The Art Of Selling Your Arts And Crafts

I'm On TV!!!!!!

2010-12-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

...well that is to say my work is in a commercial on TV for the nice store/gallery I've been telling you about.

The camera panned around the store resting briefly to look upon the work of several artists and my work was one.

What a kick to be sitting there watching TV with my husband last night and to suddenly see a commercial for Tres Jolie De Bend and then to see my work shown...Really, that is a "first" and after 20 years selling my work there aren't too many "firsts" at this point. I've had articles written about me for magazines, ads in magazines, written articles for magazines but never had my work on TV.

What a kick...

Meantime, Etsy sales are steady everyday at least one, sometimes two or three or even four.

It's cold and snowy here in Bend, Oregon, USA and so I'm spending a lot of time in front of the fire, been making watch movement pendants for the store which have been selling as well as earrings selling too. So I'm content and ready to make more earrings to restock.

Also getting ready to teach my January business class for artisans in Portland too. That should be a lot of fun.

I'd love to hear what you all are up to these days.

Write me here or at:

nanettedesigns@earthlink.net

Best,

Nanette

4 Sales In One Day and...

2010-12-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

several yesterday...Must be my Christmas rush. It's about 50/50....half of my Etsy sales are miniatures by nanette and the other half are supplies from steampunk suppliers.

And I now have my work placed in that lovely store downtown I mentioned in a previous post. This is a unique situation. I have done a bit of consignment in a few stores which, as you know, I don't particularly like because store owners tend to push and sell what they have paid for and so consignment merchandise tends to gather dust.

And over the years I've had my work in over 400 stores (not on consignment), but this store arrangement is a first.

Here's why: I rent shelf space for a small fee each month and then I get to keep whatever dollars I sell without a split with the store. That is unique!!!! I think sometimes antique co-operatives do this but I have never heard of crafts being sold this way.

I am happy with this arrangement because I drop by the store every so often and replenish what has been sold.

The other news is that I have been designing NEW things for the store in addition to my miniatures which have been around for awhile. I may even put some of my steampunk finished pieces in my steampunk suppliers Etsy store online as well.

I'll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, I am still here in Oregon, (USA), up in the snowy mountains, sitting in my living room cozy in front of the fire. Winter has only just started and weather will be this way as late as March or April. So I hope I am kept busy with those orders coming in as they have.

Love,

Nanette

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

www.etsy.com/shop/steampunksuppliers

A Very Nice Gift Shop....

2010-12-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

So on Thursday I had a "regular" type job interview. It was not artist related work but did involve some creativity....Thought I did well at the interview but found out yesterday, Friday, that I did not get the job but am on a potential list for after the first of the year.

As I often say, "It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick"...

And yesterday I took my work and my displays to a lovely new store in our cute downtown shopping and tourist street. They gave me a lovely space in the shop, shelves made to look all vintage. I thought my work looked great all set up. It's not consignment either!

I had added to my usual collections 5 necklaces that I just made with watch movements and lockets and watch faces and little birds. They looked great!!! I really hope they sell because it was so much fun making something new for a change.

I was also able to display over 100 pairs of earrings. I hope they sell as I have so many pairs of earrings waiting for good homes.

I've also been getting Etsy orders slow and steady, both stores....

And today...........today I am sick with a terrible head cold, all stuffed up, sneezy, ear ache, scratchy throat. And it's just as well as it is snowing very heavily here in Central Oregon (USA) and I'm on the couch with a big wooly blanket and the fireplace is going. My cat is in front of the fire and I am about to have a hot lemon and honey tea.

I'll feel better soon...

Love,

Nanette

Back From San Francisco and...

2010-11-30T17:11:00.000-08:00

....got all my orders out...

There's a new gallery store in my town, right downtown on the quaint boutique row......I'm putting my work in there tomorrow. It's not consignment but it's not an outright sale either.

The artists pay a very small monthly fee for nice shelf spaces...It's a beautiful store but there will be and is a lot of merchandise so it's possible that my little miniatures may get lost amidst all the other jewelry and gifts. I plan to volunteer my time and draw interest in my work while there. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I have a a "real" job interview on Thursday. It actually could be an exciting job helping people who come to our hospital's emergency room find the right care for their non-emergency needs.

I'd have a desk at our hospital which is gorgeous. It might be fun having a real job for a change instead of the constant scramble of Etsy stores, coaching , and teaching. (I am teaching in January so I'll still have my hand in.)

