Market your Online Biz

Ok, so I just updated my shop on zibbet.com a little - decided to try a premium account for a few months and see if it will do me any good.

But the real trick here is not to have a premium account or a great looking shop online. The MUST when selling something is VISIBILITY! If no one knows where to find your stuff, then you are most likely not going to succeed. It is easy to set up a website, it is a little bit trickier to get people to visit your shop, and another jump to get the ones who visit the shop to actually BUY something.

So, I have to really target the people I try to advertise to - they have to be in the right demographics for my stuff. I know who they are - now I just have to find them. Mommies, Grandparents, and other people that would buy gifts for babies and children. They can't be that hard to find right?! No they are not, those people are EVERYWHERE - the hard part is to make them pick your store before anyone else. To look at it on a bigger picture, I am even competing with Macy's when it comes to some things, and maybe Walmart when it comes to other things. How do I make them realize that buying from me is original and not something you will find everywhere?! How do I make them come to me?

Trying Zibbet.com

Since my Etsy.com listings ran out and the competition on Etsy was just too much to handle I have decided to give Zibbet.com a try instead. They don't have close to as many sellers (probably not as many buyers either) but hopefully I can get something happening over there.

I am uploading some things tonight I think - that was my originally thought of Candie Ink... Kind of scary to put it out there, what if people don't like it.. A well. If I don't try - I will never know!

Focus on the Red Thing

I am a bull that sees red sometimes, but it is not a bad thing necessarily. It is just that when I see red I have a hard time focusing on something else but this red thing!

My red thing for the moment is to learn as much as I can about Real Estate Investing. I am consumed by it. I can't think about anything else. I look at real estate for sale all over when I have a moment over. I try to play the game Rich Dad Cashflow for an hour before I go to bed and I read about real estate investing while on the elliptical, watching TV, and whenever I have a moment over. I am so focused on it!

But I also have my little business that I want to excel in and get more sales from, not because I think I can make Candie Ink to anything big, but I like doing it and I think I can learn from that experience! For the moment I have a hard time taking time to finish some items I have laying around. I have this awesome dress that I love that I just need to finish... but when I sit there or when I get ready to sew I just think about Real Estate. I can juggle tennis balls, but I have a hard time having two bowling balls in the air at the same time; they are a little heavy! And especially when I intend for my real estate ball to grow into something larger than myself one day.

But with you all here - let's do this: If I don't have at least one more item in my little online shop by next weekend you have to promise to NEVER buy anything from me, promise!

Second Sale

Things are going slow with my Etsy shop but I finally got a second sale and this one was my favorite - the 'I Love Shoes' printed hot pink toddler t-shirt!!

I have been a little slow in my makings too, I have had so much other stuff going on that I haven't talked to the people that have said I can use their kids as models or even finishing up the dresses I was supposed to finish 3 weeks ago. No rush I guess, we are still going into summer and not going out of it.

Life is full of surprises

Fearless girls ... I'm in the middle

I am still amazed on how everything has just tumbled upon me - it truly feels like it has. I haven't been looking for it because I had no idea what to look for or where. Donald Trump to me just a few weeks ago was one of those 'rich ignorant guys' - how wrong I was!!

How can I learn to be rich, or at least a little bit more financial stable, from someone that is still going to work every day, maybe even two jobs??? On what planet does that makes sense??? Apparently on this one! Why don't we learn from the best, from the people that have done it, tried it and have succeeded from basically nothing?? When you ask it like that it is pretty obvious but do people in general think about that stuff?? I don't think so, at least I didn't. But I do now...

I went to this workshop yesterday presented by Rich Dad Education and I was literally bubbling of excitement. It wasn't like all other workshops where you find the sales pitch in every sentence (yes it was a great sales pitch going on but it was beyond the point) this sales pitch made so much sense to me and it felt like it hit me right in the heart. All I wanted to do was to stand up and scream, that is how excited I was. I so know I am capable of doing this, I truly am. Yeah sure, some seconds here and there I get these fear attacks and think to myself 'who the heck do I think I am' but the excitement takes right over... And there is a drive inside of me that I almost can't manage.

