Adventures in Selling, Part Three: Dreams and Shadows

Last week was Halloween - a time to bring the skeletons out of the closet and wear them on your skin. For a few brief hours, I became a tiger. It feels good to look and act differently than normal. It's fun to see the beautiful, horrible, and fantastic out on the sidewalks - dancing, collecting treats, and reveling in the night.

Me and Dozer. He wasn't fooled by my cattish-ness.

Which brings me to the subject of dreams and shadows..

It's easy to have a dream and feel longing for it because you "just didn't try" or "life got in the way." The dream can remain glow-y and beautiful in the distance, something that "could have been" but just wasn't. Sometimes it's great to have certain dreams stay in the distance, because maybe they really are more beautiful that way. But some dreams are worth the challenge.

The real question for the unfulfilled dreams is, "What keeps you from trying?"

One thing I've been learning these days is that grasping onto a dream and shaping it into an achievable goal will open a can of worms that may be difficult to face. Achieving your dreams can alter important relationships in your life (for good or ill), make you face personal demons, and reveal parts of yourself and your life that, once inspected, MUST change. Deep down, I think that most people are unconsciously aware that this can happen.

Change is scary. But Change can also be very good.

A Halloween-y display at my friend Sarah Hand's house

In my last posting about how I made a breakthrough with my own attitudes toward money, I mentioned that there were other issues holding me back from being able to make a living. While the dough hasn't been flowing in like a raging river (it's more like a trickling creek, hopefully gathering strength!) I feel relatively more calm and trusting these days that it'll keep growing bit by bit. But my feelings have run the gamut from spazz-y to peaceful.

By the beginning of October, I had contacted over 100 stores asking if they'd like to carry my cards. I added 13 new stores through my efforts (22 total stores so far!) which I am proud of. But after the small slew of orders, there was a dry spell, and I decided to take a break from contacting stores so I could work on other projects. I was frankly sick of thinking about my notecard business.

I have mixed attitudes towards freedom and responsibility. I will never be a 9-5 kind of person - it's just not in my nature. Throughout my life, I have always wanted to be free with my art, to do only what I enjoy. But running my card business is showing me that no one is totally "free." In fact, running my own business is harder in some ways because I face full responsibility for every decision I make. There isn't a boss to manage me. I am still not sure how this business will grow, and sometimes I wonder if I should quit because it can be overwhelming and too hard at times. On the other hand, going back to what I was used to would be frustrating and unsatisfying.

What is freedom? Was I really free when I was barely making enough money and worried about it all the time? Was I free when I was doing what was familiar to me, and my dreams were beautiful and distant? Can I always just do what I want to do, and will that make me happy?

The answer for me is "No." I've got to compromise if I want to be happy. That means bending my brain into different shapes and looking at the long-term. Rather than striving to have all the answers now, I can grow to be the capable person I want to be. This means learning the legalities of running my business (that alone is nerve-wracking!), being adaptable to change, and getting help when I need it.

Hot cider and treats from a Fire Ceremony party that I attended in October.

In the last couple of months, I took a creative writing class called "Writing the Shadow," taught by Douglas Jones at The Visual Arts Center of Richmond. In Jungian terms, the Shadow is the part of ourselves that we find unacceptable, the part that haunts us or that we try to hide from others. Through writing and thinking consciously about how to see and integrate the shadow side of myself, I realized that there is someone in my life who I greatly admire but who haunts me in many ways both positive and negative - my dad. Throughout my life, my dad has demonstrated, through words and actions, a trust in life and in his abilities that I have never fully embodied. Even when he's told me about his struggles, I still see my dad as being magical. But by striving to be like him, I have lived in his shadow.

I can see now that trying to conduct life like my dad doesn't allow me to be the self that I am. I want to free the part of me that never feels good enough for my own standards. I want to accept that I will always be a bit doubtful and fearful, and that's okay. It hasn't kept me from doing things that are brave, if my heart says they're worth doing. I don't have to feel declarative and confident about everything. Sometimes just muddling through is good enough - and I suspect that's how many seemingly-confident people do it, too!

