First Impressions

I received a marketing email today from one of the online jewelry suppliers and was disappointed to read, “Each Wednesday, you have the oppertunity to save big….”.   Now, I know we all make mistakes from time to time, but this is the second instance of this same mistake, from the same vendor. 

The purpose of this blog post is not to call out a particular vendor but to emphasize the importance of making a good first impression.  What do you think about a company when their marketing materials have misspelled words, grammar errors, or terrible formatting?  To me it is a poor reflection on the company and I wonder what my experience will be like as a customer.  As the old saying goes, “You won’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” 

There’s a graphic floating around the Internet that is a perfect example of how one small mistake can be a game changer.  Imagine your first impression if you received the first sentence (below) in an email!

It doesn’t really matter that you are a one-person operation; a good first impression is how you make and retain customers.  I don’t profess to be perfect, and I cringe when I find a mistake that has slipped into a customer facing email, blog, marketing piece, etc.  To minimize the risk of this happening, I follow a few simple steps:

• First and foremost – I run spell check on EVERY document, no matter how small.  I have spell check enabled in every application that offers it.  Spell check won’t catch everything but it will flag “oppertunity” as a misspelled word.
• I don’t send or post my message right away.  I walk away for awhile and then go back and re-read it.  Does it still make sense?  Is my grammar correct?  How is the spacing?  Are my fonts consistent?  Do all of my links work?
• I read and re-read my message several times to make sure it has the right tone. It is very hard to convey emotion and tone of voice in electronic format.  If possible, I will ask someone else read my document and provide feedback.
• I ALWAYS print a hard copy of my message and read it out loud.  It’s amazing how different it sounds when read aloud vs. silently in my head. 

What are your thoughts on this topic?  What other things contribute to first impressions?  Do you have any great suggestions to share?

Hosting a Craft Fair

Starting up a new business while working a full time job is challenging.  I continue to look for ways to market my business and would love to do jewelry shows and craft fairs, but I can't see myself spending an entire weekend doing a show and then back to work on Monday.  I just don't have the stamina for that and I don't want my jewelry business to become a burden. 

One way around this dilemma was to host my own craft fair at home.  I hosted one last November and it was a huge success.  I will be hosting another one on May 5th and hoping that it is even better than the first one.

Get Your Bead On Display at the November Craft Fair

If you are thinking about hosting a similar event, here are a few tips:

• Invite crafters who make high quality items 
• Don't have more than two people selling the same thing (jewelry, soaps, art, etc.)
• Have a good variety of vendors
• Make sure the vendors are spaced far enough apart to allow traffic to flow
• In lieu of a booth fee, ask each vendor to contribute a small item to be used as a door prize
• Offer drinks and light snacks at your event (you might ask your vendors to help with this)

One concern with this type of event is opening your home to strangers.  I decided to only invite people I knew and asked the other vendors to do the same.  This way, we would have some connection to the people attending.  I found that people who attended were there to make a purchase -- I averaged approximately $20 in sales for each attendee.  

If you've hosted a similar type event, I would love to hear about your experience and any additional tips you might want to offer.

Doing It My Way

When I started this jewelry making adventure, I wanted to learn everything there was to learn, and try every technique for making jewelry.  I tried stringing, bead weaving, working with hardware, alcohol inks, wire wrapping, gem stones, glass beads, lampwork beads, copper, brass, silver, the list goes on and on.  I knew that at some point I would have to figure out “who I am” as a jewelry designer.  It’s hard to build a brand when one’s designs are all over the map.

That’s where I am now – trying to figure out what my brand is.  Brand is much more than just a logo or a graphic.  Brand is your product’s personality – What is it?  What values does it represent?  Who is the artist?  What is the artist’s style?  It’s a big undertaking but I think I’m beginning to get a handle on it. 