It off course helps that every night when I come home I found a sad hubby from disliking his job, feeling that he is worth so much more. Yesterday I whispered to him 'I will get you out of this'... and I truly mean it, I truly believe that it will happen!! And it will happen in probably less than one year.

Fear not the fear itself but what will happen if you do not try!

New things

I just realized that instead of using www.etsy.com/shop/CandieInk to direct people to my online store I can use www.candieink.etsy.com... and I just got my business cards...

At least I know until next time... but man, I wish I would have known that before!!!

But I guess the idea of business cards is so people don't even have to worry about remembering...

But I do feel a little stupid!

What NOT to do

This is what experienced Etsy sellers have said about what NOT to do when just getting started:

• Don't buy shipping supplies at retail (I just got my U-Line shipping catalog)
• Have great pictures - they can always get better
• Bookkeeping 
• Do not waste money on etsy showcases
• List more items (New) instead of renew them
• Don't underprice
• Only accept custom orders if they fit into your own collection
• Don't use Etsy as your only venture, try to sell on fairs and shows too
• Download Etsy hacks (I did - they are great - get yours at www.etsyhacks.com)
• Try to answer the question: "Why would anyone buy from me" 
• Be specific in the item description (I probably need to work on this one)
• USPS pick up service if your orders are getting out of hand (Yeah, I am not there yet)
• Be prepared for Xmas! (How exciting)
• Manage your inventory (This is hard when you have no idea what and how much people are going to buy from you)
• PayPal shipping - (So far I have only don't the Click-N-Ship with USPS and it works great!)
• Moo Cards (don't even know what that is)
• Join a etsy team... (still on my to do list)

Some great TIPS!! I am trying all I can - all I am missing is the sales I am looking for.

Printing my own Biz Cards

And it is not working at all! The print out will just not match the already made marks for the cards, they are all over the place. I have probably printed 100 cards without anyone of them coming out right.

I just changed some settings and I am trying again. NOPE!!! I am getting very frustrated. I should have just ordered my biz cards right away from overnightprints.com - They have great prices and the cards are so thick and sturdy, nothing like these homemade ones.

Ahhhh... what to do?? Did I just waste $20 on creating more trash???

Biz Cards

I am sure there are millions tutorials out there on how to make great biz cards in a creative and personal way. But I am just looking for the basics - I just want to know what paper to use!

I just need to be able to hand whomever I am speaking to about my business a business cards. How else are they going to remember www.etsy.com/shop/CandieInk with capital letters and all that... tooooo long and complicated. And to write it down on a piece of paper just seems like it will end up in the bottom of the bag and that is it. A business card might also just end up at the bottom of your purse, but by the time you clean up your bag (yes I have to do that sometimes) you will find it and you will probably remember what it is for.

So tomorrow I am going to look for some business cards paper. Have Staples around down the road from where I live so they will receive my business yet again. They are so lucky I am a 'ready-fire-aim' person, I don't really plan for things like that, off course making it more expensive in the long run, but who has time to plan everything in life!!

You would just end up being disappointed about failing to stay on schedule.

I did it!

I almost cannot believe it, but I sold my first onesie after only 24 hours on Etsy.com!!! I had to go back and check about 10 times before I really believed it. I was so confused, hahaa...

I know that I love my items, or I wouldn't have made them... but it is so very personal to me. Every little design I do means something to me. It is so overwhelmingly wonderful to actually have someone else appreciate them too!

So today I am walking in the clouds! :D

Ready Set...

... I really don't have time to sit here and blog, but I need a break from all the crafting. I was working until 4.30 am Saturday morning from the time I came home from my day time work on Friday afternoon. I woke up at 8.30am today and kept going..

During the Phillies game I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and took a well needed nap. Now I am ready to GO again!

My overnight task is to start my screen printing. Have been setting it up all day today even had to go and get some supplies and off course I found a fabric that I could not resist buying. I have no idea of what to do with it yet, but at least I have it! :D

Tomorrow I plan to upload my first item on my Etsy shop! 