After taking my shadow writing class, I learned that the parts of ourselves that we are afraid to look at are the parts that make us human. And these things are beautiful in their own way. They make us complex, layered, imperfect. We cannot have strengths without weaknesses, and we cannot have weaknesses without strengths.

True change occurs within. True change comes from looking at yourself more clearly through a process of heartbreaks and triumphs, and what follows - whether that takes days, months, or years - is a "symptom" of change, not the change itself. It's the fruit that grows from the seed. I look at all that I've done in the past as building towards my dreams and informing what I decide to do each step of the way. Looking at my life as an accumulation of thoughts, actions, and creations is much more healthy than judging whether I have succeeded or failed at any given moment - as if I or anyone else has the right to decide that!

A couple of weeks ago I attended a wonderful "Fire Ceremony" hosted by my artist friends Sarah Hand and Suzanne Vinson. Sarah makes dreamy paper-mache dolls, sculptures and whimsical paper collages. Her work just makes you feel happy.

Shadow box by Sarah Hand

Suzanne is a minister and artist who makes art and hosts art & spiritual retreats and creativity circles. She makes fantastically colorful paintings, mixed media art, and wonderful wisdom cards. During our ceremony, I picked out her "Soar" card to focus my intentions for the night because I am ready for my art, business, and life to truly soar and thrive.

Wisdom card by Suzanne Vinson

For the ceremony, Suzanne helped us focus on the aspects that fire brings to us - it's focus, warmth, and also destructive power. I won't share all of the ceremony here because it just seems more powerful to keep some of it to myself, but it involved thinking about things we wanted to let go of in our lives and other parts that we wanted to bring in. One of my intentions was to make peace with my shadows and to integrate them into my life, among other things. There was percussion, a bonfire, and sparklers involved - such fun! 

Dear Readers, I'm sure you have felt conflicted about your dreams and have faced plenty of shadows mixed in with your sunny days. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

Adventures in Selling, Part One: Hitting the Pavement

A few weeks ago, while visiting my boyfriend's family in Kentucky, I took my notecards around to some shops. It's been a bit more difficult than I imagined to get in touch with store owners to purchase my cards. I'll write e-mails, and sometimes I'm lucky enough to hear back that they're interested, or maybe my cards aren't a good fit for their store or it's not good timing. But often, especially when I'm using one of those fill-in-the-blank e-mail forms, I won't hear back at all and I won't know why. So I decided to "take it to the streets" and just drop in on store owners. Which I've heard you're not really supposed to do - it's better to make an appointment. But I did it anyway.

Zum Kartoffellager by Michael Sowa

One of the store owners wasn't in town, but I talked to her employees who showed interest in the cards and told me to e-mail her. One store buyer showed a lot of interest and took some samples and an order form. One owner immediately took six of my card designs on consignment! And one owner (who I'd actually e-mailed several months before but hadn't heard back from) anticipated my request before I even asked and told me she was too busy to look at anything (which she was, since there were lots of customers in there), but gave me her direct e-mail.

Kranker Hund by Michael Sowa

The day after my boyfriend and I returned to Richmond, I e-mailed the store owners from Kentucky to follow up. Then my boyfriend and I went to a grocery store to eat lunch and I griped about how, even with the luck I'd had with that one store taking my cards on consignment and a handful of other stores currently selling them, I didn't think it was possible for me to make much money. I felt completely pessimistic. I was tired out from the long drive back and depressed to come back to regular life after having such a fun vacation. I also didn't have enough income to cover the rest of the month and didn't know how I would generate it.

Later that day, I checked my e-mail. One of the store buyers from Kentucky had just placed a huge order! I grabbed a calculator to tally the order - 360 of my cards! I yelped with joy. It was my biggest order from any store so far. Financially, my month was covered.

For awhile, I was so excited. Then I wondered how I would make enough money the next month. Not every buyer was going to order so many of my cards. And then I remembered that I was running out of envelopes and I would have to order more before I could send out the order! I didn't want her to think I was unprofessional and couldn't ship my orders quickly, especially not such a big, important order. That night I slept fitfully and had dream-like worries about envelopes.

