween/Fall/Christmas and I only ordered from 2 of my favorite vendors. I still have 75% of that inventory from one of those vendors (who is usually quite popular, I might add!). It’s so irritating.

On a normal “slower” year I would just throw that on the Bank of America Business Mastercard and throw the inventory in storage for the next year, but wouldn’t-you-know-it, BofA cut my credit last year. As did Citibank… on both of my accounts.

My credit is excellent, I just bought a house… but my credit limits have been cut, every single minimum payment has gone up and my APR’s have doubled.

And now… I’m inventory poor. That’s right, I’m full of santas, jack o’ lanterns and snowman sh*t, but… I can’t pay for it. The vendor is trying to work with me as we speak… but… it’s June. Very very irritating.

This year I sold at craft shows, on my website, via Amazon, ebay and etsy. I’m paying SO much in store fees on Amazon and ebay… ugh.

So, time to restructure my business. When it started in the late 80′s we mostly did handmade items, then we went to brick and mortar retail and furniture… guess it’s time to get back to handmade? I did dozens and dozens of craft shows every year for almost a decade. Lugging my stuff around in rubbermaid containers from the mountains to the coast to the Masonic Temples on the edge of town. Tagging, putting up and taking down. Wow. Makes me really love the internet* (I’ll revisit this later). In any case, I can use my hands again. But I might need new glasses.

Time to dust off the ol’ glue gun, too.

Jumping back into the world of handmade has been… frustrating. I have experience in SO many mediums, I know my crafting world… but the new world of etsy and those Rock n’ Shops and the Craft Mafias… well, I’m intimidated.

Gorgeous 20 and 30-something moms with their bangs, cat-eyed glasses, handmade smocks and covered in tattoos… I have no idea how to compete.

My usual customer is in her mid to late 40′s or 50′s and loves vintage in a way that her pocketbook can express. These girls that are buying at the “new” craft show want up-cycled, re-cycled, gluten-free, fair-trade, proceeds-given-to-charity, lead-free, baby-proof felted pieces of WONDER for under $15.00. In a perfect world, I would LOVE this idea… but how in the hell will this pay my mortgage?

So… I’m staring into the dawn of a new crafting age. Do I stay-the-course and do what I know, hoping that my 40 and 50-something regulars will find me online (most haven’t heard of etsy), that the 20 and 30-somethings will appreciate AND pay for my offerings… or do I put on the power suit and enter the 9-5 workplace?

I’m a gypsy at heart… I really want to adapt. I’m going to try my hand at evolving… perhaps I’ll start with some gills.