Small Business Tips « oh my! handmade goodness

Small Business Tips

It’s never too late to change things up

Monday, April 9, 2012

change is good butterfly bookmark by trudyjames

One of the best things about owning your own business is being able to change things up whenever you need to. A lot of people are scared to change their business…but as you are ever evolving as a person your business should be as well. Here are a couple of situations where changing things up can be a good thing.

Loss of Balance
Sometimes life can get out of balance. If you are taking on too much, it may be time to scale back your product offerings to the best sellers or outsource some of the admin duties to a virtual assistant. Stop and think about how much time you are able to devote to your business. Change things up!

Stale Products
So you have been in business for a few months with no sales? If people are looking but not purchasing, it may be time to re-evaluate your products. Are there a lot of offerings out there that are similar to yours? Take a moment to stop and think how you want to be different. Change things up!

Identity Crisis
Do you have a logo that was designed by a friend’s brother’s cousin and it wasn’t really want you wanted in the first place but hey, it was free? Is your current business name 10 years old and doesn’t reflect what you offer anymore? Is your packaging out of date and not as professional as you know it could be? Take a look at how you want your business to be presented. Change things up!

During the course of your business, you may need to seek another path…take a minute to decide if it is beneficial to you and your business. If so, don’t be scared to change things up!

Free Photo Editing Apps to Replace Picnik.com

Thursday, April 5, 2012

The day Picnik announced it was closing as a stand-alone site and would be integrated into Google+ as their photo editing tool was disheartening for some. Bloggers not already utilizing this new social media juggernaut had the same knee-jerk reaction: “What free photo editing app am I going to use now?!?”

Some are turning to Photoshop Elements but the $99 price tag for a full version is a big leap from the free resource that Picnik offered. Keeping overhead low is important to bloggers who write full-time so I’ve curated a list of sites—some even comparable to Photoshop—that you’ll want to definitely check out!

Downloadable Software

Online Apps

Do you have a favorite free/cheap photo editing software? What do you currently use to edit images? Let us know in the comments!

Positioned for Growth

Monday, April 2, 2012

{Oh Dier Living}

Thunk.That’s the massive wall of scalability entrepreneurs often smack into as they try to expand their business. Growth is an amazing process. It means wider horizons and more profound successes. But, it’s not a matter of longer days, buckets of coffee, and making more fantastically creative gizmos. Let’s talk about positioning your business so that it’s prepared and actually able to grow.

As we build our business, we must consider how to scale it That is, how do we take our current model and apply it to a larger context. For many entrepreneurs, we’re working from models that positively cannot grow. Because of how we’ve structured our operations, we’re limited by the hours in the day or the sheer number of items we can create. Growing does not mean we just multiply exactly what we’re doing now. For example, imagine a business that creates independently designed wall decals and works 10 hours a day: design + create + print + photograph + list + connect + ship + task manage…. they cannot simply do more of this to grow. They need to analyze their model, make tweaks, and do things smarter.

I write a lot about creatives finding their own path in the small business world. There are no magic promises or specific recipes for success. The same goes for scaling a business for growth. It’s a wonderfully specialized process, unique to each small business. However, there are a few concepts we can take, modify, and apply – shaping our own roadmaps for growth.

4 Ways to Position Your Business for Growth

Adjust your model. Whether it’s deliberate or not – all businesses function with a model. It may be well defined or loosely translated, but it’s there. Think about how you do business. Do you provide services individually? Create items one at a time? Design work solely upon request? These models may not be set up for growth as they are, but slight changes can make a huge difference. Adjusting your model requires staying true to your core business values yet doing things a bit differently so you can build upon what you’ve got.
Vary your revenue stream. Going hand in hand with adjusting your business model, identifying additional sources of revenue is also an excellent way to grow a business. For example, in the spirit of growth, a custom clothing designer might also create a side collection of ready to wear items, a graphic artist may offer additional prepared designs for purchase, and a painter might consider sharing some of her work as prints of the original. All of these are working from the same core concept, but applying slight changes to adjust their model for efficiency and increase profits.
Narrow your niche. It’s a heckuva lot easier to grow a business that has a specific purpose. Many creative businesses start out making and doing just about anything and everything (me? guilty as charged!) but we need to narrow in with laser like focus and find our very own place before we look to grow.

A few examples from too broad to finely tuned:

“Handmade pottery items” vs. “Pottery created for a simple, minimalist home”
“Art Prints” vs. “Bold art with the modern nursery in mind”
“Logo work” vs. “Custom graphic designs telling story of your business”
“Women’s accessories” vs. “Boutique hand-dyed scarves for day and evening wear”

Looking at these examples of defined niches, we can see which ones have room…and the strategic position to grow.

Streamline your process. When we analyze our business model and consider how we’re operating, we’ll undoubtedly find areas that consume much of our time. As we look to grow our businesses, it’s imperative to increase our efficiency. I suggest creating a weekly diary, logging all of the time spent on business tasks to help identify areas that need some attention. We might find that some tasks can be bundled together (eg. all computer-related tasks), we can delegate some of the more tedious work, or rearrange our schedule for greater impact. It’s easy to get into a routine and think we’re operating efficiently, but something like a weekly log or even just describing your work week to others can be enough of a jolt to recognize areas for improvement.

There are many factors to consider when growing a business, and I’ve just touched on a few. But hopefully we’re feeling empowered to tackle that intimidating wall of growth and are ready to position, expand, and build our businesses. Wider, brighter horizons ahead!