Not much else news wise except that we had a warm and wonderful family Thanksgiving in SF and I ate my fill even though I promise myself every year that I will go easy. Didn't gain any weight though so I must not have acted out too badly.

The steampunksuppliers store is bubbling along at a nice pace. Have 17 sales since opening last month and I'm told that is good. I just listed 40 new exciting findings for unique jewelry designers, and miniaturesbynanette is doing fine too so we'll see what happens.

Stay tuned!

Love,

Nanette :-)

I Taught The All-Day Classes...

2010-11-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it....I flew down to San Francisco from Oregon and taught my classes all day yesterday at B.A.B.E., Bay Area Bead Extravaganza. Got paid too!

The number of students who attended each class was satisfying, just right in fact, so that every student was able to get some personal attention pertaining to goals.

The first class was The Art Of Selling Your Arts And Crafts. The students were eager and hungry for information about how to move to the next level in selling their crafts online, at shows, and to stores mainly. I feel good about the goals each student left with for moving forward.

The second class was Getting Your Work Into A Gift Catalog, which I also felt was successful. A lot of information was fed to the students but they did not seem overwhelmed. In fact, they seemed excited and again goals were set toward moving forward.

I believe some will, as a follow-up to the class, actually, work toward getting their work into fine gift catalogs, and some will purchase my tutorial about getting their work into catalogs as well: (www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette) .

In the meantime, I scoured the bead show, and some antique shops for unique and wonderful findings and baubles to fill my Steampunk Suppliers store on Etsy, items that will enhance the work of jewelry artists in unique ways.

A number of students expressed interest in one-on-one coaching about their work so I will keep you posted.

All in all, the day was very fulfilling not the least of which was because my daughter was with me the whole day assisting, so I am beaming this morning.

Love,

Nanette

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

www.etsy.com/shop/steampunksuppliers

You Know Who Made The Money During The Gold Rush???

2010-11-09T21:09:00.002-08:00

You know who made the money in California during the gold rush??? Not the gold miners...

It was the people who sold the supplies to the gold miners...pans, shovels, picks, Levis were invented for gold miners you know.

So, I opened Steampunk Suppliers on that premise...on a hunch: that the stores on Etsy that were making the sales were not the artists who so lovingly poured all their creativity into their work.

The real sales were happening in the stores who were SUPPLYING the artists. So, for Steampunk I stocked my store lickity split with all the excess paraphernalia and jewelry dangles and ornaments that I have accumulated as a jewelry designer over the years.

And what do you know.........sales!!!

11 sales in just a few days.

But wait....There's more!

11 sales in my jewelry store too!

Guess this is where my theory falls through. YAY for theories falling through!

Love,

Nanette

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

www.etsy.com/shop/steampunksuppliers

www.etsy.com/shop/earringexplosion

P.S. Do I mind trekking through the freezing cold snow to the Post Office for the past few days? NO!!!

The Orders Are Rolling In!!!

2010-11-09T21:09:00.001-08:00

Victim Of A Scam.......Not Me!!!!

2010-11-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a scam I'm being stalked by. I'm writing about it both because I want you to be warned but also because it is so ridiculous that I can't believe anyone would fall for it.

A guy contacts me through Etsy and tells me he'd like to order a particular item HOWEVER he'd like me to use his personal email address. He tells me he'd like to pay by cashiers check and he will have his transport carrier come to pick up the package.

I tell him I accept Paypal and ship USPS.

He ignores this.

OK, so I'm naive and I figure if it's a cashier's check I could accept that but again I tell him I ship via United States Postal Service. I convo my address to receive the so-called cashier's check.

I know, I know.....duh....I'm stoooopid.

Next thing I know I get a check fed-xed to me for $1500. Yes, you read right. (The original item by the way was $30.)

It's a Bank Of America check.

Now I get an email to "cash the check, take out my part that I am owed and Western Union the remaining $1470".

Now before you think I'm THAT stoooopid, I don't do this of course. But, out of sheer curiousity, my hubby takes the check to Bank Of America. It's a fake of course.

Now I get email after email to please wire the money he is owed. I ignore this idiot. And, guess what, ANOTHER check arrives for $1500., this time written under "St. Joseph's Episcopal Church" like that's supposed to make me trust the check and the guy.

Who do I report him to? The address he gives is on another continent. I mention it on Etsy.

I get more emails stalking me and demanding his money.

