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Join Us for A Live Handmade Evening: 6PM PST Monday

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Tomorrow night (Monday, May 14) I’ll be visiting with Srini of BlogcastFM & the incredible Mayi Carles, April Bowles Olin, Tara Gentile & Megan Auman to talk about handmade business and our creative community! Come hang out with us live tomorrow to ask questions and hear our insight at 6pm PST. To sign up, visit here, and RSVP. I can’t wait to connect live and in person with some of my favourite creative superstars (that means YOU too!) to talk about some really juicy topics.

What we’ll be sharing:

Mayi Carles and April Bowles Olin- Creating Killer Video Content
Tara Gentile- Running Your Blog Like a Business
Jessika Hepburn- Creative Collaborations
Megan Aumann- Pricing Strategies

Have any questions or thoughts on creative collaborations you want me to chat about? Let me know in the comments and I’ll make it happen! We can collaborate to chat about collaboration;)

Announcing Ink Yourself: Using Story to Make a Bold Impression e-course

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Special guest post & giveaway from Genevieve Brazelton of Lightbox SF

In our first two years of working with clients on strategies to better market their business, we noticed that no matter how long they’d been in business we always tended to start in the same place – clarifying our client’s brand story and defining their target market.

All of the businesses we worked with struggled to put into words how they were different from the competition and what benefits they were really providing for their customers. And when it came to target market few of them could describe much about their ideal customer beyond, gender, age and general income. It’s hard to really engage customers if you don’t know what makes you different or why your customers would care.

Ink Yourself: Using Story to Make a Bold Impression is a guided e-course designed to get you thinking about all the details that make up your unique brand story and help you define your ideal customer. The course is based on the idea that you already know everything you need to build a strong brand identity and stand out in the marketplace, but you need a guiding hand and outside perspective to dig into the details and shape it into your unique brand story.

“It’s challenging to step back from (our businesses) to gain perspective about what our work says and means. I felt really well supported during this course.”

The lessons in this 5-week e-course build on each other asking you to dive deep in the big vision of your business, realize your strengths, and get intimate with your ideal customer. Then we help you bring it all together into a guiding statement that makes showing off your awesomeness a breeze. You’ll also have unlimited email access to both Shelly and I and a live forum to get feedback and opinions from all the participants. We hope you’ll make friends as well as get clear on your brand message.

Registration is currently open and the course starts May 21^st.

As a bonus we’re giving away one spot in the course to an oh my! handmade goodness reader. All you need to do is tell us your biggest marketing struggle in the comments below and we’ll pick a random winner. We’ll notify you by email on May 16^th if we pick your name. However if you don’t want to leave it to chance you can sign up right now!

About Genevieve:

Genevieve Brazelton writes about creative marketing strategies over on the Lightbox SF blog. She also works with creative entrepreneurs to brand their businesses by telling their stories and embracing what makes them unique.

{Sponsor Review} Nesting with CherryWalls

Friday, May 11, 2012

Spring makes me so nesty! I want to hang clothes on the line, tackle home projects, and make my space pretty. Sadly, this year I am stuck in home renovation limbo as we finish getting our house ready to put on the market, so I can’t indulge my crow girl impulses. I have packed up all my lovely things and most of my artwork in preparation for selling and moving so our walls have felt bare and sad. Until I got the chance to play with a fun giant decal from our sponsor Veronica of CherryWalls! A wall sticker was the perfect option for us since we don’t want to put any holes in the freshly painted walls but still want our space to have personality until we leave.

I must admit to being a little intimidated when I unrolled the decal, it was big! But the instructions were easy to follow and once I got the decal taped up on the wall, the whole process took under an hour…minus interruptions by small children. Even though we have light grey walls and couch, the decal and my own handmade goodness, add a splash of brightness to make the room feel far more cheerful and springlike.

I am now sold on giant decals for an awesome alternative to painting for renters, home staging, and kids rooms-anywhere that you want to make a statement that isn’t permanent! View the whole collections of lovely designs and options on the CherryWalls website and connect with them by visiting them on Twitter and Facebook.

Design How-To: Using contrasting patterns

Thursday, May 10, 2012

A special guest post by Julie Gibbons of http://tractorgirl.com.au.

