Another one!

I’m on a roll!! I snatched up another Treasury last night, only this one is in the Main Treasury! Woohoo!!

Take a look!

I’ll be posting a Screen Shot of it at lunch (:

Screen Shot

                          

Ottobone, Beadyize, Tortillagirl, Allencompanyinc, Ecologicalartist, Terrygraziano, Weaselle, ao3Design, aprettyrock.

Before I even thought too much about it, I cropped the creator’s name out of this Treasury! If you’re know who it is, please let me know! I’d love to credit them and give their shop a bit more exposure!

There’s some awesome items here, I think my favorite is the shoes. SO cute!!

* NOTE: An awesome Etsy member just contacted me to let me know this WHOLE screen-shot had been published on Flickr too. The creators name is JennyBunny. Check out her cute store, full of awesome jewellery!

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Goals – The Last 2 Weeks

Goals Goals Goals!

So lets start with the week before last. I had a great week that week, seriously. Awesome!! A total of 708 views, which was mind blowing! A lot of it had to do with my features that week. Several successful Etsy sellers shared their financial experiences with my readers and were able to help a bunch of us our with their advice and stories.

Also that week, several of my fave bloggers stopped by to give their advice in blogging.

It was a great week!

And now to last week. Another good week, consistant and that’s always a bonus. The KJ Blog received 374 views which is 24 above my goal of 350! I loved looking at my stats and seeing them consistantly around the 50 views per day. Just what I’m looking for!

More to come today!! I finished another bag last night so there’ll be pictures!

Business Techniques #3

It’s so interesting to see how different sellers manage their profits! Everyone that I’ve talked to so far has a different technique and I’m learning a lot from their stories.

The next successful Etsy artist I chatted with was Kitty Cross Bones, you might remember her from her “Quit Your Day Job” article in the Storque…yeah. Lucky bum, hey? Here’s how this girly answered my question.

Q: What is your formula for your earnings? How do you work out how much to put back into the business and how much to save?

A: My earnings would be Sales – fees= net income – supplies = profit. I only put back into the biz when I run out of supplies so anything after that would be saved. I actually don’t have an exact formula as in depth as the other sellers on your blog. I don’t charge for my design or setup fees. Mainly the product would be calculated for parts+labor. Sometimes I work about 18hr days in the studio.

When I first started out selling, I was actually putting my personal savings into it from my day job (which I recently quit last year due to my Etsy success) I was in the hole, so to say, before biz started to pick up.

You asked how do I know how much money to spend on the biz and how much to save? So when I run out of supplies I will reorder them. I buy in bulk so the price is low and whatever is leftover after spending from supplies I put that into my savings account and then pay my credit card bills with it…

 

There’s so many different ways to manage your money! And it must be successful, Kitty’s quit her day job…and all the other successful Etsy Artists I’ve interviewed are super successfull too!

This series is really giving me food for thought. How should I manage my finances? What theory works best with my needs and wants? It’s a hard call, since I’m still just getting started, and it’s so great to have all this advice from sellers who have made it!

They keep coming…

                               

Business Techniques

I started a forum post on Etsy the other day, asking for suggestions for successful Etsy sellers. I got a huge response and it was really interesting looking through the shops that have made it big!

The reason for me looking for successful Etsy sellers was that I was looking for someone to answer a question I had. Since I’ve started making more money with my bags lately, I’ve been wondering how much of that I should be putting back into the business and how much I should be saving. I thought if I could ask someone who’s already established this question, it might help me out some! Better yet, why not get a few opinions and see which might suite me better.

I convo’d a few of the sellers suggested, some of them being sellers I had already been in contact with about featuring in the blog etc. Ahpeeleis one of these sellers, and seriously…I love these guys! Their shop is amazing, they are so helpful and nice…just friggen awesome. And they’ve hit the big times, it seems (congrats guys!!).

My question was: Q: What is your formula for your earnings? How do you work out how much to put back into the business and how much to save?

And they answered: it’s a good question
unfortunately we dont have an exact formula
for the first few years we put pretty much everything back into the business
except what we needed to eat and keep the lights on
we learned to live really cheap, take walks for fun, and cook all our food
it was a game to see how little money we could live on
then everything leftover we spent on tshirts and silkscreen stuff
it helps that we really love making stuff
so we dont miss the mall (we hate the mall)
though we are able to save some money now
we always have goals that we are saving for
the goals are the most important part i think
they give us direction and motivation.

