Friday, August 30, 2013

Ramp Up Your Holiday Sales - Week 5

I am pleased to say that I have had more sales this week! YAY!

I have also been increasing my following on Facebook and on my newsletter. More celebrations!!!

Lets see what else.......

Oh I have finished my website! You can purchase directly on the website, which I LOVE! I also opened a new store on Artfire. There are only a few items on the artfire store, but I am adding more daily.  I am trying to put my eggs in different baskets.

Right now I am working on creating a new page on my blog, and I will also put one on my website, for an item of the week! I hope to start this next week.

Other than that I have mainly been doing dayjob/personal stuff this week.



Tuesday, August 27, 2013

New Website

Over the weekend I worked on getting my site up and running. I have tried this before, but fell short when I needed to list my items for sale using Weebly. While Weebly is a good site, and does have a shopping cart set up, it just fell short for me.

So over the weekend I looked long and hard on apps that would allow me to import or even use my Etsy listings on my site. While I could not find any apps to import my store directly into my website, I did find a website builder which uses your Etsy store (or Big Cartel) to build your shop page. Plus it is hooked directly to Etsy's checkout page.

There are some distinct advantages of this:

1. Less Distractions for Customers
Yep, it is true. While on Etsy all it takes is a quick click and there they go, right out of your store. It is sad, but a true fact of Etsy. It is so easy for a customer to stumble out of your store and right into someone else's shopping cart. With this new site, only my work is displayed, so no stumbling into someone else's shop.

2. Better Branding.
On Etsy, the main brand is Etsy. It is everywhere, and my brand is secondary, even in my shop. On my personal page, it is my brand. In fact the only time you are seeing Etsy orange, is when you go to check out.

3. Brand Recognition
Lets face it, when you sell on Etsy ultimately you know your customers will refer other to Etsy to find their latest purchase. It goes something like this:
"Where did you find that amazing bracelet?"
"Oh, I bought it on Etsy"
And off the friend goes to find the same bracelet that you sold. But they get caught up in Etsy and probably never even see your shop.

With my own site, the conversation changes to "I bought it from Eluna Jewelry. She has a great online store at www.elunajewelry.com

Since my new site also incorporates my Etsy store without all the trappings of Etsy, I get the best of both worlds. Etsy takes care of the shopping cart, and order management. Everything is in one place when it comes time to do accounting and inventory. By having this store to send customers to though, they will not wander off into the wild orange Etsy but stay put in my store. Plus they will better remember my brand. And I still get the searches and sales directly from Etsy!

It is the best of both worlds!

Ok so if you are interested in doing this yourself, leave a comment and I will tell you how I did it.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Weekend WrapUp - Monday 8/26/2013

Hope you all had a productive weekend.

Saturday I started out the day trying to finish up my new webpage. I finally found a way to truly incorporate my Etsy store directly into my webpage. And I am so happy about it!

If you would like to take a peek, you can see my new site here:
http://www.elunajewelry.com

For the rest of Saturday I pretty much slept. Not sure why. Just could not keep my eyes open. :(

Sunday was a different story however.

I finally finished the stones I have been working on. Five emeralds and one oolite stone.
I hope to start making jewelry with these very soon!

I also took some new photos on Sunday. One of the things I have been trying to get done was to take photos of my new niobium hoops on my stone back ground so they will match up better in my store.

So here is a peek at those photos, with links to the listings they will be added too.









I also photographed some more jewelry, but that will be listed later.

Hope you all had a good weekend as well.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Ramp Up Your Holiday Sales - Week 4

After a stunning week last week, I have not made any sales this week. :(

But rather than concentrating of the negatives, I would rather highlight those things that I have done to increase my exposure this week!

I applied for two more shows yesterday. I have already heard back from one show that they are full and not currently taking new vendors, but they will keep me on the list. I also followed up with a show that I did not get into wanting to see if I can improve my application for next year.

I sent out two more pitch letters to magazines this week. And I followed up with the magazine from last week

I have gained about 25 new followers on Facebook this week and have had some new retweeters on Twitter as well.

I also created and sent out a new newsletter to my email list. This month's topic: Five reasons why you should begin your holiday shopping now.  Plus a coupon if they want to buy from me now, it expires on the 15th of September, so it is time limited.

I am making great strides in getting my name and brand out there. I still have a lot more work to do however.

My biggest obstacle is myself. I need to re-teach my brain to let go of the worry and stress that is holding me back.

Last week I changed my affirmation to make it more goal specific. But I am wondering if I need to change it back to what I was repeating over and over last week before I changed it. It was a very simple and empowering affirmation. "I can do it!"

Is it better to work with a simple affirmation that empowers even if it is not totally goal specific? Or is it better to be goal specific, even if it is not as empowering? 