I love pattern! My fabric stash is full of it, and one of my favourite things to do in my own applique work is to combine two or more fabrics to create fabulous contrasts. There is a definite skill required in judging which ones will work together, and which ones will not. In my years as an art teacher, I found a set of tools and methods, sometimes referred to as the elements and principles of design, that are a great guide in learning how to work with design. There are some crossovers in the ideas contained in it, and you will find that each element or principle rarely works in isolation. Nevertheless, they are outstanding guides.

In your toolbox, there are the elements of Line, Size (Scale), Direction, Shape, Texture, Tone (Value), and Colour.

The methods you can use with these are Balance, Gradation, Repetition, Contrast, Harmony, Dominance, and Unity.

Now I won’t get stuck down too much in the theory, but I will try and demonstrate how these elements and principles get used with some real examples. The patterns I have used are all fairly busy and distinctive, in order to get you to think about them, but of course you can combine one busy pattern with something much plainer to excellent effect. By the way, all these fabrics are either vintage or remnant pieces from my personal stash – so I have no idea who the designers are!

{Pattern 1 – red/blue stripes & red/blue/green paisley style}

A lot of the time, colour is the major element that will tie together two different patterns. However, it usually doesn’t work so well unless there is at least one other element (e.g. line, tone, or scale) that is similar in both patterns. In the above combination, there are similar colours used – red, blue, and ochre, but also the size (scale) of the patterns are similar – the paisley shapes relate to the stripe width. Tone is also similar, showing areas of flat colour with clean edges. With these things to tie together the two patterns, the contrast of the simpler geometric against the softer, rounded and randomly placed shapes works well.

{Pattern 2 – soft yellow floral & large blue/sage paisley}

You might think that because these two patterns use similar colours that they would work together OK, but they don’t really. The overall scale of each pattern is fairly similar, but the problems are mainly in the tone. The floral uses tone to create a semi-3D effect and a sense of depth. Further, the edges of the flowers are defined by their background, rather than any specific outline. The paisley on the other hand, uses flat colour, which is clearly defined by line. Line is also used quite a bit in the paisley to provide detail, and it therefore creates a much more detailed, denser pattern than the floral. Overall, you could probably push these two to work together, with other patterns/colours/textures to break them up, but it’s not my favourite combo.

{Pattern 3 – crimson/pink damask print & crimson/pink floral}

Again, the colours are fairly close, but the overriding elements in these patterns are scale and line, and they are very different. The visual textures are very different too – big flat areas of colour, versus lots of tight, curly detail. Definitely not a good match.

{Pattern 4 – Yellow/ochre damask style medallion & aqua/turquoise print with Moorish-inspired motif}

Here is a lovely example of quite different colours and patterns working well together. Colour is still important here – but because of the contrast, not the similarity. While the tones in each print are quite clear (i.e. not greyed or murky), the biggest two correspondences here are scale (the medallions in both are of similar size), and line (arabesques and geometry both play their part).

It’s important to understand that the elements and principles of design are not hard and fast rules; they are guides only. For every combination, it’s a matter of looking at each pattern’s most dominant features, and seeing what they correspond to or contrast with in the other pattern. It is also a matter of context – it depends on what purpose you’re using them for, and also on what else you’ve got to go with them and around them.

I hope this has been a useful introduction. If you want more information on how to incorporate the elements and principles into your designs, I have just started writing a series about them on my blog, looking at each in more depth. The first one published is about Texture.

Now go and have fun!

About Julie

Julie Gibbons is tractorgirl, a maker of homewares and accessories, and a lover of colour, texture and pattern. She completed her PhD Fine Arts in 2001, majoring in Silversmithing, and now she blogs about contemporary craft, surface design, food and books at http://tractorgirl.com.au.

Calling All Sparks: Ignition Time!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

I can’t hardly believe it! I’m here in New Mexico with a crew of incredible, sparkly women. For my workshop on Sunday I have crafted pretty packages of handmade goodness for everyone to explore, part of the packages is one of these prints of a quote by Ayn Rand that is so perfect for our retreat and our community. You do not need permission to shine and have the life you have dreamed-you just need to go for it, full heart, mind open, arms wide. That is what I hope all of us take away from our time here & what I want for my own life. The world we want is here, now, waiting for us to step into it and make it ours.

To download this print click here and print out on 4×6 cardstock or photo paper. Keep it somewhere close to remind you that your time is NOW. Reach for it.