This is hilarious....and serious. Of course I would never fall for something so outlandish. But would you? I'm ignoring him of course as should you.

I know you would never fall for this scam. But just in case, I thought I'd mention it.

Love,

Nanette

P.S. I did not send the item "ordered".

Sorry for the typo in my last title...should read "exercise"...

2010-11-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here's an exercis you can try:

2010-11-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

I'm always so excited when I have classes coming up that I will be teaching. Getting ready to teach at the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza (B.A.B.E.) next week. Already have 16 students and expect it to jump to over 20.

I'm teaching The Art Of Selling Your Arts And Crafts and Getting your work into a gift Catalog.

These are classes geared toward those students who have already started selling their work in various venues: craft fairs, home parties, online, and to stores. There will be a spectrum of experience which will make the class more interesting.

I'm going to start with the Satisfaction Wheel of your business. It's a chart where you really get an overview of how satisfied you are with the various areas of your business. You draw a big round pizza pie and divide it like a pizza into sections naming each section things like: my work space, pricing, sales, design technique, inventory, craft fair success, selling to stores, online selling, display, and any other area of your work life that you will "grade" for yourself. You will then put a dot in each triangle of the pizza indicating how satisfied you are with that area of your business. So, for example, if you are not satisfied with your work space you might put a 2 (near the center of the circle which is a zero in satisfaction). Then you go around to each piece of the pizza pie and connect the dots from one section to the next. (You can add any of your own sections that you wish that I may not have named so the "pizza" might have 6 or 8 or 10 or 12 or more sections.)

This is an exercise only for you, the artist so you can get a visual of how satisfied you feel about the different areas of your business regardless of how new or experienced you are. The center of the circle is zero satisfaction, the outer circle is 10 in satisfaction. You may love your design sense (10) but think you need work in the skill area (5 maybe)....Hope you get the idea.

Let me know what you think about doing this exercise. I would love to hear from you.

Love,

Nanette

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

and for those interested in unique jewelry supplies my new store is:

www.etsy.com/shop/steampunksuppliers

Steampunk Suppliers- Etsy Store #3 Open For Business!!!

2010-11-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Before I say how excited I am about my 3rd new Etsy store, let me say that Stew, my hubby, set up Google Analytics yesterday. I have had views from all over the globe. They are finding me through my coaching website (www.jordancoaching.com), the Etsy chats, Etsy searches, and google/the internet, and the Etsy Forums. Wow!!! It's amazing to see who is finding me from clear on the other side of the world!

My store #3, Steampunk Suppliers, is open for business. It has 30 items to start out with that are geared toward mainly people who make altered art destash and steampunk jewelry.

I will soon be adding monocle single-lens glass lenses, glass picture frames, old coins, vintage chain, watch faces, glass heart-shaped little bottles, and additional keys.

I already have one sale on my first day!!!! Wow, maybe the way of the future is, rather than offering my jewelry, is to supply other people who make jewelry.

Lots of views in the first 24 hours too. I'm thrilled. Will scour all my old jewelry supplies for more vintage parts and things to list for those who make jewelry.

Let me know what you think...

Still have my 2 other stores:

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

and

www.etsy.com/shop/earring explosion

Lastly I want to mention that a "buyer" is trying to scam me by sending me a check for $1500., yes you read right, and asking me to ship an item they "ordered" along with change for their $1500. Now, of course, I'm not falling for this but I wanted to get a warning out there to all of you. Be careful!

Best,

Nanette

A Little Craft Fair Today...

2010-10-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

I write this entry this evening sitting here in my jammies and bunny slippers, fireplace ablaze, pumpkin candle, vanilla latte, and a cat on my foot.

This after working all day at a small local craft fair the results of which I was happy with. (I took the opportunity there to hand out my new Etsy business card to several likely prospects. It has a picture of my most viewed item, my American Teapot pendant.)

Also, it was thrilling to wake up this morning to another Etsy order. That makes 9 between my two stores MiniaturesByNanette and EarringExplosion.

I have other irons in the fire as well. I am teaching The Art Of Selling Your Arts And Crafts in November in San Francisco and in January in Oregon both to nice-sized class rosters and both well paid. I'm also teaching "Getting Your Work Into A Gift Catalog" in November as well....paid too.

This week I plan to start paying attention to my third Etsy store which I hope will begin to be "stocked" by next week. This is the steampunk suppliers store. I will list a variety of vintage findings and ornaments from vintage jewelry I have taken apart. And I came across some wonderful old optician lenses, some watch faces, watch parts, and various cute brass charms and stampings as well.

