New Aspirations in 2015

Today's Silver Price: $18.33/t.oz.

I've recently relocated to sunny Florida. I've said goodbye to the cold grey skies of Long Island, NY. I am currently settling in to Palm Harbor, which is in the Tampa Bay area. While I am enjoying the blue sky and the warm sun, it's also time to focus on developing my business and creating higher quality jewelry.

I've just signed up for a jewelry metalworking class with Dunedin Fine Art Center (www.dfac.org) and I'm so excited! It starts February 24th and there will be a 3 hour class every Tuesday night for 6 weeks. So now, instead of buying components and putting them together, I will be able to fabricate my own components! The class teaches soldering, stone setting, piercing, forging and hammering. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to learning are the finishing techniques like filing and polishing. Also I need to find out how to keep copper from tarnishing. I've made some copper cuff bracelets in the past but they get dull very quickly.

I'm aiming to create more artisan quality jewelry this year. I want to move away from the silver-plated pieces I have been making, and get back to sterling silver jewelry. 

New skills and a greater focus on social media marketing (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) will hopefully lead to a prosperous year! 

Below are some of my recent designs:

Ciao for now, and Happy New Year! 

Holiday Shopping

Today's Silver Price: $19.55/t.oz.

My Cyber Monday sale seemed to generate a ton of traffic in my Etsy shop. I didn't actually get any sales that day though. What's interesting is that I had an order placed right before the sale started, two orders placed the day after, and another order today. So in summary, my 20% OFF sale increased shop views, but did not get me any orders on Cyber Monday!

I've been trying to stay on top of my social media marketing lately. I read recently that Facebook is one of the best ways to promote an Etsy site, and that you should include a photo in every post. 

In an effort to create interesting posts with interesting photos, I've been playing with some photo collage apps on my iPhone. The picture below was my first attempt. I used an app called *Collage*. I wanted to show the creative process of making wire hearts for a necklace, and wanted to include all the steps in one photo. I posted this pic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Then I found a better app called 'Instapicframe'. It has more options. This was the updated pic:

I used 'Instapicframe' again this morning. I wanted to show several images of my yoga jewelry in one picture:

So far I am enjoying making these collages! Hopefully they will help to increase traffic in my Etsy shop! 

On the Back Burner

Today's Silver Price: $34.09/t.oz.

This has been a very unproductive week in terms of jewelry making. I've been feeling crappy since Monday night, so I haven't made anything new. I started on a new nickel heart necklace but only go two hearts done. Only 30 or so more to go...

I've had several comments on my latest posts to Etsy. I also post them on my Facebook business page for more exposure. I've had two people contact me inquiring about purchases... but so far no concrete deals... hmmmm.

I started playing around with some different chain link ideas last weekend. I made a few swirl links out of the nickel wire and connected them with jump rings- I'm going to finish that project this weekend and see how it looks as a 32" necklace.

I've been doing some internet research to see if I can find some sort of wire Celtic knot design, but so far I haven't found anything good. I actually have a book on Celtic wire jewelry but it's been a bit disappointing. There was one design that I want to try but it will take a lot of wire. The links are doubled up wire that has been bent into spirals. Not really what comes to mind when I think of Celtic but it is an interesting design.

Another design I found on YouTube is an Egyptian wire link necklace. The intricate links form a really cool chain. Again, this is a design that will use a lot of wire. I suppose if I'm using more material I can put a higher price on the finished product!

Silent Tagging Ladders = False Likes

Today's Silver Price: $32.98/t.oz.

I've stumbled upon a rather curious thing on Facebook. Apparently there are FB pages completely devoted to helping you increase your "LIKES," or fans on your small business page. Let me see if I can explain this...

The page is designed as a community page to help small business owners network and reach a wider audience and thus increase business. The page owner will post that it is time to start the Silent Tagging session (woo hoo!). You, using your personal page, post a tag to your business page. You must then LIKE all of the previous business tags before your post. The LIKING of other pages is a requirement in order to participate in this 'tagging ladder.' The idea is that everyone who posts a tag for their page will reciprocate by LIKING everyone else's page. Everyone gains LIKES. You are supposed to post using your personal profile so it looks legit... but it's really not. The session lasts a certain amount of time (e.g. 20 minutes), and then the page owner announces that the session has ended.

It took me a while to figure out what the hell this Silent Tagging and Tagging Ladders were all about. I quickly realized that I did not want any part of it as it is a bunch of bullshit. I tried to participate in a session last night. First of all, I couldn't figure out how to tag my page. I kept typing the business name but the tag did not appear. I checked all my page settings to see if maybe there was a selection keeping me from posting a tag, but had no luck. Having failed at tagging my business page, I was a good sport and LIKED several other pages who had tagged their businesses. And by several I mean 25 to 30.

I soon after realized that I would now be receiving posts and updates from these random 30 businesses that I had LIKED. Now I'm getting posts about handmade hair bows for babies. And sexy lingerie. And clothing for chicks who ride Harleys. And from someone who makes candles. And from someone who makes classy redneck drinking glasses (yes, really).

What was more bothersome was that I realized I did not want a ton of empty LIKES on my business page. What's the point of having 100 LIKES if none of those people are actually interested in the product or want to support me in my business endeavour? The whole point of the LIKE count is to see how many people are really interested in what your doing.

I'm still in the process of UNLIKING those 30 or so pages...

Sigh.


~~~{Blog Playlist}~~~
Florence + the Machine, "Never Let Me Go"
Bjork, "Army of Me"
Bjork, "Headphones"
Florence + the Machine, "Shake It Out"

Multitasking- How Much is Too Much?

Today's Silver Price: $32.80

This past Thursday night I was multitasking. I was watching a live online forum in which the topic was using social media to promote your small business, writing a blog post, posting on Facebook, posting on Twitter, and updating my website. Whoa!

I think at some point doing to many things at once not only becomes overwhelming, but can also be detrimental to your productivity. If you are doing five things at once, one or more is going to suffer because you are not giving the task your full attention. Multitasking can also lead to errors, mistakes or mixups. Details can be overlooked when your are not focused on one thing.

My life is one big multitasking tornado. Working a full time job, trying to develop a business, attempting to keep my home clean, fighting to stay healthy... and have I mentioned that I'm planning my wedding? Yeah. There's a lot going on. So I often have to make a choice as to what gets put on the back burner. Maybe I really need to post new pictures on my Etsy site... but you know what? I also have to get my Save the Date cards mailed out. It's a constant game of prioritization and re-prioritization. Luckily my full-time job does not spill over into after hours- once I leave the building at the end of the work day I don't have to think about it until the next morning. However working full-time only leaves me with four or five hours in the evening to get other things done. So I roll up my sleeves and get to multitasking!

Lately I've been wondering if this is a healthy way to exist, always doing several things at once. My brain is not used to juggling so much and I have become very forgetful. I have to stay organized otherwise it does become too overwhelming. Making 'To Do' lists seems to help keep me on track and remind me of things that need to be done. There are only so many things I can keep track of in my head before they start falling out of my ears. Lol. I often feel as if I am going against my own grain as I believe I am naturally a lazy person. Lazy people are not successful people! All this multitasking is making my schizophrenic. Lazy Sara wants to sit on the couch and watch movies. Business Sara wants to post ten more items on the website and then Tweet about them, post on Facebook about them and blog about them! I suppose if I were not working an office job during the day I would feel less bogged down and would be able to peruse these websites all day at my leisure...  but that's not happening any time soon!

It's hard to find a balance.