We’re chatting live from New Mexico today at #OMHG so if you want to come get all sparkly with me visit with us on Twitter from 1-2EST!

May: Bloom, Nest, Spark!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Our month of businessy goodness has propelled me back to Mama Earth and all the lovely green and growing things in this part of the world. Hopefully with an infusion of our galactic biz smarts you are ready to bloom right along with your business and we’re here with you! This month we are sharing posts on blooms-the literal & the metaphorical kind, nests-getting our biz & workspace & cluttered minds all aired out and tidyish, and sparks-our creative ones, those sparks of life, newness and joy we carry inside (but sometimes neglect).

I’m feeling pretty sparkly right now! I’ve barely touched down from our launch and tomorrow when most of you are reading this I will be flying towards New Mexico and Spark Retreat. My shoes are packed, my first ever passport is all new and shiny ready to be stamped, I have blank books and expansive thoughts waiting to be let loose. I can’t wait to share all the pretty things I have crafted for my workshop! I’ve never flown out of Canada as an adult or left my girls before (7.5 years!) but I’m still more excited then scared. I know that there are new friends waiting to be made and many hugs + laughs + learning waiting for me on the other side. Since I can’t pack you all up with me I’ll be writing about the retreat this month, taking lots of pictures, and our weekly #omhg chat will be happening live from Santa Fe on Thursday- so you can almost, sort of, come along too.

Our incredible contributors have lined up a month of beautiful and inspiring posts this month, so we truly will get a little bit of a retreat. Together we’ll all bloom, nest, and recharge our creative sparks.

Hello month of blooming brightness, we’re ready!

Extreme Makeover Biz Edition: LoveLee Soaps & Team Aeolidia

Monday, April 30, 2012

lovelee soaps, aeolidia, extreme small business makeover

Oh yes, this is my favorite part, the big reveal of the grand prize New Biz/New Year Giveaway winner! It’s been so incredible having a back stage pass to be a part of this from the very beginning-it almost feels like my own launch too! When Leeana entered our giveaway all the sponsors were drawn to her enthusiasm, kindness and dedication to building not just a business but an empire of soapy handmade goodness. Its been 6 months since our giveaway winners were announced and we already witnessed one miraculous makeover. Today Arianne of Aeolidia & Leeana (+ a guest appearance from Lauren Hardage) are visiting us today to share the transformation of LoveLee Soaps workable before to the absolutely beautiful after. It’s like a small business fairy tale!

Let’s start with the before…

Leeana: What about your branding before didn’t feel right for you? When you entered our giveaway you were ready to make 2012 your year to shine, what about your previous branding didn’t work or was holding you back?

Before entering the giveaway LoveLeeSoaps had very little branding. I had an Etsy banner and Twitter background that I put together. Both had details included like bright colors, polka dots, and hearts that I wanted for the future but neither of them felt completely right. My branding was out dated, far from consistent and definitely not professional looking. I feel like my previous branding did hold me back because I wasn’t completely confident with the appearance. Another thing that was holding me back from taking the steps to bettering my business was college. I wanted to wait until I graduated. This way I would be able to put all of my focus towards the project. I held off and kept studying, while Aeolidia pulled at my creative strings in the back of my head.

Arianne: From a design perspective let’s look at Leeana’s before, it is certainly cheerful and certain aspects were working, but it was missing some key elements. What is your take on those missing pieces?

It’s important when branding your business to keep everything consistent, but Leeana was using a variety of fonts, colors, and graphics for her Etsy banner, business cards, thank you notes, and packaging.

The branding report Tracy created gives Leeana a toolbox of sorts to use when working on materials for her business: fonts to use for both web and print projects, as well as a color scheme with color codes (hex for web, CMYK for print). Paired with her strong logo and her illustrated heart mascots, these consistent details will help customers remember her any time they see her branding.

Leeana: Let’s watch your winning video againbecause it brings me so much joy! This exuberance & joy is definitely one of the things that drew us all to your entry in the first place. You hit the ground running after winning our giveaway and made the decision to invest in having Aeolidia build you a brand new website, integrate your blog, create some fabulous illustrations & more. How has investing in your business & having the support of professionals changed your business?

Once that video stopped the excitement never ended! In fact it only grew bigger from there. Investing in my business has opened my eyes completely. I am so confident and proud of the new business look that I just want to share with everyone. My new branding is now consistent and everything flows together. Aeolidia and Oh My Handmade have definitely helped me bump my small business up to the next level and I am ready to take it on full speed ahead from here.