Here are my 'new' labels after having two misspelled words on the old ones: 

New fabric, any suggestions of what would look good with it? 

You will not believe this!

Ok.. for you to really believe it I should take a picture.. but here is a sample instead:

Great huh?!?!!! I spelled both WASH and CHLORINE wrong!!!
It only tells me that I should not work with stuff like this until early morning after a long day at my daytime job.

I blame a little on it on Photoshop and it not having spell check. I live for spell check, that is why I changed from Explorer to Firefox even!

But I still can't believe I made this kind of mistake, I really can't! Time to proof read everything about 10 times!! But I always say that... I wonder when I am actually going to learn, or see my own mistakes - anyone have any idea? Is my issue incurable?

So it may not have been that bad, but I have actually made two sets of this kind of labels that is supposed to go on the side seam in all my items... and 4 of them are already attached to some dresses. Crazy!!

A well, what to do - at least I noticed it before sending the dresses out to customers. THAT would have been embarrassing! So now I will make new ones... I actually finished up some other labels today as I needed some with 6mts, 12mts, 18mts, and 24mts on them. The work will go on...

EIN & Sales Tax ID - DONE!

Oh.. I am getting closer!!!

On Monday night I went to my accountant so my SS-4 and PA-100 was filled out correctly and on Tuesday I filed the two applications online. I received my EIN right away and today I received my Sales Tax ID.

This means that I can now:
Open a bank account
Connect a PayPal account to it
Set up my PayPal to Etsy.com
Buy at wholesale
Start my shop

Ahhh... do you guys know how excited I am???

First Batch of Labels

As I am making sure I am following all CPSC, FTC and CPSIA regulations I made my first labels for all my items yesterday, including:

• Name of Business/Brand (Candie Ink)
• Country of Origin (Made in USA of imported fabric)
• Size
• Designer Name (Helena Mathis)
• Fiber Content

• Wash and Care Instruction
• Batch Number
• RN Number
• Date of Production
• Place of Production
• Web address

They came out looking great and the whole process was really pain free! But I think I am going to make them just a little bit larger so I can fold in the edges easier to be able to attache them to the clothes as I do not want to use fray check.

CPSC Webinar

For those of you that are targeting your items to products intended for children this is a great opportunity to get the latest info on rules and regulations: 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
cordially invites you to participate in a special

- Webinar -
Join CPSC Officials for a Chat Addressing
CPSIA and Small Businesses

Friday, March 26, 2010

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is a child safety law that affects people and small businesses that make handmade toys and other products intended for children. Our contacts at the Consumer Product Safety Commission will be joining us in a Webinar to talk about what the CPSIA means for our community. 

Here are the details:

On Friday, March 26 at 11 a.m. EDT, (8 a.m. PDT) Senior CPSC Officials Jay Howell and Gib Mullan will be live on a Webinar for our members to talk about how the CPSIA has impacted small businesses.

Jay and Gib will share their insights and experiences about how the CPSIA is being implemented and enforced, how compliance with the law is possible, what has been stayed and what is in effect, what needs to be tested and what does not, and what the future holds.

Presentations by both officials will be followed by a question and answer session. Jay and Gib are doing this webinar as part of an effort by CPSC to connect with organizations like ours and to demystify the CPSIA for small business owners.

CPSC will record the session for those who can't make it.

You can help move the presentation into your areas of concern by sending in advance questions to the web address below. That will help us decide which topics will be most useful for you!

To participate in the webinar go to: www.cpsc.gov/webcast/index.html

Send in your questions before, during and after the webinar to:
HTAquestions@cpsc.gov. (This email address will be active until a month after the webinar to follow up on all questions.)

Proud Owner!

I just wanted to say that I am now a proud owner of an LLC. I received my letter of filed organization yesterday and now I will continue the quest with getting my EIN number and also to set up a business account so I can get the PayPal and Etsy.com site all connected to it.

