Social Media ~ Are you all you can be?

I ran across some great information I thought would be useful to crafters interested in Social Media and Social Networking. It comes from a post I caught on Mixx.com you can read the blog post here. I found it to be informative, yes, but if you follow the link to the categorized list of Social Media Sites, that is even better!
This person actually took time (and probably a lot of it) to categorize different sites around the Internet. I find it to be quite useful myself. I certainly do not have the time to surf sites and then put them in categories. Lists and links like this make my life online so much easier. I certainly hope you find it as useful as I did! Thank you List Master!
Let me know if you find any new and fun sites to try. Have a wonderful day!

Simple Things to Keep you Motivated and Productive

Whether you've been in business for months or years, I'm sure you've had days when it all seems to be too much. Days when you question why you are in business. We all have. It must go with the territory. There are ways to deal with times like these.

• First, remember why you wanted and started your business to begin with.
• Stay focused on the why and know where you want to go.
• Take a break once in a while. If an hour or two is not enough to get you motivated, try a day. Take this time to reflect on all the time and energy you've already put into building what you have. Go for a walk, start a journal, read a good book, listen to relaxing music. Anything not work related.
• Start a journal. This is a great way to let things go and be able to move forward.
• Create something. Create anything. Try something totally new. Make something totally ugly. Make something for no reason at all. Just create.
• Remain positive. Always! Things that have gotten you down, you'll need to turn around or let go of. Things will get better.
• Know that all good things take time, hard work and dedication.

Sometimes being and staying motivated and productive is difficult. What works best for you?

Be Flexible When Naming your Business

One important tip in setting up your business is to be flexible. Name your business in such a way that you are not limiting yourself to one type of item. Design your website and word it in a way that you are not limited to what you make or sell.

Sure there are those who only make jewelry, or knit, or paint. And that is fine, if you get the sales for those items, have a variety of different items in various techniques/styles and you don't get buried in with the competition. But, by being limited to doing just one kind of jewelry or knitting the same kind of pieces or painting the same type of picture, you are limiting yourself. For those of us who have a talent in more than one kind of craft, why limit your self to just one thing, make different items and sell them too. Below is an example of why you should not limit yourself.

An online friend of mine suggested this great consignment shop to me last week. She said my jewelry designs would fit right in with this shop (I love making jewelry the most, so I thought this would be wonderful.). She put in my name with the shop owner and, I contacted the owner to set up a meeting. I was so excited! She liked my jewelry, however, it was just like what everyone else was already selling in the shop. She looked through my portfolio book and my items I had brought with me (everything I had) and really liked these cute totes I had made on a whim for me and my kids. She said they were more original and figures they will sell well. That's wonderful, right?

The thing is, is these have no beading on them and it was suggested that I add them to my site to sell there also. Well, I do all hand beaded items. Everything with beads. That's what my site said ~ hand beaded designs. These have none. Well, thank goodness my business is in my own name and I can change the wording on my site easily. Otherwise I might have had a problem.

I am thrilled to now have my foot in this door. However, lesson learned. Had I not been able to change my website or had to change my name I would have lost out on some great sales. I had to be flexible.

Seriously, consider setting up your business in your own name. It's easy, it's faster and it's flexible. If you ever got tired of selling your work, whether it's jewelry, knitting, or paintings you could always make and sell something else quite easily like small appliance cozies or start a business typing term papers. Your options are endless for you then. Why wouldn't you set up a business in your own name?