contemporaryhandmadealliance

Review: FotoFlexer

2012-01-30T14:02:00.000+11:00

Price: free

How they describe themselves: Creating dazzling photo effects for free in your browser. FotoFlexer is the world's most advanced online digital photo editor. It performs advanced effects previously only available to professionals using expensive software.

Rating: It did the job and I’m happy with the end result. Referring to themselves as ‘the world’s most advance photo editor’ is a stretch of the imagination. Not being able to control the sharpen effect renders this basic not advanced. For personal photographs this is great.

Before
See the The Mission for control details

After using fotoflexer

Feature	Feature Available	Comments
Rotate image	Yes	Easy
Crop image	Yes	Bit fiddly
Auto Fix	Yes	Not that impressed, thought the white would be whiter. The end result was okay though.
Add frame /boarder	Yes	Only a few borders available. Would welcome more options.
Add text	Yes	Limited fonts. Glitter text available also.
Collage	No	I searched for this and couldn’t find it.
Photo Effects	Yes	At first glance these appear lame. Use the side arrows to find more effects. Discovered a few good ones, I like Pop Art & Ink Stamp. This would be idea for personal images.
Stickers	Yes	Butterflies, talk bubbles etc. Cute option. It may just be my personal taste, but I found the animated stars/hearts and stickers to be tacky.
Sharpen	Yes	No control over sharpen, it is automated for you. This option was hidden under the Beautify tab, I didn’t think it was available at first. Found options for; Hue, Saturation, Lightness, or Contrast & Brightness
Resize	yes	By pixels, percentages or handy options like avatar, thumbnail, message board etc.

My choice of editor is Photohop Elements. Before starting a review I needed to use Piknic for the first time. I can see what all the fuss is about! (It will be a shame to see Piknic go).

FotoFlexer wasn’t as pretty or friendly as Picnik but has all the basic features (minus the option to create collages). Fixing blemishes, smoothing wrinkles, rounding corners, applying vignette and borders were all available.

Working with FotoFlexer I wasn’t that impressed. It wasn’t until I opened my saved image that I realised it was actually a good photo and was usable. It did make a decent amount of improvement to the before image.

I am very PC savvy, however I ran into some trouble with saving my image. There are numerous options for saving and sharing. This gives the impression that is user friendly. I beg to differ.

1 ) Sharing options: receive photo via email, url/link or TinyPic.

2) Saving options: Save to My computer, FotoFlexer, Photobucket, FB, Picasa, Flickr, Smugmug, or Myspace.

I tried ‘save to my computer’. The first time I renamed the photo which resulted in a file with no extension. I was unable to open the photo. Resaving attempts took a while, FotoFlexer ‘encodes frames’ which takes 1 to 2 minutes. Using the option to emailing the photo to myself failed (I’m not sure why). As a regular photoshop user this was now giving me the *bleep*. It seems to save the image, you best not change the suggest file name. Files are automatically saved as a gif file (there was no option to select jpg).

I had to know what the ‘poster’ option looked like and went back for another play. Hey I like this feature a lot! I can imagine people turning their photographs into something shareable via pinterest, facebook or twitter. Using the layers I was able to add a gif image of Christine’s logo for added interest and increased branding. The poster is a winner!

I was able to edit my photos without setting up an account. I was able to set up an account without loosing the photo I had been editing. Both of those are a plus to me.

Before leaving I clicked on the big ‘download’ button at the top of the screen. I assumed I would be able to download FotoFlexer. It took me to another web page that had something to do with videos. I had just 20 seconds to abort the download. I assume that was an ad made to look like part of FotoFlexer. Don’t fall for that (I did).

Jeanie lives in Geelong with her husband. She spends her week days as a Receptionist and her spare time exploring creative interests. Jeanie is a blogger, maker of jewellery, and a newbie photographer.

Visit Jeanie at her blog inspiredwish.com or follow her on Facebook.

Review: Photobucket

2012-01-27T13:05:00.000+11:00

Web address: www.photobucket.com

Price: Free. They do have a paid Pro upgrade. (The Free version of this online program has been reviewed.)

How they describe themselves:

Photobucket is the place to store, create and share photos and videos for life. Upload all your best pictures, images, graphics, icons, and videos and share them by email or link them to your favorite sites like Facebook and Twitter. Personalize your photos by using our photo editor or make slideshows to share with friends. Join our large community by entering competitions or searching our huge photo and video library. Use Photobucket on the Web or on your mobile phone.

Rating: A good alternative without some of Picnik's hoopy effects.

Before
See the The Mission for control details

After

I’ve been a long time user of Photobucket because it has this cool feature where you can upload your images, movies, animated gifs etc and it gives you the html code which I can then use on my blog.

Until this week I had never used its photo editor and I must admit that I was impressed because I was able to use all the features I would of used in Picnik to edit my image. Photobucket isn’t as user friendly or as pretty as Picnik but it has all the basic features. It is less intuitive and you do have to seek out the features you are looking for. But after a while I got use to where everything was.

And as much as I could edit my photo to my liking, Photobucket doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Picnik has, they have a limited number of frames, effects, fonts and stickers. You are able to smooth, sharpen, fix blemishes and smooth wrinkles under the Beautify tab. The Geek tab has some useful items such as curves, smart resize, smart recolour and smart cutout. Actually I thought the smart cutout was very cool. I also appreciated the FotoFlexer video tutorials.

The ability to layer images was easy to use. They do offer a collage feature, which wasn’t that easy to find, in fact I thought they didn’t have one until I stumbled upon it. There aren’t as many collage combinations as Picnik.

Collage I put together to the
Handmade Cooperative's Great Pillowcase Challenge

On the plus side, as mentioned before, the image hosting is great, you can sort your photos into albums and you can share your images easily.

Uploading can take a while, depending on your internet and the size of your image. It can be quiet slow for no reason at all, a bit like Picnik.

I also found it a bit tricky saving photos down to my computer, you need to download the album as a zip file. I really had to search to find out how to save my photos to my computer and in the end I googling the answer.

Feature	Feature Available	Comments
Rotate image	Yes	Easy
Crop image	Yes	Easy
Auto Fix	Yes	Easy
Add frame/boarder	Yes	Easy - Limited number
Add text	Yes	Easy - limited font options.
Collage	Yes	Moderate - Limited options and a little tricky to find
Photo Effects	Yes	Easy - a number of effects on offer
Stickers	Yes	Easy - A number of stickers available
Sharpen	Yes	Easy
Resize	Yes	Easy

Relates to: The Picniks Over and The Mission

The Mission

2012-01-25T21:09:00.000+11:00

My friend Jeanie from Inspired Wish and I will be reviewing various alternatives to Picnik over the next week.

Our mission is to make this not so great photo and make it worthy of putting in my online store, using each of the alternative image manipulation programs I mentioned in my last post ( The Picniks over).

To test each program we will be undertaking the following tasks:

Rotate the image
Lighten it/Auto Fix
Add some a rounded frame
Place a vignette around the image
Add some funky text

We will also do an honest write up on the programs and give you our opinions.

Wish us luck!

Relates to: The Picniks over

The Picniks over

2012-01-22T17:10:00.000+11:00

It was revealed yesterday that Picnik is moving over to Google+ in April (for more info go to their blog). Thats all good for Google+ users but what about who don't want to go over to Google+ or if you have opened a Google+ account but found that not much is happening over there.

So what about us little handmade businesses that have been using Picnik because we can't afford or simply justify buying Photoshop or just don't have the time to learn how to do all the cool things Picnik does?

Well I've done some searching and I've come up with a list of online photo editing sites which might help you out when Picnik is no more.

Personally I haven't use any of these programs because I've always had Photoshop or Picnik. Over the next few weeks the CHA will be reviewing these websites and we will let you know what we think.

Christine

When Business is Slow: Example

2012-01-20T09:11:00.001+11:00

Following on from our post on Wednesday, I wanted to share with you a great example of what you can do when business is slow in January.

The Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids, is hosting the 'Great Pillowcase Challenge'. The motivation behind this challenge is has been purely about giving back, as the majority of their members are Mums, its only natural that they would want to use their talents to help sick kids.

Unintentionally it is also a great way for the Cooperative to gain exposure for its website during what is traditionally a slow period.

The challenge is open to all Australian handmade businesses. For more details go to the Handmade Cooperatives blog at www.handmadecooperative.com.au

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3. She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog -cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

What to do when business is slow

2012-01-18T11:54:00.000+11:00

Source: paddlock press

So its the the slow season. Here in Oz many of us, including myself, have elected to close our online stores this January because the kids are on holidays, the days are too lovely to be inside crafting or being online, in some places its just too hot and well lets face it things get pretty quiet in the handmade world during January.

So what should you be doing during this quiet time?

Here is a list of things that you might want to do to get you ready for the year ahead.

Set some business goals for 2012
Audit your storefront, including product descriptions, photos, policies, arrangement of items
Spend time revamping your facebook page, webpage, blog, online store ...
Spend time thinking about how you are going to market your business in 2012
Get a pad and pencil and start writing down, or in my case sketching, designs and ideas of what you would like to do this year
Spend time photographing your stock, play with different styles, layouts, backgrounds etc.
Create a detailed 'to do' list
Read, read and read some more about things that inspire you, interest you, that will assist you with your business, life and family.

Update:

It was also suggested that businesses could run competitions or giveaways during this time to keep your items in front of your social media followers. Thanks Butterflybees for the suggestion.

I am keen to hear what you have been doing. Leave a comment below.

Christine

Christine is a Wife and a Mum of 3. She is the owner of C Percy Designs, the co-editor of the Handmade Cooperative - Australian Handmade 4 Kids and is a little obsessed with all things crochet.

To find out more about Christine go to her blog - cpercydesigns.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook.

An end... and a new beginning

2012-01-17T21:40:00.006+11:00

Dear friends,

I have been talking craft and business with you via the CHA for a couple of years now. We have had some lovely conversations, looked at pretty pictures and even started a movement of honesty and integrity in handmade design. I was really quite thrilled to learn that many of you shared my opinions and benefited from my advice.

But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

{Sometimes however, if we are really lucky, there is an awesome new beginning too}.

You see I have LOTS of exciting new crafty things happening right now, that are taking up more of my time than I want to admit. Therefore I had to conclude that in 2012 I needed to downsize my commitments, re-allocate tasks and ask for help.

So I did. I found CHA a new home with Christine of C Percy Designs. Not only is she an awesome crochet chic, she really understands business as it relates to craft PLUS is connected to lots of other awesome crafters in business too.

Her fresh eyes and perspective on CHA are sure to breath new life into this blog/group/community and bring CHA back to the thriving centre for Aussie crafters that it has been in the past.

I had the pleasure of meeting her in person just last month. We talked solidly about craft for 4 hours. We only stopped because we had to. It is always such a joy to meet an online buddy in real life, to find that they are exactly who you thought that they were. We had an awesome time, and it was cemented in my mind that she is indeed the best person to take over from me here.

I am sure to pop in now and again with guest blog posts, comments and the like, and will stay connected to you all as a participant. I look forward to seeing it all from the other side of the fence.

Thanks to all my contributors, sponsors and of course, readers. Thanks for the company, comments and readership. I hope that you will follow me via my crafting label Chicken Ink. Creative. I have so much to tell you all about my new endeavours..... but that is a story for another day.

Cheers, Chicken

Facebook Etiquette

2011-07-12T23:26:00.004+10:00

12 months ago, I wrote a blog post about Facebook Faux Pas. I am revisiting this topic again because since then, some things have changed; and some things have remained the same. I still see many pages committing faux pas and I want to say hey, that is not going to help your business!

This time I am matching the faux pas with the correct action to take (as per Courtney’s request) to help businesses understand the right way to do things.

It is vital that you think before you post on Facebook. Like other forms of print media (newspapers, fliers, brochures and more) you need to give consideration to how you are representing your business in the written form, before publishing. Once something is published online, it can be difficult to retract (impossible if someone else has captured the information before you delete it). Here are some important rules to follow, to maintain a professional presence on Facebook for your business.

Don’t: Write on the wall of another business for the express purpose of advertising your own business. There is a fine but very distinct line between wishing to make a genuine connection with another business and simply posting details of your own business on their page, with the express purpose of promoting yourself. Unsolicited, indiscriminate, repetitive and impersonal posting on multiple business walls is known as spamming and will damage your reputation quickly.
Do: Make a genuine connection with a relevant business by leaving a calling card. If you want to reach out and connect with another business because you could potentially compliment and support each other, or because your business is genuinely a fan of theirs, you can tell them by leaving a calling card. You can post to the business wall with a genuine, personal and unique message for them, and let them know who you represent with an @tag link to your own business page, or by commenting as your page identity.

Don’t: Publish all your posts for the day only minutes apart. It can be hard to apply some structure to your posting timeframes, especially when we have lives to lead away from the computer and Facebook. But nothing will halt people from reading your News Feed faster than seeing 15 posts in a row, crammed into a 5 minute period. It’s just all too hard and overwhelming; no matter how useful the content you are providing. Try to allow at least 5 - 10 minutes between posts, and do no more than 3 at a time - at the absolutely most. If you have the luxury, a good rule of thumb is 1 post in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and a few at night, when people are most active. But space them out as best you can!
Do: Plan your Posts. The best approach is to pre-plan at least the majority your posts, with consideration given to what time of the day is suitable for the content, what time of day your customer is most likely to be online and what other posting activity needs to occur around it. The occasional off the cuff post will be appropriate at times, but a structured approach to your posting will be more professional.

Don’t: Air your business or personal frustrations, negative situations and arguments publically on your business page. Having a disagreement with a customer or supplier? A competitor stealing your designs? Frustrated that your delivery is late? Your likers don’t want to know about it. Avoid discussing negative issues or airing frustrations on your page. No matter how justified you may be in your argument, discussing it publically may make you feel better, but also makes you look highly unprofessional.
Do: Avoid using any negative language in your posts. Remember, if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.... or you will just hurt your own business’s reputation. If you need to have a difficult discussion with someone, have it offline.

Don’t: Forget the importance of using the English language correctly. Because you are representing a business through written communication, you must endeavour to use this form of communication correctly. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and using txt spk just makes you look lazy and uncaring.
Do: Check and recheck your posts before publishing. If you need to, pre-type your status updates into Word to check for spelling and grammatical errors before publishing; and make changes as needed. This small, extra step will speak volumes about your businesses professionalism. We all suffer from typos every now and again, but aim to get it right 99% of the time. You wouldn’t send your advertising off to the printers without carefully checking it first, would you?

Don’t: Allowing your photo albums to become out of date. If you are selling via your business page photo albums, it is imperative that your albums only show items which can be purchased or custom made, or that it is clear which items are for sale and which are an archive. Old photos of items not available for purchase will only cause confusion and frustration. Don’t publish photos which do not relate to the business, or reflect the business in a positive light at all.
Do: Have all photos up to date with all relevant information. It is vital that relevant information is attached to each photo; be they pictures of stock for sale, general store photos or other shots relevant to your business. Failing to list relevant, vital details such as product descriptions, prices, availability and ways that customer can place an order will surely lose you sales. Because you don’t receive notifications when people comment on your photo, it is most important to provide instructions for interested buyers on how they can contact you to place an order; and list your email address under every photo. If you have an album of supplies which people can select from to place an order, make sure you number and/or name the different supplies so that you can be sure everyone is talking about the same thing. General photos should at least have a description of what the photo is about i.e. “Staff having fun in-store - come and join in the fun too!”

Don’t: Ignore comments on your page. If someone has taken the time to post to your wall, comment on your news feed item or a photo, don’t ignore it; even if it is negative.
Do: Have the last word. In the case of your Facebook page, it is best that you have the last word. Always acknowledge what they have said. This acknowledgement will help build the all important genuine dialogue with your customers, which ultimately builds loyalty.