I want the steampunk store to offer items unavailable elsewhere and I have accumulated quite a backlog of vintage jewelry to deconstruct and offer.

Who knows...I may become so enamored with steampunk that I begin designing it as well as offering supplies to other designers.

By the way...signed up for twitter even though, quite honestly, I just don't get it. More to come on this later as I get my bearings.

Also found an Etsy mentor at Sassy on Etsy. There are mentors there available to Etsy members in virtually every area of expertise.

I'll let you know what she offers up in the way of homework and tweakings and what results they yield.

Love,

Nanette

Two Sales In One Day!

2010-10-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

One of the items sold is my guidebook, "Getting Your Work Into A Gift Catalog"!

I'm so excited...

And today I went into the Etsy Forum and asked for honest feedback on my store....Do this ONLY if you really do want feedback because I got it, no holds barred.

I got valuable Google analytics feedback that led me to change words in my item titles and key words in my descriptions in order to attract more views (via Google.) I simply included the word "charms"......duh!

I made these changes for 60, count 'em 60 items.

Next I checked Craft Cult to see how my view count increased...77 views in two hours!!!!!

You can do this too. In case I haven't mentioned Craft Cult before, I love it because it tracks your store item views and hearts. It tells you how your store is doing in terms of numbers of viewings.

And while I'm on the subject, I noticed that I had received 15 hearts of my Miniatures by Nanette store as a result of the key word changes I made during that same two hours.

I am really jazzed. My spirits are lifted, and my faith is renewed.

Tomorrow I will list more new items.

Love,

Nanette

3200 Etsy "Views" and One Sale!!! What's Wrong?

2010-10-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true, one sale on Etsy, even though it says five (because one lady who "bought" four items couldn't be persuaded to pay)...so, yes, one sale.

I think my Etsy store is lovely and shows off my work well. You can take a look and see if you agree:

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

Not only that, here is my email address. Write me what you think, I'd love to hear from your corner of the planet about my store but more importantly about your challenges as an artist:

nanettedesigns@earthlink.net

I've never had trouble at a fair or farmer's market.

But on Etsy, I'm so discouraged.

I went on the Etsy Forum the other day and posted the question about what might be causing my lack of sales. Most people who so kindly offered to help gave me strokes and kudos and told me to be patient. "Sales will come".

One lady seemed annoyed that my store is Miniatures By Nanette because she expected to see dollhouse miniatures when she opened my store. This comment had me utterly stricken.

Why would my store be viewed 3200 times and have only one sale? Could it be for the simple fact that my store name misleads dollhouse miniature buyers?

I'm obsessed, I know. I hope I'm not a bore.

I can't help it. I'm falling into the same trap I so lovingly warn other up-and-coming artists to avoid: not to take it personally if people don't "groc" or "get" your work.

I got a call a couple of days ago asking me to come and teach a course in January (The Art Of Selling Your Arts And Crafts) at a very upscale social club up in Portland (Oregon). The recruiter was so complimentary and I was flattered. It helped my bruised ego. I will teach the course on my birthday as a present to myself. And I will get paid.

I'm also teaching next month at The Bay Area Bead Extravaganza (B.A.B.E. for short) in San francisco.

So, dear readers, I would love to hear from you...comment here or shoot me an email. Maybe I can help you. I'd love the opportunity.

I notice a sprinkling of readers in South Africa yesterday. Who knew? I'd love to see your work. All of you.

Love,

Nanette

Ok..Changing Gears...Literally!

2010-10-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today Stew (my husband) and I drove to Portland to visit family. It's a 3 hour drive from Bend so naturally we started talking about our 2 month-and-a-half old stores on Etsy Miniatures By Nanette, and Earring Explosion.

Explosive brainstorming ensued, not in a bad way, just in an excited way. "Have we tried this, could we try that"...anything our feeble brains could think of to try to get sales going...ideas from the sublime to the ridiculous.

All the while I felt the tug of my heart strings to try something new-er and exciting-er...

"Steampunk"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's it, we'll become Steampunk suppliers! That's it! Eureka! Purveyors of old watch parts and rusty keys for OTHER artists to fabricate into their own designs. I like to think of Steampunk as Victorian with a Gothic edge.

The best Steampunk artist I know on Etsy hands down is Kodashii. He's been front page on Etsy numerous times.

