Butterfly Chic Boutique Blog

So yesterday I just sent out my 1st set of interview questions for my very 1st featured seller post. So as I was coming up with the list I thought about how some people don’t like to divulge certain info and some don’t like to share other info, so I made a huge list of question and told my featured seller to answer at least 10, more if she wished.

Then I got to thinking, well how can I ask anyone else to answer these questions if I don’t answer them myself? so…….here I go…..

*What is your name?

T

*What are your shop/site links?

http://www.butterflychicboutique.com http://www.butterflychicboutique.net http://www.butterflychicboutique.org http://www.myspace.com/butterflychicboutique http://www.flickr.com/photos/butterflychic/

http://www.indiepublic.com/profile/ButterflyChicBoutique

I’m ButterflyChicB on cafmom
Pretty much if I’m on a site I’m ButterflyChicBoutique or ButterflyChic

*How did you come up with your shop name/tag line or any unique product names?

For my shop name, I knew I wanted something with butterfly in it and something with boutique in it, so I played with words until I found something I liked. For my tag line I was stumped, totally blocked, all I knew is I wanted the word “dreams” in it….so I held a contest to come up with my tag line….

*What types of crafts do you make?
All types! My shop is set up for graphic design, paper items and fabric creations, but I also make jewelry, soap, bath salts, salt & sugar scrubs, I paint, ACEOs, you name I do it LOL I’m a craft junkie…. My favorite thing though is my paper boxes and bags, there is such pretty scrapbooking paper out there to work with ….. Paper is my favorite material

*How did you get into making your products?

I got into making cards and tag when I had my 1st business and wanted some nice thank you cards to put in with my orders. So I made my own, people love them and asked if they could buy some and it just took off from there… As far as my fabric stuff, I’ve been sewing since I was in 6th grade. And the graphic design, well I bought photoshop, had no clue, and decided as much as I paid for it I had better learn to use it, so I did.

*What is your favorite thing about your craft?

I love creating something out of nothing or ‘up cycling’ things into something new. Doesn’t matter what materials I’m working with, so long as I’m creating.

Paper is my favorite though. I love how many patterns and prints there are, weights and textures, color, how you can make it into so many things, embellish it with so many things, it’s just fun, like being a kid again. Plus it’s something I can do and I can set the kids up wit their own work station right beside me and “help” mama :0) (and my 4 year old has been know to work on actual orders, he like to fold the cards after I score them)

*What is your least favorite thing about it?
Promoting, I’d rather be making it than selling it ….but if I don’t sell, I can’t make more

*What makes your products special?
I don’t know what makes them special to anybody else, but they are all special to me cause they are a part of me. I pour a lot of time and love into each and every product I make.

*Where do you see yourself in 5 years, in your business?
Hopefully big enough to be making money but small enough I can still do it all myself and still have time to homeschool….

*Where do you create?
Currently, in my kitchen, I’m working on painting the studio so I can move my crafting stuff in there though

*What inspires you?
Being bipolar LOL All the colors and patterns…..

*What do you like to do besides crafting?
Spending time with my kids. Hiking, being out in the woods….

Walk us through your typical day.
Typical day, I’m up by 7:00am get dressed clean up a bit, check email, promote a bit, then the kids get up around 9 and I get them dressed, fix breakfast, start some laundry. Then I get on the computer to promote or work some more, fix snacks, change diapers, fix sippy cups, put the babies down for their naps, work with 4 year old on worksheets (homeschooling), clean up kitchen, fix lunch, more laundry, more dishes (no dishwasher) pop back on computer to check email/promote/work, hubby gets home and get the kids all riled up then goes out to work on this truck he bought to fix up and sale, then I cook dinner, eat dinner, Spend time with hubby and kids, give the kids a bath, clean up, take a shower, check email/promote/work, go to bed usually around 2:00-3:00am

*What advice would you give someone wanting to get into crafting?

Don’t under price your stuff, your time is worth money too.

*If you could work with anyone (person or company) who would it be?
I’d love to work with other small business owners to combine our products into something great. I love to make tags, thank yous and boxes/bags for other businesses, I like being part of their finishing touches. It’s that little extra that makes the difference.

What are your current projects?
Currently I’m spending most my time promoting my new site and new blog. I need to be working on more paper boxes and bags though, cause I’m currently talking with a fudge shop about them buying some for their chocolate covered strawberries and fudge samples, as well as cards for the fudge they ship or sale as gifts….cause I mean come on, fudge is the perfect gift! Send all your fudge to Butterfly Chic Boutique ….. LOL
Finish this sentence. “If I weren’t a crafter I would have been a…”

Housewife/stay-at-home mom with no income

What is your favorite Etsy shop?
Mine! LOL No seriously, I haven’t there are so many talented people on Etsy it’s hard to chose!

