Your Little Business Plan

The first topic I'd like to tackle in my Etsy 101 series is the benefit of having a business plan.  Let me preface this discussion by saying that I did not have a business plan when I started my shop... and it showed.  I ran my business with an if-it-feels-good-do-it mentality.  What can I say?  I was a liberal arts major in college and I never took a business class.  My plan for my etsy shop looked something like this:

1.  Make buttons
2.  ???
3.  Profit

See that step number two, with all the question marks?  That is the spot where your business plan goes.

If you run the words "business plan" through google, you are going to get a lot of information on how to write a formal business plan.  And if that's what you want to do, go for it!  It certainly wouldn't be a waste of time.  But, personally, I think a 10-page, 16-part business plan is overkill for a little etsy shop.  So, I'm going to tell you how to write a little business plan.

There are three major components to your little business plan.

The first, and most important, component is your Mission Statement.  To write your mission statement, just ask yourself the question: "why am I doing this?"  Is your primary motivation just that you like making stuff and you need a way to unload everything you create?  Or are you in it for profit?  If so, how much profit?  For many etsy sellers, the goal is just to create a self-sustaining hobby.  For others, the goal is to be a professional artist and to make a living by selling your wares.  For most, it is probably somewhere in between.

The next part of your business plan is pretty easy.  What are you selling?  That's your Product.  Consider what you are selling both literally (hand-knit cashmere scarves) and figuratively (warmth, luxury, beauty, etc.)

Finally, you need to figure out where is your Market.  Who is going to buy your stuff?  If you sell baby clothes, your market is probably going to be new mothers.  Try to get as specific as you can when you are defining your market.

And that's it.  That's really all you need for your little business plan.  Just consult these three components whenever you have to make a business decision and you'll be on the right path.

Happy Valentine's Day My Little Biz!

I interrupt your day to share something special with you....

That is all!

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!

A Social Media Checklist

I just happened upon this awesome checklist for your social media marketing strategy.  I try to do something on each channel every day, but it never occurred to me to make up a checklist like this.  Very helpful!

Courtesy of: The Whole Brain Group

Week 3: Seven Sales (woot! woot!)

I'm overjoyed to report that I had seven sales last week!  That's almost double my goal!  For a little etsy shop like mine, seven sales in one week is definitely cause to celebrate!

{celebrate banner by AllSmilesShoppe on Etsy}

When I see a rise in sales like this, I always wonder, what caused it?  Is it just luck or did I do something differently?  This is an extremely difficult question to answer, but one thing I do to try to figure it out is to keep a marketing journal.  Every day I write down anything I did to market my business, for example "tweeted pic of crochet buttons," or "mentioned my shop on my knitting blog."  Then the following day, I check my etsy stats and record my views, hearts, and sales right next to that date.  (I used to do this on a weekly basis, but this year I started doing it daily and I think it is more effective).  I keep track of all this information in a spreadsheet so I will eventually be able to analyze the data with formulas and charts and stuff.  As a bonus, keeping this log is a nice reminder that I should be doing at least one thing every day to market my shop.

How do you try to make sense of what is impacting your sales?  Do you keep a journal too, or have you figured out some other great method?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Product Photography Tip: Using Levels in Photoshop

I know that one of the key things I need to do to increase my sales is improve my product photography.  I am not a skilled photographer and I also have kind of a crappy camera, but luckily I have photoshop, which helps immensely... when I take the time to learn how to use it!  I found a neat tip the other day about how to use the levels adjustment in photoshop when you are photographing against a white background.  I tried it out this week and I'm really happy with the results!

Here is an example of my knitting wine charms in what I thought was a perfectly nice photo:

And here is the same photo with the levels adjusted:

Can you believe the difference??  I was blown away!  Read the article.  It tells you how you can play with the levels in your picture even if you don't have photoshop.

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.