His work is meticulous and whimsical and unlike other Steampunk artists in that every part fits together magically and his work makes you light up when you lay eyes on it.

So, upon arrival in Portland we got back on Etsy and opened "Steampunk Suppliers" with NOTHING in the store. Are we crazy or what? Now we have to stretch ourselves to come up with inventory to sell to all the wonderful Steampunk jewelry designers and artists out there.

The wheels are turning!!!

I'll keep you posted.

Love,

Nanette

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

www.etsy.com/shop/earringexplosion

I'm An Etsy Undergrad...

2010-10-19T00:33:00.000-07:00

So, my two Etsy shops are in place, photos taken (always room for improvement there), tags fine-tuned, descriptions optimal, banners, avatars (I feel so futuristic), facebook photo postings daily, and of course, my blog. (Learned today that two people in Latvia read my blog. Who knew?)

I have added several e-books to my textbook "library" in the past few days:
-The Ultimate Etsy Success Kit, (a 3-book series), www.monsterguides.etsy.com
-Etsy Success Stories
-Search Engine Optimization ( free from the Etsy site), which presumably puts me at the top of
people's searching food chain

And I will be studying these diligently over the next few weeks. And from what I can already discern, it's less about my products and more about building traffic.

I also discovered a neat toy, news to me and probably not news to many of you:
Craft Cult, a great time diversion for measuring "hearts" and "views", a wonderful time suck I keep checking to see who loves me but which may or may not really lead to any sales.

I don't want to get diverted from my singular goal here which is less about people loving me and more about people loving me enough to want to take me home with them by way of my products.

I would have to say I've had virtually thousands of sales in my time. Buyers at a zillion fairs and over 400 store buyers have made many a day for me. But this, this online selling, this takes the cake in the perplexing department, it vexes me and addles my feeble brain. I feel like I have a rubberband around my head.

Getting a degree in Etsy success is my singular goal...
I'll keep you posted on my home schooling.

Love,
Nanette

Earring Explosion Is Open For Business!

2010-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

My new Etsy store its open, it is my second store:
www.etsy.com/shop/earringexplosion
It's all earrings...

My first store is:
www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette
I photographed and uploaded 43 of 165 pairs of earrings today and yesterday. Whew! I have a headache from uploading all that item decription info...argh!

I already have "views" and look forward to sales. The name, earring explosion, keeps me at the top of anyone looking for sellers of earrings so I'm using my analytics or search engine optimization.....I think...

Just trying to get seen by the great big internet universe, a small task, no?

I'll keep you all posted...

Love,
Nanette

OMG, 165 Pairs Of Earrings!!!!!!

2010-10-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

OMG...I have 165 pairs of earrings!!!

I have decided to open a second store on Etsy just for all these earrings.
(Guys, it's a wiring thing, women can never have too many pairs of earrings.)

It's like that human wiring thing you men have where you can never have too many gadgets or electronic thing-a-ma-jigs.

Anyhow, I have gotten my second wind with this new "project". The first Etsy store is set up, MiniaturesByNanette and so now I must wait to become known enough to win sales with it.
(www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette)

In the meantime, I figure I can't lose by opening my earring store. Today I will take pictures.
Don't know how long it will take me to photograph and upload 165 pairs of earrings but I'm off to the studio to get started.

Will consider various names for the earring store but right now I'm loving "EarringCandy" or "EarringExplosion". What do you think?

Love,
Nanette

Re-inventing Myself Ah..Gain....

2010-10-13T01:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am thinking all about the things I have done in my life. It seems things have never felt as stalled as they feel now.

I have started and run successful businesses, designed jewelry collections, taught college, been a life coach, adopted and, most importantly to me, been a mother.

I guess there is no more important thing in my life that I have ever done than raise up a decent human being, my daughter.

That season of her childhood is over. She is off at college and I'm having a delayed empty nest syndrome reaction.

After 10 years I'm not selling at fairs anymore at least for the time being. And I'm not wholesaling to stores anymore after many years of that too. I've started my Etsy store and am up to my eyeballs in photographing my work (learning to use the camera), writing descriptions, understanding how Etsy works, learning about web analytics and search engine optimization, learning the Mac and the PC....all at the same time.

It's a learning season...How to re-invent myself ah...gain for the umpteenth time in the midst of this rotten economy. I will not quit because I have no other choice but not to quit. But it sure is discouraging at times.