*Anything you’d like to share about your personal life?
I’m happily married to a wonderful man, I have 2 great VERY active boys (15 months & 4 years old),  1 awesome cat, I baby sit another little boy 4 days a week (17 months old) I’m an untreated bipolar (but not like Britney untreated out of control bipolar LOL), I’m a Christian

What would you do if you won 10 million dollars?
Buy a big house in the middle of 100 acres with a big fence around it, buy some cows, pigs, chickens, goats, dogs, horses, turkeys, and plant a huge garden, have become a recluse…..

Would you rather be rich or famous?
Neither!

What’s your favorite:
food?Mexican
number?7
color?Pink

website?urbandictionary
blog? http://88words.typepad.com
scent? fruity

band? Third Day
song? Too many to chose from!!!
movie? Pretty woman
book? To kill a mocking bird
ice cream flavor? chocolate
Starbucks drink? mocha latte with cinnamon
restaurant? Applebee’s

I want to thank Karina of Soap That Makes Scents™ at http://kreatedbykarina.etsy.com

For being my first guest writer for the blog. She did a great job on the article and I look forward to working with her again. Be sure to go to http://kreatedbykarina.etsy.com and check out her shop.

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*Tips On How To Sell Online*

After speaking with many craft persons in business, I hear over and over again that they want to put their work for sale on the Internet, but they don’t know how or where to begin.If you have ever browsed the net and ended up at other sites than the one(s) you were looking for in the first place, you know how easy it is to get distracted. This is even more true, when setting up your business on the Internet.An approach that I have found that works best is to start by making “to do” lists of the different online marketing avenues. For instance, your major activities should include:

* sell your work at online auction sites
* get listed in the major search engines
* seek links from other sites
* write articles to get publicity
* add affiliate programs to your site
* set up an organized email campaign to follow up with your site’s visitors.

Create a list of activities to be accomplished under each of those marketing tasks. Every day, plan to accomplish a group of tasks to promote your site. For instance, here are a few suggested actions to be taken daily:

* seek links from 5 craft related web sites
* post two auctions for your craft products
* resubmit your new web pages to the major search engines
* post an article to at least one media outlet about your craft site as publicity
* post a helpful comment on at least two discussion groups
* weekly, send an email newsletter to visitors to your site

I know many craft artists who never give much thought to marketing or planning offline or online. They just do the shows or get their store accounts and go along merrily until trends change and all of a sudden sales drop and they don’tknow what to do. With a little time spent planning, one can determine several alternative markets for sales. If one avenue slows down, you have other options for staying afloat.Answering the following questions will help you begin thinking about your marketing plan.

* What does your site do? What is the main benefit to your visitor? Do you want it to educate, entertain or sell? Do you want to create new prospects or stay in touch with regular customers? Do you want to attract more wholesale buyers? Are you looking for international buyers?

* Who is most likely to be your customer? What type of person is she/he? Example: age, sex, income level, education. Give serious thought to determining who are the visitors to your site(s). This is a big part of learning how it should be designed. You may have more than one type of visitor. For example, you may have U.S. retail customers, wholesale customers, catalog buyers, and international buyers.

* What other kinds of sites are your visitors likely to visit? For instance, if you make and sell quilts, people visiting your site might also be reached through sewing web sites.

You want your site to get visitors to do the following:
* interact with your site
* leave their contact information
* purchase something you are selling
* refer others to you

Create targeted goals for your online business and measure the results you get whenever you complete a phase. By working in measurable steps, you can pace yourself and track which efforts are worth pursuing further and which activities you should abandon. If you don’t work in stages, you may find yourself overwhelmed, scattered and consequently disappointed in the whole process.

Karina-
Soap That Makes Scents™
http://kreatedbykarina.etsy.com

Before starting out, list your reasons for wanting to go into business. Some of the most common reasons for starting a business are:

Next you need to determine what business is “right for you.” Ask yourself these questions:

Then you should identify the niche your business will fill. Conduct the necessary market research to answer these questions:

The final step before developing your plan is the pre-business checklist. You should answer these questions:

What business am I interested in starting?
What services or products will I sell?
Where will I be located?
What skills and experience do I bring to the business?
What will be my legal structure?
What will I name my business?
What equipment, supplies or tools will I need?
What insurance coverage will be needed?
What licenses/training/certifications will I need?
What financing will I need?
What are my resources?
How will I compensate myself?

Your answers will help you create focused, well ­researched business plan that should serve as a blueprint. It should detail how the business will be operated, managed and capitalized.

This is not my first business venture. I have had an online shop selling my handcrafted goods before. One of the problems I faced in my first online business venture is one I think many small business owners who ship packages face, what to do when a package is lost/stolen/damaged.

A recent thread on the Etsy forums (Etsy is ‘your place to buy all things handmade’ an eBay for only handmade items and craft supplies if you will) brought this question up. An Etsy seller Classic Designs by Theresa Mink started a thread asking what to do about a string of lost packages.