Don’t: Becoming a stalker. If you comment (as your business page) on everything posted by another page, you will start to creep people out. While comments are always sought after and welcomed on business pages, it will become weird if you always comment or ‘like’ everything that page publishes.
Do: Comment on relevant news feed items of suitable businesses. Commenting on another page’s news feed items and photos (as your business page) will get your page name and business name out there. If you see something that genuinely interests you ‘as your business owner’ it’s great to leave a comment. They might follow the link back to your page and like you too. But as above, don’t be spammish.

Don’t: Present content as your own; when it’s not. It’s great to pass along interesting information which you think your likers will find useful, but it’s not ok to represent it as your own work.
Do: Cite the source. Always attribute photos, blog content and other unique thoughts which are not yours to the owner. A good way to do this is to thank the creator and @tag their Facebook page when publishing the information in news feed. Of course, if you are linking to their blog, website or other location, it is clear who the content owner is; but it’s extra nice to acknowledge them in the News Feed post too. Plus it lets them know that you are sharing their content and may attract them as a fan to your page, or even start a new business relationship.

Don’t: Participate in games of tagging. Some businesses play games such as ‘Tag’ which requires business pages to tag multiple other pages; and then the tagged pages are expected to go and tag more pages, and so on. The idea is that all the tagging will attract new likers across from other pages. Based on discussions and comments I have seen, it actually makes participating pages look unprofessional and annoys people who are genuine likers of your page; and it rarely attracts genuine new likers. Also, constant ‘shout outs’ to other pages just for the sake of it, following the letters of the alphabet and other gimmicks are also bound to annoy your likers. These types of activities really only seem to achieve a feel good experience for the businesses involved, and don’t do much to strengthen your image or gain genuine new likers. You might event lose likers as a result.
Do: Use @tag function when-ever you refer to another business who has a Facebook business page. If you have a genuine reason to refer to another business who has a Facebook page, then the @tag function lets them know what you have written about them, allows your likers to easily follow to their Facebook page, and also publishes your post to their wall. A win/win situation when used appropriately.

I truly hope that this helps your business. You might not like everything I have written and you might not agree. However I believe that all points made have a very real impact to your business, and I genuinely want to see your business succeed.

Update: And another thing.... thanks My Poppet for the reminder!

Don't: Leave inappropriate posts by other people on your wall. If someone has written on your business wall trying to grab attention across to their own page, if they are a competitor talking about their own products, sales and events, or if it is completely unrelated, don't leave it there! Consider what visitors to your page may think if they were to see it.
Do: Encourage satisfied customers and business contacts to leave positive feedback on your page. It's great when people take the time to tell you that they love your product/service, or have another business recommend you. This is the content that you do want on your wall for all to see!

Cheers, Chicken

P.S. I have now accidentally found myself playing Social Media Consultant and Trainer in my local town; I am now teaching Social Media Marketing for Small Business at the local Community College and doing one on one consultations for small businesses in my area too.

2011 CHA Craft Swap Review

2011-07-12T19:02:00.002+10:00

With 37 pairs (74 participants) for the 2011 CHA Craft Swap, there were lots of people sending the craft love and receiving crafty goodness in the mail. I <3 that!

Thank you to the following businesses who sent in photos of the items they created for their swap partners. Many participants tackled items that they have never made before; creating something especially for their partner, after getting to know them and finding out what their hearts truly desired.

The quality of items produced across the board was fantastic; you can really see the genuine care and attention that has been given when creating each item.

Please take some time to visit these businesses; just some of our participants.

Can the Spam: Your right of reply

2011-05-15T11:14:00.011+10:00

>>> Quick link to Can The Spam

Many businesses on Facebook regularly experience the frustration and annoyance of other businesses posting ‘spam’ to their walls; often with the primary goal of gaining more fans to their own pages, through self promotion.

That is,the post is either:

unsolicited
indiscriminate
repetitive
impersonal

You have all seen it many times before:

”Hi, love your page, I <3 your awesome products. My name is XXX & my business is @mybusinesslink. We make Widgets, gadgets and other things, and are trying to get 1000 likes. Please come and visit my page and press the like button. You won’t be disappointed”.

This is how I REALLY read this comment:

Hi, love your page: greeting to not seem too rude.
I <3 your awesome products: to appear to have actually looked at my page content before posting. But which products of mine do you like exactly? It is a very generic comment which covers almost all pages – except for the CHA page of course because we don’t have products. And yes, we get this comment a lot.
My name is XXX & my business is @mybusinesslink. We make Widgets, gadgets and other things, and are trying to get 1000 likes: The real reason why you are here. Nothing to do with me or my business at all.
Please come and visit my page and press the like button: Call to action away from my page.
You won’t be disappointed: How can you possibly promise that?

Seem familiar?

If this annoys you, of course you can mark it as spam, delete and even have them banned from your page, but this doesn’t quite feel like a satisfactory solution. This is because you know they will continue on; on other pages, annoying other people. Plus you haven’t told them what you really think.

Now you have a way to quickly and easily communicate that this behaviour is not appreciated, with the CHA Can The Spam right of reply.

When you receive a spam-ish post to your wall, cut and paste the following link underneath, and let them know what you think about their businesses’ behaviour.

Can The Spam: Your Right of Reply
http://contemporaryhandmadealliance.blogspot.com/2011/05/please-can-spam.html

Further Reading:
For more information on being ‘spam-ish’ please visit Build A Little Biz’s blog and read the following relevant posts:
Spam Explained and Defined
How not to be Spam-ish

Cheers, Chicken

Addition to original post

How To Post Without Being Spam-ish:
Of course, CHA (as I am sure all pages do) welcome genuine, personal expressions of appreciation and admiration on our page! And we do like to know who is expressing their feelings. There are more professional and appropriate ways of posting to a business wall, without being spam-ish. Facebook is a great networking tool and used properly is a very important part of your business marketing plan. The articles from Build a Little Biz go into this in great detail and I highly recommend you read them both (see above).

PLEASE! Can the Spam

2011-05-15T10:19:00.006+10:00

I consider your posting behaviour to my business wall to be Spam-ish. That is, it is either:

unsolicited
indiscriminate
repetitive
impersonal

Please cease this behaviour on my page.

Spam-ish behaviour is becoming increasing unappreciated and could have a negative impact on your business image and reputation.

If you would like to promote your business on Facebook, there are many legitimate and appropriate ways to do so. Some suggestions are:

Purchase ad space with Facebook Adverts
Ask your friends and contacts to post about your business on their personal and business pages
Find an appropriate space to purchase low cost advertising, which is relevant to your industry, such as blogs like Shop Contemporary Handmade
Start your own blog and fill it with useful and interesting information which will attract attention to your business

For more information on being ‘spam-ish’ please visit Build A Little Biz’s blog and read the following relevant posts:
> Spam Explained and Defined
> How not to be Spam-ish

For more information about Can The Spam, please visit the following CHA Can The Spam page.

Thank you.

CHA Craft Swap 2011

2011-05-12T10:21:00.000+10:00

Taking applications now
All items to be mailed no later than 30 June 2011

Yes! It is that time of year when we host a lovely craft swap to get your warm and fuzzy, handmade love on!

Last year was a resounding success, with over 80 participants on board, swapping lots of lovely handmade goodness.

This year, we are hoping for 100 participants. So remember to spread the word and encourage fellow crafting businesses to get on board. Post about it on your Facebook page and blog if you can! After all, who doesn’t adore getting handmade love in the mail?

THE DETAILS
Please create a hand-crafted item(s) which you would value between $30 - $50. You can send multiple items to bring it up to this value if you like.

Please create an item for an adult (and not a child); your item is a gift for your swap partner.

Please ensure that your item is in the post no later than 30 June 2011. If you have any issues meeting this deadline, please contact the CHA and your swap partner to advise.

Make sure that you check out your partner’s website to get an idea of who they are, and what they might like.

You will need to contact your partner via email to get their postal address. Take this opportunity to get to know someone in the industry!

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW
It is really important that people don’t miss out because their partner doesn’t follow through on their commitment. Therefore we ask 3 things of you:

1. Only sign up if you are committed to your participation and to creating quality items for your swap partner to enjoy.

2. Only sign up if you are able to post your item no later than 30 June 2011.

3. That you supply AT LEAST 1 of the following: Facebook page address, blog address, website address to ensure you are contactable and legitimate.

CHA cannot take responsibility for people who fail to follow through on their swap.

SIGN UP
To get on board, sign up by completing the below online form. Then wait for us to email your swap partner details through. Once you receive them, make contact and get to know each other. I know that last year’s craft swap helped many participants make new, genuine connections with other handmade businesses; and some friendships bloomed too! How nice.

ONLINE APPLICATION FORM

Some images from the 2010 CHA Craft Swap

Have fun!

Cheers, Chicken

Build The Community: WINNERS!

2011-04-30T21:25:00.003+10:00

A massive thank you to all the businesses that rallied to spread the word about
Shop Handmade Australia.

This brought many more shoppers of Aussie handmade to the Facebook page and blog, which is so important for the success of SHA; and in turn brings valuable exposure and selling opportunities to the businesses who are featured.

I am very pleased to announce that the following businesses have won 1 month’s worth of blog sponsorship on the Shop Handmade Australia blog valued at $20 each:

Candice Lee Accessories

Selkie Smith Design

Calamity Bolt

These business have won space to add their business button to the blog as well as 4 Spotlights over the course of May 2011.

Again thanks to everyone who has support CHA in promoting it’s new sister site Shop Handmade Australia!

If you are interested in advertising your business for just $5 through meaningful and easy to read promos on the Shop Handmade Australia blog and Facebook page, please click HERE for more information!

Cheers, Chicken

Build the community and WIN @ Shop Handmade Australia

2011-04-29T10:56:00.002+10:00

Help us attract more handmade shoppers to SHA and WIN a month’s FREE blog sponsorship worth $20!

At Shop Handmade Australia (CHA’s sister site), we connect handmade buyers and sellers via a mutually beneficial dialogue of quick and easy to read promos. Offering valuable information about handmade makers, special events, sales, discounts and competitions, the old adage ‘The more the merrier’ certainly fits.

Get involved:
Please use your business’ facebook page to help us grow the community and you will go into the running to win a month’s FREE sponsorship on the Shop Handmade Australia blog worth $20! There are 3 spots to be won!

What do I do to enter?:
1. Cut and paste the following shout-out as your status update using @tag + link:

If you love buying Australian handmade items, you can access all the latest information about Aussie designers and their sales, discounts, new season releases, special events, competitions and more by liking @Shop Handmade Australia. PLUS just by being a part of the community, you can access special benefits just for SHA followers! Follow the link and ‘like’ SHA today!

Attach a link to the SHA page to the status update: http://www.facebook.com/ChickenInkCreative#!/ShopHandmadeAustralia

2. Comment:
Post a comment on the bottom of this blog post to enter, stating that you have spread the word via your business page. Be sure to paste the address to your Facebook page for verification purposes.

The prize:

A 150 X 150 button on the Shop Handmade Australia blog (static or moving images are welcome)
If you are a handmade bricks and mortar store or market, you will receive an automatic free listing in the Shop Handmade Directory and free promotion of any events you may have (up to 4 times per month).
If you are an online business, you can request information such as a store spotlight, special event, discount, product launch (and more) to be published to our blog and Facebook page up to 4 times during the month.

That’s it. Thanks for helping!

The Rules:

There are 3 sponsorship packages to be won for the month of May 2011 and are for the Shop Handmade Australia blog.
Competition closes Saturday April 30 2001 at 8pm EST.
Your status update post must be the above listed text, with an active @tag and link to our Facebook page to be eligible.
Your comment must contain a link to your facebook page for us to view and verify your shout out.
The 3 winners will be contacted within 24 hours. Please make sure that your blogger profile has your current email address listed or you publish your email address in your comment, so that we can contact you to make arrangements. If we cannot communicate with you within 48 hours of the competition closing, the prize will be re-drawn.
Competition is only open to Australian pages with relevance to the Australian handmade industry only.

Cheers, Chicken

What aren’t you telling your customers?

2011-04-23T20:50:00.003+10:00

When I visit your Facebook page, I can tell a lot about you in roughly 5 seconds flat. From the photos lined up across the top, to the information on your wall and comments made by likers. But mostly, it’s what I can’t learn about you quickly that has me concerned.

Time after time I find that Facebook business pages have real a lack of vital business & contact information on their Info tabs. If I can’t work out who you are, what you are about, and how to contact and/or buy from you quickly, I’m outta there!

So it’s time to ask yourself… what aren’t I telling my customers?

About you/business description: Do you have a business story? A mission statement? What is your business all about? Who are you making products for? Do you do custom orders or only sell what is available in your store? Do you cater for children and/or adults? Don’t let it be a mystery. Tell them clearly and concisely what your business is all about.

Is there a bit of who you are in there too? Without going into too much detail (we don’t need to know what you had for breakfast) make sure you paint a small picture of who you are. Remind them why they are buying from a WAHM or artisan who has taken a leap of faith and is following their dreams.

Your location: where are you? In Australia? Which state? I especially find that many pages that advertise markets fail to make it clear which STATE they are. Listing a suburb without a state can be very misleading and frustrating; many people who visit your page won’t know where you are. Business lost. Make sure you make it abundantly clear what your full address is, including state.

Your contact points: Tell them every possible way to contact you when they are considering buying from you! Clearly list your email address, business phone number, postal address, website, online store address, blog address, twitter account, LinkedIn details and more. If you’re there, don’t let it be a secret!

Product information: You might have lots of lovely pictures of your product in your photo albums, but have you listed the item description, size, colours availability, price, postage, stock availability, how to contact you to order and lead time underneath? If customers have to leave a comment under your picture to ask, you have probably lost the sale. Remember that Facebook does not notify you when someone comments on a photo. So by the time you find the comment and respond, it could be too late. And this does go for people who have online stores too; sometimes people just don’t bother to go to your online store.

Oh and do you offer gift vouchers?

Payment options: Do you only accept Paypal, or do you also accept EFT and Credit Cards? People need to know when planning to make a purchase from you.

Terms of sale: How quickly does payment need to be received? How long do you ship after receiving an order? Do you accept returned products and issue refunds? If so, under what circumstances? Do you offer exchanges? It is best to clearly list this information ahead of time to save argument and confusion should an unfortunate situation occur. In fact, have you even considered it yet?

Postage: Do you offer/insist on registered post or offer Express Post? Is the charge built into your item price? Do you have flat postage for all products or does it vary? Do you charge for packaging and handling as well as Australia Post charges? Do you post internationally? What if an item goes missing or is damaged during transport? Again, think about it now and make it clear for all to see.

Now quick, go and check your Facebook pages and plug any information holes!

Cheers, Chicken

P.S. What drives you nuts when visiting Facebook business pages? Leave your comments below, we would love to hear them!

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Mother’s Day Treasury

2011-04-17T22:45:00.007+10:00

Make Mother’s Day this year a WIN/WIN occasion!
Buy your Mum a lovely handmade gift (win for Mum) and support handmade creators/members of the CHA (win for the handmade industry)!

Check out these lovely card and gift ideas for your Mum: from $6 to $55 and lots in-between. Get in now to make sure your item arrives in plenty of time.

Links to each maker’s store are at the bottom.

Enjoy and Happy Mother’s Day!