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Twitter Tree for 8/21/2013


The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.



Instructions:
  • Only 2 Items per person
  • Each Tweet must contain the hashtag #retwt
  • Only 1 other Hashtag may be used.
  • Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.
  • Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).
  • No Mature Items
  • Tweet Everyone’s listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully participate. Team Leaders do watch who is tweeting and who is not.)

Limit of two (2) hashtags.


Today's Tweeting Items Are:    
     
 

Large Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings by @ElunaJewelry http://etsy.me/wq3oTt #retwt #handmadebot

 

Blue Cats Eye Necklace in Sterling Silver by ElunaJewelry http://etsy.me/KIFKdO #retwt #bestofEtsy

 



Pictures 

 

 





Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The Prototype I have been waiting on....

Well I should say the prototype I have been looking forward to being a part of since the beginning of the year.

If you are not familiar, Etsy offers some "prototype" teams to test out new features. Those who join these prototypes are able to test and use the new features before other members of Etsy. Most of these prototypes I do not bother to join, since I do not consider them to be an immediate need for my store. But last year, I did find one prototype team that I gladly joined: the shipping prototype team.

If you are familiar with Etsy, you will know that Etsy only offers one shipping method for each listing. This means that there is no way to automatically offer shipping upgrades. If a customer requests an upgrade, a seller can adjust a listing to reflect that.

Some have worked around this by offering listings in their stores to upgrade shipping. Typically they charge the extra shipping costs for that listing. This can be risky for a store owner however, since offering a listing that is dependent upon the purchase of a second listing is prohibited by Etsy's terms of use.

So needless to say, as an Etsy seller, the ability to offer shipping upgrades to my customers is something that I jumped on when the prototype team was offered last year. Unfortunately, there were some major bugs and Etsy admin opted to scrap the prototype and go back to the drawing board with shipping upgrades. The prototype team was dismantled back around February, much to our disappointment.

So I was very excited the other day when I went browsing through the prototype teams and spotted a new shipping upgrades prototype team. That's right, in time for the Holiday season, a new shipping upgrades prototype team. So now, while they are testing and hopefully through the Holiday shipping rush, I once again have the ability to offer my customers shipping upgrades!

If you are interested in joining the prototype team you can find it here. But be warned, you will be a guinea pig to testing; which means your customers may or may not see the option. But if you wait to long, the team may be closed and you will have to wait until the shipping prototype becomes available to all of Etsy before you can try it out.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Weekend Wrapup - Monday 8-19-2013

Saturday we took a morning trip to the new ER in our area. Saturday was the opening ceremony and open house. I guess they want the locals to know about the trauma center and medical staff that is going to be available. I will say it will be nice to have a 24 hour ER right up the road from us.

We went to the open house for the free pancake breakfast, but more importantly the life flight helicopter was suppose to be on site for tours. For a five year old boy, that was like a golden ticket. He was so excited to be able to take a tour of a helicopter. We did get to tour the other emergency vehicles.

When we got there however, we discover that due to the weather the helicopter was not coming. While I understand the safety, my son was disappointed. But the pancake breakfast was good. And we did take a tour of the facilities, where the nurses explained some injuries to the kids with a Teddy Bear Clinic. (The bears had gotten boo-boos, and the nurses use them to explain to the kids about how some safety measures can help you prevent those boo-boos. Examples were burns, bicycle injuries, injuries from not wearing seat belts, etc) The kids seemed to enjoy this.

Sunday, I got to do some stuff for myself. I got up Sunday morning and cleaned out some in my studio, where things got stashed from the party last weekend.

I even found time to finish a bezel that I have been working on for a while. Plus made some earring bezels for a pair of emeralds that I have. I also made a new set of 3 inch and 4 inch hoops. While there is some cleanup needed with those pieces, they are almost complete.

Finally I sat down and went through my stones. I decided I wanted to work on some new emerald jewelry. So I found these stones and decided to get them ready to cut.



Ok some Etsy stuff: I have finished listing all my new tiny niobium hoops. So if you wanted hoops in a particular color, go check them out.

I also stumbled upon a new prototype team on Etsy, I think I will tell you all about that tomorrow though so I can devote a lot of space to that. You will be interested in it I promise!

So today I have to run to a conference with my son's teacher. But before I head off, I wanted to share the work I have done so far this morning.

Remember those emeralds? Well I have them dopped and ready to start cutting!!!!!! I also managed to get an oolite stone ready to cut as well!


Wish me luck today :)

Friday, August 16, 2013

Ramp Up Your Holiday Sales - Week 3

So it is week 3 of Ramp Up Your Holiday Sales.

