Let's Get Down To Business-A Lesson in Goal Setting

"I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don't set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life". M. Russell Ballard


I've learned for myself that goal setting is vital to business (and life!) If you are driving on the the road without a destination, you will never make it anywhere meaningful! I realized that I really needed to apply this principle to my etsy shop.

I keep finding myself unhappy with how few sales I get (If you look at my shop you will see 61 sales since July, but really not even a third of those are true sales-most were trades) How can I really be happy or disappointed though if I don't have anything to compare it to?

Here are some vital points to goal setting:
#1 Focus on the most important (and sometimes weakest) areas for your particular business

#2 Be specific and realistic, but set goals that will make you stretch.

#3set daily, weekly, monthly, and perhaps even yearly goals.

#4 Make plans to accomplish your goals.

#5 Measure your progress and make adjustments as needed.

#1 Take a minute to evaluate where you can improve. (for myself) what is the most important or weakest part to my shop? I think advertising is the most needful, as well as consistent listings-I have a hard time getting myself to take pictures and list when I'd rather spend time creating and they'd magically sell themselves!

#2 & 3 Be specific and realistic eh? What kinds of goals should you set? Good ideas are: time spent marketing, time creating products, time/amount of listings made daily/weekly, and sales goals. If you don't set a goal you will never know how well you are doing! Making 2 sales this month might make you feel good, but next month you may get impatient and wonder what's wrong with you. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A GOAL IN MIND THEN YOU CAN'T TRULY VALIDATE FEELINGS OF SUCCESS OR FAILURE! Set numerical goals and then make plans to achieve them. Stretch yourself but don't make them so hard that you get down on yourself. Try to be better tomorrow than you were today :D

#4 I plan to save up money to fly back to Poland where I spent a year and a half-to visit some friends and take in some sights. I am currently penniless, but heck, I have a goal right? Having a goal set means it will somehow happen right? I think we all know the answer to that! If I don't set up an account to save money and plan on a dollar amount to put into that fund each month, I will never make it there! Just like with Etsy-having 1,000 sales a month is a superb goal, but if you don't back it up with an advertising plan, then you're going nowhere fast!

#5 Constantly re-evaluate. Don't get in a rut. Maybe what worked for you a few months ago doesn't work as well now.

I hope this has helped some of you put things in perspective-I know it has helped me loads!

Disbelief-A High Compliment

I wore a new pendant that I made this week to work and I got SOOOO many compliments over it-I love it! It's one of my Tree of Life Pendants with green leaves. I even stopped by my local bead shop (where I originally purchased the green beads) and both employees I talked to loved it. After stating that I made it (and actually with their beads) one of the employees looked closer and said "Really? You actually made that?" I'm still smiling :D Yes ma'am, I made it :D

I love this new technique so much that I've gone wild, used up all my green beads and even bought some to make my mom a "Family Tree" with our gemstone colors. Here's a couple of what I have made so far >>>

















Also, while I was learning how to make the Tree of Life pendants, I learned how to make birds nest wire-wrapped charms that can be attached to a ring or earrings. I've done both :D And as it is I was out of golden hooks so, as it's been said before: Necessity is the mother of creation. I taught myself to make ear hooks, which turns out it isn't too hard once you have the technique down and the proper tools. I'm also including a cute button ring I made-I'm ordering some buttons and plan to make oodles of them :D













And lastly-I've reached an important etsy mark-I've been on long enough to have items expire! That means 4 whole months! I decided when I started my shops that items that don't sell by expiration will either have 3 things done to them: 1. Re-list (if I like them enough) 2.Keep for myself or 3.List discounted in my charity shop. Maybe I'll do a giveaway sometime too? Anyway-I have a whole bunch of items that I want to clear out of my shop, most expiring Saturday so I've discounted them all in a special discount section in my shop. Most items are only $5.00! And a great deal is>>>>>>>>>>>> buy 2, get 1 free AND free shipping (when purchasing 2 items from the sales section). Please go check them out :D And stay tuned tomorrow for our weekly Friday Feature!

