6 Business Lessons I Learned in 2010 - advice from one crafty maker to another

1. Deals with big catalog companies do not always translate into big dollars for little maker companies

(enough said)

2. Stores are not always ready to buy when we are ready to sell - repetition is a key to success with mailings and store contacts.

(maybe with everything now that I think about it)

Instead of moving on to new stores too quickly when a postcard doesn't generate any interest, I have found if I mail to the same store again (and sometimes again) I usually get the account.

(note - make sure your postcard is awesome,

< ---- mine is

the store is a good fit for your work and you mail directly to the owner, manager or buyer and follow-up with a phone call - I always call just to check in that the postcard arrived and let them know about a "special" I am having that week)

3. Store accounts need to be reminded to re-order.

When I started calling shop owners to see if they needed more stock (instead of just assuming my stuff wasn't selling because I hadn't heard from them) - my re-orders went way up.

(shop owners are as busy as we are)

4. Being in control might make us feel safe but that is pretty much the only benefit. Sometimes things fall apart so they can fall together.

We need to let go sometimes.

5. Some of this social networking has got to go. I am becoming less averse to automating certain things or just eliminating them all together.

There are only so many hours in the day.

6. I have been avoiding growth and change (partly because I want to stay small and personal, but mostly from pure exhaustion) but static, maintenance mode doesn't work - no matter how firmly we dig in and put in roots we will be uprooted -

Our business is alive.

It is changing everyday - whether we like it or not.

(we cannot stop this anymore than we can stop our toddlers from becoming preteens, although we would sometimes like to)

Static, maintenance mode will not work for long -

our income will drop, our work will become outdated, the competition will swoop in and undercut us, we will stop innovating -

for our business to survive it must be growing. The good news is we get to decide how that will happen.

It doesn't have to mean more work for us, in fact it has to mean more freedom and more creation because otherwise we might as well all get a real job with a 401K and dental insurance.

(if such things exist anymore)

There is a way to do this without putting in more hours (I don't have any), learning any more techno crap (my head will explode) or losing the personal nature of my handmade, upcycled business - I refuse to sell out.

We will find the way.

(I probably learned way more than this, but my head cold is still causing my noodle to be even foggier than usual and these are the first things that come to mind - hope someone finds them helpful)

*learn more things print by NayArts

10 Day WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - # 7 Allowing

Now at first allowing seems like a backstep for someone who has chosen to make 2011 my year of deciding.

But I have enough living under my belt to know that there is an ebb and flow to this thing called life and I have never been an all or nothing, black and white, kind of thinker.

Making decisions and not settling doesn't mean I am suddenly turning my canoe upstream -

(I don't want to end up on that "I Survived" tv show after all)

but, I do need to steer my canoe, that's why canoes come with paddles after all, unless I want to end up crashed along a rocky shoreline.

(where I can imagine some kind of Tom Hanks falling in love with his volleyball future for me that would not be pretty)

Part of this deciding thing is about getting in touch with what I want, so that this all becomes alot more effortless - allowing things to flow in and out of my life as I make decisions based on my intention without second guessing myself with indecision or hanging on too tightly ....

And I should mention that even though 2011 is still a couple days away, I have already started making decisions:

hubby - "what should we have for dinner?"

old me - "I don't know - what do you want?" <--- this didn't happen

new decisive me - "egg and ham omelets with crispy rye toast" <--- this did

hubby - "mmm, sounds perfect"

(of course we are still shoveling out from our snowpocalypse and the cupboards are pretty bare, but see how yummy decisive action can make anything sound)

* free spirit print by the amazing Shira Sela

10 Day WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - # 6 Reach

When I was a kid I was told that I asked for too much -

that I would never be happy unless I learned to love what I already had.

And there is some truth in this.

There is also truth in the fact that the passionate life does not settle.

It reaches. It stretches. It needs to know and see and feel those things that are just beyond its grasp.

At heart I am a "settler inner" - I get cozied in and cannot be prodded to make a change until life forces me to get moving.

But 2011 is my year of deciding and I need to start moving all those things that I am not passionate about out of the way to make room for the good stuff - the really, really good stuff that is waiting for me.

I am starting with my closets. I am starting today.

(well, maybe tomorrow, I am still kind of sick)

* grand reach print by the amazing cori dantini

10 Day WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - # 5 Doing

"nearly everything you do is of no importance, but it is important that you do it” - Mahatma Gandhi

First we set our intention to change the things that are not working for us in 2011; then we take action.

This doing part is where things get a little scary and well, it is the part where I often get stuck.

This is the place where all the doubts come in because if this change thing was easy we would have already done it.

I started on Etsy as a way to make enough money part-time that I could go back to school full-time and find my passion.

My business took off in such a way that the money was there for me to go back to school, but I no longer had the time to do it.

And more importantly, somewhere along the way of figuring out how to find my passion, my passion found me.

I thought finding my passion would be all big and explosive, kind of like the love at first sight myth, when in fact, at least for me, it eased its way into my life sort of quietly until I realized I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

This thing called passion was creating new levels of depth in my relationship with myself and the people and things around me

(unfortunately it was also creating a great sense of imbalance and feelings of overwhelm and underwhelm that now require setting new intentions and taking new actions to get things back on track)

So in 2011, I resolve to do the doing that needs to be done to get this passionate life that I have created and know I should be loving back into balance.

*strategic plans print by miriam dema