Cheeky Pickle: Card $6
Facebook Page
Here We Go Loopy Lou: Card $6
Madeit Store
loopty Loop by connie: Card with faux case and removable flower $8.50
Etsy Store
Ragged Blossom Beauty: Eye shadow $9
Website
Apooki: Earrings $9.50
Madeit Store
Oopsidaisi: Sleep Mask $10
Madeit Store
Poppy & Bea: Necklace $15
Madeit Store
Plushka’s Craft: Pin Cushion $16
Madeit Store
Saira Rose Designs: Charm Bracelet $22.50
Etsy Store
Olive Bay: Necklace $25
Facebook Page
Body’roma: Sweet Espresso Face Scrub $25
Facebook Page
Wrapped in fabric: Book $37.15
Website
Bella Stationery Studio: Gift Pack $40
Madeit Store
Little Wise Owl: Vintage Fabric Handbag $46
Madeit Store
White Raven Designs: Charm Bracelet $49
Etsy Store
Little Bird Decor: Flower Mirror $55
Website

Cheers, Chicken

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Chicken’s Pick: Top Facebook Pages to Follow

2011-04-12T21:08:00.002+10:00

Meylah: https://www.facebook.com/MeylahFan
USA
“At Meylah, our goal is to help creative folks succeed in building their businesses online. We know it can be tough, but with our weekly entrepreneurial advice and social networking know-how, you’ll be one step closer to success”.

Scoutie Girl: https://www.facebook.com/scoutiegirl
USA
“Where passionate crafters, designers, & artists connect, converse, and commune”.

Crafting an MBA: https://www.facebook.com/craftMBA
USA
“Business thinking for designers and makers”.

Build a little Biz: https://www.facebook.com/buildalittlebiz
AUS
"helping busy mums kick ass with their little home biz idea!"

Handmade Spark: https://www.facebook.com/HandmadeSpark
USA
“design and inspire. connect and promote”.

Handmadeology: https://www.facebook.com/Handmadeology
USA
“Handmadeology exists for the purpose of teaching artists how to successfully sell their handmade goods online, and to feature the newest handmade, vintage and supply items found on Etsy”.

Social Rabbit: https://www.facebook.com/SocialRabbit
AUS
“Social Rabbit is a social media business to help you to engage your customers to achieve your business goals through social media, and in particularly through Facebook pages”.

Market Me: https://www.facebook.com/MMMarketing
AUS
“MARKET ME offers affordable marketing solutions for businesses. From Graphic Design services & Business Branding services, Consulting services, & Marketing Services & Training”.

Women in Business: https://www.facebook.com/hellowib
AUS
“Inspiration and advice from women who've made their own success stories. A daily blog designed to help you live your online business dream”.

CRAFT Magazine: https://www.facebook.com/craftzine
USA
“Celebrating the DIY spirit, CRAFT's goal is to unite, inspire, inform and entertain a growing community of highly imaginative and resourceful people who are transforming traditional art and crafts with unconventional, unexpected and even renegade techniques, materials and tools; people who undertake amazing crafting projects in their homes and communities”.

Go follow them all now! Oh and what is your favourite Facebook page to follow for your craft business? Do share, we’d love to know.

Cheers, Chicken

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Handmade originality in an online world

2011-04-07T23:50:00.006+10:00

You’re surfing the net on websites like Facebook and handmade stores, admiring stunning handmade creations, and then WHAM - it hits you in the face. There is your product; only it’s not being sold by you. It’s being made and sold by someone else.

If this has happened to you, then no doubt you have struggled with the feeling you get when you see your work replicated. Your stomach sinks and your blood boils. How can this be? Knock-offs of your products are out there in the market place for people to buy, and someone else is making a profit from your creativity and hard work.

Why is this happening? Why are we doing this to each other? Surely it goes against everything this industry stands for. The handmade movement encourages creativity - not copying! It also embraces the beauty and satisfaction of making something by hand; it supports the ideals of moving away from mass produced, poor quality and disposable wares, instead offering more sustainable options which (more often than not) come from our own region. I believe the Australian and international crafting community is unique and beautiful because (for the most part) it has an undercurrent of love, sharing, responsibility and support. These are things not seen in mainstream retail. But copying other’s products is in direct contradiction to the ethos of the handmade movement. Our lovely community is being damaged from the inside... by some of its own people.

The internet and social media has given us unprecedented access to our customers. But it also means that our products, ideas and designs are more vulnerable than ever to being copied, because an online business presence not only attract potential customers, but also competitors who say "Hey I can make that...they will never know". Sometimes the copying is blatant; an exact replica. Other times someone has changed it just enough to be able to claim that they had no idea their product was like yours, and that it is just a coincidence. But you know your own work (or a knock off) when you see it. Your gut tells you so.

It is important to clarify that I believe common products should be considered part of the public domain: that is that no one has copyright to make cushions, T-shirts and earrings (for example). It’s how products are created and put together, and what the finished products looks like which is in question here.

For some time I have watched conversations and declarations taking place online about copying. It has been a topic on the CHA Discussion Board and other forums, and I have seen different Facebook pages tackle the issue in different ways. Some people choose to ‘name and shame’, others write to the copiers asking them to stop. Some just complain to their friends, or change products; but most despair at what to do. No matter how people choose to handle it, the resounding feeling is that copying is not a compliment, it is not cool, it is upsetting and morally wrong.

Copyright law is a massive topic relevant to this discussion, and one that I am not qualified to write about. Yes you do have rights; but no, I can’t tell you how to go about putting these things in place... or enforcing them for that matter. (You can read information about copyright posted here by White Raven Designs who did some research and kindly shared her findings).

Besides: I want to come at this issue from a different angle. One which is more suited to the nature of our industry. And that is, one of conscience. We don’t need lawyers to tell us that copying is wrong. We were taught that in school. That little voice inside our head tells us when we are doing the wrong thing. We need to listen to the voice because it is it knows the truth.

If you are copying someone else’s work, you need to stop it. Dig deep into your own creative spirit and push yourself to move past the seemingly easy answer to copy what works for someone else. Find your own voice. Find your own creativity. Your will feel so much better for it, because when people compliment you on your products, you will know that you genuinely deserve the kudos. Being in this industry is not just about the money. It’s about being creative first and foremost. It’s about following your passion. And if you can make a profit from that, then that is a bonus.

So to this end, I am drawing a line in the sand. I ask everyone reading this who runs a crafting/design business to take the CHA Handmade Originality Pledge. Let people know that you will not stand for copying in this industry, nor will you participate in it! Below this post in the comments section, declare your pledge. Tell us your business name (feel free to provide a link) and state that you are taking the Handmade Originality Pledge. Then grab the coding for the pledge badge and add it to your blog to show your support and involvement, and post about it on your Facebook page so that your customers know about your pledge as well. It will tell others that all products made and sold by you come from your own creative soul and that you have not looked at someone else’s work and decided to rip it off!

I know that this topic will elicit a strong reaction. Talk about it on the discussion thread (please leave the below comments section for pledge making only); and get it all out of your systems. But don’t be nasty, or point fingers. That is not the way of the handmade community.

Together we can let people know that copying is not going to be tolerated or accepted in our community and that now there is a way to stand against it.

Cheers, Chicken

ADDITION TO ORIGINAL POST: I just want to clarify the this pledge is NOT retrospective. If people who have copied in the past wish to make amends, change their ways and take the pledge, I whole heartedly invite them to participate. This is about drawing a line in the sand HERE AND NOW; and moving forwards with the right intentions and behaviour!

FOLLOW THE CONVERSATION: Blogger Angela of Yes, Dear has gone on to provide the customer's perspective on this topic after reading this blog post. A very interesting read. Please take a few more minutes to click through and read on.

Pledges are welcome from around the world; just be sure to tell us where you are from if not from Australia!

Pay It Forward

2011-04-04T10:48:00.002+10:00

Sharing the love; it’s what we do so well in this industry. And the Pay It Forward idea is a perfect vehicle to spread the love far and wide. So I am adding myself to the end of the Pay It Forward chain. Following on from Natasha from Piper + Lily/Little love: home of the small, who is following on from Bec at Little Shop Of…

So what I have to do is this: I promise something handmade to the first five people to comment on this post. To be eligible, those five people must make the same pledge & post it on their blog & so on & so forth. The rules are that it must be handmade by you & it must be sent at some point during 2011. So, who is going to join me? I will be participating with some products from my own Chicken Ink. Creative business!

Please make sure I can access an email address for you so that I can contact you to make arrangements!

Cheers, Chicken

~This blog is currently offline~

2010-09-03T12:10:00.001+10:00

We are taking a little break at the moment, but we encourage you to still have a look around if you are a crafter looking for help with your business. The best places to look are the Craft Business Tool Kit which has lots of interesting articles and links, and the Handmade Markets and Stores directory.

We hope to return better than ever in 2011.

Cheers, Chicken

We have a winner!

2010-08-29T11:41:00.001+10:00

Congratulations to Michelle of Wing By Sea! You’re the winner of the Saffron Craig FQ pack. Please check your email for redemption information.

Thanks to everyone who entered. If you would like to learn more about or purchase Saffron’s products, please visit her online store.

Cheers, Chicken

CHA - going on 12 month hiatus

2010-08-29T10:56:00.001+10:00

It is with much thought and consideration that I have taken the decision to shut down operations of the CHA for the next 12 months or so, while I have a baby.

It has become apparent over the last few weeks that the challenges of being pregnant, working, running a household and looking after a boisterous toddler is more than this little chicken can do without some areas suffering; and it pains me to see the CHA struggling and not being all that it can be. I have such big ideas and plans for this project, but not ones that I can implement fully at this point in my life. Hopefully after the baby is born and settled, I can get back to it bigger and better than ever. In the mean time, I will keep my finger on the pulse of the industry and will be keenly watching you all.

I will be leaving the blog open so that the resources (the Craft Business Tool Kit and Handmade Markets and Stores Directory) remain available to people who may wish to access them; but the Facebook page will be suspended.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank some key people who helped made the CHA what it is:

Linda of Lulu froufrou and Beckie of little wise owl; (just some of) my madeit.com.au buddies who become real friends and who have always been supportive of my ideas and dreams. Thanks ladies for your blog contributions, ideas and support along the way.

Jemma of Handmade Kids: a savvy, key figure in the Aussie Handmade Industry who was kind enough to regularly share her valuable knowledge and insights through her contributions on the Discussion Board and with the provision of articles for the blog. If you don’t follow Handmade Kids, you should!

Sharon of the Robin Street Market who spend much time putting together some fantastic and really useful tax and small business information for our blog. Thanks so much Sharon!

My wonderful sponsors: most notably The Oz Material Girls and Funky Fabrix who have been with us since the beginning and offered our CHA members benefits of real value; plus 2 new editions Fairy Floss Markets and Hide & Seek Market. Thanks for coming on board, and we wish you all the very best for your businesses.

My family (especially my wonderful husband and gorgeous daughter) for putting up with me being on the computer…. a lot.

And finally and most importantly, to everyone to who followed, commented, asked a question, shared knowledge & experience, and promoted the CHA. We experienced considerable growth and a wonderful following of interesting, talented and knowledgeable people in such a short amount of time. We couldn’t have done it without you. There is a lot to be said for strength in numbers; and the way you all helped each other out freely and with a sense of community via our Facebook page is both astounding and encouraging. Please don’t stop.

I strongly urge you to follow both Meylah (USA) and Made’n’found (AUS) to continue to connect with the handmade industry and access high quality information, knowledge and support.

I look forward to reconnecting with you all again in the future, and I will still be hanging out round the traps! So until we meet again,

Cheers, Chicken

An interview – With Aussie Fabric Designer Saffron Craig

2010-08-21T13:32:00.004+10:00

Australian designer Saffron Craig produces vibrant, whimsical and contemporary fabrics for quilting, crafting, interiors and clothing. Already widely known for her Owls and Fairies ranges, Saffron introduces us to her newest designs in the Bird Tree Range; and offers CHA members the change to WIN a Fat Quarter pack (see below)! But first, Saffron shares with CHA members her wisdom about being an Australian designer, business partner and parent.

I understand that you have a background in fashion design, but that you were dissatisfied with the fabrics available on the market. When did the light go on in your head that you could do it yourself? How exciting was it? What happened?
I suppose I have a mindset of “I can do that!” which is what it took to print fabrics. I was creating hand painted silk dresses at the time, the paint was going everywhere and it took hours to paint one metre; I laugh because now I could have it digitally printed.

I wanted to create fabrics with my illustrations on them, fun fabrics with clean neat lines using my sense of colour. I suppose it helped that I had the studio space and the ideas to start. I do love to challenge myself.

In one of my first projects I hand printed fabric for an entire day and turned that fabric into one quilt. The paint was so thick in places I could not put the sewing machine needle through the three layers of the quilt without snapping the thread. As much as I love the process of screen-printing I knew I could not print fabrics by myself, as it is too limiting and very time consuming. I loved the end result, which was the fabric with my illustrations on it. It made me so happy so I focused on that.

Aside from your existing design background, did you have to learn any new skills to enable you to get the design from your head onto the fabric? Did you try different processes and techniques?
I have a degree in designs so I built on that. I use skills that I have learnt, like sketching, drawing, colour, design. Getting my illustrations onto fabrics has seen me learn a lot of new skills; becoming competent on the computer to start with.

The designs often grow as I take them from my imagination and put them on paper, I change the scale and the colours. My drawing skill is what makes most of my designs. I know that the design will look better on fabric than on paper.

Four years ago I taught myself to make my first quilt. Quilting is very addictive for me. After years of fitting dresses, it’s pure heaven to make a square and use limitless blocks, colours, patterns, so I am addicted. A couple of years ago I started to design quilts in my own fabrics and then I had to learn to write the patterns, photograph the quilts then and blog about them.

Now that you have refined your process, how long does it typically take to create a new range; from concept to the fabrics arriving in shops?
My new range is called Bird Tree. The design of the Bird Tree was sketched in spring 2009. I started to put the designs into a range in February 2010. I sent the files to the printer in March and received the strike off in April. I made changes to the colour and received new strike-offs two weeks after that. I approved the new colours and we started to take orders for the fabrics. When we knew people liked the designs and would support us by placing pre-orders we placed an order with the printer. We usually see the first few metres arrive within 20-30 days. In this case, for an idea to be a fabric for sale on the shelves, it has taken over twelve months. So I really am excited when I get to create with new ranges.

What program do you use to create your fabric designs? Have you always used it?
I work lot in Illustrator and I have had to learn to be very technical and accurate on the computer. I have to push myself to totally finish each design, as I am far from being a perfectionist. I would say two years ago I had no clue how to use Illustrator.

With the support around you including your business partners who take care of production and distribution, do you need to partake in any the business side of the operations?
I am very hands-on in all stages of the business. I oversee every stage of the production of my fabrics. I approve everything and there is often a lot of too-ing and fro-ing. I am also involved in the business. I come up with new ideas for products, and advertising.

Though the website is managed by my Husband Patrick I do run the online shop which requires me to manage orders, post orders, answer emails, write blogs, photograph everything. I also design and make quilts as well as the children clothing; I just finished my first children’s pattern.

We do help with the wholesaling; I recently went to the trade show and was very involved in all aspects. We have another trade show booked for Melbourne in November.

I am a mother on Thursdays, Fridays and the weekends so I spend three days a week on the business. With nights and early mornings for emailing and now social media is taking up hours every day.

Usually my creative time is spent designing fabrics. Most creatives who also run a business will attribute long nights and many hours to be conducive to running a business. They will also attest to not spending much time actually designing but time is spent thinking, planning, communicating, managing and organising my business. In my case my daughter gets a lot of my time as well.

I have a creative project I am doing, writing a children’s book, which is 4 illustrations away from being finished.

What are your top tips for the Aussie small business entrepreneur?

Keep the focus on what is your big picture.
Stay true to yourself.
Surround yourself with positive people. Indeed be a positive person. (One negative comment will need 9 positives to be counteracted.)
I think you are the creator of your own life so make it beautiful.
Oh yes. Manifestations boards really do work! Really truly they do. They help you decide what you like.

...and finally: Which creative mind do you most admire and why?
I admire any one with focus and determination. I admire oh so many creative minds and spend a lot of time reading books, blogs, magazines and being inspired by all kind of visionaries and philosophers.