What is a small business to do? You sell an item. You package the item and you pay the USPS to ship the item. But what if the item never makes it? Or what if it’s damaged when it gets there?

It’s easy enough to say put delivery confirmation and insurance on every package, but it’s not always feasible when shipping international. If you’re selling a$800 product, the buyer probably wouldn’t blink at international shipping that includes insurance, but when you ship a $5 or $20 or even $50 item, charging $23 for shipping can put customers off.

How cost effective is it to insure the package verses sending a replacement, or issuing a refund? Well that depends on the price of the item(s) and your profit margin.

For me to ship a 5 oz package valued at $50 to California will cost me:
$1.48 for first class postage and $1.65 for insurance and $0.65 for delivery conformation. for a total of $3.78

For me to ship that same package to Australia it will cost me:
$4.50 to ship first-class international postage and $1.50 for a certificate of mailing and $10.15 for registered mail for a total of $16.15

So what am I paying that $10.15 for??? Well, according to the USPS website

Registered Mail™
	Registry service provides security and limited indemnity protection for First-Class Mail® International and Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope items. Items bearing an address in pencil or any erasable format are not accepted as Registered Mail. This optional special service is not available with Priority Mail International flat rate or variable weight parcels, or Express Mail International® services. Registered items can be sent to all destination countries except the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Federated States of Micronesia, Iraq, and Republic of the Marshall Islands. All destination countries have an indemnity limit of $43.73 and a registry fee of $10.15. For detailed information about Registered Mail, see the International Mail Manual. Effective January 2006 the addressee is the payee on claims for registered items delivered in damaged condition or with contents missing, if addressee accepts delivery of the item. If addressee waives their right to payment, in writing, or the item is returned to sender, the sender then is eligible to file a claim.

“

Or, I can send the same package priority international and pay $21 plus $2.40 for insurance for a total of $23.40

So what is the small, home based, run by one person who makes and sales and ships all their own items and works a full-time job supposed to do?

Some would say a lost or damaged packaged should be replaced in the name of good customer service, part of the costs of doing business. But is it? Should it be? Once we place the package int he hands of the USPS, shouldn’t it be THEIR responsibility? Shouldn’t the a package they lose or damage, be part of THEIR cost of doing business? Lose sales by not offering international shipping?

I think often times, when individuals start a small business, they know they want to start a business, work for themselves, live the American dream. But what they often times don’t understand, is the American dream takes planning, and lots of it.

The planning in small business should start even beofre the business starts. 50% of small business fail. It think mostly due to lack of planning. too often, individuals “happen” into a business, they have a hobby or a marketable skill and someone say “you should go into business” and it sounds good, so they jump in with both feet and take off running before their feet ever hit the ground. If you try to run before you even learn to stand, chances are you will fall flat on your face.

Many think the 1st step is to pick the business, then the business name. While these are obviously critical to starting a business, so much has been skipped. The 1st step in opening a business is writing a business plan. Yes, it seems very formal and many think it is only for those taking on a large business venture, or those who must sell everything including their house, car, spouse, kids and pet, just to have the money to open the doors. But it isn’t. Every business needs a business plan.

The first step in a business plan is to do some market research. Did you ever think “we should open up a (insert business here) there isn’t one for 50 miles” Well, maybe the reason there isn’t a (insert business here) for 50 mile sis someone did some market research and learned that the current market for said business just isn’t there. Just because there isn’t a dry cleaners, or a bakery or a pet spa around for 50 miles doesn’t mean there is a customer base for that type of business in that area. There might not be one there because the consumers wouldn’t support the business and it would go under.

Even if you have already opened a small business, you can still write up a business plan weather your business is growing by leaps and bounds or not breaking even. Companies change their plan all the time. If you are growing well, a business plan will help you look to the future and plan for the growth. If you are your only employee, what happens when you can’t handle it all yourself. What part of your job will you outsource? If your business isn’t doing well, it’s the perfect time to step back and draw up a business plan. Do some research into your market, talk with other small business owners and make the changes you need to so your business will grow and thrive so you don’ty become one of the 50% of small businesses that don’t make it.

There are great resources online and even free business plan templates you can use to get you started. Google ‘business plan templates’ to get started today.

Well, I’ve been sewing for about 18 years, and recently my REALLY old Kenmore sewing machine finally gave up the fight. So yesterday I went out and bought a new Brother sewing machine. I can’t wait to try it out, although it will probably be a while as it probably won’t get opened until I get the studio finished and totally set up.

I also restocked my ’sewing basket’ with a new rotary cutter and mat, pins, needles, more zippers and cord and elastic and all that other little fun stuff.

Next week I’m hoping to get to go open the business checking account and buy my business license and apply for my tax ID number, but it totally depends on the weather and the kids right now. I’m also going to make a run to the local fabric wholesale store to check out what they got, so look for a pol coming soon to get customer opinions of fabric prints that you guys would like to see.