Last week I was suppose to create an affirmation to repeat daily. While I did create an affirmation last week, I found the one I wrote to be too long and cumbersome. So I re-wrote it this week. I am suppose to be repeating it 25 times/day. I will confess, I am only repeating it about 10/day. But even with that I am seeing a difference in my thinking.

One of the goals set forth in the class is to generate press about your business and your work. Well I am pleased to say, I am attempting to do so, even though it scares me some. Yesterday I sent out my first real press pitch. I have only sent it out to one magazine so far, but for me that is a HUGE step.

I also found a gift guide ad that will run for 6 months, which I signed up for. They will be tweeting my stuff off and on, so it is a place to start.

Lets see, what else........

Oh Weekly Sales Goal.......
I am pleased to say that I have exceeded my sales goal for the week by about 60%, which is fantastic! And that is as of this morning, so there is still time to exceed that!. Overall I am actually about 25% over my goal for this time in the month! So excited.

Ok for those that have been following along, if you have any questions about this, I will be happy to try to answer them, just leave a comment below.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Weekend Wrapup and Monday Thoughts

If you read Friday's post, you will know that I spent Saturday hosting a birthday party for my son. I am pleased to say that the party went very well. I kind of ran out of activities, so I pulled out Disney princess dolls for the girls and monster trucks for the boys and let them play. I also put "Wreck-It Ralph" into the DVD and had it running in case someone wanted to watch some TV, which I believe the parents too advantage of.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the gemstone mining. Which makes me happy. I did freak a few friends out when I hung the pinata up right next to my collectables shelf, but they did not realize that I had converted it to a pull string pinata. This worked out well, because all the kids had to do was grab a string and pull. If it came off, then they would go back to the rear of the line for another turn. The last string ended up being the one attached to the trap door. And my son got to be the one to pull it.  I had made sure there was plenty of candy for all. In fact I still have a pile of it on my dining room table.


I did not work on any jewelry on Saturday, as I was focused on the party. I had planned to work some on Sunday, but I think I was more stressed than I had realized as I spent more of Sunday sleeping in.

So today is Monday. I am going to re-write my affirmation to make it easier to rememeber and to say. I am also going to update my weekly totals, so that I can keep track of how I am doing on my goals.

I need to focus on creating a positive outlook on my business, so that I can attract my dream client and the sales I want. This is where I need to start focusing on my business.

Maybe tomorrow I will take a little while and show you all how I made those cookies you saw on Friday. :)

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Ramp Up Your Holiday Sales - Week 2

The beginning of the week started out great. I was beginning to think that I would easily reach this week's goal, but that is not the case it seems.

Although I am suppose to be repeating my personal affirmation each day, I have gotten very distracted over the past few days. I could say, I am feeling down, but that would not be the truth.

The truth is that I have something bigger on my mind than selling my jewelry. What you may ask? Well I am hosting my son's fifth birthday party on Saturday. And I have been so consumed with making sure this goes off without a hitch, that I have not spent a lot of time working on my jewelry and sales.

The part of my mind that is all about the business is disappointed that I have not spent my time doing the positive thinking I need to. But the Mom in me is frankly more concerned with my son's happiness, and you had better believe that Mom rules in this case.

So I am looking at it this way. He only turns five once. And I have the next four months to work on building more into my sales. But I will never get his fifth birthday party back again.  I am going to finish worrying about all the little details for his party: getting the rig set up to sift for gemstones, setting up the piñata, cleaning the house, making refreshments, and all the other small details. I will give him a wonderful fifth birthday party with his friends, then I will clean the house back up after the party.

And next week. I will get back on the task of working on my sales.

Here is a quick pic of the cookies I made tonight for his guests. (Fossil Cookies)

Jewelry Spotlight - Chevron Amethyst Necklace

 I love amethyst. Always have. There is something about the beautiful purple hues that is alluring to me.

Maybe it is that purple is the color of royalty, or that amethyst is a stone of spiritual wisdom, either way, I just really like the stone.

That is probably part of the reason I chose the main stones in this necklace, a wonderful set of chevron amethyst beads.





The chevron amethyst is created when layers of amethyst and milky quartz stack up upon one another. As you can see, it creates a wonderful contrast.

In this necklace you will find both the chevron amethyst beads and dark hued amethyst beads.


This necklace is finished off with a handmade beaded clasp that contains no metal, making this necklace hypo-allergenic.

If you would like more information on the Chevron Amethyst Necklace, you can find it and other wonderful jewelry in my Etsy Store.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Twitter Tree for 8/7/2013



The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.



Instructions:
  • Only 2 Items per person
  • Each Tweet must contain the hashtag #retwt
  • Only 1 other Hashtag may be used.
  • Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.
  • Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).
  • No Mature Items
  • Tweet Everyone’s listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully participate. Team Leaders do watch who is tweeting and who is not.)