Follow Saffron:
Buy her fabric on her website.
Read her blog.
Follow her on Facebook.

WIN a Bird Tree FQ Pack!
To enter, simply tell us in 25 words or less:
What's your favourite bird and why?

Competition Details:
To enter, write your answer in the comments below this blog post.
Competition closes Saturday 28th August at 9pm EST.
1 winner will be selected, and notification made by 9pm Sunday 29th August via email and on the blog.
This competition is open to Australian residents only.

Cheers, Chicken

We have our winners!

2010-08-09T16:51:00.001+10:00

Congratulations to our 5 winners of the mixtape magaZINE
prize pack give-away!

The following entries were selected by the creators of mixtape, and each receives a prize pack with issues 9,10,11,12 & The Kids Issue - that’s $45 value in each pack!

cate said...
living a creative lifestyle means shaking off the "you can't do thats" and welcoming the "I can have a go at that" and introducing my children to the wonders of "I made that" in as many areas of life as they want.

SunDoll said...
Living a creative lifestyle means... finding new ways to express yourself each day and discovering things about yourself and others you never expected. It is dancing to a tune that no one else can hear but that you want to share.

TJC said…
Living the creative lifestyle means no limits, it is about flexibility and enjoyment. It is stretching your creative boundaries to new levels. Using inspiration from around you to create the perfect handmade piece to share with others.
That sense of achievement that you get when you are finished and can say 'I made that'.
The middle of the night ideas that you just have to get up and start on or at least make notes/sketches of.
Most of all it means living in a happy place while doing a job that I enjoy most.

Row Row Row said...
Living a creative lifestyle has opened my heart more fully to my family and community. Has allowed me to share some of the whisperings my soul has said to me. To enjoy the offerings of other people and to explore all sorts of 'crazy' ideas.
.....life is but a dream. x

Tas said…
Living a creative lifestyle is baking with my kids for their lunches instead of buying commercial foods, sewing and crafting everything I can for the family (and for my sanity) and exploring the world as a family in walking boots on a hiking trail, not from the back seat of a four wheel drive on a sealed highway.

Thanks to our friends at mixtape for the wonderful prizes. We’re sad that you only have 3 issues left before you shut down operations; you will be missed!

Cheers, Chicken

Top Tips with seller Rabbit & the Duck

2010-08-04T12:15:00.002+10:00

Its Market Week at the CHA!

So... you’re a super motivated crafter and micro business owner, and you’re looking to really connect with your audience, broaden your exposure and gain more sales. Going to market sound attractive, but don’t know where to start? The CHA are here to help!

This week is ‘Market Week’ where we share the combined knowledge, experience and expertise of many people connect with the CHA; from members contributing their thoughts on the Discussion Thread, to sellers who are known for their outstanding visual merchandising and other friends of the CHA who have more than 2 cents worth to add.

Top Tips with seller Rabbit & the Duck

Give your stall height
Different levels keep the eye moving and provide lots of visual interest for customers. Use open boxes you can stack on top of each other to create mini shelves. I also use cardboard storage boxes along the back of my table to create an extra level. If you have products that would benefit from being hung, see if you can rig up a piece of rope across the back of your stall to peg them off. Maybe an old ladder could sit behind your table with products hanging from the rungs.

Keep a look out
Always be on the lookout for interesting items you can use to display your products. I found an old set of scales in a second hand store and had them for months before I realised they would be perfect for holding loose buttons! I love to visit antique stores, op shops and garage sales to source my display pieces. I also slow down every time I drive past a collection of things on the side of the road! It's also a good idea to have a look around your own house, as there are probably items you already have that could be given a new use.

Price it
Make sure your products are priced! Pricing should be kept simple and in keeping with the look of your stall. Your products are the main focus and while it should be easy for a customer to see the price of something, it's not the first thing you want them to see. Make them fall in love with your product and the price won't be an issue! I use simple cardboard luggage tags pegged to my products that show the price. You could also use a frame with a price list.

Have fun!
Above all, have fun! Don't be afraid to try new things. If something is not working, move it around. Look at other stalls and see which displays attract your eye. The beauty of having your own business is that it can grow and change with you. When I look at pictures of my first ever market stall I am surprised by how different it was to my current display! Every day and every market teaches us something new!

See the full collection of their photos on their Flickr page HERE.
See their shop on madeit.com.au HERE.
Follow their blog HERE.

Thank you Rabbit & the Duck for sharing your thoughts with us!

Market Week Wrap Up
This is the last article in the Market Week series (which turned into a 3 week marathon of posts)!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful feedback about this topic. These articles couldn’t have been brought to you without the collective knowledge, experience and contributions of many members and people associated with the CHA. A sincere thanks to everyone who provided input.

Cheers, Chicken

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Market Week Part 6: Market Checklist

2010-08-02T16:54:00.000+10:00

Use this checklist to ensure you are ready to go, the night before the market. Tick off the items and away you go!

Not everyone will need all these items, and there will be more items for you to add, but we have tried to capture all the ideas discussed through the Market Week blog series.

Print it easily!
Yup! To make it really easy for you, we have saved it as .PDF file for you to print and use as many times as you like! You can access it HERE!

Market Checklist

Insurance
Food handler’s licence
Float (money) and bum-bag and/or lockable money box
Stock
Trestle tables
Fold up chairs
Marquee/market umbrella
Power cables/lighting
Radio/CD player and music
Signage including banner, pricing and other business info
Table cloths (and clips to hold it down if windy)
Clothes racks and hangers
Spare price stickers and marking pens
Mailing list sign-up sheet on clip board with pen attached
Business cards
Fliers
Bags for customers to use, such as brown paper bags
Set dressing items such as shelving, basket ware, mannequin, mirror
Fresh flowers and a vase/plants
Lollies/food treats
Extra stock packaging such as bags, cards
Notebook to take custom orders and other useful information, and a few pens
Measuring tape (to measure for custom orders)
Water bottle
Food
Sunscreen
Hat
Jacket/scarf
Mobile phone

Cheers, Chicken

Next post: Top Tips with seller Rabbit & The Duck

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

{Giveaway Time} by mixtape magaZINE

2010-08-01T16:46:00.001+10:00

Our lovely friends at
mixtape magaZINE
are offering 5 prize packs to WIN!

Each pack contains issues 9,10,11,12 & The Kids Issue - that’s $45 value in each pack!

To enter: Expand upon the following thought:

‘Living a creative lifestyle means....’

There is no limit on the number of words, but your answer should encapsulate your ideas on this topic quickly and easily.

Competition Details: To enter, write your answer in the comments below this blog post. Competition closes Sunday 8th August at 9pm EST. 5 winners will then be selected and notifications made by COB Monday 9th August. This competition is open to Australian residents only. 1 entry per person; 1 prize pack per winner. Please note that your entry may be selected to be published in a fourth coming edition of mixtape.

Why we love mixtape and why you should check it out:

It’s about nice stuff: mixtape is a craft maga(ZINE) about making time for the small things!
And cool stuff: mixtape is a collision of craft, eco-cool and pop culture kitsch.
It gets your mind flowing: mixtape is a collection of creativity.
It’s Aussie and independent: Independently published FIVE times a year out of Melbourne, Australia

You can check out mixtape on their Facebook page and Website too!

Market Week Part 5: Visual Merchandising

2010-08-01T12:50:00.001+10:00

Visual Merchandising

The thoughtful presentation of stock on your market stand, with consideration given to layout, colours, theme, lighting, product/business information and sensory stimulation, is fundamental to creating an attractive and engaging display - with the ultimate goal of making sales!

Your market stand and displays should represent the story of your business and your stock. That is, you need to give though to developing an overall image which is in line with the types of products you make and sell, your business identity and the principles which underpin your business ideas and ideals.

Consider what products you are selling and what message you aim to send. Then, it is important to think about who you target market is, and what they might find attractive.

How does your image relate to what the customer wants?
Is the customer looking just for value? Or is the customer more interested in style and quality?
What theme or styling will support your message?

This process should naturally lead you to a design and look which makes sense for your product.

Example You make children’s items from organic fabric using good environmental practices. It would be wise then to represent these ideals with a display which echoes these principles; such as using calico to cover your table, using recycled basket-ware to hold stock, wooden frames to display price information, and perhaps have some living plants on the table. All these visual cues contribute toward the message you want to send. (And don’t forget signage explaining your principals which support the environment!)

Your theme can change too for many reasons; for example with the change in seasons, with the introduction of a new range or with a change in direction for your business. So remain flexible and always be thinking about how your stand design is supporting your aims and business direction.

No matter what theme you choose though, there are some basic ideas that hold true for all stands:

Go neutral:
Especially if you can’t decide on a theme, then going neutral will always be a winner. The use of neutral colours on the table will allow the stock to standout and present a fresh and clean image which is always desirable. Having said that, you may wish to break with this rule if you have a strong theme idea which deviates from a natural style. If so, take care to remember that the table design should never be louder or stand out more than the stock itself.

Avoid clutter:
Don’t overwhelm your stand with so much stock that no one can actually see what you have! Seek to achieve a good balance of looking bountiful and offering the customer choice without it getting over crowded. You can always hold stock back and add it to the table as sales are made; you don’t have to put out everything at once.

Stock layout:
Put some real thought into the placement of your stock. Group like with like; perhaps you can place all the items for girls on one end, and all the items for boys on the other? Or if you have been wise to create matching items (such as a necklace with matching earrings and bracelet) place them together, to encourage people to buy the set and not just a single item.

If you can show your items in action, do it! You might acquire a mannequin, a hat block or other way of showing off your items in action. But importantly, avoid using ugly displays that don’t fit your style and look.

Give it height:
People are unlikely to see your stock if it is all lying down flat on your table. So get creative and always keep a look out for some unique ways to add height and dimension! Some ideas on how this can be achieved include:

Creating a step effect with different height boxes, and then covering the boxes with the same fabric as the table covering. You can do this for the whole length of your table, or just in sections.
Using small 2 and 3 tier book shelves (in white) often found at discount stores; placed on the table or on the ground next to it.
Using old packing crates and other recycled wooden boxes.
Stack matching basket-ware upon each other, with the mouth of the basket facing forwards (just make sure it is stable)
Hanging items from your marquee (you can string up a line of twine and hang items using wooden pegs).

Set dressing:
To avoid spending large amounts when you are first getting started, start by looking around your house to see what you already have which is in line with your image. For example, if you want to do a tea party theme for your range of cupcakes, then you are likely to already have tea cups, saucers, cake plates and stands and other relevant equipment already in your kitchen (as long as it suits the colour and styling of your look).

Then, you can find items to ‘set dress’ your table in the most unlikely of places; op-shops, florist suppliers, discount stores like The Reject Shop as well as retailers such as Target, Kmart and Big W.

Aim to remain consistence in the look and style of your set dressing items. If you are using bowls to hold different hair clips, use lots of the same bowls; if you are using lots of coat hangers, make sure they are all in good condition, and the same size and design.

And while you are out and about, visit some of your favourite stores and have a look at their shop displays. Retail stores have professional Visual Merchandisers who have studied the field working on their displays! What do you like about their displays? What ideas can you borrow for your own table?

Finishing touches:
Lighting can be very effective in spotlighting key products, pricing sheets or other things that you want to draw attention to. Power is sometimes available at indoor events for an additional fee. If it is available at your market, think about how adding lamps or spotlights could enhance your stand and attract people walking by.

Fresh flowers or plants add a beautiful, fresh and natural element to your table; their use and style will depend very much on your overall theme and message.

Music can attract people to your stand before they even see you! If you know your target market and understand what music they like, then you can peak their interest as they are approaching your stand. How many times have you lingered in a department store just a little longer to hear the end of a favourite song? But as mentioned in our last blog post, make sure you gain permission from your event organiser to have music at your stand, and always make sure the music is appropriate and unobtrusive.

Food offers a different element again, which can attract people of all ages. Again, as mentioned in our last blog post, make sure you are following any applicable food handling regulations for your council and rules set by the market organisers, and be considerate of ingredients that people may be allergic to.

Personal presentation is the all important final piece to this puzzle. Your personal look should also compliment the look of the business, and great hygiene and personal presentation is a must.

Final Tips:

Practice your stand set up at home before going to market. You can ask friends, family and neighbours for their feedback.
Always iron your table clothes and other fabrics and pack them carefully to avoid creasing.
On the big day, make sure you take photos of your stand for review and to remember your layout.
Be sure to keep your ears peeled for comments made by people passing by; and watch what they pick up and what they don’t react to.
Professional packaging and signage really add a great finishing touch.
Remember to add a mirror to your table if people will want to see how items will look on them.

Thanks to some of our wonderful CHA members for sharing their photos on the CHA Flickr Photo Pool. Here is just a selection of some great examples which show some of the ideas shared today!

Photo 1: Here We Go Loopy Lou
Photos 2 and 6: Ivy Designs
Photo 3: Nothing Sketchy
Photo 4 and top photo: Rabbit & The Duck (we have some Top Tips with them coming up soon!)
Photo 5: Wicker & Lime

You can see more photos from our Flickr Group HERE!

Cheers, Chicken

Next post: Market Checklist

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Market Week Part 4: Market Preparation

2010-07-27T10:13:00.001+10:00

Market Preparation

Preparation is key! A great place to start is to ensure you carefully read all the information provided by your market organiser. If at the end of this you have un-answered questions, make sure you contact them before the event to have your questions answered. Never make an assumption about what you are or are not allowed to do at your stall; or what support and facilities will be available to you at the event.

Before rolling up to market, consider your approach to these areas of your business and your set up for market.

Stock Preparation:
How much do you need? How much is too much? People with market experience will likely tell you to specialise in a handful of great products and have lots of variety and choice within those products; rather than trying to spread yourself too thin with many different products, but not much variety of each.

A good rule of thumb to remember is to provide the power of choice to the customer. If they like your item, but you have made them all in green and they want blue, that won’t help you get the sale! So think about creating lots of variety within your product line to suit different tastes and needs.

Ultimately though, getting the balance right is something for which you will find a happy balance as you do more and more markets; and will depend somewhat on the size of your items, the size of your stall set up and the time it takes to manufacture each individual item. But know that a clean and clear, well organised and uncluttered table is more appealing than one stuffed with product. In the end, if people can’t see the product for all the mess, they will keep walking. (Stay tuned for more to come about merchandising your stand).

Custom Orders:
In the event that you just don’t have the right combination of design/colour/size that your customer would like, this is where being the creator and developer of the product really comes into its own; because you can just take an order! Make sure you clearly add signage to your stand that custom orders are welcome, and have a notebook at the ready to take down the order details. You will need to determine if you want to take a deposit at the time of taking the order, or if you are happy to collect the full price upon completion. Don’t forget that postage could still be a consideration!

Pricing and Signage:
If people have to ask you what the price is, then you’re running the risk of losing sales. You need to make it really easy to see what your items costs. The best way to do this is to clearly label each individual item. This should also be used in conjunction with a larger display with the product name, brief description and price. You don’t need to have a proper pricing gun, just some plain small stickers with the price handwritten neatly is sufficient. However your larger displays with product names, description and pricing should be computer designed, printed (home printer is fine but professional design and printing is better) and should very clearly echo your business image with use of your logo and colour scheme, and possibly your business name as well.

Professional banner signage behind your stall is a good idea if and when you can afford it. Not only does it communicate your key business information to passersby, it also reinforces your commitment to your business and your professionalism.

Don’t forget to also have plenty of printed advertising material for your business available for people to take away with them; business cards and fliers with your contact details and examples of your work will make it easy for people to find you after the event. Tell people as they are about to leave your table that you have an online store and/or Facebook page where they can purchase your items, and hand them a flier!

Money:
Securing your money and making it easy to access, without flashing it around can be difficult. People don’t want or need to see how much cash you have. Always be thoughtful and discreet when handling and moving the money around.

