Find Your Niche

Large Alice in Wonderland Key Necklace by absolutemarket

Take the test below to see if this will help you find your niche?

Ask yourself a few questions:

What can I do for hours and be happy doing it?

What were you great at when you were young?

What are you great at that others find hard?

What have your friends asked you for advice about?

What would you do even if you didn’t get paid for it?

By answering these questions you may find your Niche.

Let’s take the first question?

“What can you do for hours and be happy doing it?”

Let’s say your answer is working with your hands, that’s fine! Now ask yourself what do I like making using my hands.

Let’s say you like making hats with your hands, now break this down again and ask what type of hats?

Now you got the type of hats.

What’s the hat made of?

Let’s try the second question now?

“What were you great at when you were young?”

This may be hard to think of because some may say: “I was not great at anything...”

If you think more you will see you were great at a lot of things, so make a list.

See if any on the list tie into your answer to the first question?

Let’s try the next question now? 

“What are you great at that others find hard?”

Again some people will say I am not great at anything. You are wrong again.

If you look once more, you will see there is a lot of things that come easy to you that other may or do find hard to do.

Again make a list and see if any on the list tie in with the answers to the first and second questions.

Let’s try the next question now?

“What have your friends asked you for advice about?”

This also looks hard to answer at first but as you think about it a few areas will become clear. Again make a list.

Now see if any on the list tie in with the answers to the first questions.

Let’s try the last question now?

“What would you do even if you didn’t get paid for it?”

This is really asking you what you love doing.

This should be easy answer as most people only have a few.

Again make a list and see if any tie in with the answers from before.

By now you should have picture of what you are great at, what you like making and what others know you are great at doing.

Now all you have to do is put your angle on that product and make it your own and this will be your niche.

by William Doherty

Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/absolutemarket

A conversation with Sue Graham

This article was first published on Work your Art:

http://www.workyourart.com/interview/a-conversation-with-sue-graham-from-ireland/

Hello there! What’s your name and where do you live?

My name is Sue Graham.
I am originally from London, but currently live in the middle of the beautiful countryside in County Cork, Ireland.

Is being an artist your day job? If not, “what do you do?”

I have three day jobs actually. The first is the running of my animal sanctuary for farm animals and birds. We currently have a horse, three donkeys, a goat, 13 sheep, a goose, six hens, six ducks and six lovebirds.
The second is the running of my online shop www.amazingbeads.net and its Etsy counterpart www.etsy.com/shop/amazingbeads. This involves searching the Internet worldwide for different beads and beading supplies. I try and buy different because there are so many bead shops on the Internet and I see no point in selling the same as everyone else.  Of course you have to have a certain amount of basic stock that is the same or similar, but I try very hard to find interesting beads in the vintage, gemstone and handmade ranges too, so that my shop will stand out from the crowd.
The third day job I have is designing and making jewellery, and sourcing vintage jewellery. I always have lots of ideas floating around in my head, but the first thing I do is to draw a rough sketch of the idea, and notes about the beads I might like to use.   After that I lay the beads out onto a beading design board and play around with the design a bit more.  I must say that the design on the board once it is ready to make is often very different to how it started out in my head.
I love vintage jewellery and started selling that on my website too. It’s been very popular. I try and source jewellery that is in the middle to high end range, and that is in excellent vintage condition.  I check everything thoroughly before I photograph and list it, so that hopefully no customer will ever receive a piece where the string is worn and may break etc.
I sell my jewellery, my own handmade and the vintage, on www.amazingbeads.net, and on a second Etsy shop which I have named Swanky Jewels. www.etsy.com/shop/swankyjewels
So those are my three main day jobs. I also write a blog, and articles for magazines when I have time.

How would you describe your work?

I would describe my jewellery as fairly eclectic. On the one hand I love to make classic styles, but there is another side of me that likes to make things that are a bit more trendy and casual. I love gemstones and I love colour. For myself I like chunky jewellery, but I actually to design and make more delicate pieces too.


Do you feel you have a specific demographic or audience you create for? What are the characteristics of your ‘ideal customer’?

Customers who buy beads and beading supplies are in quite a broad age and type of person. They would be between 18 years and 65 years, some younger, some older. Of course these customers would have many different styles of jewellery and crafts that they make.
With regards to the jewellery, I would say that most of my customers would be between 28 years and 65 years. A lot of the vintage jewellery is sold as bridal/wedding wear, and my own designs tend to be sold for everyday and office wear, and special occasions.
I think many of my customers like to buy a piece of jewellery for a special event, but that  they can wear on many occasions afterwards too.


When do you feel most inspired to create?

Mornings from about 11am after all the animal stuff is done. Then again in the evenings after the animals have been fed, watered and put to bed. The evenings is when I do all of the internet work.
I tend to work every day, and I’m in my studio until late at night too. I love what I do, and because I work from home I can be in and out, and doing other things if I want to.

 
Are you presently promoting on social media? Which platform gave you results and which didn’t?

The social media platforms I use are Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. I’d say that they all give me equal results, but like any social media, you get back what you put in. If I slow down on posts to any then I stop getting views and comments.  Having a social media presence is almost a full time job on its own, but if you are a small business as I, and many others like me are, then it’s something you have to find time for because there is little or no money for advertising.
Personally, I think it’s better than advertising too, because if you speak and act as yourself then customers can get to know you, and gain a trust in you.

What kind of marketing are you currently doing for your creative business? Is it working out?

I use the social media platforms as above, and I also comment when I can on forums, and the like. I’m a huge believer in word of mouth marketing and believe that it is the best advertising you can get.
I know that when my customers are happy they will tell their friends about me, and that is what I aim for.