Is your business positioned for growth or stuck in unscalable? What changes can you make to prepare for growth? What does growth look like to you? Please share in the comments!

How-to ethically & successfully pitch to blogs

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

{All photos & text by Jena Coray, aka Miss Modish}

I approached lovely OMHG editor, Jessika, about doing a post on pitching to blogs, and she said, “I really want a post on how to pitch to blogs & the common things to ‘please for the love of all that is good’ do not do.”

Ask and you shall receive, Jessika! I can do that ;).

How to pitch to blogs, grab the editor’s attention and increase your likelihood of success (all while staying true to yourself):

When it comes to pitching, I’d like you to think of it not as “selling yourself” or “selling your brand” or “hyping yourself up” or anything that feels icky and slimy and marketing-speaky, because it doesn’t have to be like that. Not at all.

Pitching is communicating.

In a pitch, you want to communicate your brand, message, personality, professionalism, quality of product, friendliness and above all, your understanding of that blog’s style, audience and regular features. And you have to do it all in one fell swoop.

How on earth on are you supposed to do all that in a single e-mail?

Easy. By having a conversation.

And by taking the time to better understand who you’re conversing with, first.

I think the best way to learn how to effectively communicate with anyone, including blog editors, is to get a sense of their perspective. If we can better understand where they’re coming from, we can better understand how to approach them, and if our shop/product/service is a good fit.

Most of the real hard work of pitching, comes before you send the email-

You’ll want to research each blog that you want to pitch- get to know what types of items and styles that they feature, what their aesthetic and taste is and whether what you make might fall within it. Check and see what style of jewelry they feature, if you make jewelry. Do the homework first!
Check out their about page and learn a little about the editors that you want to converse with! See if they have any “about me” or “personal” categories on the blog that you could explore to get to know a bit more about their life and get a better sense of their perspective, and the commonalities you may share. Learn what food they like, what colors they like, what kind of pet they have.
Really read their blog, check out the categories and archives and see what they’ve featured in the past. Make sure your shop/products/offerings are a good fit for that blog’s style, aesthetic and typical features before you even approach them about featuring you! Just because it’s your favorite blog, doesn’t mean your shop is necessarily a good fit for it- be discerning and objective about which blogs are the best matches for your brand!
Talk to them! Bloggers LOVE to receive comments. If you have something to add to the conversation, please comment on the blogs you read, and the blogs you’re checking out as you research- and interact! It’s a great way to introduce yourself in an authentic way, if you comment from the heart. Bloggers are also all over social media- find them on twitter, facebook and pinterest and follow them, interact with them and start to build relationships with them!

Then, by the time you’re ready to send the email, you’ll be able to approach the blog editors with confidence and clarity, knowing that your shop/products are within the scope of the types of things they feature and their style.

And you’ll know a bit about the editors themselves and perhaps find some common ground you share, which can be a wonderful lead in to start your pitch conversation!

The pitches that stand out to editors the most sound like a human being talking to another human being. Like a chat between one individual to another.

The more they sound like a “sales pitch” or the same message you sent out to a bunch of people, the least likely you are to draw their attention.

Effective pitches are:

Personal
A good pitch will address the editor by name, and acknowledge that you have familiarity with their blog, or them, in some way. And just like in person, if you’ve never communicated with them before, you’ll want to introduce yourself first, instead of acting like an old friend or their biggest fan (which feels slimy.)If you have had contact with them in some way before (on social media perhaps), acknowledge how you know them or where your conversation last left off. Just approach them as you would in person- friendly, polite and with a smile! (they can hear it, even if they can’t see it :)
All about the visuals
If there’s one thing all design/art/handmade product blogs have in common, is that they’re all about the visuals! That means, the most effective pitches include can’t-resist, high-quality, showin’-your-stuff-off photos. An editor has solely your photographs to judge the product’s quality, style, craftsmanship and colors, so each pic has to be AWESOME.Honestly, you’d be better off not saying a word and attaching amazing photos of your great work, then you’d be chatting up how great your work is and attaching poorly lit, poorly styled photos of it. Your work has to speak for itself, so attach photos that can do some talkin’!
Short and sweet
Editor’s are short both on time and patience when it comes to an inbox filled to the brim with impersonal, off-target, ick-filled pitches. So to stand out, keep it short and sweet- a few paragraphs or less will do it, in a tone of professional friendliness and confidence.The pitch is not the place to share lots of background info, the inspiration for your work and why you’re the awesomest (eventho you totally are.) Think of the pitch as an invitation for them to click your link and enter your world, where they can explore and find all that out for themselves. Just say hello, share what you do, share a link, attach some pics and you’re done. Get them intrigued, and get out.

So now that you know what to do, let’s talk a bit about what not to do.