I'm used to asserting myself into whatever I attempt in life and having some modicum of success. But this time it's much harder. It is much slower. I'm not seeing results. I feel like I'm not moving forward.

Maybe it's still the most important thing that I demonstrate to my daughter how to thrive in adversity, how to be resourceful and creative when options seem to be nil.

Universe, hear me..... I will never never never never never never never never quit.

-Nanette

"Getting Your Work Into A Gift Catalog" guidebook launched

2010-10-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

I launched on Etsy my 10-page guidebook today, "Getting Your Work Into A Gift Catalog"...

This is a complete tutorial for artists and crafters of all kinds. I wrote this book because I have learned through trial and error how to accomplish the tasks involved in getting my own work into two dozen fine gift catalogs.

It is do-able. Other artists do it, I did it, you can do it. You don't have to sigh longingly with that beloved catalog in hand thinking "Hey, my work should be in there...how do they do that?"

My step-by-step guide will tell you how.

Is is $6.99.

Check my Etsy store to learn more.

www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

Love,
Nanette

My First Etsy Sale!!!

2010-10-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

OMG...woke up to my first Etsy sale this morning! Sending a sterling silver bunny slipper on chain to UK...I'm international on Etsy!

My guidebook tutorial is almost complete. Got the ok from Etsy to sell it in my store.:
"Getting Your Work Into A Fine Gift Catalog"...been in over 2 dozen of them myself.

Can't wait to unveil it. It is a step-by-step guide. Guidebook #2 will be about wholesaling your work...

Today was a frustrating rush to re-shoot 13 items including five new items for my Etsy store because I'm still in a learning curve in my camera work...But everything for today is uploaded and the descriptions are in. I still intend to re-shoot more items where the camera work left a lot to be desired before.

I'm celbrating 20 years of selling my work, sold over one million dollars of my work from the kitchen table to catalogs, department stores, boutiques, galleries, at fairs and festivals, and now on Etsy.

If you are interested in an email from me when the guidebook(s) are hot off the press and in my Etsy store let me know, here is my email:
nanettedesigns@earthlink.net

Here's my other info about the artist marketing I coach about:
www.jordancoaching.com

And here's my Etsy store:
www.etsy.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

Love,
Nanette

2010-10-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

P.S. re getting into a gift catalog...

2010-10-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

See my previous post re my two new tutorials, Craft Fair Success, and Getting Your Crafts Into A Fine Gift Catalog...

If you want to stay in touch with me about the kick-off of my two information-packed booklets
here is my email address:
nanettedesigns@earthlink.net

my etsy store:
www.esty.com/shop/miniaturesbynanette

my website (go to Nanette Designs at):
www.jordancoaching.com

Best,
Nanette

Getting Your Crafts Into A Fine Gift Catalog...

2010-10-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

My work has been featured in The Smithsonian's Renwick Museum since 1996 as well as over 400 other fine galleries and stores worldwide.

And now I am pleased to be in the final stages of completing two information-packed booklets.

I am almost finished with my two booklets (still tweaking the titles):
-Craft Fair Success...(from the author who worked them for 20 years)...
-Getting Your Work Into A Gift Catalog...(from the author who got into over 2 dozen of them)

These are two "How-To" tutorials.

The first Craft Fair book covers everything from choosing and getting, and set-up and equipment, to display, pricing, and even sales in the craft fair venue.

The second book is a step by step guide to getting your work into a fine gift catalog. This, of course covers everything from finding and targeting buyers, to presenting samples, setting wholesale prices, to "mass" production, and follow-through.

Both booklets are very detailed and I am excited to be completing them.

I hope to be able to sell these on Etsy and am awaiting the go-ahead.

Stay tuned. I'll keep you posted.

Love,
Nanette

2010-10-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Can I have a Job?......Yes!

2010-10-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

Today I went job hunting. I got all dressed up, well not ALL dressed up, just dressed up...After all I live in a "caj" outdoor resort part of the world, central Oregon, high desert...lots of canoing and skiing here in our neck of the woods, so I'd look like a geek if I got really dressed up.

Anyhow, I took my resume to a couple of places where I would like to work. Filled out one application at one place, then went to an agency but didn't want work at a big box store fork-lifting merchandise for $8.4o an hour (I know, to some that probably makes me look like a snob....but lifting 50 lbs unloading the fork lift on a regular basis doesn't sound like a good fit)...