But, once I received my envelopes the next week, I packed up the order and felt this new and wonderful energy flow through me. I felt excited, confident, hopeful. It was fun to prepare the order, to neatly stack and wrap up the cards and organize them in the cardboard box. I went to FedEx and opened an account. I told the FedEx employee how I excited I was about it. She kept smiling. I'm sure not too many people come into FedEx excited about sending out packages. I tried to savor it, because one day I may not be excited about packaging and shipping out orders. But at that moment, I was doing exactly what I wanted. One big order had given me the hope I needed.

Mann mit Elefant by Michael Sowa

I now confirm my suspicion that not only do I have to get over my fear of failure, I also have to grapple with my fear of SUCCESS. Ever since I got more serious about selling my art five years ago, I've had this weird feeling that everything that happens to me is only because I want it or truly need it to. Every time I despaired that I couldn't make enough money from my art or just really needed an emotional pick-me-up, lo and behold I would make another sale or someone would offer me an unexpected opportunity. It was never a lot, but always just enough. Throughout my life, my parents instilled a sense in me that I was always supported by the Universe no matter what. But I wondered why it was never a bit more to take the edge off my worries.

Getting more than I expected with that notecard order gave me hope, but also terrified me. I think I've never received more than "just enough" because until now, I didn't feel that I could handle it. This wasn't always a conscious sentiment, but as I now approach the reality of going full-time with my various art businesses, I can see that I was always afraid of the responsibility it would bring. Running my own business takes risk, bravery, a whole lot of accountability, and a pretty steep learning curve. And that is SCARY to me. I guess it was usually easier to feel slightly in the dark, to not ride that crazy beast even though I was already half-gripping the horns and being dragged by it. I've been working through these fears, though, by learning more about business from reading books and online articles, having a meeting with a business mentor from SCORE (a business counseling service in Richmond), and contemplating taking some classes to learn more. At each step, I experienced the initial fear of having to face something new, then the ease of actually feeling like I can deal with potential problems that may arise.

Suppenschwein by Michael Sowa

One thing I've learned thus far is that since I'm running my business, I have to be happy with the way I'm doing things - even if in a parallel universe another me would be working faster, harder, and smarter. I have to deal with my own weaknesses and champion my own strengths. I have to decide when I need to take breaks and when I need to push myself more. I also have to decide whether what I'm doing is worth my own time and energy, and learn to say no to people and activities that sap the energy out of the goals that really matter to me. This last thing, learning to say "no," has been difficult because I hate to disappoint people, but ultimately I was hurting myself by doing things that caused me resentment because they were not really how I wanted to use my energy anymore. I also have to battle with my own rigid thinking and old habits, and re-think decisions in a fresh way that makes more sense in the moment.

After I gained self-confidence with the big card order, I started to visualize how I would direct my card business - what I really wanted from it. I pondered what it would feel like to be someone else stumbling upon my cards for the first time. I suddenly had ideas for new illustrations and different card lines I wanted to experiment with in the future. I thought of it as a long-term venture where I would have fun trying lots of different things and seeing what worked.

The paintings I've been showing throughout this post are by a German artist named Michael Sowa. His work is cute but unusual, absurd and artfully created, and each painting contains an entire world.

Painting by Michael Sowa

I discovered his art at a store in Rochester, NY (my hometown) called Poster Art. Every time I went in, I would find myself attracted to a postcard and then I'd turn the card over and see his name. This is what I want with my cards - to be that thing you discover unexpectedly, that charms you and inspires you to imagine. To be a little peek into a larger world. I hadn't thought of selling my cards in this way before. I thought of them as another outlet for the art I already make, as well as an approach to affordably get my work into the hands of many people while making some revenue. But thinking of the cards in this other way made them magical - elevated them to something that could truly impact people, even in a small way.

Tigerhasse by Michael Sowa

It's wonderful to feel excited about life after a period where you didn't even know you felt a bit numb. I want to follow that excitement and see where it leads. Even if it gets scary sometimes.

Join me for more notecard shenanigans in "Adventures in Selling, Part Two," coming soon!

