okely-dokely, i'm an idiot. it has been brought to my attention that i am blogging incorrectly, thankyou andrea! thankfully, i think you may be the only person reading this. but i appreciate your help none the less! so i am now going to copy and paste all the new blogs i had made and put them as posts for this beginning one. then eventually make others, but in the correct fashion! so here goes, this was ..
so i ordered more dies from my wonderful die-guy; tinker, aka: don at tinkertools! he is awesome, super nice and easy to work with and one of the nicest men i have ever met, thankyou tinker! and he is also working on my latest idea for all the tourists who come out and leave their hearts in san francisco... cliffhanger? foreshadowing!?... guess you'll just have to wait to find out, now won't you!?
i was also super productive yesterday, yay me!! hopefully i can keep that going?.... not only did i set up this blog, i also set up a flickr account which links to something else i did (yes, i did that much that i don't even remember it!) and is another great way to show off my stuff. (hopefully!) i also started a yelp! page... gulp! but i apparently have to wait for them to approve it? i am not really sure, as it is supposedly not an official 'business' according to them. but they haven't contacted me yet. so what now?!
i also came up with some more ideas for my etsy site (lookwhatimade.etsy.com) that i am proud to say i have been spending a bit of time on lately and hope that will continue as well! now if i could only get some sales! -let me go off for a minute or two here... how is it that people can "quit your day job" like the blogs they send out about stores they have interviewed who have actually quit their day jobs?! how do you market yourself well enough that you have constant sales that allow you to actually do nothing but your store!? and survive and thrive at that!? how do you pay bills, rent and have a life? that's what i want, why come i ain't got it!? what gives? AND further more, i am so sick of the stores on etsy that don't know how to price their items! i have decided that though they may seem high, my prices are fair because i am sick of cheating mySELF out of getting paid for my time! i realized that when i mark my prices to reflect those of others, i am the one that gets cheated. hopefully the initial costs are getting reimbursed, but usually they aren't even being made. it's no wonder i have no money! all this is going to do is allow consumers to get deals while once again, the artist 'starves'. part of the problem with etsy, is that it is a hobby to a lot of sellers. so of course they can price low to make sales, they have other income that takes care of their necessities. but for those of us who are relying on this for their income, it makes us have to price lower just to be considered.
so when ya'll buy local and handmade and think that the price is high, please take a second to think about all that goes into whatever it is that you are buying. there are material costs and supplies and then the artists time & creativity in implementing the item to make it able for you to purchase. i do not mean for this to be a lecture, but most who buy and do not know the other side of it (ie; the making process) don't get that there often times a LOT of work that goes into this. especially if the item is well made. like mine! my jump rings (the circle that goes through the pendant and has the chain go through it) are not only handmade, but soldered (basically like being glued shut, only with silver and a torch, so not really at all like glue!) shut to ensure that they will not open up by themselves and wear and tear and loose your pendant. that takes time, solder, gas and skill. shouldn't i or others get paid for that?
it's the same when people go to restaurants and tip little or not at all. (like oprah supposedly suggested; "just tip 10% to save money in these hard economic times.") no! you don't tip less to save money, if you cannot tip well, you shouldn't go out! what about the people that are waiting on you, they don't get reductions in their rent, bills or whatever just because of hard economic times, so why should they get cheated because you are trying to save money? want to save money? eat at home. same thing with handmade, want to save money? shop at a corporate store and forget saving the little guys and your local artists.
wow, okay, sorry! it just gets my goat when the little ones, like myself, are asked to take less than what we ask for or have to sacrifice our pay just to make a sale because those who don't know their a** from their elbow when it comes to pricing and to them it's all a hobby and insignificant. and don't get me started on the whole san francisco street artists program! some other day should anyone want to read my issues with that...
well, this was supposed to be a motivational and go-get-em kind of blog, i apologize for it becoming a bitching blog...
but thanks for reading it and remember:
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS and BUY HANDMADE! (hopefully they will have priced accordingly. if it seems high, they probably did. and they probably deserve it!)