{please forgive this perfectly appropriate, yet mildly disgusting photo of my foot. This is from a trip to Minnesota to visit a friend a couple years ago- I wore the wrong shoes!}

For my Tip-Top Pitch Kit, an e-book I recently created all about how to pitch, I surveyed 28 popular design bloggers anonymously and asked: “What’s your biggest turn off in a pitch?” Here are the main points gathered from their collective responses, along with some *actual quotes from them…

Please, for the love of all that is good, do NOT:

Address your email “Hello blogger,” “Hi there!” “Dear editor,” “Hello sir/madam”, “Dear Ms.”, “Attn OMHG Team”. Bloggers have names too- find them, and be sure to use them!
* “If they can’t find the time to figure out my name, I don’t have time to read their pitch.”
Copy and paste the same email out to every blogger, just changing the name on top, mass-mail to multiple people at once (even if you bcc), send a press release with no personal greeting, or sign a blogger up for your email list!
* “It’s a turn-off when it’s clearly a “form” email that they have just pasted my name in. That feels yucky. And also just a waste.”
Quickly glance at their blog before pitching to reference the latest post, or worse yet, not even look at the blog at all before pitching.
* It irks me when “someone references the last post up on the blog as fantastic instead of actually doing their research.”
Be self-deprecating or unsure about your talents/skills- have confidence in yourself!
* “I’ve received submissions that start out by saying, “I know you probably won’t feature this but…” If you don’t believe in your own work, why would I? Arrogance is a turn off but confidence is key.”
Be overly “familiar” if you don’t have an established relationship with the blogger already, or be overly gushy.
* “Don’t call me “sweetie”, “honey”, or “sugar pie” unless you’re Flo the waitress from Alice, a good friend, or related to me in some way.”
Include too much information in a pitch about your background or work- present links where they can find all that out if they’d like.
* “The work will speak for itself. Sometimes I find that when they go on and on about the work or product, I never end up liking it.”
Forget to attach stand-out, blog-worthy, well-lit, well-styled photos with your pitch! Make sure they’re web-resolution (72 dpi) and at least the width of the blog you’re pitching to.
* “Another turn off is terrible product photos. If a small biz doesn’t care enough about their product to have good photos, why should I care enough to do a feature?”
Attach a big pdf, document, media kit, lookbook or high-res photos- point them to where they can find them/download online, or let them know you have it additionally to send if they’re interested in seeing.
* It turns me off when “they attach a PDF or something crazy that takes way too long to open. The faster the better.”
Tell them that your product/shop would be good for their readership, or blogs- they know their own taste and readers best- make sure you’re on target, but let them be the judge!
* “I really hate it when people tell me that they thought something “would resonate with or appeal to your readers.” I’ll be the judge of that, thank you. Just tell me that you’re submitting X product for my consideration and respect me to do my job as an editor.”
Be overly aggressive in your approach, or condescending, or express frustration or annoyance if you hear back with a no (or don’t hear back at all). That’s the way to close the door on an opportunity!
* “It also irks me when people are overly aggressive with their pitches and express annoyance/anger that I haven’t featured them yet or act like it’s their right to have their product featured on my site.”
Suggest doing a giveaway to blogs that don’t do giveaways, or a diy project for a blog that doesn’t have a diy column, or a guest post for a blog that doesn’t accept guests- aka, do your homework first, always!
* “It’s really tough to take a pitch seriously when it’s clearly content or products I don’t typically feature. Do enough research to know what kind of posts I regularly feature and send me relevant content pitches and you’ll get my attention much quicker and easier.”

So now you know what to do in a pitch to stand out from the crowd, and what to clearly avoid in order to show the editors respect, courtesy and keep the doors of feature opportunities open!

It all boils down to: doing the research first, approaching the editors like you’re having a conversation with a real person (because you are) and presenting yourself with confidence, respect and a smile, because people can read genuine enthusiasm, care and friendliness- even if it’s between the lines.

What has been your experience pitching your shop/product/service to blogs so far? Do you have any fears, or hold-ups in contacting bloggers? Does this information change how you’ll approach your next pitch?

Editor’s note: Join Jena (@miss_modish) and I to talk about this fantabulous post + your questions live at our #OMHG Twitter chat this Thursday from 1-2EST! Also I know Jena’s marketing style is totally ick-free and non-pushy but I can push (or gently encourage with great love) you to check out her Tip Top Pitch Kit if you are having any trouble at all getting positive responses to your pitches. No affiliate links or sponsored review here I just honestly think this kit is packed with revelations and a-ha! moments to help you get the word out & know as a blogger I value every bit of her pitching wisdom!

Copyright Transfers: Do You Really Own The Rights To Your Logo Design?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

How do you know if you really own the copyright to your logo design?

Since attending Alt Summit back in January and speaking with an IP lawyer during the roundtable sessions, I learned valuable advice to an issue that, up until that point, I had not even seen as an issue. I also recently joined the San Diego AIGA and have been focused on aligning my business with their professional standards and Design Business Ethics.

In light of these events, I wanted to share my personal story in hopes that it will help you know if your designer’s copyrighted work was transferred to you or not. Be sure to read all the way down, as I list resources for you to use!

Note: It is the designer’s choice to determine if they’d like to give their clients either full rights, partial rights, or no rights to their work’s copyright depending on what is being designed, although it’s strongly encouraged for identity design to be fully transferred to the client.

My Current System

Up until now, I had always written in my Terms of Design that clients receive full rights to the design work they receive. Even when they fill out my Logo Design Brief or Web Design Brief, they have to mark a check box for agreeing with these terms. In my Terms, I also make sure to state that I will not use their designs on a someone else’s design project, another benefit to having rights to your designs.

And to me, I thought this was legally good enough: letting them know and not pursuing claims against them in this light. Giving full rights to my clients, while holding on to my rights to use any work I create for portfolio and promotional use only, is just a personal preference of mine. I haven’t had any problems or reasons to change this business policy and it seemed natural to do so mostly because I deal in brand design. All was well in Designer Land…

My Legal Advice

…that is, until I learned from my talk with the IP lawyer at Alt Summit that this was not good enough! I still owned all rights to my work and not my clients.