My first step was to figure out my style.  What materials do I like to use?  What techniques do I prefer?  What's unique about my jewelry?  I’ve narrowed it down to two very different styles that I will try to incorporate into one.  First, there is my beadweaving.  I love my beadweaving.  It gives me such a sense of satisfaction to work with those tiny beads.  On the other hand, I also love metal.  I love to saw, hammer, torch, rivet, etc.  I’ve got some ideas on how to use beadweave designs with metal components to integrate the two styles.  For the short term, I will work them independently.  I’m still not down to a single style but I’m a lot closer than I was six months ago.

The next step will be to develop a logo.  Still a long way to go on that front………. Another post for another day………..

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.  What is your brand?  Do you even have a brand?  For those who know me, what images or words come to mind when you think of my jewelry. 

Role Reversal

I've been talking about getting a torch for some time now and Sears just happened to be open today (Easter Sunday).  Lew and I headed over to the farmer's market to get some fresh strawberries and afterward, he suggested that we stop on the way back and get my torch.  He didn't have to ask twice - I was ready to go!!  While we were in Sears, I found a few other goodies and some were even on sale.  A pair of tweezers perfect for pulling pieces out of LOS, a pick and hook set that will be perfect for something, a nice 6" metal ruler for measuring wire, a rubber mallet that was only $1.99, and of course my Lenk LPT-500 Pro-Torch with 2 butane refills.

As we were standing at the checkout counter, I asked Lew if he would have ever guessed that I would get excited about shopping in the tool department.  He laughed and said, "No, but who would have guessed that I'm the one who wants new kitchen counter tops?"  So I have my new tools and Lew is getting his new counter tops.  Role reversal indeed!

Collective Creative Canape Reveal Day

Reveal day is finally here for the Collective Creative Canape blog hop, and I can't wait to see what everyone made.  This has been such a wonderful experience on many fronts.  First and foremost, I've made some new friends and found a wonderful group of jewelry artists.  Thanks so much to Lori Anderson for running the Bead Soup Blog Party and to Keri Sereika for organizing this swap.

I also got the opportunity to work with different materials, including a great polymer focal and clasp made by my swap partner Beth Emery.   And finally, I had my first opportunity to take a concept and design jewelry around that idea. 

Hope

When I received my beads, Beth sent me an inspirational note about how she chose the beads for me with Spring in mind.  You see, Beth lives in Alaska and unlike most of us in the lower 48, Beth will not be enjoying spring weather for awhile.  With Spring as my inspiration, I set about making a necklace that would represent the season.  I used the seed beads Beth sent to make beaded leaves and hung them on the chain with her pretty focal.  I did take the liberty of adding some color to the birds and also added the birds nest and ceramic leaf dangles that were in my bead soup.  The clasp had to go on the front of the necklace, which I've named Hope.

Beth, I "hope" I've done justice to your beautiful polymer focal and clasp.



Beth also included pearls, crystals and some red coral beads that she said reminded her of cardinals hopping around in the snow.  With that in mind, I put together a bracelet that represents snow (pearls), ice (crystals), and cardinals (coral).  I dubbed this piece Snow and Ice.

Snow and Ice

WOW!! I made it through my first swap and can't wait to do another one.  Until next time........

I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit the other blogs that participated in this swap.  Comments are always welcome.


Keri Lee Sereika www.pinklemonade.typepad.com 
Beth Emery www.storiesbyindigoheart.blogspot.com
Niki Meiners www.nikimeiners.wordpress.com
Karan Parker www.karanskrafts.blogspot.com
Liz DeLuca www.creativeartyfacts.blogspot.com
Lynne Bowland www.islandgirlsinsights.blogspot.com
Judy Turner www.silver-rains.blogspot.com
Erin Grant www.Erinsjewelrycreations.blogspot.com
Bryna Lumb www.brynasbeadbox.blogspot.com
Rochelle Brisson www.acreativechelle.blogspot.com
Linda Youkman www.lindysdesigns.blogspot.com
Carmen Lau www.littlemake.blogspot.com
Cheryl Foiles www.getyourbeadon.com
Kelli Jacobson www.CreativeMoonJewelryAndThings.com
Elena Gianni www.ilmondodipucci.blogspot.com
Tania Hagen www.pelimadesign.blogspot.co.nz
Cindy Muse www.cindyshandworkcrafts.blogspot.com
Stephanie Woods www.skwds.blogspot.com
Lisa Lodge www.pineridgetreasures.blogspot.com

