Girl Startup.

So it’s been roughly two months, since I made an effort in showing my designs to the “world” and I thought it was time to give an update. “Oh an update”, we all love the “updates”

So, it’s been an interesting ride and I have to say that I have been thoroughly enjoying it. Maybe I  could even say those special words…wait for it…”I love it”. It’s been interesting observing my progression. The thing that I have noticed, is my hightened sense of focus. I have never focused on something so much in  my life. Which is great, because it means I am on the right track. Everyday, I am thinking about my bags, and my other entrpenurial ideas and how to implement them. I think I should use that special word about now…wait for it “statergy!”. I am continually thinking about my statergy, my angle, my approach. I can’t say my statergy is working so far, with only three sales (update 4) ! But then on the other hand I know I need to be patient. That’s the one thing I am happy to do, be patient. I know these things take time, and it doesn’t matter if it takes me a week, a month or a year. I will get there, no matter what. There’s no other option.

Be Patient

I’ve already learnt from past experiences of what being “imaptient” can do (read this blog post) . But then at the same time, I was not only impatient, but I also was not passionate about what I was doing. Now I have both patience and passion. I know I have passion, because not once so far, have I found this current venture a burden. I love getting up, coming up with designs in my head, coming up with solutions to my product. From a simple problem, to my bag being to floppy, to how to stainproof my bag without, having to wrap it in plastic These are all things that meant me using my “brain” and finding solutions to problems. All this is stimulating, broadening and challenging my mind, and I think that’s what I needed all along.

This project/business whatever you want to call it, has brought out qualities I never knew I had. I never knew I would get “high” on problem solving. But I do. I love nutting out  problems. There’s nothing better in solving something, that no one else has been able to answer. It’s strange because technically if I love problem solving I should love maths, but I am afraid my brain doesn’t like that kind of problem solving

I also found out I am a very tactile person, I love getting my hands dirty. I should have clicked sooner…when I was younger I was always making things with my hands. I think when I was 13 or 14 when I sanded down an old old ugly wardroble of my parents, repainted and then gave it a shabby chic look and I remember then that I just loved getting down and dirty. But anyway, I didn’t “click” and there’s no point having regrets. And besides now I can now say I have something I am “passionate about” and for that I feel very grateful.

Selling Products Online Is Not Easy

Anyway, so  far I have sold three  bags. I know…I know not much, but it’s a start. Selling products online is not easy. Just think about it, there a billions of people online, and your just a little speck in the scheme of things. I just need to figure out how to get my speck a little bit bigger. As you may be aware, I have been using Etsy. It’s kind of been like my university in learning how to sell online. Etsy goes into great detail about how to promote yourself online, and also has a great forum, where people ask questions and promote. I have learnt a lot from there. I even learnt that people relist their items quite often, to push them to the top of the list. That’s where etsy makes there money obviously. Although, I actually haven’t seen the effects of that helping me so far. I actually think I got my sales from people seeing my bags on the front page of Etsy. Yes I got on the front page, which I later  found out later on… is not that easy to do. I also placed  my bags on to an  external site  called thecolour.com.au and then they twittered and also added it to their facebook page. I personally think I need to do more external sites like thecolour.com.au, but it’s finding those places and easily contacting them. The thing I liked about thecolour.com.au was that you could just upload the image yourself, and then they approve it quite quickly. There was “no” story that I had to tell. My bags also got featured on playwho.com which I think is a rather sexy site. So I was stoked about that, because that’s more of the style I am looking at targeting. Oh and now I just found out I am ffffound.com

I do really like Etsy, but I am not really sure if it’s the right place for me in the long run. There’s a lot of products that are undervalued, and because it’s a crafty site, buyers obviously are gearing towards spending not as much money. There’s also the problem of way too many products, and getting lost in the sea of shops. Because it’s an open marketplacce it’s free for all. So think ebay, with a crafty twist. Having said that I just saw a seller that started at the same time as me, granted her product is very nice, but she has somehow managed to sell 64 items! That’s insane. So today, I did have a bit of “what am I doing”, but then I did a google search to see what she was doing, and yep, she’s on a whole lot external sites. So that’s where my focus has to be for the next few weeks. I have enough inventory now, so now it’s time to get serious about promoting.

Game Mechanics

But the one thing Etsy is good at doing is putting together “game mechanics”. What is “game mechanics” you may ask? Basically it’s what we all do online, when we go on social websites…we play games. Ok may not be shoot’em up games, but they’re  games we play with each-other whilst interacting. So for example a forum is a game in some ways, we as users like to add our own personal touch to who we are, so we add avatars, and signatures. If we own a shop, we personlise things with banners, text etc. Even on our own blogs, we add or own avatars, we try to comment on blogs, to get “our name out there”. We try and come up with the best advice. These are all games mechanics and then you go further, with games like, “Critique my product. Guess what my product is? How much is my product worth?” and then we as a user  will respond to the game. Games are all around us, it’s what keeps us stimulated on the web, it allows us to be unique and set us apart from others. I learnt this from a great interview on mixergy.com, but unfortunately it seems you can only access the interview now through paying. See even Andrew from mixergy is playing a game

So my friends that’s it for tonight. I just guess I have to keep on persevering, my next goal is to get more exposure on external sites. Nighty night! Sorry for me waffling on…I tend to do that

Oh ps I have two new tumblr blogs

http://nomuu.tumblr.com/

http://insideinteriors.com – had this domain for years.