You can use a money belt (yes that’s right, a bum bag!) to make change and some notes easily available. But if you have lots of sales during the day, you might also want to consider having a separate lockable cash box to store and hide away your larger notes. This should either be hidden under or behind your displays (always under your watchful gaze and out of range from the general public) or better still given to a trusted third party (such as your partner) to remove safely all together.

The size and set up of your float depends on the pricing of your products; and you should consider this when setting the prices. If your prices aren’t in whole dollars (that is, they include cents in the price such as $10.95 or $15.50) then this will have a big influence on your float setup. To make it easy at market, it is wise to set all your prices in whole dollars, meaning that the smallest denomination you will require are $1 coins.

A good example of a market stall float for products with prices in whole dollars is:

$200 float

4 X $20 notes
6 X $10 notes
6 X $5 notes
10 X $2 coins
10 X $1 coins

Enticement:
Other than having a beautifully designed and laid out table, what else can you do to entice people to your table?

Food is always a great draw card! You can sell it (muffins and slices are a great eye catcher and compliments handmade perfectly) or give it away (a tray of lollies will get the little and big kids’ attention), but make sure you investigate the following before putting food on your table:

What council laws are you required to adhere to with food on your table? Do you need a special food handler’s licence? Contact your council for further information. Remember that rules and regulations may also change from council to council and you may need to contact more than 1 if you do markets outside of your local area. Be prepared to show your food handlers licence to the event organiser.
Wether selling food or giving it away, does the food contain anything that people are likely to be allergic to? If so, consider changing to another product or at the very least provide clear signage and an ingredients listing.
Speak with your small business/market stand insurer to ensure you adhere to their requirements and aren’t invalidating your insurance cover.

If you have a tray of sweets, make sure you don’t have hard lollies which small children are attracted to but are a choking hazard. Always have clean tongs available and bags if required for take away purposes.

Competitions are another great draw card; but there are strict requirements around running competitions which require you to contact the gaming commission in your state before running. I am going in investigate this further before providing any more detail, so stay tuned!

Music is a another fantastic way to draw people to your table. Keep it at a volume which isn’t intrusive, but people will hear as they walk by. Think about your target market and what sort of music they are likely to listen to. Be sure to check with your market organiser if playing music is ok first.

Relief:
The last thing you want is to be caught out desperate for the toilet, or starving for something to eat and drink, and knowing that there is no relief on the way! Some markets offer stall holder minding services, but others don’t. Check with your market organiser; it might be wise to arrange for a friend or family member who is somewhat familiar with your products to relieve you during the market so that you can take a quick break.

So the last of the big tasks left now (other than making all your stock) is working out how to visually merchandise your stand to create a standout, attractive and eye-catching display! Stay tuned for the next blog post!

Cheers, Chicken

Next post: Merchandising your stand

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Market Week Part 3: Applying For Market

2010-07-26T17:15:00.001+10:00

Applying For Market

Now you’ve found the perfect market! It meets your needs, has your target market, it’s within a reasonable travel distance, it features other great quality products, and you can’t wait to be a part of it! But you need to apply and get approval as a stall holder first, before you can do your happy dance. Have you thought about how your application looks to the event organiser? Is it clear, professional and well presented? Does it entice them to want you at their market event?

So what makes an appealing stall holder application?

Supply quality photos of your products (they don't want to know what your living room looks like); dark photos of your products detract from your business image.
If you are relying on your blog to provide the relevant information and photos to the event organiser, make sure they are quality photos & big enough to enlarge. Otherwise you may need to send in your photos separately via email or in the mail on disk.
Make sure it is easy to locate your blog; send a link and spell it correctly. With all links, make sure it is a direct link so it doesn’t have to be searched for! This is time consuming and when there are hundreds of applications to go through - yours may get overlooked.
If you are sending in your photos, name all your photos and other documents clearly with your business name. Markets get 1000's of photos for each event, and unless the photos have your business name, it can be hard to remember which photos belong to each business.
Sometimes with stock, less is more – stick to your genre and do it well, instead of trying to cover all bases or categories. This is very important at a competitive market.
Be clear, specific and realistic about the stock you intend to come with. Don’t apply to bring handbags and turn up with one bag, and the rest of your stock is jewellery; nothing will get you uninvited quicker!
Be polite, be polite, be polite. Always be polite!
Make sure you read terms and conditions and the application carefully; you might find this answers a lot of your questions and saves you contacting the market organiser unnecessarily.
There is a difference between persistence and stalking.
Be prepared for rejection.

If you were unsuccessful:

Be polite in your response. Shooting yourself in the foot is unprofessional and unwise - burning bridges never helps future applications.
Try not to take it personally; remember that different markets target certain demographics, and there may be limits to how many stalls the market can accept, or how many stalls in the one category get accepted.
The market may just not be looking for the type of product you offer.
Sometimes your blog and website (and how professional or up to date it is) can be the difference between you or the next person being accepted.

If you were successful, then help promote the event! Advertising the event is a two way street. The organisers must advertise the event and with any luck they will know their target market. If you do not see the advertising, it doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been advertised appropriately. Stallholders should also assist in promoting the event as much as possible too. Remember; it makes you an attractive stall holder to the organisers if you are a great ambassador for the event!

Thanks to Julie of Handmade Canberra for supplying the outline for these guidelines.

Next post: Pre Market Preparations

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Top Tips with seller Sweet William

2010-07-22T17:13:00.001+10:00

Its Market Week at the CHA!

Top Tips with seller Sweet William

Sweet William, who are award winners for their amazing market stall design and visual merchandising, share with us their top tips for a successful stand.

Tell a Story
Sweet William has always aimed to tell the story with our stall. We feel it needs to be personal, reflect who we are, and our creations. We love vintage, tea cups and pretty things, and we want this to come through in our stand. We brainstorm ideas about what we can have on the stall that fits a particular theme - for example our most recent stall was a girly bedroom - and we used an old dresser, a set of drawers and a few bed side tables to convey this.

Be Unexpected
We always try and add the quirky and unexpected - not over the top - but just a little detail or two that would not be expected on the stall. For example, a geranium potted in an old silver trophy or a kitschy dolls head to add a bit of fun.

Practice!
We always do a mock stall before the fair; sometimes it is set up well ahead of time so we can think and plan and play around with heights, positions and tweak and fluffing here and there.

Love it
It’s something we love - to be honest it’s a real highlight of the fair to do the setup. Its the packing-up that’s not fun at all!

See the full collection of their stall photos on their Flickr page HERE.
See their shop on madeit.com.au HERE.
Follow their blog HERE.

Thank you Sweet William for sharing your thoughts with us!

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Market Week Part 2: Choose a Suitable Market

2010-07-21T19:05:00.001+10:00

Its Market Week at the CHA!

Choose a Suitable Market

There are many markets to choose from in each state, but which one is right for you? Use a directory (such as the CHA Handmade Directory) to check out the different markets on offer, and start by visiting their websites to get a feel for who they are: the type of clientele they attract, what products are sold at the market, and who the event managers are. Send them an email if you don’t see the information you are after.

Questions to consider:

What type of market is it and is it in line with your marketing strategy? Will it help or hurt your reputation to be seen there?
How many people regularly attend?
What type of people frequent the market; and they your target market?
How well established is it?
What sort of reputation does the market have with people in the industry?
How well is the market advertised? What sort of media coverage and marketing activity can you hope to benefit from?
How much does it cost to be a stall holder and how does the cost compare with other markets? What do you get for your money?
How frequently is the market run and do you have to commit for a minimum period of time?
Is there a waiting list to gain space as a stall holder?
How far do you have to travel to get there?
Can you access your site with your car easily? Is there lots of free parking?
Is it inside or outside, and do you have a marquee?
Does it offer power, tables, marquees and other equipment if required?
What insurance coverage do they provide; and can they help you purchase insurance just for the event?
Will you be offering the same stock as everyone else, or will you offer something unique yet complimentary?
What activities will be there as a draw card to the event: i.e. live music, food stands, kids activities?
What is public transport like to the event?
How much will it cost you to be there when considering stall holder fees, insurance, petrol etc?

If you have found a market which you think meets your needs, then it is time to go shopping.... that is, visit the market first as a customer. Pay attention to what is going on:

Is it busy or quiet?
What times of the day seem to attract the most visitors?
Are people buying?
What are they buying?
Who is selling?
What are they selling?
What sorts of prices are items marked at?
Can you compete and still make a decent profit?
What is the vibe?
What role is the weather playing?
Is the area exposed or sheltered?
What are facilities like?
Does it meet your expectations?
How many tables of stock do people typically have?
Do they have marquees?
How are they merchandising their stalls?
What works?
What doesn’t?
Is parking and public transport sufficient?

Take the opportunity to talk to the current stall holders and get a feel for their impressions. Don’t be shy! Tell them that you are considering becoming a stall holder there and ask their opinion! Most people will be very happy to share their experiences and knowledge with you.

Then, there comes a point where you have done all the research you can, and you need to take a (small) leap a faith. So when you’re ready, take the plunge and make the booking! Just make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to make preparations and get your stock ready. So find out when the next few markets are, and choose a date in the future that gives you enough time to prepare, but also has a sense of pressure to ensure you work efficiently towards that market date!

Remember; the first market is always the hardest because it is unknown. But you have done your homework, and you know what your goals and expectations are. So its time to get preparing!

Cheers, Chicken

Next post: Top Tips with Seller Sweet William

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Market Week Part 1: Goals and Expectations

2010-07-20T15:44:00.001+10:00

Going to market is a great avenue through which you can promote your business and gain sales; and can successfully compliment your online, wholesale and consignment efforts. It’s your very own store front - a little bit space which you run and control. That is exciting! But you may not have retail sales or customer service experience; or merchandising training. That’s ok - everyone starts somewhere.

Before you stay up sewing into the wee hours of the morning (surviving on coffee, determination and the good will of your partner) you should make sure you have done your homework and are truly prepared.

This week is ‘Market Week’ where we share the combined knowledge, experience and expertise of many people connected with the CHA; from members contributing their thoughts on the Discussion Thread, to sellers who are known for their outstanding visual merchandising; and other friends of the CHA who have more than 2 cents worth to add.

Look out for regular posts all this week which should help you get started!

Goals and Expectations

First things first! You need to set yourself up to succeed. Have a plan. Have realistic goals and expectations. Do your homework.

It is a good idea to have a business plan (another blog post entirely) and you should build selling at markets into that plan. Know where it sits in the grand scheme of things.

Start by working out why YOU are going to market:

Is it to shift old stock?
Try out new stock?
Sell your whole range, or just a portion?
Make some quick cash?
Gain exposure?
Make a connection with your audience and get real time feedback?
Build and develop your business image and reputation?
Get people to sign up to your mailing list and encourage them to follow you on Facebook and Twitter?
Get them to take your business details so they can buy online?
A combination of some or all of these... and more?

Not all of these goals will yield you a heavy money tin at the end of the day, but all will be helping you with the bigger picture and achieve your mid and long term goals.

It is unlikely that you will make a fortune at your first, or even third market. That’s ok, as long as you understand it and have planned for it. To start you might run at a loss. It may take you 6 months to make a profit. But remember the reasons why you are there; and know that when you’re first starting out, there is so much more than just money to be gained from the experience.

Set some goals. Initially, aim to cover your cost to be there (stall fees, equipment hire, insurance, travel etc). Then, set yourself mini targets such as making a profit of $100, $200 and onwards.

You will most likely be making some initial investments to get set up; with tables, a marquee, merchandising equipment (‘set dressing’ if you like) a chair, signage and more. Give yourself time to recoup these costs, and remember that when all is said and done, many of these items will be able to be integrated into your everyday life (an extra table at the family reunion is always handy!) You don’t have to buy it all NOW. You can progressively expand your set up as you gain sales and can afford it. Work out what is vital, and what is just nice to have. What can be borrowed from friends and family? What can you purchase second hand or from an op-shop? Don’t push yourself into debt - remember that the aim is to make money!

Know that often, people like to see you at market regularly before they buy from you. You might have a product that they like, but maybe they don’t have a reason to buy it right away. Or perhaps they want to get a feel for you before they commit to buy. Or they just think ‘next time’. Regularly turning up at the same market will help to build your presence and reputation.

Every time you go to market, you will be more comfortable and confident with the process. Make sure that you and your family/supporters know exactly what you are aiming to achieve and take a step closer every time you go to market. And remember that goals can change…. adapt with them to remain current!

Cheers, Chicken

Next post: Choose a suitable market

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

We have a winner!

2010-07-15T21:29:00.001+10:00

Congratulations to
Steph of Moobear Designs!

You are the winner of the Softie Pack, provided by our friends at
Patterns Only. We have sent you an email on how to make arrangements to claim your prize pack!

Thanks to everyone for your entries…. look out for the next CHA competition, coming soon!

Facebook Faux Pas for Aussie Craft Businesses

2010-07-13T10:32:00.001+10:00

How you represent yourself and your business on Facebook is just as important as other facets of your marketing strategy.

Always put your best foot forward; and avoid these mistakes to build and maintain a professional image in the eyes of your customers, peers and within the Aussie and international craft industry.

#1 Faux Pas: Writing on the wall of another business for the express purpose of advertising your own business. There is a fine but very distinct line between wishing to make a genuine connection with someone in the industry and letting them know you are a fan; and simply posting details of your own business on their page, with the express purpose of promoting yourself.

“Hey I just became your fan, feel free to pop by and become a fan of mine too” is common; but comes across as too needy and turns people off. It is more likely to hurt your reputation and give the impression that your business is small, struggling and desperate for fans. People will fan you because they are interested in what you have to offer; not because of this ploy.

Conversely, if you find people doing this to your fan page and it makes you feel uncomfortable, you can feel comfortable to delete the post without any guilt.

#2 Faux Pas: In-appropriate profile pictures. As you cannot make comments as your business identity, your personal profile picture will become associated with your business name. This may be because you mention your business name in your comment, or because you are building a reputation in the industry and people are getting to know who you are and which business you represent. For this reason, it is imperative that your profile picture is either an appropriate head and shoulders shot of you looking, neat, clean and professional; or you can use your business logo as your profile picture. People don’t want or need to see images of your kids (no matter how cute they are), or you looking slopping from the weekend. People want to know who YOU are and you will be judged by your photo... so put your best foot forward.

#3 Faux Pas: Publishing all your posts for the day only minutes apart. It can be hard to apply some structure to your posting timeframes, especially when we have lives to lead away from the computer and Facebook. But nothing will halt people from reading your News Feed faster than seeing 15 posts in a row, crammed into a 5 minute period. It’s just all too hard and overwhelming; no matter how useful the content you are providing. Try to allow at least 5 - 10 minutes between posts, and do no more than 3 at a time - at the absolutely most. If you have the luxury, a good rule of thumb is 1 post in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and a few at night, when people are most active. But space them out as best you can!

#4 Faux Pas: Airing your business or personal frustrations, negative situations and arguments publically on your business page. Having a disagreement with a customer? A competitor stealing your designs? Frustrated that your fabric delivery is late? Your fans don’t want to know about it. Avoid discussing negative issues or airing frustrations on your page. No matter how justified you may be in your argument, discussing it publically may make you feel better, but also makes you look highly unprofessional. Avoid using any negative language at all in your posts. Remember, if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.... or you will just hurt your own business’s reputation.

#5 Faux Pas: Forgetting the importance of using the English language correctly. Because you are representing yourself and your business through written communication, you must endeavour to use this form of communication correctly. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and using txt spk just makes you look lazy and uncaring. If you need to, type your status update and copy and paste it into Microsoft Word to check for spelling and grammatical errors before publishing; and make changes as needed. This small, extra step will speak volumes about your professionalism. We all suffer from typos every now and again, but aim to get it right 99% of the time. You wouldn’t send your advertising off to the printers without carefully checking it first, would you?

