Going Up: Taking Your Craft Business to the Next Level

How to expand piddix is the main question that has been haunting me this past year. In other words, once you've reached a plateau, how can you take your business to the next level? In addition to taking a class for entrepreneurs through MercyCorpsNW and writing up a business plan, there were three main areas where I looked for my answer:

1. I asked just about anyone I could for advice (see my post on it here).

2. I read numerous books, articles, blogs, etc. about the major pitfalls and best practices for expansion. The book Profit from the Core, for example, really hammered home the idea that businesses who spread themselves too thin--who take on too many new ventures outside of their normal focus--most often fail. (Though the book, written in 2001, did question amazon's "new" strategy of selling more than just books. So obviously new ventures can definitely pay off if done well.)

3. And finally, I did a SWOT analysis, which proved to be very helpful in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of myself and my competitors.

SWOT -- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

My simplified version of the standard SWOT analysis essentially compared piddix to my competitors, look at my business assets, and tried to come up with a way to address my weak areas. It went something like this:

Strengths: My images are legal and a very high quality.
Action: When several competitors came on the market a while back with illegal, cheaper, and lower quality images, I wrote a blog post about how I research copyright. I also changed my shop announcement and item listings to reflect my research and restoration process. This seems to have worked well.

Weaknesses: I'm a slow designer. I take a very long time to research copyright and restore images. I'm also darn stubborn.
Action: I took several graphic design classes and learned a new software to be able to make the collage sheets more quickly (and be able to respond to custom requests). That's been mixed. I've learned a ton of great new techniques, but I'm still so much slower than others. For example (and this is where my stubbornness comes in), I know that I probably should just repeat more images in each collage sheet and not worry about lining everything up perfectly, since it's the quick little happy sheets that are selling well for my competitors right now. But I am stubbornly holding onto spending hours and hours making each new sheet--little tiny tweaks sometimes that may not even be noticed. I justify this to myself by saying that my customers appreciate the high quality and that's why they come back. At the same time, though, it's tough to see others' "quick sheets" selling three times as fast. Hmmmm.

Opportunities: Even though I sell mostly smaller images in the one- to two-inch range, I have thousands of larger scans just sitting on my computer. I also have many of the original colored plates that I have removed from books, vintage postcards that I've scanned, and vintage ephemera just sitting on my shelves.
Action: I put some of my original ephemera for sale on etsy with only limited success. And I don't think my assemblage sets have sold once. I have also started an area on my instant site for as-scanned larger images as well as a commercial section. With all of these ventures, I think I would need to put more energy and time into building up these new products, but it may also pull me too far away from my "core." We'll see how these develop.

Threats: This is the scary part. Collage sheets (which are my main product) are relatively easy to create poorly. You can grab a bunch of images off of websites and fill up a store quickly. Even shops that create legal, original designs can bring hundreds of items over from an ebay store or other venue and go from newbie to top seller within a couple of months. The very precarious nature of selling on etsy, and the fact that almost all of piddix's income is based on etsy sales, is worrisome.
Action: I am slowly diversifying where I sell, adding other online venues that may add some cushion. Again, I hope this won't spread piddix too thin. And since most folks who try piddix once become repeat customers, I am working to thank and further support my repeat customers through things like my newsletter and subscription.

Wow, in the end I've put way more personal and business information into this post than I had intended. It's obviously something on my mind quite a bit. Though I sometimes worry that I'm giving too much information away to my competitors, I figure it's what you do with the information that counts. Hopefully you can create your own SWOT and see which ventures may help build up your core.

La Vie Cherie :: Using Vintage French Postcards as Photo Backdrops

Taking amazing photographs is probably the single best way to showcase your products. In addition to good lighting and angles, "staging" the item can make a huge difference in its presentation. A lovely trend I've noticed lately is using vintage French postcards as backgrounds for small items--especially jewelry. It not only makes the jewelry "pop," but also adds a romantic, Victorian-era feeling.