Behind the Virtual Storefront: Interview with Etsy seller ArtMobile

I discovered Marco's shop when I typed "Richmond, VA" in the "Shop Local" feature on Etsy. Marco Mahler's shop, ArtMobile, intrigued me because fine art mobiles like his are an unusual item to find on Etsy, and he takes great photographs of his work. His mobiles are fun and stylish, and pretty classy-looking if I do say so myself. His 3d-printed mobiles are apparently the first of their kind! Also, I don't see that many guy sellers on Etsy, so his shop stood out to me for that reason, too.

I hope you enjoy reading the interview with Marco. Turns out he's pretty business-savvy. I learned a lot from reading answers. Enjoy!

Marco Mahler of ArtMobile
www.etsy.com/shop/artmobile
www.marcomahler.com
www.facebook.com/marcomahler
www.twitter.com/marcomahler
www.shapeways.com/shops/mobiles

1. Please describe your Etsy shop.

 
I sell ready-to-ship handmade and 3d-printed mobiles and take custom, consignment and wholesale orders.
 
2. What is the greatest challenge/strength of selling your category of items on Etsy?
 
Challenge:
To have my items show up in search results. Etsy has been getting more and more cluttered with various listings that don't necessarily relate to certain search terms.
 
Strength:
Making your items available to a large number of people looking to buy handmade items. Etsy's platform is time efficient for listing and selling items. Most people don't buy something the first time they see it. With Etsy, they can add your items to their favorites and consider purchasing them later.

3. What is your most popular item and why do you think it's a bestseller?

Currently my most popular items on Etsy are a number of mobiles I make with acrylic glass shapes (also known as plexi glass). I'm not aware of anyone else making mobiles with acrylic glass shapes. I think I have a bit of niche within a niche with them.

4. Are you a full-time Etsy seller, and if not, approximately what percentage of Etsy revenue makes up your total income?

My main source of income comes from large custom mobiles. The sales I get from Etsy are are more like fillers for gaps in my work schedule. If I get too booked out with large custom mobiles, I temporarily close my Etsy shop.

5. How do you see your shop growing in the future, and what changes would you make to achieve your goals?

I've been thinking about making and adding larger, more expensive mobiles to my shop. However, I would be taking a risk by putting the time and cost of materials into making them without knowing if they will get sold.

The nice thing about making custom mobiles is that I get them sold before I make them, or at the very least, I get a 50% down-payment before I put any time and materials into making them.

6. Where does most of your customer base come from? Do you make targeted efforts to promote your shop?

I get most of my customer base from Google. I have a website with targeted keywords that I maintain regularly and add blog posts to. For many search terms related to mobiles, my website gets listed on the first page in Google's search results, sometimes even on top. From my website I link to my Etsy shop. I also maintain a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

7. Do you sell your work at other venues online and/or at a physical location? How does Etsy compare to other venues?

I list mobiles on eBay from time to time, but I get better results from my Etsy shop. I do sell mobiles through brick-and-mortar shops from time to time, both as wholesale and consignment. Last Christmas season I had a pop-up shop at Modern Artifacts in Carytown [in Richmond, VA]. The obvious advantage of any sales through Etsy is that I get 100% of the sales price. With wholesale or consignment, I only get 50% to 70%, depending on the agreement I have with a specific shop.

8. What is the best part of running your Etsy shop? Most difficult part?


I used to have a shop installed on my website which I kept having technical difficulties with from time to time. By having a shop on Etsy and simply linking to it from my website, I don't have to spend any time on technical issues. I have found and connected with other people on Etsy who make mobiles and have had ongoing conversations with them over the years. We refer inquiries to each other from time to time.
 
9. Has running an Etsy shop helped you find other opportunities besides direct Etsy sales?
 
Yes, I have received both custom orders and wholesale orders through my Etsy shop, as well as requests to consign my mobiles at brick-and-mortar stores.

10. What advice can you offer to first-timers who want to sell on Etsy?
 
Take great photos of your items. Write descriptions that contain all the keywords for your items so buyers can find them. Don't just make your items available on Etsy. Try to branch out as much as possible and see what works. For example, last month I sold several mobiles on Etsy, but I also sold (via my website) and made two large custom mobiles, wrote a "How to make a mobile" article for MAKE magazine, and sold several 3d printed mobiles through a shop I have with a collaborator on Shapeways.
 
