What Would I Do With $20K?

I recently read a great article by Lisa Jacobs which asked the question, "What would you do if you had $20,000 to invest in your business?"  This little prompt is supposed to help you think about expanding your business and making some long-term goals, so I'm going to go ahead and make my own list:

What would I do if I had $20,000 to invest in Buttons and Things?

1.  NEW EQUIPMENT: The button press that I own is not the fanciest, but it is perfectly fine for the sales volume I have right now.  However, one updated piece of equipment that I could use right now is an automatic circle cutter, which would speed up button production immensely.

2.  MY OWN WEBSITE: I already have a website set up for my shop that points users to etsy.  What I'm talking about here is a full-on e-commerce website where I can cut out the middle-man.  That would be cool.

3.  ADS EVERYWHERE: The only place I advertise right now is through etsy's search ads.  I have dabbled with placing ads on facebook and on ravelry, but never stuck with it because I was getting a pretty low ROI....  but wouldn't it be cool if ROI wasn't a factor (initially) and I had an unlimited advertising budget so I could try out lots of places to reach knitters and other creative people?

4.  HIRE A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT: Sometimes I get really into my social media efforts, and other times I just let all my networks languish.  Wouldn't it be great to have a virtual assistant on call who could monitor your social media marketing whenever you just aren't feeling it?

5.  CUT MY HOURS BACK AT MY DAY JOB: Right now I would classify my etsy shop as more of a hobby than an actual business. What's the difference?  A hobby is something you do when you (1) feel like it and (2) have spare time.  On the other hand, a business is something that you need to tend to even if you are busy and even if you're really not feeling it today.  It's hard to treat my shop as anything other than a hobby when I'm already working a full time job, so, if I really had $20K to spend, I'd invest a good portion of it on subsidizing my income so I could devote a few "business hours" each day to the shop and not try to cram everything in during my "free time."

Where does this leave me?

Honestly, I'm a little lost on how I can take this list and turn it into actionable goals.  I guess I would have to say that, of the five things listed, number five is probably my biggest priority.  I think that having more quality time to devote to my business is going to be the most important thing to it's growth.  I don't really need the fancy equipment or hired help as much as I need to put my full effort into the shop.  Since I don't have $20K (yet!) I can't afford to devote several hours a week to this, but maybe I could convince myself to just find as little as 15 minutes a day, every day, to devote to my biz.  This is such a small amount of time that it won't require me to cut back my hours at my day job, but it won't (inordinately) cut into my free time either.  OK!  It's a plan!

What do you think?  What would you do if you had $20K?

Etsy 101

I'm going to share one of my etsy-related goals with you.  It's kind of a strange one... are you ready?  The thing is, I do a lot of research on etsy business development because I want to boost my own sales, and also just because I find the subject interesting, so, my goal is to eventually teach an adult community ed class on how to sell your stuff on etsy.  Doesn't that sound fun?  (You don't get paid to teach the class... so it would just purely be for nerdy fun).

As I sit here making up a lesson plan for my imaginary class, it occurs to me that I should be using this blog in a more organized way.  So, what I'm going to try out from now on is to pick a topic that I might discuss in my class, and then present the information here.  I'll also try to point out some good resources and articles that I discover along the way.

Here are a few of the major topics that I think I should cover:

1.  Business Planning
2.  Branding
3.  Pricing Your Work
4.  Product Photography
5.  Writing Product Descriptions
6.  How to Use Etsy/Paypal/Etc.
7.  SEO & Advertising
8.  Shop Promotion/Social Networking

Sound like a plan?  Ready, set, go!

That's a lot of envelopes!

I am committed to making 205 sales this year.  I believe that once you set a goal like that for yourself, the best thing to do is to find a way to make yourself accountable for it.  One way I am making myself accountable is by starting this blog, but I wanted to do something more concrete.  I wanted to find a way to put my money where my mouth is.  And then it hit me....

I am going to buy 205 envelopes.

Once I have 205 envelopes sitting in my office, it is no longer going to be a lofty goal that I am going to make 205 sales, it is going to be a reality - something that I planned and am prepared for.  The envelopes are there to serve as a tangible reminder of the commitment I have made to myself. (Not to mention, it will be fun to watch the pile shrink as the year goes on!)

What about you?  How do you hold yourself accountable for your sales goals?

p.s.  I did a lot of research on the best prices for a quantity of 200 envelopes and it looks like the best deal is right there on etsy itself, through the Shipping Guru.

A New Beginning for Buttons and Things

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I have a really cool etsy shop called Buttons and Things where I sell pinback buttons and other little trinkets that are created just for the creative people out there: knitters, crafters, quilters, crocheters, and more.  I've had my etsy shop since 2007 and I have made 205 sales.... I'm proud of that number because, honestly, I haven't put a lot of effort into the shop until just recently.  But that's going to change.  It is my goal for 2013 to double that number.  Are you ready to join me in my journey?

I'm starting this blog to talk about etsy and to connect with other creative people.  I'm doing a lot of research on business management and marketing.  I'm trying a lot of stuff out and seeing what works.  I'm hoping to share my insights with you and get some feedback from other etsy sellers about what works for them.

So, thanks for reading and I hope you'll come back soon!