check out the 3/50 project, it is a great site for information on small and local businesses. http://www.the350project.net
thankyou, have a good day, i am off to go make my ideas become a reality. look for them soon!
so i ordered more dies from my wonderful die-guy; tinker, aka: don at tinkertools! he is awesome, super nice and easy to work with and one of the nicest men i have ever met, thankyou tinker! and he is also working on my latest idea for all the tourists who come out and leave their hearts in san francisco... cliffhanger? foreshadowing!?... guess you'll just have to wait to find out, now won't you!?
i was also super productive yesterday, yay me!! hopefully i can keep that going?.... not only did i set up this blog, i also set up a flickr account which links to something else i did (yes, i did that much that i don't even remember it!) and is another great way to show off my stuff. (hopefully!) i also started a yelp! page... gulp! but i apparently have to wait for them to approve it? i am not really sure, as it is supposedly not an official 'business' according to them. but they haven't contacted me yet. so what now?!
i also came up with some more ideas for my etsy site (lookwhatimade.etsy.com) that i am proud to say i have been spending a bit of time on lately and hope that will continue as well! now if i could only get some sales! -let me go off for a minute or two here... how is it that people can "quit your day job" like the blogs they send out about stores they have interviewed who have actually quit their day jobs?! how do you market yourself well enough that you have constant sales that allow you to actually do nothing but your store!? and survive and thrive at that!? how do you pay bills, rent and have a life? that's what i want, why come i ain't got it!? what gives? AND further more, i am so sick of the stores on etsy that don't know how to price their items! i have decided that though they may seem high, my prices are fair because i am sick of cheating mySELF out of getting paid for my time! i realized that when i mark my prices to reflect those of others, i am the one that gets cheated. hopefully the initial costs are getting reimbursed, but usually they aren't even being made. it's no wonder i have no money! all this is going to do is allow consumers to get deals while once again, the artist 'starves'. part of the problem with etsy, is that it is a hobby to a lot of sellers. so of course they can price low to make sales, they have other income that takes care of their necessities. but for those of us who are relying on this for their income, it makes us have to price lower just to be considered.
so when ya'll buy local and handmade and think that the price is high, please take a second to think about all that goes into whatever it is that you are buying. there are material costs and supplies and then the artists time & creativity in implementing the item to make it able for you to purchase. i do not mean for this to be a lecture, but most who buy and do not know the other side of it (ie; the making process) don't get that there often times a LOT of work that goes into this. especially if the item is well made. like mine! my jump rings (the circle that goes through the pendant and has the chain go through it) are not only handmade, but soldered (basically like being glued shut, only with silver and a torch, so not really at all like glue!) shut to ensure that they will not open up by themselves and wear and tear and loose your pendant. that takes time, solder, gas and skill. shouldn't i or others get paid for that?
it's the same when people go to restaurants and tip little or not at all. (like oprah supposedly suggested; "just tip 10% to save money in these hard economic times.") no! you don't tip less to save money, if you cannot tip well, you shouldn't go out! what about the people that are waiting on you, they don't get reductions in their rent, bills or whatever just because of hard economic times, so why should they get cheated because you are trying to save money? want to save money? eat at home. same thing with handmade, want to save money? shop at a corporate store and forget saving the little guys and your local artists.
wow, okay, sorry! it just gets my goat when the little ones, like myself, are asked to take less than what we ask for or have to sacrifice our pay just to make a sale because those who don't know their a** from their elbow when it comes to pricing and to them it's all a hobby and insignificant. and don't get me started on the whole san francisco street artists program! some other day should anyone want to read my issues with that...
well, this was supposed to be a motivational and go-get-em kind of blog, i apologize for it becoming a bitching blog...
but thanks for reading it and remember:
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS and BUY HANDMADE! (hopefully they will have priced accordingly. if it seems high, they probably did. and they probably deserve it!)
check out the 3/50 project, it is a great site for information on small and local businesses. http://www.the350project.net
thankyou, have a good day, i am off to go make my ideas become a reality. look for them soon!
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