After recovering from a mild heart attack that I cooly kept from showing though my ghost white face probably gave it away, I asked him how should I proceed and he said I needed a more formal document drawn up that both parties would need to sign and date to make this legal. Having a check box one document and the terms on another was not good enough in the court system, it needed to be condensed into a single release form. The good news was it was easily correctable.

My clients had nothing to fear with this small hiccup, because as previously stated, I only have interest in being able to use my designs for portfolio and promotional use but I’m still correcting the issue because it’s “better late than never”. Registering their logo to be trademarked or having it copyrighted, would require them having full rights to their designs. Having the paperwork to back up their statements, makes both parties able to sleep well at night.

Note: Any work that was meant for on-going, exclusive marketing purposes should have full rights transferred to the client with the exception of portfolio and promotional use on behalf of the designer.

My Next Steps

As soon as I had saved up enough money over the next several weeks, I contacted my lawyer to draw up the necessary paperwork for me. I’m in the business of working with businesses so I didn’t want to risk doing this myself. Copyrights, Trademarks, and Intellectual Property are all things I have to be aware of on a daily basis because of the nature of my job. I also made sure to have my lawyer give a good polishing to my Terms of Design so it would correlate with the new Copyright Release Form.

Additional Resources

If you’re not a fan of mini heart attacks either and want to be “Copyright Happy”, check out these links below for more information on copyright transfers and the tools to get the job done!

AIGA professional association for design
United States Copyright Office for learning about and registering copyrights
Adobe EchoSign lets you sign documents anywhere for free and is as easy as email
Legal Services by Kara Jensen Zitnick from LaunchHER
Logo Design Copyright Transfer Form for Download by Graham Smith from I’m Just Creative
Copyright Laws & Trademarks in Logo Design by Jacob Cass from Just Creative Design

How Much Marketing Should Craft Bloggers Do for Craft Companies?

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

a special guest post by Diane Gilleland of CraftyPod

Image by jessica wilson {jek in the box}, via Flickr Creative Commons

This morning, I opened my email and found what I find every single week: a request from a craft company, asking me to feature its products on my blog. Sometimes, these companies want to send me free product if I’ll write about it or have a giveaway. Some of them want me to promote a contest they’re hosting. Some of them just send me press releases. In some cases, these companies are Etsy sellers looking to sell their wares, and in other cases, they’re great big companies with stores all over the country.

The truth is, if you’re a craft blogger and you accumulate a readership of reasonable size, sooner or later people will come knocking on your door, asking you to market stuff for them.

Is that a bad thing? No, not always. But it does point to a new media landscape that’s emerging for the craft industry. If you think about it, in many ways blogs are slowly usurping the other channels crafty marketers used to use to spread the word about their products. Craft magazines have dwindled, as have crafty TV programs. Where are we crafters paying the lion’s share of our media attention? On the internet – in the blogosphere and on social media sites.

So, craft companies increasingly need bloggers – or, more pointedly, they need exposure to our readers – in order to stay viable.

Image by ank0ku, via Flickr Creative Commons

OK, that’s not exactly rocket science. But it’s beginning to raise some important questions for bloggers:

Do we really want to be marketing engines for the craft industry?
Do we bear any actual responsibility for promoting the craft industry?
Should we, in fact, be compensated for this service? And perhaps most importantly…
How much of this marketing will our readers actually tolerate before they start drifting away?

It’s really easy, I think, for crafters to become a bit contentious in discussing these questions. It’s that whole “hobbyist vs. professional” debate. If you blog as a hobby, and a company you love offers to send you a bunch of free goodies in exchange for a blog post, you should have every right to take advantage of that deal. And if I blog for my livelihood, and the same company approaches me, I should have every right to request that they pay for the exposure to my audience.

…The issue is that these two realities, although both 100% valid, don’t co-exist so well. Then there’s a third reality in that mix: the craft companies themselves, who, let’s face it, will almost always gravitate to where they don’t have to pay anything for exposure. I don’t see this as nefarious, necessarily – any company will seek to save money where it can. But with so many companies beginning to target blogs as marketing channels, I think it may be time for every blogger to consider where she stands in terms of her “marketing boundaries.”

Image by Nicola Corboy, via Flickr Creative Commons

I’ll use my own blogging history as an illustration: When I started a personal craft blog in 2006, and companies first started contacting me, it was tremendously exciting. Michaels, asking ME to promote their contest?! My goodness, I must have arrived! I took on every request that came my way. After all, I was getting freebies and I figured that if I supported these companies, sooner or later they’d support me somehow – maybe by hiring me to craft for them!

Well, over the years, I came to see that there isn’t always a mutually-supportive environment at work there. Some companies are more engaged than others, but in many cases, once they had their free publicity out of me, the companies rarely took further notice – until they needed publicity again!

Meanwhile, as I was doing all these market-y posts on my blog, I came to see that their content wasn’t all that interesting to my readers in the long run. I had to ask myself: did I really want to be a craft-product news blogger? My readers had come to me because I blogged about craft projects. Was it fair to shove a lot of craft-company promotion at them just so I could have free stuff?

Slowly, as my blog has become a more central part of my livelihood, I’ve backed away from doing much free promotion for companies.