11. Anything else you’d like to add?
 
Stay in touch with what made you excited to make things in the first place.

***
Thanks Marco! Readers, let us know what you think of his awesome mobiles!

Behind the Virtual Storefront: Interview with Etsy Seller SarahYoung5

I've been a seller on Etsy for almost seven years (!) When I first started my online shop, Sprout Head, I thought it was a way for me to quit my day job and just focus on art. Well, seven years later it is still only supplemental income -which I'm grateful for - but not enough to live on... yet. I've been doing quite a bit of thinking about my various art businesses, as you might've already read in my previous post. Earlier this month, I taught a workshop on Etsy Seller Basics at the VMFA Studio School, and I wanted to give workshop participants an inside glimpse of the business aspects of Etsy sellers working in various media. I interviewed some Etsy sellers and would like to share some of their insights with you as well!

I plan to make these interviews a running feature on my blog, called "Behind the Virtual Storefront." There are many people out there who currently run an Etsy shop or want to start their own businesses, so I hope this will be helpful to them. For those who don't, I hope you just enjoy looking at fabulous art and reading what these awesome artists and sellers have to say!

For my first interview, I have chosen Sarah Young, of the Etsy shop SarahYoung5. She is an artist, puppetmaker, and printmaker who lives in Brighton, England. I first discovered Sarah's art as examples in the book "The Printmaking Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques" by Ann d'Arcy Hughes and Hebe Vernon-Morris.

I fell in love with her print, "Interval" - isn't it beautiful? Her work is whimsical and full of fantastic patterns and colors. Read on!

Sarah Young

www.etsy.com/shop/sarahyoung5

www.sarahyoung.co.uk

1. Please describe your Etsy shop and your personal outlook as a seller.

My Etsy shop sells mostly tea towels that you can cut out and stuff to make cushions, toys or doorstops or use just as tea towels. I also sell hand printed relief and silkscreen prints and some digital prints.

2. What is the greatest challenge/strength of selling your category of items on Etsy?

I think it helps that my tea towels have more than one use, are light, (very postable) and are quite cheap.

3. What is your most popular item and why do you think it's a bestseller?

I think it is Felix the fox, closely followed by Hester [the Hare]. I think it's a strong design, and foxes have been 'in', very popular for some time now!

4. Are you a full-time Etsy seller, and if not, approximately what percentage of Etsy revenue makes up your total income?

No, I do a lot of other things. Difficult to say, but maybe 30%. It's definitely been very helpful, and has got us through some very lean periods!

5. How do you see your shop growing in the future, and what changes would you make to achieve your goals?

I'd like to see it as an outlet for new ideas/products. Hopefully alongside good selling work as well. Though hopefully the two aren't mutually exclusive! I have to do the work, but also I haven't devoted very much time to understanding how to use Etsy in the best ways. The classic problem of too busy working but not enough time understanding how or being able to promote or sell. I would like the prints to do better and have recently put up a series of small alphabet silkscreen prints, so will be interested to see how they are received. I will be putting ceramic work up in the future also, but I'm not quite sure whether to have a separate shop or put it all together.

6. Where does most of your customer base come from? Do you make targeted efforts to promote your shop?

UK and USA mostly. I do treasuries now and again but that's about it. I need an elf.

7. Do you sell your work at other venues online and/or at a physical location? How does Etsy compare to other venues?

Yes, art fairs, galleries, shops and my own website. They all seem to work well together. They help promote each other.

8. What is the best part of running your Etsy shop? Most difficult part?

The potential for getting seen by such an amazingly wide audience, being able to have interaction with your customers/ people who like what you're doing/ fellow Etsy sellers. Although this has all been online, so far, for me, I think some of the little bits of contact or encouragement have been really lovely. It's not faceless and you don't feel alone, even if you feel you use only a tiny amount of Etsy's potential.

9. Has running an Etsy shop helped you find other opportunities besides direct Etsy sales?

Quite a few shops and galleries have approached me via Etsy.

10. What advice can you offer to first-timers who want to sell on Etsy?

I don't feel I'm in a very good position to give advice as I haven't done all the things I'm sure I should be doing with Etsy. But do your own thing, from the heart.