Limit of two (2) hashtags.


Today's Tweeting Items Are:     

Unique Handmade Tiny Sterling Silver Hoop Earrings by @ElunaJewelry http://etsy.me/nmuVDl #retwt #jewelry

 

Handmade Black Moss Agate Earrings Wrapped in Sterling Silver by ElunaJewelry http://etsy.me/IMmglG #retwt #jewelry

 


Pictures 




Tiny Silver Hoop Earrings


Black Moss Agate Earring

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Today he turns Five

Today my son turns five. It is such a big day that I thought I would celebrate with a poem. Although this is for a 4 year old, it still works so celebrate with me and enjoy this poem.

To Our Darling Son


God blessed us with a son who is turning four today,
every day we see His love in you, true as the purest gem.
from His all knowing heart, His very best He sends,
may He keep you always in His tender loving care.
we thank God for all you our son, we’re glad for all you tend,
from a strong yet tender heart and a core that never ends.
as cute as a bug, you are so precious to hug,
a dear child who brings out the sunshine to those who are near.
when your eyes are shining brightly it is so nice to see,
that one day you will for certain become all you’re meant to be,
you are to simply everyone a special little man,
who brings the kind of happiness that nothing is greater than.
everyday you bring to us all the joy that life could hold,
you’re such a special little boy from the day you were born,
like teardrops on the roses kissed by the morning dew,
you’re the treasure that give us pleasure in everything you do.
how adorable and loving with every morn you turn to be,
how charming and exciting as into the big world your eyes peep.
the warmth in our hearts you keep so alive,
treasured are the memories you are engraving in our book of life.
our vows we’ll pledge that by your side we’ll always walk,
our anchor we’ll throw to keep you safe from any storm,
our love will nourish you through the path that you will take,
our promise to cherish that our bond will never break.
happy birthday to our dear son who couldn’t be more loved,
we turn to God each day and night to keep you safe and sound,
we join you in your night prayers as to the guardian angel you call,
please protect and keep your light on for this cute little boy.
may God bless you our sweet angel,
especially on this day,
you are our masterpiece that only God can create.
and as the candles, your breathe will blow,
our endless wishes,
like shooting stars, your life forever will glow.
may God bless you today, tomorrow and always
in peace, in health, in happiness and in love.
Caroline Falzon

Friday, August 2, 2013

Ramp Up Your Holiday Sales - Week 1

Yesterday was the start of Ramp Up Your Holiday Sales Intensive by Flourish and Thrive Academy. While it was the official start, I have actually been working on my sales for a couple of weeks now.

The big thing I am hearing so far in this course is: Positive Thinking, Accountability, and Goals.

These seem very trivial when you first look at them. But I am a firm believer in this quote by H.M. Tomlinson
"The World is what we think it is. If we can change our thoughts, we can change the world."

While I do believe in what the quote is saying, I have found it difficult to follow through with my thinking. And that is why the accountability part of this was so attractive to me. 

So for me, taking this intensive seems like a no brainier. I am hoping that not only will it help with my sales, but that it will also help me stay on track to create a more positive outlook in my life.

So far we have not recieved any assignements, but those who signed up early did get a goal setting worksheet. In my case, I filled out my finiacial goals for the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2013; to increase my sales by 25% over last year. So I recorded my weekly sales totals from last year. I also started working on a plan to do more "revenue generating" activities each week.

I am pleased to say, even if I am only 1 week in for the start of my goal time, that I have already met my weekly goal! Maybe I will try to update my blog weekly with how my goals are going. Would you all like to see that?

 
Action is the foundational key to all success. -Pablo Picasso 

 
-April

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Thursday Thoughts... A Poem

When I was in high school, and in a more romantic vein of my life, I came across a poem that I fell in love with. It was just spoke to me at that time. Today I would like to share this poem with you all.

By an unknown author.

If You But Knew
by Unknown

 If you but knew
How all my days seemed filled with dreams of you;
How sometimes in the silent night
Your eyes thrill through me with their tender light,
How oft I hear your voice when others speak,
How you 'mid other forms I seek-
Oh, love more real than though such dreams were true
If you but knew...

Could you but guess
How you alone make all my happiness;
How I am more than willing for your sake
To stand alone, give all, and nothing take,
Nor chafe to think you bound, while I am free,
Quite free, till death to love you silently,
Could you but guess...

Could you but learn
How when you doubt my truth I sadly yearn
To tell you all, to stand for one brief space,
Unfettered, soul to soul, and face to face,
To crown you king, my king, till life shall end,
My lover and likewise, my truest friend,
Would you love me, dearest, as fondly in return,
Could you but learn?