Image by golbenge, via Flickr Creative Commons

…But alas, my decision, though it sounds a little cut-and-dried, is full of complications. For example: it may be easy to draw this line against larger craft companies with marketing budgets, but what about fellow crafters who’ve opened up small online shops? In a way, I feel a different responsibility for these little companies – after all, a one-person shop may not have access to the kinds of marketing resources big companies do. Plus, these are fellow crafters. What does it mean when I turn these folks’ marketing requests away?

And then there’s the factor of the industry as a whole. Again, it’s easy for me to decide that I don’t want to be a free marketing engine for larger craft companies, but even then, it’s hard to ignore the fact that, without the crafty blogosphere, craft companies have fewer and fewer ways to reach crafters, and this can hurt industry sales as a whole. I love craft supplies, and craft books and magazines. If I want them to stay around, shouldn’t I participate a little in spreading the word about them?

Image by tonyhall, via Flickr Creative Commons

There are no easy answers here – as I said before, each of us has to come up with our own policies. But there are two ideas that, whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional blogger, I think we might all agree upon. First, there’s the concept of mutually-beneficial exchange. If you’re going to use your blog to market someone else’s product, what do you need to get in return in order to feel good about that?

We do have to let each other define what “mutually-beneficial exchange” means for ourselves, and respect each other’s definitions. But when we’re approached by anyone (and especially, anyone who has a marketing budget) and asked to give them free publicity, don’t we all have a right to request a format that benefits both us and them? Maybe that’s payment for the exposure, or maybe it’s a review copy – or maybe it’s a trade of exposure, and they promote our work through their channels. There are always options; we just need to ask for them.

The second idea is one I’ve written about on my blog – storytelling partnerships. It’s about understanding that the mere existence of a product does not make for interesting blog content, so all the “blog mentions” in the world won’t necessarily capture hearts and minds. I think there are rich opportunities for bloggers and marketers to work together to come up with more interesting blog coverage that gets promotion done without sounding so much like marketing.

Image by John Kenzer, via Flickr Creative Commons

If we bloggers were to gently demand mutually-beneficial exchanges and better stories from craft companies, I think those companies would begin to treat us with more respect. I think many craft companies (whether consciously or not) make big assumptions about bloggers: that we all “need things to write about,” so why not their product? That we all want free products, and will happily promote anything in exchange. That we don’t really need to be compensated, because we aren’t traditional media outlets. And I think the only reason they can make these assumptions is because we allow them to.

The blogosphere has been around long enough now that it may be time we bloggers started thinking of ourselves as what we’ve become – a primary media outlet for the crafter market. I don’t think the marketers will see us this way, though, until we step up and claim this role.

What are your thoughts? Do you have a policy for marketing content on your blog? What would a mutually-beneficial exchange look like for you?

Editor’s note: Please share your thoughts in the comments & join Diane & I for an #OMHG Twitter chat on mutually-beneficial relationships + blogging boundaries from 1-2 EST this Thursday-its going to be a juicy one! Click here for more info on our #OMHG chats.

ABOUT DIANE

Diane Gilleland writes, podcasts and teaches over at CraftyPod.com. She’s obsessed with making crafts and making all kinds of media, and when she’s not obsessing over those things, she’s thinking about how online culture is changing them. Unless her cat Pushkin needs something – then she drops everything and does what he says.

Make Time for Fun! Free Printable Calendar Set

Friday, March 16, 2012

special guest post by Alison Moore English of The English Pea

If you are like me then you probably feel like you haven’t stopped since the Christmas holidays. There is so much to be done with kiddos, family, birthdays, business, new product development, taxes, and the list goes on.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it just doesn’t feel like there is a lot of time to fit fun, quality time in. I work from home with my kiddos in tow and there are so many days that I intend to do something fun; promise to get up with a friend, schedule that sitter for date night but my very busy, over stacked list gets the better of me.

So I decided I would create my “fun” calendar – a way for me to get motivated about scheduling those oh so fun moments for either myself, my kiddos, my hubby and those friends I used to have;)

My goal is to use the calendar and post it on the fridge or next to our big marker board calendar and get a couple things scheduled each month that are fun and focused on those that I love so dearly. The calendar is easy to use and I have provided a printable for stickers as reminders and they provide ideas as well. The great thing is you can start today – or tomorrow (just put it on your to-do list for this week and be sure to mark it off before next). Because you and I both know, our long laundry list never gets shorter, but those little people grow, those friendships can change, and that intimate relationship with your spouse or significant other need fostering in order to stay healthy. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to look back and wish I had spent one less afternoon working instead of playing with those that mean the most to me.

Click picture below to download The English Pea calendar:

Click picture below to download The English Pea stickers:

Editor’s note: A big thank you to the lovely Alison of The English Pea for creating this special gift for us + all her time designing and photographing this printable! I know I don’t make enough time for fun and already have mine all printed out and ready to play with-if you appreciated this post or needed the reminder too, be sure to give some love to Alison in the comments!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alison M. English is the owner of The English Pea Studio, a vibrant line of paper goods for special occasions and the everyday. While running her full time business she is a wife and mother to a set of Irish twins who keep her on her toes and inspire most of her bright, whimsical illustrations and party goods. You can learn more about Alison or keep up with her via her website at www.theenglishpea.com, on Twitter and Facebook.

Pinterest Ethics: Questioning, Considering & Doing our Homework

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The internet: where everyone goes, and where very few know how to behave. Not through lack of trying, mind you – many of us try our best, but NEW AND FUN THINGS keep popping up on our radar and we just want to THROW OURSELVES IN. Terms of use? Yes I agree, yes yes yes! Just let me into this app/game/website. Whoops, this might infringe on the rights of others – whatevs, that’s the website’s problem, amirite?