#6 Faux Pas: Allowing your photo albums to become out of date. If you are selling via your fan page photo albums, it is imperative that your albums only show items which can be purchased or custom made; and that there is relevant information attached to each photo. Failing to list vital details such as product descriptions, prices, availability and ways that customer can place an order will surely lose you sales. Because you don’t receive notifications when people comment on your photo, it is most important to provide instructions for interested buyers on how they can contact you to place an order; and list your email address under every photo. If you have a album of supplies such a fabric which people can select from to place a custom order, make sure you number and/or name your fabrics, so that you can be sure everyone is talking about the same thing.

#7 Faux Pas: Not having the last word on your page. In the case of your Facebook page, it is best that you have the last word. That is, if someone comments on your wall, on your post, or on your photo, always acknowledge what they have said. This acknowledgement will help build the all important genuine dialogue with your customers, which ultimately builds loyalty.

#8 Faux Pas: Sending a Friend Request without a message. If you have decided to mix your personal profile page with your business presence on Facebook, you make choose to ‘Friend’ people in the industry with whom you wish to make a connection. But sending unsolicited Friend Requests without a personal message attached will not yield you a good result! Be sure to take a few minutes to send a message along with your request, explaining who you are (including your business name) and why you want to make a connection. And don’t take it personally if your request is not accepted; many people choose not to accept Friend Requests from anyone who is not a genuine friend. Oh and if you do have business contacts as friends, then you need to monitor your personal status updates and photos for appropriateness too; it still all represents who you are and impacts your business reputation.

#9 Faux Pas: Becoming a stalker. If you comment on everything posted on a page, you will start to creep people out. While comments are always sought after and welcomed on business pages, it will become weird if you always comment or ‘like’ everything that page publishes.

#10 Faux Pas: Presenting content as your own; when it’s not. It’s great to pass along interesting information which you think your followers will find useful, but it’s not ok to represent it as your own work. Always attribute photos, blog content and other unique thoughts which are not yours to the owner. A good way to do this is to thank the creator and @tag their Facebook page when publishing the information in News Feed. Of course, if you are linking to their blog, website or other location, it is clear who the content owner is; but it’s extra nice to acknowledge them in the News Feed post too. Plus it lets them know that you are sharing their content and may attract them as a fan to your page, or even start a new business relationship.

What Facebook Faux Pas do you see? What drives you nuts?

Cheers, Chicken

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

{Round Up} The 1st CHA Craft Swap

2010-07-07T23:30:00.001+10:00

How I have loved reading your emails, learning your stories and seeing all your lovely craft swap items; and getting to know your businesses too. Here is just a selection of the photos I received for you all to feast your eyes on (there were just so many I couldn’t fit them all in!) Wow, such a lovely, diverse range! Some are people’s first brave attempts to make a new item; and other are tried, true and tested products.

Try as I did, it was certainly too difficult to choose a favourite swap pair. So many of you have relished the opportunities to make a connection in the handmade community; and have taken care to make and send products that would perfect suit the recipient.

Most importantly, it seems all involved had lots of fun. For those that missed out this time around, there will be another craft swap in the near future, so stay tuned.

Thank you all so much for participating, taking such care to create your items, and for sharing your pictures and stories.

A very special thank you to Beckie of Little Wise Owl for processing all your details and assigning your partners. A massive task. Thank you lovely girl!

Cheers, Chicken

Package Your Success

2010-07-03T13:12:00.001+10:00

One of the biggest issues with online selling is that it’s considered to be so impersonal. There is no greeting as you browse through the store, or time to talk about how it was made and developed; and there certainly isn’t a chance to thank them face-to-face for purchasing (or reminding them to return in the future). In most cases the package you send is the only actual physical contact you make with your customer; and therefore can be one of the most important tasks you complete during a sale.

Protection First
Obviously the primary purpose of product packaging is to get your sold item from A to B safely. The Post Office is not your only option for postal products. You can try Officeworks for great bulk packs or there are many websites that sell products in bulk such as Signet. It’s also fine to reuse jiffy bags; or for the Eco option, Ecocern is your place. If your items don’t need a lot of padding, why not simply wrap them in brown kraft or butcher paper? Price wise, trying to make a few extra dollars on postage is a no-go, and be sure to have the registered post as an extra option if your item calls for it. Remember that most of your customers will be regular online purchasers and therefore are likely to understand general postage costs.

To Pretty or Not to Pretty
There are different schools of though when it comes to gift-wrapping your product. Personally, I think there is nothing more enjoyable than receiving a delightful package in the mail. When I purchase an item, I always look forward to seeing how things come packaged. A beautifully presented handmade item demonstrates pride and thoughtfulness in what has been created and follows the ethos of the handmade revolution. It can be simple and cost effective, and can make your item stand out from the rest. Use things from around the house – fabric, doilies, ribbon scraps, an old atlas; or re-purpose some golden books, perhaps an old textbook or sewing pattern. Bakers thread or twine with threaded buttons also looks effective. There are many Etsy sellers that specialise in pretty packaging if you want brand your items. A few of my favourites are Packagery and CaliforniaCraft, and you can also have your logo printed on to stamps or stickers to use in prettying things up.

A Freebie
You can always thank returning customers with a little something. It can be as simple as mini gift card (sew a square of fabric onto a folded piece of card or tag) or a few pretty buttons or appliqués from your collection. Pretty Moo Cards with a ribbon at one end make lovely bookmarks. What about a sample of a new line your starting? Ask them for their opinion or a review on one of your information forums. There are a number of Etsy sellers that have bulk mini gift packs with slogan or vintage print badges, stickers or even mints. I like to offer an incentive to return; perhaps free postage or a percentage off their next visit.

Must Not Forget
Without a doubt, your best advertising is your product. Give your customer the tools to share in the excitement of finding such wonderful products. At least two business cards are a must inclusion. Word of mouth is documented as the most effective form of building your business – so encourage it.

How about your networking options? Got friends in the craft selling business? Then why not organise with them to swap each others business cards. These can be added into your package when you make sale and visa versa. I love to pop business cards of my favourite shops into my customer’s packages when I think it will compliment what they have bought from me.

Most of all don’t forget your handwritten thank you note. This personalises the online buying process and reminds your customer that it’s just you - creating, marketing, selling, packaging and shipping your items, especially for them.

If your still looking for a little inspiration don’t forget to check out the Etsy Packaging Pool on Flickr.

Good luck and happy selling,

Linda
Lulu froufrou

You can follow Linda and see all her lovely pretties on her Facebook Page, in her Madeit store, on her blog and on Twitter.

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

{Give Away Time} by Patterns Only

2010-07-01T20:38:00.001+10:00

As an exclusive to The Contemporary Handmade Alliance, Patterns Only is giving one lucky reader a chance to win a fabulous Softies Kit; complete with fabric, pattern and toy stuffing to create an adorable soft toy.

To enter: Go to the Patterns Only website and check out their range of softie patterns. Sign up to their Newsletter via the homepage), and then come back and tell us below in 25 words or less, which softies kit you would love to win and why.

You can also gain additional entries by completing a ‘Shout Out’ on your Facebook Page (tag @The Oz Material Girls in your post); and/or Tweet about it (tag @patternsonly). Just leave an additional comment below advising how you have spread the word! You will receive 1 entry for each shout out.

Competition Closes Thursday 15 July at 9pm. Winner will be selected by random.org random number generator, and announced on the CHA Blog. Open to Australian residents only.

Happy 1st Birthday Patterns Only!
The sister shop of The Oz Material Girls, Patterns Only is celebrating their 1st Birthday. They are having some great giveaways plus FREE Australia Wide Postage during the month of July. You can find out more details on their blog. 1 lucky customer will also win patterns for a year!

They have a terrific Softies Club to join and receive a new kit each month, for 12 months. If you sign up in July you will get 1 month FREE. The kits are also available individually.

Your Craft Business Part 3 – Record Keeping and Business Management

2010-06-28T21:59:00.001+10:00

This is the final instalment in a 3 part series designed to assist the Australian hobbyist crafter determine if they need to set up as a business. It aims to provide relevant information to help you set about taking this next step; which can be confusing and a bit daunting! It is also a great time to consider this topic, with the start of the new financial year only days away!

Record Keeping and Business Management
How difficult is it to keep proper financial records?
Regardless of the complexity of your business, it is important to keep proper financial records. MYOB and Quickbooks are both fantastic, relatively easy to use software packages that can handle everything from inventory to payroll – and if you only need a basic package to track income and expenses, these are available as well. That said, until your business reaches a certain level, an excel spreadsheet may be all you need to track the income and expenses related to your business – particularly if you are not registered for GST.

It is important to have some sort of system though. You should be able to extract data quickly and easily which tells you how your business is travelling – for example, you should be able to find out how many items you have sold over a particular time period, what the profit was on those items, and how much total profit you have made over a time period. These are all important ways of measuring how your business is performing.

If you are running your enterprise as a business (rather than a hobby) you should keep receipts for all expenses associated with your business for at least 7 years (to be on the safe side). Our tax system is “self assessment” which means that the ATO do not “audit” your tax returns as they are lodged; however, they do perform random reviews and audits for a time period following lodgement of the returns (usually between 2 and 4 years). Reviews and audits are much more pleasant if you have kept good records and if you have a system that allows you to find things easily.

What program should I use?
As mentioned above both MYOB and Quickbooks are used regularly for small businesses – everyone will have a different opinion about which package is better. In my opinion, Quickbooks is better for those people with some level of understanding of accounting and MYOB is better for those people who really have no idea of general accounting concepts. Quickbooks provides more flexibility and is probably a more powerful accounting program however, I think this can be a bit dangerous when combined with someone who has no accounting knowledge.

Do I have to worry about Business Activity Statements (BASs)?
If you are registered for GST you will need to lodge Business Activity Statements (BASs) either quarterly or annually. Refer to the second blog in this series to find out whether or not you need to register for GST (link to the blog).

You may also need to lodge BASs if you are paying tax on your income. For example, if you have a business profit of $30k when you lodge your tax return, you will need to pay tax on this profit. In addition, once the tax office receive your tax return, they will assume you are going to make $30k profit in the following year and they will start sending quarterly statements to you to start collecting the tax for the following year (called the Pay As You Go system). If your profit in the following year is significantly less than the year before you can “vary” the instalments on the activity statements.

Year End Checklist For Small Businesses
Here are a few items to consider in the lead up to 30 June:

1. Are there any expenses that you could pay prior to 30 June (which would allow you to claim the expense in this financial year and therefore reduce your tax). This will only be an effective tax planning technique if you have profit that you want to minimise. If you are in a loss, then you will not be paying tax anyway.

2. Is there anyway that you can push income into the following year (i.e. invoice in July rather than just before 30 June)? Same applies to the item above, this will only be effective where you are trying to minimise profit and therefore tax.

3. If you carry stock, you should do a stock take so that you can claim as an expense any items that have gone missing during the year. It is also good business management to do this annually to ensure that your physical stock matches your accounting records.

4. Now is a good time to review your debtors (if applicable) and make the decision to write any debts off that are not recoverable. This will ensure that you are able to claim the “bad debt” as an expense in this financial year.

5. Now is a good time to consider making any donations and/or superannuation contributions (if applicable). Both are great, legitimate ways of reducing your taxable income.

6. You could consider prepaying some expenses (most small business can claim prepayments where the expense relates to the following financial year) – examples may be rent, insurance and interest. Again, this will only be relevant where you are trying to minimise tax in the current financial year;

7. Talk to your accountant and ensure you have a clear understanding of your tax return lodgement deadline. This can differ depending on the size of your business and whether or not you are lodging through a tax agent.

Please note that the information contained in this post is provided as general information only; none of the information provided takes into account your personal circumstances. It is important that you seek advice from your accountant in order to address your specific circumstances.

Written by Sharon Parker of The Robin Street Market especially for the CHA.
You can follow Sharon on Facebook and Twitter

This was the final instalment for the Your Craft Business series of blog posts by Sharon. Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Shopping in the New Social Media World

2010-06-26T11:09:00.001+10:00

Sharon was thrilled to find on a social networking business page a perfect head band to go with the christening outfit that she had bought for her daughter. She chatted to the Facebook store operator and sent her credit card details. Several weeks went by and nothing happened; and when Sharon tried to contact the store, the Facebook page was gone.

Sadly, with the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook becoming an avenue for selling handmade items, we are seeing more and more claims of online fraud in the WAHM industry.

Whilst there is no fool proof method in ensuring you are not a victim of online fraud, there are a few helpful things customers can check, and also tips for store owners to make customers feel completely comfortable in purchasing:

1 Business Registration Whilst in some instances a business does not need to register their name, many businesses do have the relevant registrations and licences required to operate. This will NOT tell you whether a business is completely genuine, but it can show that a business has taken the time and cost to register to operate their business.

2 Check the Website/Facebook Page for Contact Details All websites and Facebook business pages should have relevant contact details for the business. If you should need to contact a store owner for any reason, you should be able to do so easily. Sites and pages should have relevant postal details, email addresses and a phone number for contact. For business owners who want to ensure their personal details are not revealed, you could try using a Post Office box and a cheap mobile phone to receive business calls on.

3 Payment Always pay by Paypal. By paying with Paypal, if a transaction does go wrong, you have an avenue to attempt to receive your money back. Although Paypal comes with fees, it offers more protection that a bank transfer. NEVER email your credit card details or provide your credit details to a site that does not have a secure merchant payment facility.

4 Google Google the business name. Customers who receive bad service quite often like to tell the world and with social networking sites so popular these days, Googling a business name should provide you with any information you are looking for. Indeed, you may also find fabulous feedback about a store.

5 Ask Around Ask friends, family, social networking site contacts/forums you are involved on if anyone has used that business before. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising for businesses and happy customers always like to tell others of the great service they have received.

6 Ask for Registered Post It costs a bit extra, but this can avoid any worry or concern that your parcel will not arrive. Using registered post you can be assured your parcel has been sent and you have a very good way of tracking it if it goes astray.

6 Store Fronts Call me crazy, but I would not purchase from a store who ONLY operates on Facebook unless I was able to view the products locally. There are so many affordable options for people to operate store fronts and internet shopping carts. Gone are the days when you need to pay thousands of dollars to be able to have a basic store. Stores can be operated from blogs and online shopping malls such as madeit.com.au where listing fees are very affordable. Having your own website or store shows that a business has taken the time to establish itself, a domain name purchased and the time taken to publish all information on products and policies in order to operate their store. Facebook does not offer a lot of options for a shopper to feel comfortable.

In Sharon's case, she was not able to recoup her lost funds and she has learnt the hard way that shopping from a social networking site can have drawbacks.

Written by Handmade Kids

Mixtape Zine – Art and craft meets eco-awareness meets pop culture kitsch

2010-06-24T22:28:00.001+10:00

The brainchild of Justine Tefler, Mixtape is all about making time for the small things in life. Made at home in Melbourne with the assistance of Justine’s husband and sister-in-law, Mixtape is certainly on the up and up.

With its beginnings early on in 2007, Mixtape was initially printed and photocopied on a humble laser jet printer. It wasn't until issue 8 that Mixtape was professionally printed on 100% recycled paper; but it still holds is original indie feel. With only one print run for each issue, demand is certainly growing.

Submissions for content come in from world-wide; articles, tutorials, recipes, and more. So it’s always a surprise as to what will be in Mixtape next. Everything from music reviews, craft tutorials, inspiring stories, and current affairs to quirky fashion and home wares grace the pages of this wonderful little zine. {Maybe you have something to contribute?}

It’s the collaborative feel of Mixtape that makes it so warm, and with so many faces you will know. It feels familiar from the very first page, and in our house its flicked through many times over.