And now the grand reveal of the after….

Arianne: Your team did SO much work on this project & sprinkled your magic dust on everything from the logo to the content. Can you give us a full list of what your team took on to transform Leeana’s brand?

Leeana added quite a few extras to her giveaway winnings, and we ended up doing the full package for her, which is our favorite thing to do! It’s great to be included for all of a business’ branding needs, so we can keep everything consistent and creative.

Logo and branding by Tracy Bishop

Logo design, color and black and white
Branding report
Custom mascot illustration

Product photography by Jen Way

5 products, 25 photos

Copywriting by Dewi Faulkner

About page

Press release by Isa Maria Seminega

Web design by Lauren Hardage

Home page, category page, and item page design for the shop
Blog design
Design of rotating slides for home page
Category page header graphic templates
Newsletter design
Etsy banner
Favicon for URL bar and bookmark list

Website development by Zoe Rooney

Cartkeeper ecommerce software to run the shop
WordPress integrated with Cartkeeper for the blog

Leeana: Before winning the giveaway you did all your branding yourself-how did it feel to give some of that control to Aeolidia? Tell us a bit about the process of working with the team at Aeolidia and the timeline of your rebrand from winning our giveaway to now.

Let me tell you if felt great handing over the control to Aeolidia. Normally I would be hesitant handing over such a huge project that is so important for the future of my company but lets face it, team Aeolidia is amazing! I dreamed of having them work on my branding for about 2 years so when the time came I had no fear that I would be the slightest disappointed with anything.

The process started with Tracy Bishop designing the logo. She sent over three separate sets of ideas. I gave feedback on each design and eventually the LoveLeeSoaps logo was created.

It was full speed ahead from here!

Isa Marie Seminega began gathering information for the Press release while Dewi Faulkner worked on the about page. I was blown away with Dewi’s writing. She sent over the first draft I opened the email read it and just sat there in shock. We stopped at draft number one because there were no changes even needed.

By this time Jennifer Way received the soaps for the photography and I requested bright, colorful, and whimsical. Did you expect anything else? She did a beautiful job and I love the crisp, clean outcome of the photos.

Next up was Lauren Hardage on the on the home page, category page, item page, and blog . Lauren blew my mind with her design work. It was like she took the scrambled mess of ideas gathered inside my head and organized them into a functional, working piece of art.

After Lauren was finished Zoe Rooney did all the coding work. Zoe answered every single one of my questions immediately. She gave advice and helped smooth things out when I thought my brain was going to explode.

LAUREN HARDAGE on the new LoveLee Soaps site:

This project really exemplifies how important content is. One thing that was SO fun on this one was the slides for the slideshow. Leeana had both professional pics and some that she took ready to go. They looked great and they led the design. She also had the slogan putting the splash back in bath time and fun bath and body for all ages ready for me to use. That definitely helped inspire the design direction.

Also, she had so many products, it was easy to nail the look right away. I had such a good idea of her scope and style. It is so much harder to force content in later using placeholders and descriptions of real items. Her product line is so focused, I didnt have to make a site that was appropriate/flexible enough to accommodate both jewelry and plates, for example.

Honestly, (warning, self-congratulation ahead) I think another reason its getting such nice feedback is because Leeana was very happy to delegate the layout and look to her team, and just focus on the big picture. She had constructive feedback, but didnt tinker. That kept everything looking tight and unified, with a consistent design point of view throughout. She knew her design goals and remained true to them throughout the process, letting us take care of the details.

Leeana: And now how do you feel about your transformed business? Was it everything you imagined it would be?

I feel ecstatic about my transformed business! I couldn’t be happier with the way that everything turned out. That final outcome is everything I imagined and a million times more. Working on each of the projects was tons of fun and at times extremely stressful. I am so thankful for everyone that helped make this project come together. It has been so hard keeping things undercover for the past few months while we wrapped everything up. I am happy that I can finally share the details with everyone.

Did winning our giveaway truly change everything for you? Looking forward to the rest of 2012, now that you have your beautiful new look, how are you going to show it off to the world? Tell us all your grand plans for soapy world domination!