Arete has some of the most lovely photographs featuring vintage postcards, a theme which carries through her entire site--including her banner and these great shots of her jewelry and packaging below:
Chinacherie's Eiffel Tower necklace goes well with this colorful, vintage Eiffel Tower postcard.
Another Eiffel Tower postcard from 1889 adds drama to these sweet earrings by Marolsha:
Another lovely French theme in earrings (on top), and a necklace below, from nostalgems.
For some helpful tricks on photographing small items, such as jewelry, check out either this storque article or one from my website. I've searched high and low for a simple, effective light box and this one by Sugar Panda is by far my favorite. And also check out my downloadable vintage French postcards on etsy.

The piddix Board of Directors

Before I left The ReBuilding Center to work on piddix full-time, I went out to lunch with two friends who both had run their own businesses for several years. I asked about working from home, and whether they had any regrets about leaving a more stable income. The advice and support they offered was invaluable.

One of the challenges of running a business by myself has been the lack of an immediate sounding board. I can't turn to my co-worker and say, "which one looks better," or "what do you think of this new idea?" To compensate, I've gotten pretty good at asking anyone who will listen--from best friends to the man sitting next to me on the airplane--for advice on whatever question has been plaguing me at the moment.

During this process I've come up with two tricks to help get the best advice possible while also not wasting anyone's time.

First, I have a pretty good "elevator" speech that summarizes piddix. This includes:
1. What piddix does.
2. The mission of piddix.
3. My products and pricing.
4. Who my customers are.
5. Who my competition is and how piddix is different.

This summary can be said in anywhere from one to 45 minutes depending on the situation. Once the person has a basic idea of my business, I then ask the one question that I'm wrangling with, which lately has been on the subject of the best ways to grow piddix as a business.

This brings up my second trick:

Ask about your weaknesses and their strengths.

If you are great with color, don't bother someone asking about different combinations--you'll just get advice that you won't necessarily agree with or need. Instead, ask about areas where they are by far the expert.

For example, I went out to dinner recently with a group of High School friends, many of whom have MBAs from fancy-pants universities and have in-depth knowledge of businesses practices. I know piddix pretty well: what images my customers will like, how to write about my products, and so on. But I have never taken a college-level business class. What I wanted to know from them, after they had heard about piddix, were basic business practices for growth; "rules of thumb," if you will, about the best ways to expand into new markets or increase product offerings. Once again the advice was unbelievably helpful, perhaps even more-so since this large group was able to bounce ideas off one another and brainstorm on the spot. Honestly, if I had paid to bring them all together as professional consultants, it would have cost me thousands of dollars. But by having my quick speech and question ready, I received great tips that are shaping the direction of piddix's future.

These amazing groups and individuals--whom I consider my informal Board of Directors--have become an essential part of piddix and I couldn't do it without them.

Copy Cats: Bring Them On

If you sell your products online, eventually someone will copy you. Online craft sites such as esty are especially well-known for how rampant outright copying can be.

During my years on etsy, I have had just about everything possible duplicated--including exact copies made of my profile (who copies an entire profile?) and even how I leave feedback or name my items. The quickest that someone has made a knock-off of an entire collage sheet is three hours.

At the beginning I would get pretty upset. Last year I must sheepishly admit I even sent the seller of the "October special" below (mine's on the left; hers on right) a snarky little convo saying that she hadn't quite gotten the copy right and that I would gladly send over the names of the fonts I had used if it would help.

(She no longer sells on etsy and her name is not attached, which is why I include this as my only example from someone else).

Recently though, two things happened that made me much more zen about the entire process. First, I came across a listing for someone else's butterfly ephemera collage sheet described as "a new take on a popular theme." You see, several years ago I created some sheets with vintage butterflies on postcards (both below are mine):In 2007-2008 these were some of my most popular items. Since then, more than 200 different variations of "butterflies on ephemera" have popped up from other sellers. Seeing something that I had originally created now identified as a "trend" or theme could have been very frustrating--but I actually had to laugh. By turning the idea of copying on its head, I can see my best postings as setting trends. If I add a collage sheet of vintage keys or a new size like 2.6 inch pocket mirrors, it's become almost a game for me to see how long it takes until someone else does the same. And if something doesn't get copied--was it not good enough? Should I push my ideas further?

Secondly--and I think this is probably the most important--I realized that copying doesn't work. Remember the etsy shop with the "October Special" I mentioned above? Initially her entire shop of 100+ items were near duplicates of mine. After I contacted her she started going in an entirely new direction--making her own, original designs. And guess what? Her sales went through the roof! Shoot!