Then I went to our town's consignment store (we have a really nice one where I always covet working), picked up a consignment check for $42. - not bad for bringing in last year's clothes clearing out my closet recently, and I asked for a job.

I gave the owner my resume, told her I've taught at the Fashion Institute (in SF), and she said:" we're having an all day $1.oo sale tomorrow, would you like to come in for the day"? (just for the day mind you, but nevertheless, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.)

Came home to find my new Etsy business cards delivered. I love them!!!

...and checked my Etsy, no first sale yet but my store is looking good.

-a productive morning I'd say. :-)

Love,
Nanette

And Now I'm An Etsy Computer Whiz....

2010-09-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

...where I wasn't one before or for the past umpteen years...now that my husband is insisting that I do all the Etsy uploading and downloading myself so I can learn and we have a PC and a MAC and I don't even know the difference between uploading, downloading, or anyloading...

...not to mention learning how to use the camera and all its buttons.

Seeing my work on Etsy is a thrill, almost as thrilling as it would be if I had my first sale...I'm so impatient it's been 3 weeks since I listed the first two items and now I'm up to 40 items listed.

For many years I've done as many as 30 fairs a year, prior to that I had reps and we sold my collections to over 400 stores and galleries.

I've sold over one million dollars of my work from my kitchen table.

I'm not saying this to brag but instead to say that never a fair went by that I didn't wonder if I would ever sell a thing..."Where's it gonna come from" I'd ask show after show after show...

And it always did...So I'm going to believe, for once, that selling on Etsy is just another selling venue and that I WILL get sales...

After all, I have to have something besides my angst to blog about.

Love,
Nanette

Twenty Years Ago Today A Miracle Happened...

2010-09-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Let me back up....Some months prior to twenty years ago today I thought I had adopted a baby boy. I was at his birth. I cut the cord. But the mother changed her mind and took the baby back. I only had the little boy a short while.

Nevertheless, I felt on that day that I would hurt so much I would die. I vowed I would not try again even though I wanted to be a mom more than anything I had ever wanted.

Three days later I received a call about another baby that was to be born...I said "yes" thinking by the time this new baby came I would feel differently. I would be able to gather myself up and screw up all the courage I could muster and try again.

I didn't die, because that first baby was not supposed to be my baby. She, my daughter, was still waiting to become a baby and be my daughter. I just didn't know it at the time.

I was told she was to be a "he". I had a name picked out, a boys name. I met the birthmother by phone on and off. I told her what had happened and ask her over and over "are you sure"?

I kept a little bag for the hospital by the door, after all I would be flying from San Francisco to L.A.

And then on September 28th, 1990, twenty years ago today a "she" was born. I named her after he birth mother. The doctor brought her to me. In my memory her eyelashes were the longest I had ever seen. She had plum colored lips.

She was beautiful and perfect. She is still beautiful and perfect to this day.

We had a fun baby childhood. I used to surprise her, bring a kitten in the car to pick her up from school, tell her she didn't get any vegetables until she ate all her ice cream.

She grew up crawling around my studio where I worked designing.

And now she is in the fashion program at SF State, a designer herself.

Happy birthday my beautiful daughter.

Love, Mom

and now it's time for artichokes...

2010-09-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

yes, time to have a glass of wine and eat some enormous last-of-the-season artichokes to celebrate another productive day here on planet earth...

You know, for the last two weeks we, my hubby and I, have been consumed with setting up my Etsy store. (Lots of views, no sales yet)...

We have 31 items posted woo hoo!!! and just seeing my beloved sterling silver castings preserved in photographic posterity I have fallen in love with them again, my little sterling silver shoes and chairs, and teapots, and keys, and eggs. They have held up over time...if I do say so myself.

We should all love our art, don't you think. They are like our children. We should love them so much we don't want to sell them. Then we know we've done good work.

Anyhow, the net result of all this photgraphing and staging and posting is that my house is a huge mess....

Neglected things just seemed to pile up, get set aside for later covering every inch of flat surface there is to be found...papers, thinga-a-ma-jigs, whatcha-ma-callits, doodads, laundry...

I'm going to take a rest from posting I think, for a few days at least, and hunker down to get back some sense of serenity in my house.

Ill let you know how it goes...it's hard to resist all the blogging, and Etsy posting and chatting and checking for views (which, by the way, lull me into a false sense of accomplishment...if ya know what I mean).

Love,
Nanette

Old Motors at a Craft Fair?

2010-09-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Went to a new local every weekend indoor craft fair to check it out as an outlet for my jewelry...