It truly did change everything for me. I have a whole new look and I have never felt more confident and inspired. It feels like a brand new beginning. I read something recently that opened my eyes and it was from the Oh My Handmade Guide to Businessy Goodness. (Which if you haven’t picked up your copy you are missing out!) I read “nothing ever grows in the dark” (Tracey Selingo) This hit me because right now my new website is in the dark. It is my job to turn on the lights, invite everyone in and let it shine. I am planning on showing my new look to the world by spreading the word about LoveLeeSoaps wherever I go. I am so thankful for my fabulous customers and supportive fans that are helping me spread the word and shouting from the roof tops along the way.

Arianne: I hope your whole team is so proud of their work on this makeover, it truly is incredible! Thank you for all your help with this giveaway and teaming up to give a talented young entrepreneur a chance at an extreme business makeover ala Aeolidia. Not everyone can win an amazing opportunity like our giveaway though, in your opinion, what is the one piece of branding that is most important to invest in if you want your business to stand out (in a good way!)?

You can’t get by without a polished logo, especially if you need to create all the extras: packaging, business cards, invoices, receipts, mailing labels, etc. If all you can afford right now is a great logo, you can then use it to base the rest of your branding on. Then, as your business grows, you’ll be able to take that logo and perhaps have further aspects of your business designed for you.

Starting off as early as you can with the logo you want means that you can keep it each step of the way, without losing any customer recognition of it. If you skimp on the logo, but invest in a website, for example, you may find yourself later having to redo everything – redesigning the logo, coming up with a new color scheme, changing the design of the site. If you start with a strong logo that will last and be able to grow with your company, you won’t have to take any steps backwards.

While I’m here, I wanted to mention that we’ve recently launched our new branding packages! For those thinking we do websites only, we want to let you know that we are ready to do the whole shebang for you: from logo to packaging to letterhead, even down to ribbons and tissue paper printed with your logo or custom illustrations!

We have no waiting list for branding projects, so please browse our offerings and fill out our form to get in touch and begin a conversation with us about your new logo.

If you’re not ready to take the plunge just yet, please join our mailing list. I’m planning to send out some fun “case studies” of projects where we’ve done all the branding, and you’ll get to peek in on those.

Leeana: Your determination to build a thriving business is so obvious in the way you participated so fully in our giveaway and then threw yourself into this redesign. You’ve been working seriously hard since January! I think you are a shining example of how you can see an opportunity and leap for it with all your heart. What is the biggest lesson you are taking away from this experience that is going to help you make your business the very best it can be?

The biggest lesson that I am taking away from this entire experience is that with hard work, determination, and being myself all things are possible. With these three things I have found everything else will fall into place. I have the best job I could ever ask for and I am so lucky that through this experience I have met and connected with an online community of talented individuals from all over the world. I want to thank everyone for coming along for the ride and following this incredible opportunity that I have been given. Let’s join together and make 2012 an unforgettable year!

As a gift back to our community Leeana is offering a $50 LoveLee Soaps gift certificate as a giveaway to YOU!

TO ENTER

Visit LoveLee Soaps brand spanking new Aeolidia designed website and leave a comment below telling us your favorite product or part of Leeana’s makeover.

For extra entries leave a comment if you:

Follow LoveLee Soaps on Facebook

Follow LoveLee Soaps on Twitter

or shout this giveaway out on Facebook or Twitter

~~This giveaway closes next Tuesday at midnight EST with the winner announced Wednesday, May 10 at the bottom of this post.~~

This giveaway is closed! Congratulations to Sherie with comment #24!

Let’s give a big hooray to Leeana and Team Aeolidia for this truly amazing transformation, I see only bright things ahead for LoveLee Soaps & am so happy to be right there with you cheerleading you on!

Hard Core DIY: Heart of Gold Rocket ship Pinata

Sunday, April 29, 2012

What, did you think I could end our month of businessy goodness without a serious bang? No way! The launch of our Guide to Businessy Goodness deserves no less then an explosion of awesome. This tutorial goes out to everyone who has ever sat around thinking, “You know I could really use a 3 foot rocket ship pinata right about now…” and then Googled it without satisfaction, (nearly everyone I’m sure).