Souper Saturday a Big Hit! (and I'm in a treasury :)

It's been a crazy busy weekend-but a great one! I helped organize an event with the girls in my church that we called "Souper Saturday". We met up and had various craft stations-with some soup to snack, casual atmosphere, plenty of mingling, and a few neat crafts-it was a big hit that put a smile on my face :D

I had some of my jewelry out for fun show and offered to fix broken jewelry (providing I knew how) and taught everyone that wanted to how to make simple dangle earrings. It was a blast. Other stations included making tile coasters with pictures the girls brought, making flower hair clips and pretty fridge magnets. One girl that has beauty training gave some tips and waxed eyebrows :D It was so fun that many of us stayed there twice as long as planned and could've had fun there much longer :P Here are some fun pictures.




















































And lastly-someone was nice enough to compile a treasury on etsy featuring an item from different shops that are participating in the Secret Santa game that I organized :D Come check it out :D http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=92952

Oh my! Is it Friday? Time for a FRIDAY FEATURE!

This week's Friday Feature is TheSupplyHouse. I just finished listing their donation to the Crafting4Causes shop-some beautiful bicone beads found here.

This shop has not only a beautiful selection of beads, but some adorable drawstring bags and matchbook notebooks. It's the perfect location to get those little extras that make purchases so special.










The shop is actually a team effort run by mother and daughter (how fun!) About it they say:
"All of the sewing is done by Laurene (mom) as well as most of the papercraft. Adia is responsible for more of the "business side" of things as well as helping her Mom pick out what kinds of fabrics and papers to use. The beads are mostly destash items from their ever growing collection."

They also have another shop www.missbsboutique.etsy.com - please stop by and see what they have to offer-I highly recommend them!

I'm sorry, did I just drool on your listing?!

You know how you sometimes happen to come across an item and you just want to scream like a little kid "I WANT IT!" Well that's what I thought when I saw these 2 jewelry chests below. They are so stunning and are sure to be great investment/heirloom pieces. Check out the shop they come from here: DesignsbyBaerreis.etsy.com
Unfortunately no luck with a full time job here and I probably spend too much money on etsy (and not getting any sales for quite some time :(....) That's the irony right? Spend too much money making jewelry for myself (and to sell) so I have to stick with my childhood jewelry box that overflows all over my dresser :P *Someday*




By the way, speaking of making myself too much jewelry...I was at the bead store picking out "a few" beads for some earrings I'm going to show people to make at our church's craft activity this Saturday and I came across the most adorable sterling silver chain which I knew NEEDED to be paired with some charms I've had for years. Then came a few Svarowskis...and it's beautiful :D I'll take some pictures soon and post them! I'm not usually a charm bracelet kinda girl but I'll be wearing this one with pride!

And lastly, I'd like to introduce you to my sister-in-law's new shop! It's called PenguinPaper.etsy.com. She loves origami and showed me some great stuff she's making for her new shop. These are pictures of her first 4 items listed. Please go check out her shop and show her some love! She's a busy busy mom of 2 active kids-an infant and toddler-so she might not list new things daily but I'm glad she's joined the fun of etsy!

GREAT NEWS!

The great news is I just totalled up and donated October's sales from the Crafting4Causes shop to the Shriner's Hospital for Children. We made $26.78! (I rounded it up to $27.00) That's definitely the highest given to a good cause so far! Thank you to all those who have donated as well as those who have purchased from the shop and those who have helped spread the word. This month all proceeds will go to a program called SNAP-it provides energy assistance during the cold winter months for those who are struggling to pay heating bills. For more information their website is on the announcements in my shop.

As for my JollyJennifer shop...things have been slow. No sales in ages and I haven't been listing many things. I've been busy between Halloween and organizing a Secret Santa for 30+ etsy forum users :D But I think (and hope) things will slow down so I can create and list more! And since I finally have the family computer up and running I can take more care of my shop and this blog. More great stuff to come, but I need to jet. Thank you to everyone who reads my blog-it means a lot to me :D

Proof of donation (click on picture for larger view):

Trick or Treat Winner :D

The random winner of the giveaway of the Christmas tags and $5.00 in my shop is....ALTEREDBEAUTY! Congrats :D