does etsy "success" = exhaustion? the nasty little by-product of selling what you make online ...

Maybe it's the cold weather
(although it hasn't been all that cold here),

the shortened days
(although they're getting longer)

or my own natural inclination to work until collapse

(in a 24/7 selling environment that doesn't really allow for collapse this is not a good model - unless of course you are prepared to really collapse, like into a great big old mahogany box with a velvet liner)

but an awful lot of Etsy sellers are using a 10 letter "e" word to describe their state of mind lately.

And it ain't "exhilerated" (which is 11 letters actually).

I have said it before and I will say it again - this is all a great deal of work

(and before you think I am a big whiner - although hello ... this is not news folks, I did devote 427 42 Wednesdays of my life to the art of whining or maybe that was wining - I need the corks remember, but whining is reactive and I am determined to be proactive here - how do we fix this?!)

No matter how we sell our makings online we have to - market ourselves, create relationships, take amazing pictures, basically make ourselves stand out among the thousands/millions/gazillions

(where the hell are all these people coming from anyway)

of other makers creating amazing makings and doing the same things we are.

(if you have been doing this for awhile just hearing me say it out loud can make you tired and cranky and reaching for your Snugli and I should add that if you do read my posts out loud I am from New Jersey and should be read with a Carmella Soprano 'foget-about-it' inflection)

There are 5 ways to make money on Etsy:

(maybe more I appear to be out of fingers)

1. Vintage - If you sell vintage items you do not have to do the making part, but you do have to do the finding part and the research of pricing part and the take amazing pictures part and you need to figure out the correct shipping charge and get yourself the proper packaging for your oddly shaped whosee whatsee and oh yes, since your items are one of a kind there is no renew button for you my dear ... sorry.

2. Large Batches - If you do your makings in large batches you will likely work really hard for a certain period of time making your fabulousness and then work less during the shipping phase of your process, but you will likely have to have a very good handle on inventory and supplies and what will sell

(I recommend a magic 8-ball for this or some market research I have found them to be equally inaccurate)

or you will be sitting on alot of excess inventory and miss out on sales when you run out of stock.

3. One at a time - if you do your makings in small batches or one at a time, well, you will just be making your makings all the time and the busier you get the more you will need to get a handle on time management and pricing or ... well, I think your head could explode actually ... this is my makings model and I have been known to discover little pieces of brain matter all over my studio, luckily, being the creative professional I am, my brain matter is always in pantone's latest colors, so at least it's pretty brain matter - my apologies if you are reading this while eating lunch, but yes, art is messy, folks ...

4. Make something once and sell it again and again - paint a picture - sell prints, take a photo - sell copies, design a dress - hire someone else to sew it. This is kind of my dream maker business model (sigh)- the make something once and sell it over and over again model - but will not work for everyone. I do think there are ways to incorporate some of this into any of the models though.

Of course, there is also supply selling on Etsy (5) which involves mostly buying things in large batches and selling them in smaller batches for a profit. The pitfall being that you could end up doing an awful lot of work for not an awful lot of money. You really need to know your profit margins and what your competition (you will undoubtedly have alot) is doing.

Anyhoo, I have been talking to some successful shops who sell in these various models for some great tips and tricks to avoid the dreaded "e" word. I will be posting them over the next two weeks - so check back starting on Friday for Vintage and (hopefully) Large Batch Makers.

* carry me by redbishop
* squirrel salt and pepper shakers by kella
* tshirt by xenotees
* map necklace by sherry truitt
* wish illustration by pale preoccupation

choosy with choices - cut, concretize, categorize and condition

I have been listening to a TED talk while eating lunch lately and really loved this one and thought I'd share it - my favorite line to take away may be "choices should mean something to the chooser and not the choice maker" - the studies shown also make it a good listen for makers ...

2012 Affirmation # 5 - if you can't be a good example ... at least be a warning.

"learn to dance or the angels won't know what to do with you" ... saint augustine

I have been around the block a time or two.

(not in a bad way if you know what I mean and not in any way that involves running shoes and a water bottle - in fact if you see me running these days, it is pretty much guaranteed there is a large dog behind me or a small dog in front of me, but one way or the other it is pretty certain that a dog is involved somehow)

I have worked jobs with very long, stressful hours with alot of responsibility and headaches. I have had businesses that went places and some that went no place and all the work and craziness that was involved with all of that. But I was always able to separate my job title or business adventure from myself.

I was never really in it all the way.

And now I am.

In it all the way.

In a what you see is what you get, this gets so personal we know each other's underwear colors

(and styles - why do so many of us wear boyshorts?)

kind of way that is so terribly amazing and terribly rewarding and terribly exhausting.

So, I affirm we all give ourselves a break in 2012, take a little bit better care of ourselves (some of us alot better care of ourselves), dance a little more, work a little less and if we can't be a good example of what to do at least we can be a good example of what not to do

(this has always worked very well for me actually)

and maybe coax a few other makers to join us ....

* dance print by wallfry

** what I have learned this week about schizophrenia - alot - way too much to write about, but a very important thing is that schizophrenia often involves anosognosia which is a long scary word (doesn't it just look like a word you don't want to get to know, like the word chocolate, that one has always been trouble for me, too) for a person's inability to recognize or understand the nature of his illness, like with alzheimer's disease - it's not about denial - so interventions don't work, normal reasoning doesn't work and this little twist called "lack of insight" is like having the Himalayas between David and wellness.

the girl next door or you make a better door than you do a window or ... any song by Jim Morrison

I read that people with white doors (front doors) are most likely to have a tidy house, abhor mesess and like a clean and clinical, modern decor whereas people with green doors tend toward the exact opposite aesthetic and even have a tendency to be hoarders.

(yes, I have a green front door but I only hoard the really important stuff like magazines from the year everyone in my family was born - yes, I mean everyone, unused 35mm film - you never know - used Mallomar boxes - I find they reseal very nicely, make handy little containers and seeing them makes me happy during the summer months when the cookies are gone from the grocery store shelves - it's the little things, folks)

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor? ... Mother Teresa

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door ... Ralph Waldo Emerson

When one door is closed, don't you know, another is open ... Bob Marley

Ten men waiting for me at the door?
Send one of them home, I'm tired ... Mae West

* for some reason the homegrown chaos has me obsessing over doors this week - the top picture is a door from an old hotel in Cape May that I snatched up to divide off my dining room (which is more of a dining nook actually) - the picture above is an old door, painted with an old bicycle shop logo that I have attached to an old white dresser (you might notice a few mistakes with the bicycle drawing - ack!)

xo =^..^=