What you need:

1 roll each of Carte Fini 180 gram Metallic Gold & Metallic Silver Italian crepe paper
Top of a large hollow plastic easter egg (I found mine on clearance at Michael’s post-Easter)
Large piece of matt board or cardboard
Heavy duty tape (duct would be more space-like but we’re renovating & I have a ton of this)
Cutting blade & scissors
Glue gun/glue sticks
White Glue
Twine/monofilament
Patience

DIY heart of gold rocket ship pinata tutorial

I would never have had this idea if I didn’t reach out to Carte Fini papers about offering you a couple of tutorials featuring their paper. I’ve used high end crepe paper from a couple of online shops but this is a class of its own. The metallic paper used to make this tutorial is more like a heavy aluminum foil, with the give and resilience of crepe paper, but the feel of heavy fabric. It was so utterly perfect for crafting a ship worthy of our businessy explorations. We started our month off with a beautiful flower tutorial from Omiyage featuring their paper too, be sure to check it out!

Let’s get started!

Measure the circumference of your plastic egg with a sewing measuring tape. Cut a 3 foot long by x(the circumference of your egg + 2 inches) wide piece of cardboard. Curl the cardboard into a tube, make sure it will fit just inside your egg & tape it like crazy-up & down the seam + bands around the length of the tube.
Attach the top of the plastic egg to the tube with tape (repeat the taping like crazy).
Trace the bottom of the tube onto another piece of cardboard & cut out the circle to use as the bottom, set aside.

Cut two 4 inch pieces of silver crepe paper, coat well with craft glue diluted with a little bit of water and smooth one over the top of the rocket where the egg is taped to the base.
Glue the other around the base of the rocket, letting half of the crepe paper stick out beyond the cardboard. Carefully fold & smooth the paper around the inside of the bottom opening.
Let dry while you cut your fringe.

DIY heart of gold rocket ship pinata tutorial

Unroll some of your silver crepe paper, fold it over on itself about 4 inches from the end and then fold over 2x. Cut off the folded piece & repeat until you have 4 or 5 lengths of folded crepe.
Cut all the folded pieces into equal lengths (about 4 inches)
To cut the fringe just cut 3/4 of the way into your folded squares ever 1/4 inch
Carefully unwrap all the fringe and lay flat

Using your glue gun, with the rocket base upright, attach the fringe, starting at the bottom. Glue down 5-6 inches of at a time, gently stretching the paper around to meet or overlap the other end.
Stagger your overlaps as you go up the rocket attaching the fringe.
I used slightly longer fringe along the bottom of the rocket & made it a wee bit shorter as I went up.
Glue the last piece right under the egg.

Make a template & cut out your hearts, you want about 25 large hearts, 40 medium sized ones and 30 small ones depending on the size of your rocket’s nose.

Glue the hearts on by adding a drop of hot glue to the tip of each heart and overlapping them around the nose. I did two rows of large hearts, three of medium, and four small. Bring the points of the hearts together at the very top.

Make the base & fins-using the template trace and cut out two cardboard fins, make smaller (or larger) as needed.
Lay your fins onto the gold crepe paper and trace around them leave one inch of clearance around the fin.
Flip fins over and trace around them exactly.
Cover each cardboard fin with glue and smooth on the larger crepe cut out. Add more glue around the overhanging bits and curl around to make the edges all pretty. Glue the smaller piece on the opposite site. Let dry for a bit then put a heavy book on top to prevent curling. Do the same for the cardboard circle for the base you cut out in step one.
Once dry attach fins to either side with hot glue.

Cut a door on the gold side of the cardboard circle with a sharp blade. Thread one foot of twine (I used this gold twine from Knot & Bow) onto a darning needle and poke through the centre of your door. Thread the twine through & knot the end a few times.
Using hot glue, attach the gold circle to the base.
Fit a drill with a small eye hook, drill into the top of the pinata, attach 1 foot of twine/monofilament

Get small children to cut a bowl full of confetti (they really like this part)
FILL IT UP!

Hang, pull, explode in a shower of sparks & giggles.
Repeat!

Need something to celebrate? Join over 200 creative explorers adventuring into the galaxies of businessy goodness. Check out our Guide to Businessy Goodness, name your price from $2-20+, get your copy & fire at will!

PS: Be sure to let me know if you try your hand at making your very own rocket ship! I can think of lots of parties this would be great for (like my mom’s 50th gold & tiger themed party!). Thank you Oh Happy Day for all the crepe paper inspiration.

