Can't I just send it to you?

This world of online sales is hard. HARD. So much to remember. So cold and difficult to reach out to a customer. They have to come to me, not because they saw my store when they were out and they were intrigued, but because they saw my ad and it caught their eye on some website i may never have even heard about.

I have to worry about banners and websites and referrals. Blogging and tweeting and posting everywhere just to get my name out there and THEN, maybe they might consider buying if I have good enough PICTURES and descriptions. I have to learn to network with other crafty sorts and plaster my information all over the web in hopes that someone will follow the link. I get more referrals from chickie's blog (http://www.skitteringthoughts.com/) than anywhere else!

The descriptions are ok. They could be better, but I take pride in my writing and while I'm sure I could use some tweaking, I've never questioned my ability to describe well. I rewrite my descriptions frequently.

I am not a photographer. I try. I have a lot to learn. Sometimes, I come out with something passable but overall? My pictures look like crap. I have been reading up on product photography and have been trying to follow the suggestions. I bought a photo tent. I set up a little vinette.

Sadly, I don't have the patience to take a hundred pictures. Then go through them and pick out the best ones. Then adjust them in photoshop. I just want to make soap. With limited resources, this is not really an option. I HAVE to do everything because right now, I can't afford to pay someone else to do it!

Being a sole proprietor is so much more than just being able to make something. And I have to adapt to that  in ways I never expected when I started Bubbly Creations. The marketing world has changed completely since I made my first bar. Sure, I am still going to get my best sales from farmers markets and craft shows; it is there that my customers can meet me, the soul behind the soap. They can pick up and smell and chat with me about what they want in a specialty bar of soap. Or just chat with me.

We live in an online world. I may like the security of catalogs and stamps, samples in the mail and little warm fuzzies every so often. But the truth is that most of us (myself included) do the bulk of our shopping online when we should be working. And with twitter, facebook, and all the various options out there in the cyber world, we have more opportunity to get in front of a large audience than I ever could with my little catalog.

Over the next year, I would really like to find a balance between the two. Start generating sales from my website while developing a personal relationship with the people who buy my product. I just don't think that a thank you note in the box is enough. I want to be able to talk and communicate. To reach out and touch every so often. I know that is what blogging and tweeting is all about, and I am trying to use Facebook as a tool more often. I also know that the Secret Crafters project will help, especially when we start sending out samples.  The world wide web just seems so cold sometimes. And although I can talk all I want here or on twitter, I can't say that I am being heard above all the other buzz.

Hmm. Stand up. Stand out. Be heard.

All I have to do is figure out how.

My first Artfire Collection!

Mismatched Misfits

Curated By: kindredimages

ArtFire.com

Jewelry Supplies

GRR!

I'm having trouble with my email again. Sigh. The fellow who has been helping me with webby stuff just had a baby so I hesitate to mention it. So. I will be using gina.bubblycreations@gmail.com for a bit till I figure out why the site hosting my email has been down for maintenance for the past month...

A whole new world

I remember the first item I ever posted to the world wide web for sale. It was a key box that I had purchased from Ikea with the intent of painting it and selling it on ebay, an online marketplace I had recently heard of where you could sell stuff you make and really, anything else.

I was simple in my painting, I took a picture, edited it with some photo editing software I had, (I removed the back ground, which was my messy desk and put it against a black background instead) and posted it.

It looked... Like the door from Twilight Zone. No wonder it didn't sell. There went my brilliant idea of making my fortune selling hand painted key cabinets. I wish I still had the picture so I could show you.

Point is, in thinking and photography skill, I haven't come much further. If you build it, they won't just come, you have to go out and find them. You have to entice them and schmooze them. Selling online isn't like selling at a craft fair where people look, they like, they buy. Or so I am learning.

As I learn more about what I will have to do to be successful as a soapmaker (or any other craft) I am realizing that it takes more than just having a webs site and some pictures. And holy crap, my pictures still suck! But I have looked at them over the years and they are improving. A little bit.

I have so far to go. So many things that need to learn.

It's SO EXCITING!!

So much exciting stuff!

Its been a good month for Bubbly Creations. If you follow me on twitter and facebook (if you don't, you should) you know that since last post I have been super busy restocking and redesigning and having an overall good time with my craft.

It's exciting.

I'm afraid i've been a weenie

As a business owner, I know that you have to periodically reinvest in your business in order to be successful. It takes time and money to make it work.

I have been the first to admit that I haven't been giving it the time, butI also haven't been giving it the money. I have been trying too hard to force BC to stand on it's own (with the exception of licenseing).

I won't even get into the website issues.

I am fixing it all now. I just placed an order that will completely resotck my supplies. I haevn't done that since I started. Tonight, I will post products to Artfire, a shopping website I went ahead and subscribed to. I'm ordering a soap stamp, and I WILL set aside at least one night a week to devote to my business.

It's a start. I'm also convincing myself that I should get up early every day and take care of stuff since I so rarely have time at night. That will take a lot more disipline. I hate getting out of bed.

I know I talk alot about doing it but over the last couple of days I have really felt a resurgance of motivation. I'm excited.  Again.

What? Oh No!

I recieved a call the other day from the city planning department who was looking over my business liscence. They had not done this before, but that's ok, I have nothing to hide and passed that hurdle easily. The difficulty is this:

Apparently, my phone number is wrong. It goes to some poor lady who is getting rather frustrated with the call volume.I think she must have been issued my last number. But I hardly gave out any cards or samples during that time!!

Lots of calls= good!! Awesome! excellent!
Wrong number?= Super Bad.

And in this day of internet, it's REALLY hard to fix the mistakes. really hard. I've signed up with two different listing sites now trying to fix this and although the issue is supposed to be fixed with at least one of them, it's still listed incorredtly. SHOOT.

I know i'll get it straitened out. And will call that nice lady, apologize, and offer her some soap on the house. but until then, SHOOT!