Business, Busy-ness

[The hills in the morning]

Whoa, what a month! I've been way too busy surviving as a newly independent weaver to write in my blog. I'm only writing now while I lay in bed with orange juice, hoping to stave off what feels like another bout of that very tenacious flu from November.

First, I had to take the (few) piles of cloth in my possession and make them into saleable garments. For the holiday gift-giving crowd I chose scarves as my main focus. They're affordable because they don't use much cloth. And, my bold patterns are perfect for an accessory like that.

I also had another challenge: design a functional ruana. The first piece of handweaving I ever bought was a ruana and I remember the instant attraction of that classic garment. I also saw how well they sold at the Renaissance Faire. They are the staple. I have an agreement with my previous "employer" that I won't use her cloth designs or garment patterns. Thank goodness for McCall's! Their pattern 3448 is called the One-Hour Poncho. It's perfect! They give 4 main variations on the shape so I chose the simplest one with a hood and modified it to remove the lining and flat-fell the seams. If you like to sew, grab an old blanket and give this pattern a try! I don't mind sharing it because the value in my work is that I did it, not the source of my pattern inspiration.

[Look at C. It's a hooded ruana!]

Once I had my stuff designed and produced, I had to get started selling it, and quick! Because of my rural location and the fact that I hadn't foreseen my independence early enough to create "craft show quantities" and apply for holiday shows, I decided to focus on my online retail presence.

I started out making software decisions in my usual manner: compare features, look at potential upgrades and future features, etc. In this way I decided to go with ZenCart on my own private website. It allows for extremely refined discount terms, free shipping on orders of a certain amount, coupons, special features, upcoming items, and more.

So I set it all up in time for Black Friday and realized one fatal flaw in my plan. There are few customers visiting my site. A number of people read my blog, but nobody treats my website as a shopping destination. Why would they? The store is brand new. It takes time to develop repeat business, and time is the one thing I don't have. If my scarves don't sell by the end of December, I may as well pack them away until next
Winter.

Then I remembered Etsy, the online marketplace for all things handmade. They've got what I don't - traffic. And not just any traffic, either. The people browsing that site are informed shoppers who want handmade goods. Etsy's listing fees are cheap and they only take a small percentage when an item sells. I dove in with a passion!

Thankfully, Etsy makes it easy. They want their sellers to succeed so they've written TONS of stuff on how to structure your shop, shoot your photos, write your descriptions, promote yourself, and more. I knew that time was short and that I would greatly benefit from learning the ropes of this new world, so I spent about 30 hours in 2 days digesting as much of this information as I could.

And then I set to work. First, I set up Google Analytics so I'd know how much traffic my shop was getting and which parts of my effort were actually making a difference. Every day I worked like a dog to shoot product photos, write descriptions and list new items. I did everything in my power to promote my shop and make it an attractive place when people arrived.

My friends helped me get the word out. Holy cow, LiveJournal and Dreamwidth! I had no idea there were so many people on there willing to help a friend of a friend. My traffic spiked to 10x the normal level on the day those friends got involved. Thanks so much for your help!

I forget that I'm pretty good at marketing stuff. I've spent years learning how to use my camera to capture what I want. I've practiced writing for most of my adult life and, while I'm not the best writer, I'm usually able to convey what I mean and tell my story in a way that others can understand. Now I'm learning my way around Google and their system of content ranking.

And then there's all the extra stuff I've put into my Etsy store: a sale rack, gift certificates, self-service layaway, coupon codes that I've sent out to mailing lists, and more. Now I'm rapidly acquiring the one thing you can't fake: trust. As people place orders, receive them, and leave positive feedback, other customers can see it and feel more confident buying from me.

With all of that said, I look forward to setting up a better light booth so I can photograph my garments in good light regardless of the weather. I also expect to revamp my banner, bio, store description, and product descriptions once the holidays are over. This was a great "Version 1.0", and has done well with that reality in mind.

Another thing I did to raise money and get the word of my store into the world was to host a series of trunk sales in Portland. The Etsy store hadn't yet done much and getting to Portland was bringing my accounts dangerously low when good luck struck. Some sanctuary visitors arrived and bought things from me. The timing was perfect! They got beautiful garments and I got money for gas and food.

My goal with all of this was to raise enough money to buy a few hundred pounds of yarn and an auto-advance mechanism for my loom. This mechanism helps me make cloth faster, which is an important factor in keeping my prices down.

I was nervous about the trip so forgot to take good pictures of my setups at the three events I did. Below is the one picture I did take. It's the corner of one of two tables at Shabutter. Thanks, House of Butter, for hosting me and my trunk sale.

[Oskrr helping to demonstrate the softness of my pouches]

Between the Etsy store and the Portland Trunk Sale, I've made it! I placed the order for the auto-advance mechanism and a few hundred pounds of yarn. I'll be weaving again in two weeks, with new merchandise appearing in my store two weeks after that. So, look for my Spring Line in late January. The theme will be "Light, Bright, and Classic."

As soon as the holidays are over, I'll be looking for the Spring and Summer shows to sell my work. If anyone knows of a good show for high-end handcrafts, located between Ashland and Portland, leave me a comment. I'd love to know about it!