Growing My Business Teeny Tiny

Thursday, April 26, 2012

a special guest post by Kim Gosney of Hope Loves Cards on how she is growing her little biz teeny tiny (& you can too!).

So, here I am sitting at the desk in my teeny tiny stationery store. When this shot was taken I was so excited because I am part of a growing new trend in business. I call it Community Retail and this is a little bit about my experience going teeny tiny.

I have been running an online stationery store for about 2 1/2 years. It has been an exciting ride. There have been many successes and many opportunities, but I really love my “FUN” work as my daughter, Kathryn Hope calls it. But, there are many sides to my personality. Here’s a run down of all of my jobs:

Retail Store Manager (42+ hours a week)
Owner of Hope Loves Cards AKA Glittery Stationery Empire
Mom to Kathryn Hope, amazingly adorable seven year old

I am slightly embarrased to admit that I work into the wee hours every night. I send emails at 2 am and rarely, if ever, get enough sleep to wake up feeling refreshed in the morning. Mt. Dew is a staple in my fridge – and my hubby just went to the grocery store, but didn’t bring the Mt. Dew – so now I’m afraid I might fall asleep before finishing this post. But, I TRULY love all the hard work because I am growing my business teeny tiny and that means that means BIG progress is underway.

Here is a brief overview of Community Retail – this is a photograph of one side of Unique Boutiques and Marketplace located in Clayton, North Carolina. What appeals to me about the concept is that I am a vendor – my little booth is one of many – located inside Unique Boutiques and Marketplace.

Main Vendor Advantages:

Short term lease (6 months) at super low rate = storefront location WITHOUT breaking the bank
Keep your full time job + earn extra income from storefront = MORE MONEY
Deck out your space – make it as simple or extravagant as you like = FUN!!!
Local exposure + meeting and getting to personally talk to your clients = PRICELESS!

Being a vendor instead of an owner opens up a world of possibilities for me that I wouldn’t be able to pursue working full time. I do not have to work inside my teeny tiny store every day – I go in once a week to tidy up, restock, drop off custom orders. I get the experience of owning a store without the fear that I do not have enough money for my lease or product to stock my store with. I get to test the waters and really work on my product line because all of the customers shopping in the store are so willing to give feedback! The local connections that I am making are really helping me shape what new products I am going to be offering. By the end of my first week in Community Retail I had developed relationships with other vendors which is great for support and encouragement too!

A few things to consider if you think going teeny tiny might be right for you!

Make sure you have a business license if needed in your area and that you have completed any business paperwork like forming an LLC. Also, don’t forget sales taxes make sure you have who is paying sales taxes in your lease agreement just to make things super clear!
Will your product offerings translate to “grab and go” items? Can your goodies be purchased easily by your customers and do you need to have a custom order system in place for your merchandise.
Have a call to action inside your store. Have something fun inside your store for your customers to do so you can build your mailing list and fill it up with local customers. For example – note cards (I use my bloopers) that customers can fill out with all of their contact info. I also have a note letting customers know that they can sign my desk to help my customers feel like my store is their store too! Oh and I almost forgot I have a giant orange mailbox for people to drop off special orders in too.

The entire process from signing the lease to opening up shop took about one month. I spent the first week drawing out sketches on graph paper of what the total look and feel of the store would be. I also ordered all of the supplies that I needed to make sure they arrived on time. The second week was spent checking into regulations to see what additional licensing I would need. I also started working on the product line – making some of my items a little more mainstream so that they could be purchased grab and go style. My little kids that would normally be personalized with a name got a more traditional “Thank You” so anyone could purchase them. I also developed a custom order sheet for anyone that wanted personalized stationery. In week two I glittered stationery day and night and came up with some adorable packaging for my stationery too! In week three I visited my booth to check everything over and attended the first vendor meeting. And finally, in week four, I took a vacation from my full time job to paint, hammer, glue, nail and build my teeny tiny dream. I also got to stock my store with the most ridiculously cute stationery EVER!

Other special things to think about before opening your own little mini store:

Does the owner offer no compete as part of your lease meaning if you sell stationery will anyone else be able to sell stationery too?
What should your store design look like? How can you show your personality in a teeny tiny space.
How much space will your product need and how can you create room to grow?
What is your budget for paint, construction of space, and product for grand opening?
What is your marketing strategy? How will you let your customers know you have a real live store?
When will you visit your store? How can you let your customers know when you are going to be dropping by?
How will you create a WOW factor for your customers to keep them coming back time and time again?