The Beads Have Arrived

My beads arrived last Friday for the bead swap and I’m very excited about the soup I received.  Beth put a lot of thought into the beads and components which are inspired by her dreams of Spring.  Living in Alaska, she has to wait a bit longer than most of us to enjoy nice Spring weather.   As soon as I saw the beads and read her note, I had design ideas running through my head.  I’ve started working on a piece and love it so far.

Back to the bead arrival.  I’ve opened the mailbox with anticipation for the past 3 days – on Friday, my anticipation was quelled when I saw a small brown box sitting in my mailbox.  Just to be sure, I had to check the return address to see if Beth’s name was there.  It was.  Now I was really excited.

This may sound corny, but I didn’t want to open it right away.  Much like Christmas morning, I was afraid the fun would be over too soon.  I left the package on my counter for a bit, trying to imagine what was inside.  When I did open it, I saw the cutest packaging inside.  Beth packed all of her goodies in a Chinese takeout box – it was so cute. 

Inside the takeout box, I found a treasure of goodies.  Beth’s handmade polymer focal piece and clasp are my favorites.  They form the foundation of her inspiration and helped guide me in my design.   There were also seed beads, pearls, chain, peridot chips, crystals, and the cutest little pewter birds nest.  

For those of you who have done multiple swaps, I probably sound a little silly but this is my first swap and I want to enjoy every minute of it.  Now the anticipation builds again as we look forward to the reveal.   

Motivation Comes and Goes

Some days I am extremely motivated and have more creative ideas than I know what to do with.  Other days (like today), I have no desire to pick up a bead or work on designs.  I'm positive that I'm not alone in this - I think most creative people "hit the wall" from time to time. 

I try not to get frustrated during these times but look to other ways to stay productive.  Today, I've been cleaning out the bead room and getting rid of unnecessary clutter.  Even though I haven't worked on a single jewelry project, I still feel like I've accomplished something. 

I have a very large moving box filled with over 100 books that has taken up residence in a corner of my bead room.  I've held on to these books, some of them for over 20 years, because letting them go somehow seemed like I was losing a part of myself.  Maybe I would want to read that book again someday, or maybe a friend would want to borrow it. More importantly, those books represented an accomplishment - after all, I'd read each and every one of them.  

What I realized yesterday is that I haven't picked up a single one of them to re-read it, and that box is taking up valuable space that I could use to set up a workspace for metals.  (Yes Debe, that means I will finally get a torch.)  I've decided I'm going to donate the books to either the local library or the Goodwill -- feels really good to be dumping some of the old baggage I've been lugging around for all these years.

I'm also cleaning out my bookshelf and getting rid of an entire shelf of stuffed animals.  The animals had special meaning because every year at the State Fair, I would play the game where the carny tries to guess your age.  I'm fortunate in that I look younger than my years and I always won the game.  Those stuffed animals were my reminder that I still had my youth.  I've decided I don't need cheap carnival prizes to stay young at heart and boy, wouldn't it be nice to have that shelf to store my bins of seed beads.  I have to admit that I'm not quite ready to throw those stuffed animals away just yet but I did put them away in a closet.  Baby steps......

So, while I'm not motivated to make anything today, I am motivated to re-do my workspace so it's ready when the creative spark hits again.  I'm sure I'll be over this slump by tomorrow but in the meantime, the stuffed animals are safely tucked away and the books are on their way to new homes.  Maybe I'll go watch a video on jewelry making.......