Sadly and all too oftenly, nope.

Many of us aren’t strangers to being “borrowed” from. A few years ago I designed a logo for my dear friend Michelle, then one day she emailed me with a little surprise:

Isn’t that a delightful homage? I didn’t think so, either. I emailed and respectfully asked for a take-down and the person wrote back to say that she had found my image by Googling “cupcake” and that as such it was fair game. Um, no, it’s not, really. It took a few diplomatic emails to explain why this was inaccurate. I was beginning to despair when the lightbulb moment finally arrived as I explained that had she found the McDonald’s logo instead, she wouldn’t have used it. She agreed to take the logo down.

If only it always went down this simply – often the stakes are much higher. I regularly see many talented independent artists getting ripped off by big corporations. But what if your images are not being modified or used for personal profit, yet are being shared at a dizzying rate, without your permission or even without leading back to the correct source? Surely an artist doesn’t mind getting a little free promotion, right? Well, you don’t need me to tell you what assuming does…

Pinterest has been around for a few years now, but has gathered considerably more steam and attention as of late. It’s a pretty fun concept. “Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.” Hey, cool. With all the nifty things I find on the web, and with all of my ideas and future plans/haircuts/meals/renovations depending on it, I could use some organizing help. There’s even some pin etiquette to help get you started. Interestingly, they’re saying to avoid self-promotion. Really? Ok then. Moving on… wait. What’s this in the Terms?

“You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that: (i) you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services or you have all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to Cold Brew Labs the rights in such Member Content, as contemplated under these Terms; and (ii) neither the Member Content nor your posting, uploading, publication, submission or transmittal of the Member Content or Cold Brew Labs’ use of the Member Content (or any portion thereof) on, through or by means of the Site, Application and the Services will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other proprietary or intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation.”

*Holds up hand* Soooo…. how can I post anything if I shouldn’t self-promote but those are the only images I actually own? How can I pin to my boards if I don’t have the rights to use the images I find on the interwebs? *Waves hand around* Is this even a sustainable business model?

It’s great that Pinterest encourages their users to credit the source (if you spend any time on Pinterest, you’ll see that a lot of images are credited to other pins, or Tumblr, or whatever other site they were copied from, instead of actually leading anywhere that would be productive to the actual creator of the image). Not to mention, Link With Love is doing an admirable job of raising awareness in this regard. And many Pinterest users are conscientious, caring people who are crediting, attributing, linking wherever they can. But there’s one thing everyone mentioned here has forgotten about:

Most, if not all, of the images you’re posting do not belong to you. You need to ask permission.

I probably should put my hand down now – my fingers are getting numb, and I don’t think anybody’s going to be able to answer my question, at least not for now. If everybody on Pinterest actually took the time to ask permission to use the images they’re pinning, would anybody still be on there? And if you really think about it, shouldn’t this already apply to all blogs, tumblrs, facebook pages, etc? I realize this is a much bigger issue that stretches far beyond the scope of this (already very long – and it keeps getting longer) post, but it’s something we should all consider on our daily internet wanderings. Professionally, when I come across a font or texture I’d like to use for a project, I read the terms of use. If they don’t grant permission for commercial use, I don’t use it. If the creator wants attribution and the project I’m working on doesn’t allow for that, I don’t use it. And so on. Why should anything else on the internet be approached any differently? If there’s a share button, or some kind of disclaimer where you agree to respect the terms, go for it. But if there isn’t – do you really need it that instantly that you can’t write a short note saying how much you like said image, and can you please use it? Not only is it respectful (and lawful), but 9 times out of 10, you’ll be making that person’s day. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE making somebody’s day…

Pinterest is trying to set up some measures to help with this. They’ve created a “pin it” button you can add to your site to allow users to pin your work, and conversely they’ve also created a code snippet you can add to your website that will block people who try to pin from it. Flickr has already implemented this code to pages with copyrighted or protected images.

Unfortunately, the code snippet is very easy to bypass and I have seen websites with no-pin codes continue to have their images pinned to Pinterest – meaning that users are still pinning even though the copyright owner of the work has specifically and unmistakably requested that they don’t. This kind of behaviour is exactly what has some content creators and bloggers so concerned, and the fact that Pinterest continues to be so passive about it (i.e. you need to contact them to file a claim of infringement, but they aren’t actively discouraging this behaviour nor investigating/enforcing this on their own).

Additionally, the pin-it button does not necessarily eliminate the permission question. Firstly, if I have obtained permission to run somebody’s work on my blog, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they have also given permission to allow their images to be pinned to Pinterest. Adding pin-it buttons throughout your blog can be misconstrued as a green light to pin when, in fact, you may not have the right to offer this kind of permission. Secondly, a trend seems to be forming where major sites are adding pin-it buttons across the board, regardless of whether the content belongs to them or not, and without giving any kind of opt-out choice. Behance has since revised their approach and are not including the pin-it button on any portfolio work that is not cc (creative commons). Etsy remains particularly worrisome because they exist primarily to showcase and promote independent artists’ work, and at the moment there is no option for sellers to remove the pin-it button from their images.

And what about all the sites that don’t have pin-it buttons? Pinterest is basically suggesting that the entire internet needs to modify their sites with the (slightly ineffective) block-out code in order to opt-out. It shouldn’t be an opt-out. It should be an opt-in.