As my grand opening approached I was filled with excitement and anticipation. There were several events including a Girl’s Night and a Vendor Shopping Night to make sure that everything was in place before the big Grand Opening Day. Kathryn Hope came to work with me for the first time ever – as the Glittery Princess spokesmodel for her stationery company. She was beaming with excitement when she saw the giant Kathryn Hope on the wall. And guess what – the customers were excited to meet her too. It was wonderful to see the entire store stocked and ready for business when just a month before it was an empty space. There was such a tremendous sense of pride for the owner, Christy Kenyon, when she stepped back to take everything in. And…she’s totally hit the nail on the head with Unique Boutiques and Marketplace – a unique business that has given my teeny tiny dreams great BIG wings!

Oh! My I did also want to say a HUGE thank you to Mayi Carles because she really helped me truly understand that I needed to “Narrowing My Niche, narrow it narrow it!”

About Kim:

I’m a total rockstar when it comes to making cards. If I was a superhero my power would be…ENERGY (that is if energy comes in the form of Mt. Dew & cupcakes!). My biggest fear in life is that I will run out of glitter glue + envelopes. Come connect with me! <<WEBSITE>> <<BLOG>> <<@HOPELOVESCARDS>>

How to share your thing: a simple marketing equation

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Market Yourself, A Marketing System for Smart + Creative Businesses, Tara Swiger

Editor’s note: Today I have a special guest post from Tara Swiger, one of our awesome Guide to Businessy Goodness advertisers. Tara just had her first book, Market Yourself, published & it is a perfect fit for us! I’ll be reviewing the book when I get my hands on a straight off the press copy, and I asked Tara to visit and share her businessy goodness wisdom + co-host tomorrow’s #OMHG chat. I know marketing ourselves is something we almost all struggle with (myself included). Thank you for sharing this with us Tara!

Running a succesful handmade business is full of questions + decisions (no matter what your definition of success is!). Where should you sell your goods? How do you talk about it? After you’ve got everything set up (shop, a few sales, good photos)…what do you do next?

Six years ago I started my own handmade business, and three years later I quit my dayjob to do it full-time. And whoosh! Just like that, I started getting a flood of those questions: How did you do it? What do I do next? I’ve been answering those questions (by asking more questions!) for the last two-ish years and I’ve learned one thing: everything comes down to marketing.

Marketing = sharing your handmade goodness with the people who will love it.

And after the initial set-up of your shop, nearly all your questions come back to that – how do you get your gloriousness into the hands and minds of people who want it? Price, retail vs wholesale, writing copy, taking photos, ordering business cards (glossy or matte? This picture or that?) all comes down to marketing questions.

So I spent the last two years thinking about, writing about and digging into the marketing of many, many handmade businesses. And I came up with a little equation for answering nearly every question you have.

Your awesomeness + your people = your smart, effective, non-icky marketing

If you’re ultra-clear on what your awesomeness and what your people want, and where those two things meet up, you’ll know what to do.

Let’s look at it a little bit closer:

1. Your awesomeness – the thing that makes what you make extra-special. This is your vision, your color sense, and your attitude. It’s your words, your photos, your designs. This spark of you-ness separates your thing from all the other things kinda like it. When you can talk clearly about this and share it with others, half your marketing is done.

2. Your people – the people who will love your thing when they find it. These are your buyers, your celebrators, your friends. It’s their language, their favorite colors, their wants, needs. If you know where they are and what they want from your thing, the second half of your marketing is done!

When you combine these two things, you can make all kinds of decisions – from your price to the places you sell your goodness, from the craft shows you attend to the labels you use.

Most of the crafters I work with know one more than the other. Some spend all their time thinking about what makes their goodness so good, that they forget what their people love about it (and if you don’t speak their language,they won’t know it’s for them!). Others think so much about what people will buy, that they forget to add their own spark (making lifeless, middle of the road stuff).

What part of the equation are you comfortable with?

What part needs help?

Connect with Tara

Tara Swiger is a writer, maker, and Starship Captain. You can get clear on your marketing equation and see how it fits into an easy system of marketing in her new book Market Yourself: A Marketing System for Smart and Creative Businesses. Ask Tara your marketing questions in this weeks #ohmg Twitter chat, on April 27, at 1pm EST