The current issue (Kids Issue 2010) features a very cute tooth pillow tutorial, a story on post natal depression, some super cool things to do in the garden with kids, a rundown on some Mathilda's market stallholders, and the good ol' cloth VS disposable nappy debate.

The next issue due out very soon, and you can pre-order! Woo!

Aside from the special Kids Issue released once a year, Mixtape is released quarterly and available from selected stores and online.

Submission guidelines and advertising info are available on the Mixtape website.

Till next time, peace -beckie
little wise owl

Mixtape Blog http://mixtapezineblog.blogspot.com/
Website http://www.mixtapezine.com/

Your Craft Business Part 2 - Taxation and Small Business

2010-06-18T11:57:00.001+10:00

This is the second in a 3 part series designed to assist the Australian hobbyist crafter determine if they need to set up as a business. It aims to provide relevant information to help you set about taking this next step; which can be confusing and a bit daunting! It is also a great time to consider this topic, with the start of the new financial year only a few weeks away.

Taxation and Small Business
What tax will I have to pay when I get an ABN?
When you get an ABN, you need to start disclosing any income and expenses in relation to your business in your income tax return each year. You should start keeping all your receipts to substantiate your business spending, and start thinking about whether you are using your car/phone/computer etc for business purposes. If you are you may be able to claim a portion of these expenses in your tax return.

When you complete your tax return, you will disclose any income and then deduct off this amount any expenses relating to your business. If you end up with a positive amount then this is your business profit and you will need to pay income tax on this amount. It should be noted that if you have no other income then the first $10,000 of profit will be effectively tax free because of the way the marginal tax rates and rebates work. As your level of profit increases, so will the tax rate applicable to that income. Here is a calculator that helps you figure out the tax on different levels of income.

What if I end up with a loss?
If you end up with a loss (that is, your expenses exceed your income) and you have no other income in that year, then you just disclose your loss in your tax return and carry it forward to offset against income in future years.

If you do have other income in that year, then you need to figure out whether you can “offset” the loss against your other income. There are some rules that need to be considered (non commercial loss rules) and you should check with your accountant to ensure you pass the necessary tests. The benefit of offsetting your loss against other income is that it will reduce the total amount of tax that you pay on your income.

Do I have to register for GST?
You do not have to register for GST just because you have an ABN. Registering for GST is optional until your income from business reaches $75,000.

The benefit of registering for GST is that you are able to claim back the GST that you pay when you acquire things for your business. For example, if you are registered for GST and you buy a computer then you can claim back the GST portion of the cost of the computer. You can only claim GST on expenses if you have a tax invoice.

The disadvantage of registering for GST is that you will be obliged to pay 1/11th of your gross sales to the ATO. This may mean you have to increase your prices to ensure that registering for GST does not end up eating into your profit. And when you register for GST you are also required to lodge Business Activity Statements (BASs). You can choose to lodge your BAS annually if your turnover is less than $75,000. If your turnover exceeds $75,000 then you have to lodge monthly.

Please note that the information contained in this post is provided as general information only; none of the information provided takes into account your personal circumstances. It is important that you seek advice from your accountant in order to address your specific circumstances.

Written by Sharon Parker of The Robin Street Market especially for the CHA.

You can follow Sharon on Facebook and Twitter.

Look out for the last part in this series; Record Keeping and Business Management.

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

The FB Garage Sale: your indoor, warm and comfy (wear your slippers) de-stash Sale!

2010-06-14T10:47:00.001+10:00

If you’ve indulged your love of all things crafty a little too much, and have more material, findings, tools, and habby than you can possibly use; or if you have too much old market/out of season stock that you want to shift fast, then perhaps the Facebook Garage Sale is your ticket to more money in your pocket, and more space at your work station!

The Facebook Garage Sale is a mad dash sale where interested parties write SOLD underneath photos of items you have listed for sale. Depending upon the success of your promotion of your Garage Sale, and interest in your items, it could all be over in as little as half an hour; and can be lots of fun! But it does require some through and preparation first.

It utilises your craft related Fan/Business Page, which taps into your existing network of like-minded online friends/fans who will more than likely have a use for your no longer required, but still good quality goods or excess stock. And instead of having to pay for a newspaper entry, sticking up posters and dragging everything out into the yard to have an actual garage sale, you can sit back and watch the sparks fly as people compete to be the first to buy!

It is important, though, to point out that there is a clear distinction between a Facebook Sale and a Facebook Garage Sale (much like in the real world). These 2 terms invoke a very different set of expectations amongst buyers. The Garage Sale is to move unwanted stock or materials at heavily reduced prices; a Sale is knocking off a few dollars to get stock to shift. If you advertise your Sale incorrectly as a Garage Sale, people will be disappointed when they find they are still expected to pay close to RRP; and this will impact your overall sales.

Based on my own experience with a very successful garage sale on my Chicken Ink. Creative page, here are my tips for a successful garage sale.

Be Clear and Specific: Tell people important information clearly and concisely. Use proper English, grammar and punctuation. Don’t use txt spk.

Choose your Day and Time Wisely: Hold your Garage Sale between Sunday and Thursday; people go out and do things on Friday and Saturday nights! Monday was successful for me. Hold it after 8pm for 2 reasons; first because many of your customers will be parents who don’t want to miss out while cooking/bathing the kids/putting them to bed. Also, it helps to account for the different time zones throughout Australia. Remember, when advising the start time, make it clear what time zone/state you are in.

Promotion: Start posting News Feeds about the Garage Sale 2 days before the event to promote and build interest. 48 hours notice is long enough for people to plan to attend, but short enough to build and hold anticipation. Ask your friends to promote the sale for you on Facebook as well; especially fellow crafters with their own fan pages. But meter out your posts; you don’t want to turn people off by posting constant News Feeds about it. 3 posts a day is suitable; 1 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon and one after 8pm.

Rules of Engagement: Make the rules and processes clear and easy to follow; post them in your News Feed (on your wall) before and during the event.

Country Restrictions: You might want to restrict the sale to AUS residents only; or maybe include NZ customers as well. Remember there are issues with currency conversions and postage rates to take into consideration.

Flat Postage Fee: To save time and hassle, you might consider setting a mid range postal cost that everyone pays, regardless of the quantity of purchased items, or their size and weight. It could take you days to individually calculate postage costs for each customer, invoice them, wait for payment and then send. $3 is a reasonable amount to charge and neither of you stand to lose too much either way (in most cases). Make sure people know up front what the flat postage costs are before they start buying. Also, people might be inclined to buy more if they know they have a reasonable flat postage fee to pay.

Payment Methods: Accept both Paypal and EFT payments if you can. Some people only like to use one of these options and you don't want to limit your audience.

Stock Selection and Preparation: Review the items you wish to sell; measuring, counting and checking for faults. Write a quick and clear description of each item as you go; including things such as size, material type, colour, design, quantity ( if more than 1), and any faults. And of course, decide how much you are going to charge. Group like things together. Assign each item a number. This info is to be published with the photo. Count up how many items you have in total.

Photographing Your Items: Arrange each item, one at a time, for photographing on a neutral surface with plenty of natural light. Having clear photos of each item is very important as people need and want to understand what it is they are buying (which is more difficult in the online environment). If your photos aren’t great, clean them up using a photo editing tool. picnik.com is great for this, and super easy to use - and free. It’s worth the effort.

Use a Photo Album: Don’t bombard your fan’s News Feeds by posting each item onto your wall. Instead, set up a dedicated photo album and clearly name it Garage Sale. This avoids filling up peoples News Feeds and annoying those that are not interested/not participating. This could lead to them un-fanning your page, or hiding your News Feed - which is not a good outcome! Set your album up with plenty of time to spare on the day. You can publicise that the album is available for viewing, and that no comments before the official start time will be accepted.

Organisation is the Key: Print up a hard copy list with the item number, brief description, value and leave a blank spot to write in a name and email address of the purchaser. This will help you with sorting and mailing in the days after. Depending on the number of items for sale, it could take you a few hours to get the photos ready and uploaded with matching descriptions. Make sure you leave yourself enough time to get this done before the Garage Sale starts!

Inform Your Buyers: This is key - let people know what products they can expect, the most they may expect to pay per item, and how many items will be posted up for sale.

Afterwards: Hopefully you will have sold most if not all of your items. Ask people to email you a list of their purchases (including item # and description), and cross reference this with your own hard copy listing (checking all the comments under each photo in the album). Make sure you have contact with each buyer, confirming their purchases, final amount owning and payment options.

The result of my Garage Sale:

I had over 80 items posted for sale, and every single one sold; most of them had at least 3 interested buyers! There were 38 buyers who successfully made purchases (most people bought multiple items). I was so glad for the flat postage fee! The Garage Sale was well worth the exercise to clear out my work space and re-home some quality products.

Examples of Facebook Posts

Effective News Feed post publicising an upcoming event:

Facebook Garage Sale here on Monday Night - starts 8pm (EST)! Over 80 items for sale including fabric, zips, buttons, and other habby, plus old market stock. No items over $10. Flat postage fee of $3 per customer. Grab a bargain - all items are great; I just have too much! EFT and Paypal accepted. Tell your friends!

Effective News Feed post detailing the rules of your garage sale:

Facebook Garage Sale details: Sale starts at 8pm (EST). See photo album titled “Garage Sale”. You can have a sneak peak at the album beforehand, but comments made before 8pm will not be accepted and will be deleted. First to write SOLD under photo wins purchase right. AUS residents only. Flat postage fee $3 per person. Accepting EFT and Paypal. Please pay within 3 days. Email myemailaddress@email.com with a complete list of your purchases after the event advising item number and description.

Good luck and remember people love a bargain! So enjoy the sales as they come flooding in!

Cheers, Chicken

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

Winner!

2010-06-12T21:23:00.001+10:00

Congratulations to:

Rebecca DaCosta of Bec's Bags who is the lucky winner of this Visual Arts Diary!

Thanks to everyone who joined our mailing list and played along.

Win Me!

2010-06-10T14:59:00.001+10:00

Want to win this Chicken Ink. Creative Visual Arts Diary? Surely all you creative peeps out there need a lovely place for your ground breaking, wonderful and inspired ideas!

Just subscribe to the CHA mailing list to enter. That’s it. Simple. Maybe I should make it harder? Hummmm. Nope!

Already subscribed? Don’t worry, you are automatically entered into the draw too! We wouldn’t be that mean and leave you out.

You can subscribe via the Blog by entering your email address into the box (see there on the right, that section that says SUBSCRIBE) or you can also enter your email address into the Subscribe tab on our Facebook page. Oh and you must confirm your subscription when you get the confirmation email in your Inbox. That’s it!

Thanks for reading! Oh and if you wouldn’t mind, tell your creative friends about the CHA and get them to subscribe too. As I say, the more, the merrier!

Cheers, Chicken

Boring but necessary bits:
Open to Australian residents only
Winner will be contacted via email to be notified
Winner drawn at 9pm 12th June - our 1st month birthday!
Prize not transferable

Your Craft Business Part 1 – Hobby to Business

2010-06-07T10:17:00.001+10:00

This is the first in a 3 part series designed to assist the Australian hobbyist crafter determine if they need to set up as a business. It aims to provide relevant information to help youset about taking this next step; which can be confusing and a bit daunting! It is also a great time to consider this topic, with the start of the new financial year only a few weeks away.

Hobby to Business
When should I make the move from a hobby to a business?

The question of whether you are conducting a hobby or carrying on a business is an important one, as the answer will determine: whether you are eligible to apply for an ABN; whether or not you have to pay tax on your income (as well as whether you can claim expenses); and whether or not you can register for GST.

The hobby vs business question can often be a grey area. Here is a LINK to the items that the ATO recommend you consider when determining whether you are carrying on a business.

In summary, if you are conducting activities on a regular basis with a view to making a profit, and if you have a business plan and are running your activities in an organised, commercial manner, then chances are that you are running a business.

Often, people try and argue that they are carrying on a business if they are making losses from their activities. That way, they are able to offset their losses against other income they are making, in an attempt to get a tax refund. However, it should be noted that there are special rules which need to be considered if using this strategy.

If you decide that what you are doing is conducting a hobby then you don't need to do any form of registration; just keep doing what you are doing and keep life simple!

What does getting an ABN mean - do I get an ABN when I register as a business?

If you are conducting a business as an individual then you need to be running a business in order to apply for an ABN (different rules apply to companies and superannuation funds).

The ABN is a unique 11 digit number which: helps you claim GST credits; ensures businesses you deal do not withhold tax from payment made to you; and allows businesses to easily confirm your details for ordering and invoicing purposes.

Having an ABN can also assist with obtaining trade discounts as it is proof that you are carrying on a business.

You can register for an ABN online at www.abr.gov.au.

When and how do I register my business name?

There is no legal requirement to register your business name. However, registering a business name ensures that the name is protected in the state that you register it (i.e. nobody else is allowed to trade using the same name in that state). Following that logic, if you are trading under a business name that is registered by someone else in your state, then it is possible that the other party could take action against you.

You can register a business name at Consumer Affairs Victoria.

If you want to protect your business name Australia-wide then you have to register the business name in each state. Alternatively, you can set up a company with the name of your business (e.g. Craft Pty Ltd). A company name is protected Australia wide.

What if I already have an ABN for another business that I currently own; or have run in the past?

If you have an ABN for another business, then you can just add a trading name to that ABN (rather than getting a new ABN). So, if you want to run a craft business under one trading name and a different business under another trading name, you can use the same ABN for both businesses.

You can add trading names to an ABN online at the ABR website.

You can also find out how to add a trading name to an ABN HERE.

What does Sole Trader mean?

A sole trader means that you are running a business as an individual versus running a business through a company or trust structure. If you are a sole trader then you will disclose income and expenses related to your business in your individual income tax return.

Sharon’s 3 passions in life are travelling, enjoying good food with friends and family and buying unique handmade goodies. An accountant and small business advisor by day, Sharon recently started up the Robin Street Market which blends together her 3 loves. Her unique knowledge of accounting and the craft world makes her the perfect writer to assist CHA members with their small business accounting and taxation questions. Thanks Sharon for taking the time to share your wisdom with us! You can also follow Sharon on Facebook and Twitter.

Look out for the next 2 parts in this series; Taxation and Small Business, and Record Keeping and Business Management.

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you! Yes you!

The very 1st CHA Craft Swap!

2010-06-04T13:21:00.001+10:00

“A craft swap?” I hear you ask eagerly…

A craft swap is when you make a crafty item (it can be anything you like to make) to send off to a swap partner; and you will receive a crafty item from them in return. Fun all round! It is also a great opportunity to make a connection with a peer in the craft industry, as well as get a pressie just for you!

So The CHA are organising their first craft swap for all you clever crafters out there. Go on - admit it, we all love getting some love in the post!

The more participants the better!

Here are the rules...

Your swap item must be to a value of at least $20 and no more than $50. This insures that everyone gets a similarly valued item.

There is no theme to this swap, you can make anything you please.

To register for the swap, comment under this post with your name and email address, and we will contact you with your swap partners details. If

you have a blog, leave that address too; so your swap partner can get an idea of who you are and what you might like.

Items are to be posted out no later than the 30th June 2010. Partner matching will be finalised on the 14th June! So make sure you have commented by then.

Oh 1 more thing; it’s open to Australian residents only.

How easy is that? So spread the word, and comment below to sign up, and don’t forget you email address!

P.S. If you and your swap partner decide to send us a photo of each of you with your received item, you may be selected to be featured on this blog!

Cheers –Beckie

Little Wise Owl

Top 10 Online Tools for Your Crafty Business

2010-06-02T16:59:00.001+10:00

PHOTO EDITING
picnik.com – Get the most from your product photos (and happy snaps of the family for that matter) with this incredibly user friendly, intuitive and funky online software. Fix underexposed photos, remove red-eye and blemishes, or apply effects and boarders (and so much more); and it features collage capabilities.

