Plans for a New Year!!

After taking a huge break for all of last year (due to picking up a network marketing job (PLEXUS)), I am back and as ready as ever to share my craft-selling secrets! While I may not have been as active online, I have had *huge* craft-selling success this past year, and I’ve got so many tips, tricks, and secrets ready to share with all of you.

The first thing that I am doing to get ready for a GREAT new year, is starting up my CAL again! And it’s going to be even better than it was in 2014. What is a CAL? That stands for Crochet-a-long. Basically, I make cute little outfits for my crochet dolls, and I publish the patterns (for free) so that other people can also make the cute little outfits. Before we can get started (In January), you will need to create your doll. Hopefully, by starting now, I am giving everyone ample time to create their dolls and get ready to follow along as I post new patterns strategically. BUT, these patterns are only going to be available for free to those wonderful crafters who are part of my ravelry group. So, if you are interested, make sure that you join in (http://www.ravelry.com/groups/design-a-doll-cal).

I have spent the last year having a lot of fun with art journaling and bible journaling, and my ideas are just exploding! So, definitely stay on the look-out for some different methods, ideas, and inspirations for your own journaling desires!

First and foremost, this is a blog about “how to sell your hand-made crafts”, and as I have learned more about network marketing this past year (from selling Plexus!), I have also learned more about how to expand and increase my own crafty sales. I will be sharing my learnings with all of you guys. It’s going to be a great year, and I cannot wait to share it with all of you 🙂

“The Plan” for another productive blogging year

It’s a new year, as has been discussed before. But that makes it a perfect time to reevaluate where I’ve been, where I want to go, and what I want to get accomplished for another year. This time last year, I was doing some serious struggling. I had just had my third baby, just started my crochet business, and had no clue how to go about living from day to day with all of my responsibilities. I didn’t take the time to establish a business plan. Lucky I was, that I was so unexpectedly successful in my business, because lack of a plan can be seriously harmful. So, lets get on to the things to look forward from me, and this blog, in the coming year.

Crafting an organizing binder. To be available for purchase in either PDF format that can be emailed and printed off at your own discretion, or a hard copy already printed and bound and ready for use.

Continued tips, advice, and suggestions about selling hand made crafts. I have said it before and I will say it many more times, selling hand made crafts is competitive and challenging. I will continue to offer what I have in the past to assist you in being competitive.

Creation of a mailing list. Anyone that signs up will receive exclusive offers and stay up to date on any new products or resources as they become available.

Self-hosting. That’s right, I am making plans to create a self-hosted blog. No more WordPress.com for this little blog 🙂

Competitions and Contest give-a-ways. I just love to reward my followers and readers and one way that I can do that is by hosting a competition (or four). I am thinking quarterly, but that is still in the works.

Guest blogging, both on this blog and me writing for other blogs. Anytime that I can feature someone else is a win-win for everyone, and wrirting for other people can only increase the awareness of this blog.

Well, there is an abbreviated list of what to expect from me this year. For my own records there are dates and deadlines and goals to meet along the way, but you would probably find all of that super boring 😛 some big and exciting things are coming, and all of it is to benefit and help you, my fellow craft seller 🙂 so, if you think of something that you would like to see from me, just let me know and I will be more than happy to work it in the plan. The year is just starting, there is plenty of time to be flexible with “the plan”!

What will I do this year?

My business is crochet and I will make hats and photo props. I’ll sell my products online at etsy.com/shops/familybugs.

My business is how to sell handmade crafts and I will be making and providing resources and how-to’s to help you sell too. I will be selling my products online through this blog and on Etsy.

This blog started off as a compliment to my crochet works, but as I kept writing, I found that not only did I more enjoy writing about how to sell, but I was being a lot more helpful to a larger base of people. Dozens, Naye hundreds, well probably tens of thousands of people sell hand made crafts. It can be very challenging, from knowing where to sell, to how to price your goods, and that’s all of the obvious stuff. What about the nitty gritty of book keeping, or staying organized, shipping issues…it can get overwhelming very quickly.

This coming year, I have a lot of ideas and plans to provide resources to you, to help you on your selling journey. Sometimes it will be a quick “10 tips to stay organized”, or I might endorse another blog (there are hundreds), and I am hoping to have my own helpful selling products to offer for purchase as well.

My experience in selling comes from my crochet products and patterns, and I also have plans to increase that business. So, I try to blog about every craft in a general sense, but I often focus on crochet, because that is where my personal experience is.

I love answering questions anyone may have about how to sell, and I love trying new things out. I do a lot of research, and I am hopeful that we can all enjoy each others little tidbits as the new year comes upon us with new and exciting opportunities 🙂

5 Things to do Before the New Years!

Christmas is just a buzzing whereI am currently at. Dozens of presents have been made/purchased/acquired, wrapped in peppermint colored paper, and placed carefully underneath the tree around an electric train track. Following close behind is the New Years! Do you have all of this years business affairs in order?

Take some time to glance over your bookkeeping and make sure records are accurate and in order. If there are any lose ends, contact the appropriate person and get those tied up and squared away.

Get organized. I really cannot stress how important it is to have everything organized. Know where your supplies for crafting are, have a system for your inventory, and keep packaging supplies all in one place. There are tons of organizational techniques, and if what you’ve been using isn’t working for you, now is a great time to start trying a different method.

Create your plan. Write down what goals you want to achieve during the next year. Go ahead and grab a calendar and record when you want these goals to be accomplished, along with mini goals to help you stay on track.

Perform a self analysis of your business. There are tons of different ones you can do, I really like the SWOT method. Evaluate where your business has grown over the last year, and where it might’ve p shrunk. Create a plan to fix the flaws and strengthen the strong points.

Wish your customers a joyous holiday full of safe travels and a cheerful New Years. It may seem trivial to you, but letting your customers know that you are thinking of them during this crazy year most certainly cannot hurt 🙂

And the most important thing to keep in mind is to enjoy this magical time of the year. It may be crazy and hectic and chaotic and stressful, but in a few short weeks it will be over and life will continue as normal. I promise!