Handmade Street Smarts: Teaching and Business

My semester is officially done.  I graded the last of the exams, wrote the last of my papers, and submitted everything that needed turning in.  It feels absolutely amazing to be "done."  (Even though a grad student's work is never complete!)  This will also present me with the first opportunity to craft origami without everything looming large over my head.  I am excited, but I do have to admit that learning to teach and learning to run an online shop have a lot in common with one another!  I never realized how my teaching skills could help me be successful in other ways.

1. Be versatile.  Different people learn in different kinds of ways.  This was a hard lesson for me in the beginning of my teaching career.  We would all like to sit back and think that we know the best way to get information across to our audience, but the truth is that both teaching and selling handmade require an amazing deal of versatility.  Different people are receptive to different kinds of promotion.  Some care deeply about your descriptions while others will only pay attention to your photographs.  It is crucial to be a well-rounded individual when it comes to both.

2. Students understand visuals faster than they understand text.  When I teach, I inevitably resort to having a powerpoint at all times.  However it is rare when I have slides that are text heavy.  Usually, I try to create powerpoints filled with gorgeous images to draw in their attention.  After all, in Art History, the image is at the center of everything.  However this also is true for selling online.  For the most part it is your visuals which will keep people clicking in your shop.  Bright colors, clear images, detailed photography--all of these things are extremely important (as we all know!)

3. Repetition can be a good thing.  This is my general rule of thumb with blogging, but I have also found it extremely important when teaching.  Before the course begins, I try to identify four or five themes that I want students to come away with.  Let's be honest--they will forget most of the small detail-oriented factoids that they are forced to regurgitate on exams.  However, if you are consistently reiterating these themes, then hopefully they will understand and use those larger ideas long after the course has come and gone.  Branding your items is also very similar!  If you have a slogan, a logo, or even a target audience you need to constantly reiterate them so that people not only remember, but can identify you with a certain set of qualities.  They may not remember specific items, but they may have a general sense of what you sell and what you stand for.

4. Kindness goes a long way in the classroom.  I treat my students like peers and after reading my evaluations this semester, it seems that this is one of those things that they really appreciated.  I like to sit next to them in a circle as opposed to talking above them, I like to engage them in conversation both in and outside of the course, and I make myself available for help and clarification online and in my office.  After my first year, I feel like I am really starting to reach out and I know for a fact that they recognize this.  Having a shop online is not enough if you aren't willing to put yourself out there in the virtual world.  People want to get to know you and by making yourself available and treating your potential buyers with respect, then you will find yourself going farther and doing better.  

I am so excited that I successfully closed out my first year of teaching with a bang.  I will surely enjoy my origami-filled summer, but it has taught me a lot of invaluable lessons about how to connect with other people.  I hope that I can continue to do this for a very long time.

Past Installments of Handmade Street Smarts

Credit: Photograph by MsDotty on StockExchange

Future Directions

Hi everyone!  As my little adventure into Etsy selling becomes mildly successful (42 sales to date!), I have to consider new directions I can take my shop.  Although I think my pendants and earrings garner me endless compliments when I sport them, it has become painfully obvious that they are much harder to sell on an online marketplace.  I do not know if this is because the jewelry market is so over-saturated, or that the photographs really cannot capture how vibrant and pretty they look in person.  On the other hand, I have had a surprising success with my origami dolls!  I have been having at least one sale a week (and each "sale" usually consists of more than one doll).  I want to introduce diversity in my products to appeal to the largest possible audience.  And so, I am putting that decision into your hands.

New Shop Front: Zibbet's 30FREE Promotion

I joined Zibbet a little while ago and I have been really pleased with their interface thus far.  Even though I was only on a basic account, my items looked great with their larger thumbnails!  It has taken a lot of effort on my part to get my shop noticed on Etsy, and although I plan on continuing listing items there, my fees per month have been increasing exponentially...  I have yet to make a sale on Zibbet, but at $7.00 a month for their premium account, it is much less than I have been paying otherwise...  A 20 cent Etsy listing fee seems like chump change, but I only charge between 4-5$ for my dolls only for Etsy to take another 20 cents off the top of that!  So I have been missing roughly 40 cents per doll...  It may not seem like a lot, but as my sales increase, I am starting to realize that it all adds up...

So I got a newsletter from Zibbet today and there is only 3 days left of their 30 day free Premium Account promotion!  (Go Here, and when you register type in the code 30FREE - it takes you your paypal page, but charges you $0.00)

So here are some things I am noticing:  the ability to use a variety of banner sizes, larger thumbnail options, the ability  to add widgets to your sidebar (This is AWESOME!  I have my twitter currently visible), custom colors, and easy to copy listings.  Aesthetically, I think it looks inviting and so I spent all night primping and tweaking out my new shop layout.  Instead of having a small banner to represent your shop and personality, Zibbet lets you tweak the entire site to match your shop front which gives a more welcoming appearance.

Plus, from the advice I have gotten from other sellers, there is nothing bad about expanding your online presence!  Etsy will continue to be my main venue, but if sales pick up on Zibbet, I might be switching my "main" shop.

PLUG!: The Fine Line Between Spam and Promotion

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Etsy (and Artfire) sellers are so determined to "plug" their way to the top.  In a market flooded with handmade goods, the one link I am most likely going to avoid is the person spamming my Twitter or Facebook homepage with self-promoting "PICK ME, PICK ME, PICK ME, [insert shop link here]"  Maybe it is because it feels good to interact with real people with real creative pursuits, but the spam-culture that we have all settled into is really starting to grate on my nerves.  Don't get me wrong--I love learning about new products and additions to everyone's shops, and the occasional reminder about a great item that needs some exposure doesn't bother me either... I love hearing about creative processes, frustrations, and (get this!) even about what you are doing in your day-to-day life!  But the thoughtless self-promotion needs to stop.  Comments on this blog are moderated, so I often will delete those that are mere promotion and do not correspond to the content of my post but I cannot moderate Twitter and other platforms.  It seems like I am not the only one concerned about this as Vanessa over in the Etsy Storque has a great post about spam on Etsy entitled, "How Not to Spam While Being Active Online."  A fitting title!

I think the nicest ways to use social networking is to be social.  period.  Some of the best exposure to my shop has been through My Craft Corner -- a community of crafters that functions the same way a Facebook would, but for this niche group.  I've made a lot of friends through their forums (people creating work very different from my own!)  Of course, Twitter and Facebook have been invaluable tools to get my name out there, but I really hope that those people that have been kind enough to fan me do not regret their decision!  In person, if someone asks me about a pendant I am wearing I am always careful to chat up the work and the process before whipping out my business card and thrusting it into someone's face...  We should all try to extend the very same courtesy online!

I guess the recent bout of spam on this blog has just gotten to me, so I will step off my soap box now.  I know 95% of the people I meet are not offenders, it is just that measly 5% who gives a bad name to Etsians everywhere...  (You know who you are!)