I have been reading pages after pages of tax rules - and I am happy that I have an accountant so I don't have to be too tuned in to what is going on as far as taxes, but I feel more confident knowing at least the basics of it. That way I at least have a chance of asking the right questions when and where I need to. Some of you might think I am overdoing it - but I rather be too careful now as a start than go back and say Oops!

Hopefully once everything formal is taken care of I can just get going and hope that it will pay off.
Soon, soon I will be posting my items! Can't wait!

LLC or S corp?!

Well.. I guess my choice is LLC and S corp after doing some research. But I guess that will have to wait until next year since I already passed the date of when it has to be sent in, March 15th.

Until then I will be a LLC and taxed as a sole proprietorship. I think that will be just fine, this way I will have some time to figure out what type of salary I can expect, and how my husband and I should divide the responsibility...

But there really is no easy way to figure this out. IRS provides the rules and forms to be filled out, but no recommendations or help. Help that is found online may or may not be objective. And help from an accountant or lawyer can get costly...

I am expecting my LLC application from the State to return this weekend and I was doing some reading on how to fill out my SS-4 for my EIN number... I thought it would be a walk in the park - just fill in the blanks type of deal... but there is more to it than that!

I am not too worried about it though - I feel confident that I am making the right decisions... now I just have to keep CPSC at bay and hope that they don't ban everything I need to make children clothing besides for cotton or wool... it would be a shame if all of a sudden we couldn't use zippers or buttons...

Set-back number one

But I am planning on making it my onlyONE!

On Friday night I came across some information while researching hanging tags for my clothes. "Should I have a hanging tag on the clothes I sell or do people not care about them" was my thinking. My husband didn't think I should, since they get cut off and thrown in the trash right away. I agreed, but still feel that a tag was the right way to go just to get the new and special touch on it. I was even thinking of making the hanging tab into a business card... What is your thought on it? Would people realize it, would it be a "ah that is so smart" or "that is so cheap"??? Right now, after a few days of thinking, I am leaning towards hanging tags but maybe not in the style of a business card... but love some comments on it!

So where is my set back?

It has nothing to do with hanging tags - cause I believe you can pretty much put whatever you want on those, but my head started to spin when I learned about FTC and CPSC rules and what I HAVE to put on the sew in labels for each item... it was crazy. But thanks to DuhBe and her fabulous description on the issue I manage to figure it all out. Not without getting a little bit sweaty but at least there is a way...

So if you are planning to make anything that is intended for kids - read it! It is well worth it times a thousand.

So this probably set me back a week or two, but it is ok... I am still waiting for some paperwork to be finished.

Going Crazy

I am so ready to get going. I am so curious to see what this whole new venture of mine will bring to my life... But I am still in waiting mode - I am waiting for the Department of State to send me back my papers...

I feel like I am sitting in a car, my foot is on the gas pedal; full throttle yet ~ I am going nowhere because someone is lifting my car off the ground!!

Do you have any idea of how frustrating that is?

Off course I still have ton of things I can work on in the meantime but I just want to roll out the carpet and do it all ~ all the way. The way I am doing it now is just bits and pieces here and there... but I guess ones the carpet is to be rolled out I will be happy that I did them all before.

So even though in waiting mode I am still working and thinking of this 24-7!

What's up?

I have been working on setting everything up with my new business. I sent my papers in to PA Department of State yesterday and hope that I can have an answer back before next week. Next step is the tax document: SS-4 and I hope I won't screw it up. I never contacted a lawyer. I felt, when I had red through everything of what was required, that I could do it myself.

I already have an accountant and I plan for him to take care of my yearly tax issues, just like he already is. But maybe I will contact him along the way. Just to make sure...

Have to look up if there are any extra sales taxes in the township I live in... which would suck but I wouldn't be surprised.

A well. In the meantime I am working day and night to try to figure out what to sell and how much of it I should get out at first... It is a constant battle in my head and it never ends: One day I feel one approach is right and the next day I have another approach... I am driving myself crazy... hahah!!!

So all to all of you; you will have to wait a little bit longer to see what I am creating.

Until then.