Free Shipping - all the time!

I'm still working out the kinks in my shopping cart, but I'm ready to announce my new free shipping policy!


So shipping is free on ALL orders if you don't mind First Class. If you want to speed it up a bit, you can still upgrade to Priority Mail although the way my cart is set up to do that is pretty silly and I have to find a better way... Anyone out there use Cart Manager?

Anyway, I've been absent from the blog because I've been so. So. Busy. Wholesale is rockin' and rollin' and kickin' my butt. I think I'm about to start teaching the hubs how to make jewelry. It's a slippery slope to driving an RV and wearing tie dye as the crafts business becomes the family business. Yikes!

Fall is here - finally!!

It's getting very fall-like around my website! I changed the background to a brown pattern and took some photos outside today on my deck for a print ad. I liked them so much, they already made it onto the home page. They look a little too orange on the website, but whatev. It was heaven to be outside in pants and feel the cool breeze. Let's hope 90° weather is behind us!! Welcome fall!!!


In other outdoor news, Greggars and I went to the TACA craft fair in Centennial Park today. Kinda funny that on my weekend off, I went into the office, so to speak. It was great to see my crafty friends including Lisa Norris, Bebo & Betty, and Karen Fincannon, and introduce them to my extended family (Zero and baby) since I don't bring either to craft shows. And I scored a sweet wooden brownie spatula, so I guess I'll have to make some Trader Joe's brownies again - yummy!

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago 2010

We just got back from the Renegade Craft Fair this afternoon.  It was our fourth year doing it, and what can I say? It was awesome!  Fabuloso!  Best ever!  I love Chicago.

We went up on the Skydeck on a clear day.  We don't usually do the tourist thing, but Greg suggested it and it seemed silly not to!

 It's so real that it looks fake!

We used a new earring display made from louver blinds that the gracious owner didn't need any more.  It think it worked really well and made it easier to see the earrings.

I modified my branch display to better showcase necklaces, and it received many complements.

And we got to see Mucca Pazza up close and personal.  They were fantastic.  I wish they would come to Nashville - that is a live show I would pay to go see!

We were so busy that we didn't get to talk to many of our crafty friends, and from the sounds of it, they had awesome shows, too!  And for the first time, I was too busy to really shop my heart out.  So sad.  I did manage to sneak in the purchase of another Nate Duval t-shirt (Greg's 5th shirt by him) and an Urban Posture t-shirt that I am currently wearing.  People and events such as Renegade remind me how much fun my job is!

NYIGF, take two

We went to the New York Gift Fair again this month. It was my second time at the show, and my only sales goal was to break even, since I pretty much broke even at the winter show. The stakes were raised, though, as I had a shared booth last time for half the price and this time I had it all to myself with all of the cost. And it's expensive. Did I sell more than the winter show? Yes. Did I break even? Uh, no.
* Sigh *

I can cite a million reasons that would explain why I didn't do so hot, mostly to do with the economy and the high cost of doing business in New York. I analyzed my display all 5 days of the show to see how it could be improved (and decided even though my display looks good, I'm ready for a total overhaul). I agonized over the lighting and decided it is not highlighting my jewelry to its best abilities. So many ways to change what I'm doing... So many possibilities to try and sell more jewelry...

Even if I had a killer display with the best location in the show, I'm still not sure I would do anything but marginally better. It's one of those things where you just have to build it up one step at a time and I think my business has grown really well through a lot of word of mouth and sales performance. Some examples: Customers ask their favorite shop if they carry my jewelry, and then the shop looks me up. My (very nice) retailers tell other retailers how well my jewelry sells, and based on these recommendations, I earn a new account. This past Atlanta market was a great example of building my business over time - it was my fourth time there and my best show ever by far due to loads of amazing reorders! Kick ass!

So when I put so much time, effort, hard work, and cash into a trade show, it's so frustrating when it doesn't seem to pay off. Sometimes you want to just tell people "Just buy it. It sells. I promise." But of course I can't say that without sounding like a jerk. I did open new accounts and that's fantastic, but with the money I spent vs. the money I made, I'm right back at square one.

our NYIGF display - time for a change

However, you can look back on the months passed since a trade show and say "This account that I opened at the show turned out to be a great account and that made the show worth doing for sure!" but you never know if that will happen, and you can only hope. When you're sitting in your booth breaking out in a cold sweat adding up your expenses vs. your sales, it's a hard pill to swallow. So far, my sales resulting from trade shows in the long run are always higher than my show expenses, but as an actual return on investment, it's not very impressive.

So will I do NYIGF again? I'm not sure. I wish I could skip the winter show (too cold!) and do the next summer show but I'd probably lose my spot. But is it worth saving? I can't decide, and that contract is due soon...