Their answer doesn’t give any definite “You need to do this” stuff, but it’s awesome knowing that they started out counting their last pennies into the business and not actually making much for the first couple years. It’s really encouraging to know that it takes a while to get properly on your feet and profitable!

Also, have you read their Success Story? Just a bit more about their business and how they started…really interesting!!

 

I’ll be posting more of the answers I received to this question during the next couple days…hopefully you find them as helpful as I am!

                             

Screen Shots

For some reason I just love screen shots. Not sure why really, it might be the collection of similar but completely different items…common colors…yeah, not really sure! Here’s a fave of mine from the main page of Etsy.

                        

It was created by The Paira Birds, a SUPER fascinating store on Etsy with really intriguing art work.

Do you normally browse through the Treasuries? I don’t, I love them but I don’t take the time to browse through the lists of created ones. Every now and then, when I have a free couple of seconds, I look at one or two and leave my comments…but that’s not too often.

I really should look more though, because every time I do, I find something inspiring. Usually “inspiring” means “another project I’d like to try”, but that never hurt anyone, did it? (:

Speaking of inspiring: I’m going to have a big load of picture in the next couple days…not of my items but something else super beautiful I found last weekend. Wait for it!

Gimme!

I should almost write a daily post on things I want from Etsy…it’s way too easy to find items I want on that site! Dang you amazing crafty people!         

                        

Isn’t this wrap amazzzzing?? Ahpeele is a one of those super sellers on Etsy, they have incredible products that people just can’t resist (I’m so doomed).

                       

You know those funky household stores you walk into that immediately make you smell yummy? Red Leaf is one of those stores…only virtual. I want this spray, in this muggy heat, it’d feel so refreshing!

                        

When I was little, we visited my family in England and I claimed my Grandad’s newsboy hat as my own for the entire trip. Now that I’ve grown up and they style’s now in again, it’s time to get one of my own! Sanchia’s store is so perfect and I’ve just GOT to have this hat!

                        

The Vintage Chainis a new store on Etsy that’s a M.U.S.T to take a look at. Cute items! And it’s on my Gimme List this week (: Um yeah, husband…I hope you’re reading this.

Ok, goals for this week:

1. Take picture of new bags
2. Finish two new Kj Bags
3. Work on BIG PROJECT (!!!)

I’ll explain more about the new Kj Bags when I’ve posted them…but I’m just not very happy about them…I’ll tell you more about that later.

Etsy Buyers

I’ve had a few friends and new buyers on Etsy ask how the process goes…is buying off of Etsy easy? What do you have to do? Some buyers who have been on Etsy for a while don’t understand what all the fuss is about, but I totally understand the feeling of being slightly overwhelmed at the thought of buying something on a new-to-you site. Let me reassure you, buying on Etsy is as easy as changing your socks. Really! It’s totally self explanatory, as you buy a product it helps you though the steps one by one and really makes the process easy peasy pudding ‘n pie.

Etsy is an amazing site. I’m not just saying that because I sell there either, I really truly think that this site is like….awesome. It has so many options for keeping you entertained (what? Entertained while I’m working?…um…yeah), chat rooms, forums, The Storque, Treasuries to browse through or make, Showcases, Geolocator…the list goes ON and ON!

If you’re new to Etsy or are just finding out about it now (where have you been??) I suggest reading through this articlein The Storque, it explains what the different features of Etsy are. It’s a great first step to getting to know the site.

After that, just remember, you can’t break anything so fiddle around and try stuff out! Etsy is the crafters playground…only you can’t swing off of things.

Spending Eye Money

I’m eye shopping. I’ve decided that’s what you call it on Etsy, not “window shopping”. Here’s what I’m wanting at the moment…

 By Kate Szabone

 By Avalove

 By Oak Clothing

Friday Feature!

I’ve decided to feature a few favorite Etsy shops each Friday…hence the “Feature Friday” title (smart aren’t I?;). Here’s a few that I’ve found either under my favorites or just cruising through Etsy. Have fun!

Makool

Ben and Oliver

Bay Moon Studio

Thanks for all the entries on the Contest! Today is the last day to enter, so if you’re visiting, make sure you pop your name by commenting on the “Contest!” entry. I’ll be announcing the winner early next week as well as posting a picture of their prize!