Ok, so back to me. Since I can’t post anything I don’t own or have the rights to, how about I throw suggested pin etiquette out the window and just post my own work? Then I’m safe, right? Wrong…

“By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.”

Some of these rights sound a bit scary, but as with many other sites, they are necessary in order for the site to function as it promises to. But SELL? That’s a bad word to see in there. (“And otherwise exploit”… after everything else they’ve listed, I can’t even imagine what that would mean). If I post any of my work, I’m granting Pinterest the right to sell it? Oof. A few years ago I used to warn artist friends not to post their work on Facebook for licensing reasons but most people really don’t seem to care. And, I will admit to using Instagram (for personal use) with gleeful abandon. Perhaps Pinterest will be free of this kind of care, as well. But until the terms of use change, I think I’ll refrain from pinning my own work, or adding any pin-it buttons to my site; at least for now, thank-you.

Don’t get me wrong – the idea that somebody might like my work enough to save it as inspiration or just to share with others tickles me absolutely pink. But I have a problem with granting this kind of access to a site that will claim selling rights over my work. I wouldn’t even be able to track it or embed copyright information into it, because Pinterest strips all embedded metadata from its files. (p.s. so does Facebook, Twitter, and others).

Think you’re safe because if anybody gets really upset and starts suing, the website will take the fall? You’re not. The Pinterest terms of use state that they are free and clear of any wrongdoing. In fact, if they get sued, not only will you have to pay to defend yourself, but you’ll have to pay to defend Pinterest, too. (Facebook has similar terms, by the by).

Pinterest is a small company of 20 or so people. I understand how this can make it difficult to resolve massive issues such as this – but since they’ve already been around for a few years, and seeing as their business model appears to be built around sharing images that nobody has the rights to, I certainly hope this is something they are working on. Surely they realized this would become an issue? (Pinterest: quit calling me Shirley. Badum-bum). Recently, a petition was passed around to limit the amount of characters you could add to a pin. Turns out, people were copying entire blog posts or recipes and adding them to their pins, which eliminated the possibility of people clicking through to the actual site that was responsible for the content. Pinterest graciously implemented a character limit soon after. While I applaud this move, I feel that this was a relatively quick fix and still skirts the main issues at hand. From what I have read, they’re a conscientious team and they’re trying to do the right thing. I hope this means that significant changes for the better are in their not-too-distant plans.

If you are frustrated by the ongoing silence and lack of updates from Pinterest, and are concerned about the ethics of your Pinterest boards but lamenting the return to simple bookmarking, there may be another solution for you: Image Spark (in fact, when Pinterest showed up as the new kid on the block a while back, I thought: hey, another Image Spark). Image Spark differs from Pinterest in that it allows you to make your image collection private (this is a key difference that allows you to assemble your favourite images in one place while helping to avoid the more complex issues of sharing), has much more acceptable Terms (and in the FAQs, they specifically state that getting permission is your responsibility) and has the additional fun feature of personalized moodboards.

As for where this leaves me, I did sign up to Pinterest not long ago to see how it works… but I haven’t pinned anything, and for the time being I don’t plan to.

To sum up:

Just because something’s on the internet doesn’t mean that it’s free for public use – it is still protected under copyright law. Some sites share their permission policies prominently but if there is any doubt, ask.
Not everyone wants their work to be shared on Pinterest, or any other site. It doesn’t matter what their reasons are. We have all snapped a photo or similarly created something that belongs to us. Try to be respectful of others’ wishes.
Crediting a source, while admirable, is often not enough – you should be asking permission. Drop them a line, tell them how much you love them, and ask. If they say no, move on.
If something has a pin it button, and you know for a fact that permission has been granted, go crazy and Pinterest your pants off. If you’re unsure that a site truly has the license to share, or you come across a site that doesn’t specify whether you can pin or not – regardless of whether there is a Pinterest blockout code on it or not – ask.

Wow – you’re still here?! You super trooper, you. Thanks for sticking around. Gold star for you! And, a very special gold star thank-you to Jessika and Oh My! Handmade Goodness, for inviting me to share my thoughts with you today.

About Anile Prakash:

A born and bred Montrealer discovering the joys of the Hudson countryside, I am a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. I am delighted by the opportunity to work directly with clients who, despite being pulled in many directions at once, still place a deservedly high value on functional and beautiful design. If you have a project you’d like to chat about together, feel free to drop me a line. I am also the design director for Pure Green Magazine, a Canadian independent print publication featuring the diversity in the green design and lifestyle market. You can subscribe here!

Connect with Anile on her website Girlfriday + Twitter & Facebook

Editor’s note: I invited Anile to share her post with us (previously published here) for our ethics theme because she does such an excellent job laying out the major legal/ethical concerns with wisdom, humor and excellent research. Let’s continue this conversation in the comments below or join us tomorrow (Thursday, March 15) from 1-2EST for a Pinterest ethics #omhg chat with our lovely co-host Anile! Get all the details here.

Professionalism in Social Media

Monday, March 12, 2012

a super special guest post by Laura Howard of Lupin Handmade

Chances are, if you’re selling your work or promoting your business online you’re probably using sites like Twitter and Facebook to connect with customers and clients and bloggers, and to keep in touch with your industry peers.

Social media is friendly, it’s personal, it’s about connections and relationships. All these things fit perfectly with the experience of buying direct from an artist/designer or indie business, which has the potential to be much more special than buying from a faceless corporation.