COST: Free for most functionality. Or become a Picnik Premium customer to access the more advanced tools for $4.95 a month, $19.95 for six months or $24.95 for a year ($USD).

CHA Tested?: You betcha! I love it and use it daily. After using it for a few months I knew that it would be worth investing in the Premium Package. I have Photoshop and haven’t used it since finding Picnik.

FABRIC DESIGN AND PRINTING
spoonflower.com – Design and print your own fabric on demand! No minimum orders. Uses premium natural fabrics and eco–friendly textile printing; plus a weekly fabric design competition! They also recommend free programs where you can create your design before you upload it, and point you in the direction of design resources and advice to get a great end result.

COST: Free to upload; pay for the quantity of fabric you wish to have printed.

CHA tested?: Not personally, but comes highly recommended from people in the craft and design industry.

ONLINE FORMS
Wufoo.com Online Form Builder – Collect information over the internet from your customers, fans and suppliers easily. This HTML form builder allows you to create forms, online surveys, invitations, registrations and online payments without you writing any code. Very easy to set up and use. Stores all the information that you collect and is easy to access.

COST: First 3 forms are free; and then offers a tiered pricing plan which starts at $14.95 per month.

CHA tested?: Yes. Very happy with it thank you!

RANDOM COMPETITION WINNER SELECTION
random.org – Select a winner for your competition with true fairness, with this random number generator. You can screen capture the result (edit in paint to crop then save as a .jpg) and publish it to your blog to demonstrate the true random and unbiased nature of the result to your readership.

COST: FREE

CHA Tested: Yup! Simple, easy to use and reliable.

BANNER AND BUTTON DESIGNER
mybannermaker.com -Design banners and buttons for your online store, blog or Facebook page (and other online sites). Free banner functionality is basic and contains some advertising from the supplier. You can upload your own images. Become a VIP and receive access to additional features such as rotating banners and the removal of advertising by the supplier.

COST: Free for basic functionality, or $25 per year to be a VIP.

CHA Tested?: No, but has been recommended to me.

OFFLINE BLOG WRITER
Windows Live Writer - Download it and it will sit on your computer desktop. It makes it easy to write and format your blog post offline, and then publish the finished post to almost any blog service; including Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal and TypePad; and many more. It eradicates most (if not all) the difficulties that can be experienced with formatting; especially for those like me who are unfamiliar with HTML code. You can preview everything you’re adding to your blog, to see how the fonts, spacing, colours, and images will look, before you publish.

COST: FREE

CHA Tested?: Yes! And I am very happy to have found it. You will see the layout of the CHA blog posts improving as Writer is used (and I get more familiar and experienced with the blogging process)!

EMAIL CAMPAIGN MANAGER
mailchimp.com – Manages your email campaigns starting from the design of your email communication, through to detailed but easy to understand reporting. Syncs with other online tools including Picnik, Google Analytics and Wufoo. Smart, user friendly, and with massive potential to help you develop a whole new side to your communications with your customer and potential customer base. Short and easy to understand tutorial videos guide you along the way. You can even sign up for free online training. This program is not to be missed.

COST: Free to manage up to 500 contacts in your lists. Then there are many pricing options to suit your needs if you grow beyond the free capabilities.

CHA Tested?: Just opened up my account today and I am loving it! Really looking forward to taking this baby for a spin!

RETWEET FUNCTIONALITY
TweetMeme - is a service which aggregates all the popular links on Twitter to determine which links are popular. It is most useful to bloggers who can add a re-tweet functionality to their blog, which facilitates and encourages readers to re-tweet your blog post. If you provide high quality content on your blog and add an easy way for people to share it, then people will help you spread the word!

COST: FREE

CHA Tested?: Yes we use it on our blog (see – up there to the left)! Hey don’t forget to Tweet this post for us!

MEASURE WEBSITE TRAFFIC
Google Analytics – It provides you with insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Its most basic usage will tell you how many hits your site gets, how long they stay, if they are returning, how they found you and which sites are regularly sending you traffic. It can be added to your website, online store, blog even your Facebook Business Page too (Instructions are HERE)! More advanced usage includes setting up advertising using AdWords, or setting goals which can be measured through activity completed within you site. It’s worth having a look around to see what else it can do!

COST: FREE

CHA Tested?: Yep! I have been using it on my online store for months now. It helps me to measure effectiveness of different marketing activity and interest in new products which are posted and advertised. I have also just added it to the CHA blog.

MANAGE YOUR FINANCES
outright.com – Simple, online book keeping. No more Excel spreadsheets! Enter your basic expenses and income information, and see at a glance your profit and loss report. You can run additional reports as needed. It has a tax estimation component but this is only suitable for users inside the USA. Imports data from Etsy and Ebay and talks to Paypal.

COST: FREE

CHA Tested: Just signed up an account today and entered some profit and loss data. I found it pretty straight forward.

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you!

Cheers, Chicken

Things my Grandmother Taught Me

2010-06-01T10:48:00.001+10:00

My grandmother was a very capable woman. She could make the most drab and lifeless rental house become a beautiful and tastefully decorated home, using (I’m sure) nothing more than some rubber-bands and safety pins. OK, well maybe it was that she was marvel at the sewing machine, and had an eye for the potential beauty of an old and unloved piece of furniture in the junk shop.

In her early teens she made clothes for herself and younger sister; and in her late teens she became apprentice to the famous Melbourne milliner Thomas Harrison. Then after marrying and having children, she invented ‘Model Yu’; a custom dress making body cast tailor’s dummy which ensured a perfect fit to your body, without any dials getting in the way when doing the pinning. In the days of WWII her invention was economical, relevant and very successful. She travelled Australia and New Zealand demonstrating it. As I said, she was a very capable woman.

Of course, she taught my mother to sew; who then taught me. And there were rules to follow when sewing to ensure a crisp, professional finish. These are the things that my grandmother taught me.

Never cut and sew on the same day: Allow one day for cutting and a second day for sewing. If you try to sew on the same day as you cut, you are more likely to make mistakes.

Press every time you sew: The mantra is press press press! You can’t iron too much! Every time you finish sewing a section, iron it to ensure a crisp, professional finish.

Clean your sewing machine with a feather: Yes, that’s right. When you are out for a walk, keep a look out for a long wing feather. They are perfect for cleaning the fluff away from around your bobbin holder, as they are strong, flexible and nature has provided microscopic little hooks which grab the fluff!

Match colours in daylight: When picking thread to match your fabric, go outside – NEVER use artificial light. This might mean dragging the shop assistant outside with you, but accuracy is more important than dignity, right?

Get out your knitting needle: When turning things the right way out, use your big knitting needle (for creating your chunky knits) to gently but firmly push out all the corners properly.

So tell me, what did your grandmother teach you?

Cheers, Chicken

Taggies – Fun ribbon fringe or patent infringement?

2010-05-30T21:43:00.000+10:00

I am sure everyone has seen them before; a square blanket surrounded by loops of ribbon? But did you know that there is a trademark and patent on them?

If you follow along in some international crafting forums, you may have seen the issue discussed there - but how does it affect Australian Crafters?

‘Taggies’ are a US company that have a reputation amongst crafters for being notorious in protecting their patent rights. There is also much discussion surrounding the broadness of the patent, which allows for Taggies to have the rights on any bit of ribbon looped placed between two bits of material. So broad is the patent, that this could also mean clothing tags placed in a similar fashion are an infringement on the patent.

However, no matter how broad, the fact is that a company has patented this design in the US.

So what does this mean for Australians?

Curious about this broad patent a while back, I did some research and spoke with an Intellectual Property Search Company IP Australia, and an IP Lawyer. From this research I learned that Taggies do not have a patent registered in Australia for this design; nor a patent pending. There was also some speculation that a patent such as this may not be approved in Australia.

For Australian crafters this means that making blankets with looped ribbons is not an infringement on this patent if you are selling them in Australia. However, if you sell on places like Etsy, which is a US site, you may in fact be breaching this patent. Taggies have been known to contact many sellers on Etsy and have them remove their products due to this breach of patent.

My research has indicated that (and this is important for Australian crafters to note) Taggies DO have a Trademark registered in Australia for the words “taggie” and “taggy”, and I believe some other variations of the word. What this means is that if you use these words to describe or name your product, you are in fact breaching a registered trademark of the company.

It will be interesting to see in the future if the patent is ever registered in Australia, as this would have a significant impact on many crafters who use looped ribbons on products.

Article By Jemma Bell – Handmade Kids

Note: Information provided in this article is based on my own research and cannot be construed as independent legal advice or replace professional advice from an IP Lawyer whom you should contact if you have queries or concerns regarding trademark or patent issues in Australia.

Further information on Trademarks, Patents and Searches from such can be obtained from IP Australia.

This article was originally published on the Handmade Kids blog, and has been republished for the benefit of the CHA with the kind permission of Jemma.

Craft Room Inspriation

2010-05-25T16:14:00.000+10:00

Whether you have a craft room, corner, cupboard or drawer, keeping it neat and tidy can be a constant battle. As I scroll through hundreds of photos of beautiful craft spaces, the common element to keeping it a workable area is organisation.

Fabric folded into Fat Quarter sized squares and placed together in colour tones not only looks amazing, but aids in those very regular fabric seeking missions.
Using a set of labelled, clear containers, keeps notions and other small pieces sorted and easier to find. Ikea has a wonderful 'price wise' range. Or if your into re-purposing, then baby food jars are perfect for smaller stock. And I love to use recycled coffee jars (think Maccona - because lets face it I have quite a few empty ones and things just look so pretty in them).

Storing ribbon and trim is where I fail miserably. At the moment I have a box with all sorts of stuff knotted together, and quite often I head out to Spotlight to purchase something that I find I already have when I get home. It only took a quick search on Google to find plenty of ribbon storage inspirations - The Domestic Diva has dedicated a whole series of her blog to craft room organisation, and I love her ideas for ribbon storage.

If your lucky enough to have a whole room to craft in, embrace it! Hang picture that inspire you, keep it tidy so you have room to move,and importantly purge and re-sort regularly. Of course allow your self to madly sift through everything whilst in the creating zone; but also give yourself time to put everything thing away once you are done for the night.

Not inspired yet....
Well I will leave you with some images from my favourite work room: this is the beautiful and talented Viven's studio from Ish & Chi.
Viv has kindly let me publish a couple of photos from her blog but you simply must check it out for the bigger picture. With only a smallish budget and a lot of creativity, she managed to create a stunningly styled and yet workable room.

Need a little bit more help - well below are some great links to get you motivated!!

Setting up a craft area
Key to an Organised Craft Room
Martha's tips

Bye for now,
Linda
Lulufroufrou

Image 1
Image 2
Image 4
Image 5

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you.

Meet me at Mikes - The book!

2010-05-24T17:02:00.001+10:00

For anyone remotely near Melbourne 'Meet Me At Mikes' on Brunswick St Fitzroy is a haven for all things crafty, vintage and indie.

In between running Mikes, a very successful blog, a crafter's group named 'The Brown Owls' and raising 3 kidlets, the supremely clever Pip Lincolne "Queen of Mikes' has put together 26 of the best projects from the cleverest Aussie crafters to insure crafty fun abounds.

There's something for everyone; from beginners to the more experienced among us. Toys and softies, hankies, purses and even mini baby yoga pants! Cute!

The instructions read as if you were talking with Pip herself, and set out everything you will need as well as any preparation required before you start, so there are no surprises. The best bit by far (well besides the beautiful photography) is that each project comes with a FULL SIZE pattern - yay! No enlarging on the printer, phew!

This is a great book - Pip has outdone herself. It is so beautiful that it would make a fab coffee table book, and is just as wonderful as a starters guide to crafting.

It is ring bound paperback and retails for $45 (but is available for less if you look around).

SHOP: 'Meet Me At Mikes' at 63 Brunswick St Fitzroy VIC
BLOG: Where you will find fun tutorials, regular updates on local crafting events and some mighty find recipes.

Till next week, peace! Beckie
Little Wise Owl

Editor's Note: Pip recently Tweeted that she has just finished writing her second book 'Sew La Tea Do': and this time all the projects are her own stuff. Too exciting! You can follow Pip at http://twitter.com/meetmeatmikes

Oh MAEVE, how we love you!

2010-05-17T21:18:00.000+10:00

MAEVE is a beautiful, clever online magazine put together by the very talented Kate and Lou. It's aimed at 30-40 something ladies who may or may not have children, and whom don't necessarily relate to the glossy women's magazines out there.

Featuring a fabulous self portrait of Elle Moss on its cover, the very first issue - MAEVE winter '10 is hot off the 'press'.
With an array of feature writers, including the likes of Nancy Alice Wood of 'wolf and willow', Jodie Headly Ward author of 'You sexy mother - a life changing approach to motherhood' and Melbourne photographer Lauren Bamford, there is never a dull moment.

In this issue you will enjoy; a chat with Naoko Stoop - self taught illustrator, children’s fashion, women’s fashion, an amazing almond croissant recipe, a great article on starting up a business after kids, and a great collection of fun websites to visit.

MAEVE is beautifully presented, cleverly written, and a joy to read (of course while relaxing with your hot beverage of choice).

Cheers! Till next week,

Beckie

Little Wise Owl

Where you can find MAEVE:

ONLINE

FACEBOOK

BLOG

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you.

No Comps on Facebook!

2010-05-16T14:10:00.000+10:00

OK so a great way to attract new ‘Fans/Likers’ is by having a competition, right? Well sure, people love the possibility of a freebee, but the risk you run is having your page shut down altogether. A risk I doubt you should be willing to take.

And yes, it is a very real risk. I know pages which have been shut down for this very reason and have struggled to re-establish new pages again; never getting back all the followers they had before. Heart-breaking! Some of them as small as under 500 followers; some of them as large as 5,000+ followers.

So perhaps this is news to you, or perhaps you heard about it, but reading the Facebook Terms of Service sent you mental trying to make sense of it all. Before you kick and scream that Facebook are being big meanies, let’s break it down and look at it reasonably.

The Terms of Service State that you can’t have a Sweepstake or Competition on your page. An explanation of these, in relation to FB are:
Sweepstakes - just becoming a fan/liker enters you into the draw.
Competition - some participation is required, such as answering a question, writing a response, or another demonstration of skill of some kind.

Why do you think that is? My belief is that it is impossible for Facebook to govern or regulate these competitions in accordance with local, state and federal laws throughout the world. They can’t guarantee that your competition isn’t in violation of law; they can’t verify that you have the required permits; and they can’t guarantee that the winner will actually get their promised goodies.

So what can you do instead? Well, I quote Facebook with this response:
“The Pages with the freshest, most engaging content stand to gain the most from this new product—since each track played, video viewed, review written and event attended can generate News Feed stories that propagate through the social graph. Facebook will accelerate the rate at which unknown entities become popular, and it will also fortify the position of those who are already recognized highly among users. Whether large or small, all artists, businesses, and brands have the potential for exponential distribution through the graph if they can engage users. Powerful reporting and insight tools are provided free to Page Admins.”

In other words: be interesting, be engaging and find a way to stand out from the crowd. Offer a quality product, well thought out ideas, opportunities, connections - whatever you do, do it well with thought and professionalism. Use your contacts, talk to people, network. Share their pages with your followers and most times they will do the same for you. But do it with class.

And finally, if you really want to hold a competition to get attention, then do it on a third party platform such as a blog or Twitter. You can promote the competition on Facebook as long as you don't indicate in any way that 'Facebook is a sponsor or administrator of the promotion or mention Facebook in any way in the rules or materials relating to the promotion.' No can you require participants to take any action within Facebook to participate - such as 'liking'.

But' we're all creatives. We can come up with lots of other fun ways to get attention!

Cheers, Chicken

Was this article useful? Have more to add? Please leave a comment.... we really want to hear from you.