So now when someone duplicates my items--even if it's 99% the same--I say nothing for very practical, business reasons. A shop full of knock-offs of other people's work has no creativity of their own and etsy buyers can sense that. Sure, they'll get a couple of sales, but the best shops constantly push themselves, always being innovative and trying to stay ahead with new ideas and new products. That in the end is what will pay off.

So when something you create is full-on copied, and responses such as "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" and "who knows who really came up with the idea first?" seem flat--remember that at the end of the day your creativity has inspired others and that is what pays off in sales and customers who are looking for innovation. Push yourself further and don't worry about looking behind to see who is chasing you.

Happy Trails

The big news here in piddix land is that Brian (my significant other and better half) was laid off from his non-profit job of the last 4+ years last week. After much cursing and crying, my next thought was....so where should we move?

See, I'm one of those strange people who actually likes moving. I love the process of cleaning things out, boxing up what's left, and exploring a new city. For graduate school, Brian and I packed everything we owned into my tiny Honda hatchback and drove cross country to New York City--neither one of us ever having stepped foot on the East Coast before. Three years later we sold just about everything we had accumulated and bought one-way tickets back to Portland, where we've been for the past 10 years.

Since the sun (still) hasn't made a appreance in Portland much this summer I've been contimplating sunnier lands. And as Declan isn't in school yet, and I can work from anywhere with an internet connection, why not explore for a couple of years? While there's about a 2% chance that we will actually sell the house, pack things up, and make the big leap, I do love the idea of it all.

My current dream locations include:

Malta -- Stay a couple months with my sister and her husband.
Paris -- Brian's been working with a French/Austrian art group on a TV pilot.
Bay Area -- Always lovely, though expensive.
Hawaii -- Sigh. I love Hawaii. Why not?

I'd love to go somewhere sunny, laid back, and friendly. Am I crazy? Probably. But still, the the possibility of change is always a fun one for me.

Here's to Good Friends

The summer after we graduated my friend Dan created a chain letter for all of our High School friends to keep in touch. This was in 1992--before email--so the letter involved actual paper and photographs. The package was moving along swimmingly, spending a week or two with each person while they added their own thoughts or news. But then it got to Kristine, who was having a bit of a rough time. She kept waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting for things to turn around so that she could add happy updates to the letter. Kristine is of course doing much better almost 20 years later, but the letter never made it out of her hands.

I've been feeling a little bit like Kristine lately. Definitely in the middle of a rough patch these last couple of days and not really wanting to write about it yet. I've started three different blog posts and abandoned them all. So instead I will leave you with some fun photographs taken last weekend at our friend Jeff's wedding. Here's 14 of my High School friends who traveled from around the world to come together once again. We are very fortunate to have kept up with one another--these days via facebook, emails, and the occasional trip. The last photo is me and Dan, who started the original letter and still is much of the glue that keeps us in touch. I'm feeling very fortunate for such great friends.

Building Sandcastles (or how to turn my craft business around)

I can pinpoint the exact moment that things started to turn around for piddix. I was sitting at my computer in Hawaii (long story) thinking about all of the pros and cons of running my own business. Things were looking pretty bleak. Then something happened: As I was tallying up all the positives of working from home (including being in Hawaii) I decided that this is what I want to do. I committed to piddix. Even if that meant postponing student loans and eating a lot of rice while things got off the ground.

In many ways that moment of commitment was exactly what I needed. That day I taught myself a new graphic design program and started a whole new line of more modern collage sheets. I sent out my then-quarterly newsletter and have continued sending it out every week or two. And I also started doing some advertising--something that, despite my preconceptions, has actually worked pretty well for bringing in new visitors. Oh, and I threw my to-do list out the window and have instead started listening to my gut about how to prioritize each day.

Piddix is far from safe. I feel like I'm building some massive structure out of toothpicks, ice cubes and the occasional sand bag. I keep adding different parts, shoring up others, all while the tide is rising. But for the moment the precarious structure that is piddix is holding off the floodwaters--hopefully for long enough to find a long-term solution to making piddix work.

I'll leave you with a Henry Thoreau quote that was on my office wall for many years and seems especially appropriate at the moment:

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. There is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."