However, there are potential pitfalls too. Chatting online we’re all aware of things like privacy, personal safety, scammers and spammers… but chatting online as the face of your business you also need to remember that your social chatting reflects upon your business reputation. It’s important to stay professional, especially if you’re using your business name and you link to your Twitter/Facebook page from your website, or include the link in your email signature.

Professional doesn’t have to mean soulless! You don’t need to stop being you, or stop making those personal connections which make social media so wonderful… but there are a few things worth bearing in mind before you write that status update or publish that tweet.

Remember that what you type is public.

If you’ve got a public Facebook page for your business or your Twitter account isn’t “protected”, you might feel like you’re having a one-to-one conversation but what you share there is visible to the public at large and may also show up in search engines like Google. The same goes for public forums like the ones on Etsy.

There was recently a case here in the UK where a guy was arrested, taken to court and convicted for a joke he made on Twitter. This is a rather extreme example, but it’s important to remember that chatting on social media is not the same as just having a conversation even though it often feels that way.

Think before you complain.

Aside from the fact that constant negativity can be a bit of a downer and perhaps not what you’d want people to associate with your business, complaining on social media can have unforeseen consequences – mostly because it’s public. Just like all those people you read about getting fired for bitching about their job or their boss online, if you complain about difficult customers, clients, etc, it could seriously backfire if they stumble onto your comments.

One seller I knew was rejected from a new sales venue she’d just signed up with because of jokey comments her Etsy forum friends made about the name of the venue. She didn’t even join in with the comments, but the forum thread popped up in the venue’s visitor stats and they weren’t happy with what they found! Even if the people you’re complaining about never read what you wrote, plenty of potential customers will and they might get a bad impression of your business as a result. We all have customers and situations that drive us nuts, but sometimes it’s good to take a deep breath and think before you post.

One situation that’s sure to make you furious is when you discover a person or a company copying your work.

But no matter how angry you are, beware of publicly accusing someone of copying.

I’ve witnessed a lot of Twitter storms kick off over copying in the past few years – it’s a hugely emotional issue for the designers it happens to and for our creative community as a whole. You’re upset you got “ripped off”, your friends and customers are angry on your behalf, and as a result one upset tweet can go totally viral. This can sometimes be a good thing, as the power of the social media crowd can give power to a David ripped off by a big corporate Goliath (as in this recent example involving H&M).

But what if the person gets so upset and angry with you because of the way you’ve publically called them out that they become less willing to work with you to find a solution? What if you accuse someone of copying and it was just a coincidence? What if a company sues you for defamation? Generally you should try to get some good advice from friends and (if necessary) a lawyer and try to deal with the situation privately whenever possible.

A few more things to consider…

Some things – like your sex life or your kids toilet routines – may be a bit too personal to share with your customers. If your tweets are a bit TMI then you could be losing followers.

Similarly, if you’ve got strong political or religious views the Facebook page for your business might not be the best place to share them unless they’re connected to your business somehow, e.g. if you’re donating a percentage of your profits to a cause.

And finally, you might swear like a sailor in real life but you may want to moderate your language online, especially if you run a “family friendly” business or blog.

Finding the perfect balance between personal and professional can be tricky, and it will (of course) be slightly different for everyone. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Howard, a.k.a. Lupin, sells her handmade felt designs plus colourful craft supplies in her shop Lupin Handmade. She writes about her crafty universe and shares free tutorials on her blog, Bugs and Fishes. Her first book, Super-Cute Felt was published in 2011. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Why We Don’t Need More

Saturday, March 10, 2012

{image credit ᔥ confetti love}

More, more, more! Seems like every where I turn, folks are buzzing about how to get more customers, more sales, more likes, more followers. Me? I don’t want more.

I want better.

Four years ago, tucked deep inside one of my husband’s business school books was the concept that it’s a whole lot smarter to keep one customer than to find another. It might sound a little obvious now, but at the time I was so new to the small business world, I thought it was pure brilliance. At first glance, the concept seems simple. But I think if we look carefully, we can see powerful implications for our creative small businesses.

Considering mine is one-woman show, applying this concept keeps my business efficient. By focusing on the customers I have, they in turn take care of the very best type of marketing I could ask for — word of mouth. The number of people reached from a single successful sale can be a multiple of those from an expensive online ad (or fill in the blank with any other marketing tactic). This means we’re not spending gobs of money on promotions or hours on social media but instead cultivating connections with our buyers.

For me, focusing on the customers I have also guides me in how to grow my small business. I’m not interested in 5,000 mildly satisfied one-time visitors…I want 500 brand loyalists so pleased with their purchases they sing about it from the roof tops. Because these happy buyers will be back. Again and again. To build our brands this way, we look for avenues to truly connect.

Adhering to this philosophy makes problem solving a whole lot easier too. It’s like a compass for navigating the surprise twists and turns of owning a business. Sure we’re diligent and careful, but mistakes happen. When the unforeseeable does occur (like the package inexplicably waiting at Canadian customs for 2 months or a tiny fabric flaw in the very last blush pink clutch), I pose the question, “what will it take to keep this customer?” I know that whatever the cost, it is more than likely less than finding a new one.

Of course, it’s impossible to please everyone. There will be unsatisfied customers. There will be ones who feel our brand is not for them. But that’s not really the point. It’s about how we respond — how we choose to approach business. It’s about shifting our focus from always searching for more to creating better, smarter customer connections.

How are you choosing better over more? Please share in the comments!