Do you invest in any kind of advertising?

Until recently I have never paid for advertising, but I decided to try a couple of Facebook adverts this year for the first time ever.  I’m finding that it really works in so much as I’ve had many new likes on my two Facebook pages. Whether they translate into sales remains to be seen, as it’s very early days yet.


What is the number one tip you have for creatives in your niche that are just starting out?

That they don’t expect lots of sales straight away.  I see lots of sellers in the Etsy forums complaining that they haven’t made any sales yet, and when you look at how long their shop has been open, it’s only been a few months or even weeks.
It takes a lot of time and personal effort such as marketing in the social media to get your name out there. Things don’t happen overnight, but if you don’t give up the sales will come.


What are the things you feel yourself struggling with?

Oh the same as many of us who have a small business I guess –  SEO and Tags.  Just when you think you’ve got the hang of it, something changes, but you don’t know what that something is, and you have to start learning what to do all over again.


Do you set regular goals for yourself and your business? What are you currently aiming for?

I’m very bad at setting goals I’m afraid. I very rarely do. I know we are always told that we should, but I prefer to let things happen, but work hard toward making them happen better. I suppose that’s my goal then. To make things happen better.


What is something you’d still like to learn (a skill, a topic) with regards to creative entrepreneurship?

I actually love learning new skills and topics. I would love to have better writing skills. Well not so much the writing, as the vocabulary and grammar that would enable me to write articles and my blog better.
I also want to learn more about the history of beads and different types of jewellery through the ages, as well as about individual jewellers whose jewellery I may sell in vintage.

When reading back this interview one year from now, what do you think would have changed?

I’d like to think that I had learned more about the subjects I’ve just mentioned above, so that I am able to write more articles about different subjects within my niche, whether about beads, jewellery or animals/birds. I hope that I’m still going strong with my shops and jewellery, and that I have made improvements in everything I do.


Shops:
www.amazingbeads.net
www.etsy.com/shop/amazingbeads
www.etsy.com/shop/swankyjewels

Social Media:
www.pinterest.com/amazingbeads
www.facebook.com/SwankyJewels
www.facebook.com/sueatkilmeedy
www.twitter.com/sueatkilmeedy

Happy New Year

Its been a while since I have tapped out a post on my laptop for the Etsy Ireland Blog.  Well, its a New Year and the time has come to say hello again......   So, Hello Again.......

I am not one to make New Year Resolutions, I used to be but I gave that up a long time ago.  So many good intentions never fulfilled...... So, what to do instead!!!!  

I have come across 2 positive alternatives while catching up on my reading over the last week which I have embraced for 2012. 

Firstly, before saying goodbye to 2011 I sat yesterday and wrote down all of the things I achieved during the year and I must say I was surprised at how long the list was.  It included all of my Etsy events, people I met, places I went to, new skills (I tried a bit of weaving for the first time), as well lessons learned from mistakes I made, etc. etc. etc.

Secondly, going forward into the new year I listed a number of new things I would like to try, places to go to, etc a type of bucket list.  I came up with 52, one for each week of the year.  Now I will look forward to planning them but wont be too discouraged if I dont get all of them ticked off the list before the bells ring out for 2013 as they can be added to the following year.

So, why dont you try to do the same - list what you have achieved and gather together what you would like 2012 to bring you. 

I wish you all the best of New Years.  May the Crafting Fairies visit you often and bring you creativity and sales to make this a positive year to remember.

Cheers
Mo
www.huggleknits.etsy.com

Creative Burnout?

("Take a breath" from Devintagestudio)

Running a small creative business on your own is not easy. You do everything from being the designer, maker, ideas person, seller, stall holder, IT whizz kid and super communicator with nerves of steel to being your own clever bookkeeper, accountant and tax expert. You might also have another full- or part-time job and family commitments.

 ("Reds in my head" Photograph by mariposavintage)

Phew!

Have I forgotten something?

No wonder that sometimes amongst all this buzz, the creative juices dry up. Suddenly everything goes blank, and you just don't want to pick up another bead, knitting needle, crochet hook, fabric, needle, wire, paint brush, button or piece of wood ever again.

So what can you do to bring back your creative mojo? Your friendly Etsy Ireland team blog has a few suggestions:

Get a good night's sleep. Life looks better after some kip!
(Painting by Art by Trudi)

Loaf around in your PJs and do sweet nothing at all until you are so bored that the ideas flood back in
(PJ top from thelittlebluecottage)

Forget the diet, grab some delicious food and indulge! 

(Cupcake by BeeLiciousCrafts)

Pamper yourself - have a relaxing bath, light a candle, surround yourself with lovely smells...don't think about having to create something, just be...

(Eye mask by aroominthecottage)

Move your body! Go to the gym, do some Yoga or Tai Chi, stretch...let the body work and the mind rest! (Yoga bag by mukkymonkey)

Go out for a walk and let your legs and mind wander. If you can combine the walk with a holiday, even better! (Photo by Michael Prior)

Dance - nothing better than dancing the worries away. Dance in the kitchen, in your bathroom, in your slippers, your birthday suit...

(Extra large bath sheet towel by Personal Presence)

("Dancing is like dreaming with your feet" by Fairytea)

 Have a good yarn, laughter or moan and groan with friends! In the flow of conversation, new ideas grow!
(Lil mohawk hats by justynajustyna)

What do you do when creativity is at its lowest? Do share in the comments below.

Purls

Thanks to AM - without her inspiration there would have been a blank page on this blog today!