Probably keep it simple, though I don't! 

Try to make it a personal experience for your customers, it does take more time, but I usually just feel quite grateful that they want some of my stuff!

11. Anything else you’d like to add?

I know it has changed peoples' lives for the better, and I think the people behind Etsy can't ask for anything more wonderful!

* * *

Thanks for joining Sarah and I today! I'll post more interviews soon! 

xo aijung

Busy with Business

These days I've been thinking a lot about my art businesses. I have several: creating art and crafts to sell, running my Etsy shop Sprout Head, wholesaling my notecards, vending at craft shows, doing illustration commissions, working on getting published in the children's book industry, exhibiting my personal art in galleries, and maybe you could also count teaching art workshops.

I tend to work in bursts of activity, sometimes focusing on one thing more than others, and sometimes trying to do many at once. I've had a few people criticize me for doing too many things. Sometimes I feel like a freak because I find it so difficult to focus on just one thing, even if those things are related. I find inspiration in working in so many ways, yet I also know that it's hindering me from really excelling at just one thing and being as financially successful as I'd like through my art. On the other hand, I think that everything I mentioned has also fed each other in very important ways.

Last year I bought a book called "The Right-Brain Business Plan" by Jennifer Lee of Artizen Coaching. (Jennifer also just came out with a new book: "Building Your Business the Right-Brain Way.") Admittedly, I did not get far in the book because I didn't devote the time to doing the exercises. Which is probably my biggest problem - I don't devote the time for planning important aspects of my businesses. In the past, I tended to have an idea, figure out how to execute it, and throw it out in the world in an unsustainable, hit-or-miss fashion.

Last week and this week (April 14-18), Jennifer is running a Right-Brainers in Business 2014 Video Summit, and I've been watching the interviews with several creative business owners. If you're quick, you can also watch for free by clicking that link (each interview only stays up for 48 hours, unless you upgrade your subscription.) Listening to so many (mostly) women business-owners speak has really got my mind turning! I was especially moved to hear Lilla Rogers say that it's normal for creative people to want to do many things, and there's nothing wrong with us for being that way. I was inspired to hear Alicia Forest, whose business hit her first million, say that she takes the summers off to be with her family. She said that it's possible to run your business and also make time for the other things you value, even if that means that it takes more time to grow the business.

So what I'm realizing from the summit is that it's wonderful to be myself and that I want to be more focused about my goals, but also know that it takes time and experimentation to be successful. I want to stop making each goal into this perfect ideal, and start with what I have and work up to it.

Another book that is really helping is "The Now Habit" by Neil Fiore. He writes about the psychological reasons why people procrastinate, and techniques for overcoming it. His advice to take 30-minute chunks of time to "start" projects (rather than focusing on finishing) has already been super-helpful. It is so much easier to work on something when I'm not criticizing myself for not having finished it already. He also recommends making a commitment to doing enjoyable activities - in fact, doing so will actually make you more productive because you won't be burned out or resentful of your work.

Back in the winter when art centers were asking me to submit teaching proposals, I told everyone I was taking the summer off. Initially, I wanted to be able to travel. But on a deeper level, I just wanted some space. Space to breathe, think, create, or do whatever I wished. I actually didn't really know what it is I wanted all that time for, but I wanted to make sure that nothing would hinder me from doing it!

Now that I've moved to a new apartment with my very own studio space (I swear I'll post pictures soon!) I am really glad I made that decision to create space. After the SCBWI conference, I planned to take that time to create a children's book dummy. But now I'm re-thinking it, because if I devote that time to just creating the dummy, I will almost certainly have to get another job by summer's end. Now I'm thinking about devoting this summer to pushing my art businesses in very concrete ways. If all goes well, my income will continue to grow and I will be that much closer having art-making as a sustainable business.

I'm still in the thinking stages of all this, but my ideas are flowing and I feel much more energetic, partly due to the warm spring weather in Richmond. But I think that my new mind-set will pave the way for some great things to come!

* * *
What about you? Have you ever felt "stuck" in some area of your life, and realized that you had to change your own thinking or actions for things to get better?