Keep in mind, I have done MANY fairs in my day from the sublime to the ridiuclous, snooty art and wine affairs, to lowdown farmer's markets.for over 20 years.

This one is making an heroic effort to attract shoppers....live music, kettle korn....some nice merchandise with vintage mixed in...BUT, and here's one of the two buts...there was a guy there selling motors.

Yes, you heard me, motors.

AND<> If I never have to stand there for a two or even one day fair again as long as I live after doing as many as 30 a year....it'll be too soon. My sales have run the gamut from $150. in a day to $3000.

One other "but", I know I said two"buts", but after all there is a 3rd...I'll do a fair if I have to...

So I'm putting all my eggs in the Etsy basket as I said before.
Wow, 9 more items posted in our Etsy store for a total of 23 items....and they look mighty beautiful if I do say so myself.

Photographing is proving to be more of a challenge than I had hoped but all in all, I think our store and my work looks pretty durn good...

Take a look an email me what you think:
nanettedesigns@earthlink.net

Did I tell you that Etsy made me burn dinner....

2010-09-25T18:53:00.001-07:00

....and is keeping me up in chat rooms til all hours of the night....

I am learning so much from other artitsts in the Etsy chat rooms...Lately it's been about shooting pix and cameras and such. And, yes, I was so consumed with the chat rooms the other night that I actually burned dinner, something I haven't done since I was a newlywed. (Hubby was very sweet to eat sandwiches)...

Yesterday we posted five new items. It HAS to get faster than spending most of the day trying to figure out the lighting while shooting five items.

My next strategy is to post a bunch of moderate priced earrings since the rest of my collections are more expensive items.

I've been doing research. Found about 8 stores where I love the merchandise, the pictures are good, AND they've had lots of sales. I even emailed a couple of the owners for advice which there were very generous to offer back to me. (see joojooland)...

I am gathering steam about tomorrow. Oh, and PS, today I went to Kinkos and got my Etsy business cards done up.

Stay tuned!

Love,
Nanette

Yummmmm....Nutella

2010-09-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am topping off a day's photo shooting of listings for my Etsy store with Nutella and vanilla frozen yogurt.

That is because after shooting all day, something went wrong with the pix and they are all blue.

So, you see, all I can do until new day's light when I can reshoot is eat Nutella....

I've had lots of views of my items this week but no sale yet. Is it time to be impatient or disappointed? I've been studying some favorite Etsy sellers' stores who sell a lot to see what makes that the case. Nice photos, nice but not necessarily "wow" products, mostly nice photos and moderate prices....

So I think I'll add some mid-priced items, earrings and such under $20....I'll let you readers know what my research turns up.

Love,
Nanette

You've Never Seen 75 More Pissed Off Artists...

2009-12-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

You've Never Seen 75 More Pissed Off Artists...
than at the show I did this weekend. THE PROMOTER DIDN'T ADVERTISE!!!
Thus, NO SHOPPERS...

Lovely Christmas music played, hot cider and cocoa, decorations everywhere
AND NOOOOOOOOO SHOPPERS!!!

We paid to be in a holiday fair that was supposed to be a big deal here in central Oregon.

There were even 3 artist vendors who were so angry they left, one of whom threatened the poor
promoter who sat in an embarrassed puddle of tears trying to figure out what to do.

We couldn't just pack up and leave in lieu of the few family and close friends who might show up to shop.

We couldn't just chalk it up, average it out, and go home because that would jeopardize our entry into a summer long Saturday craft market hosted by the same promoter.

What to do??? What else is there? We schmoozed, of course!
AND
I sold $200. to other vendors (so it shouldn't be a total loss), talk about squeezing blood out of a turnip.

All those who feel sorry for me sitting in my gorgeous empty booth for two days, here is my email address:
nanettedesigns@earthlink.net

Love,
Nanette

OK OK, Universe...I Give!!! I'm Listening...

2009-11-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

OK OK Universe...I Give!!! I'm Listening...
"The Art Of Selling Your Arts & Crafts", my course proposal, is going out to 17 Community Colleges today in the state of Oregon.

I'm testing my previous post about The Universe trying to get my attention since I had such an immediate response to teaching my course. Three of the schools signed me right up...if that isn't a strong message then I don't know what is...

Thank you to those of you who let me know what messages they are getting from The Universe. I'm really curious to hear from more people who are hearing from The Universe, listening or not...

Love,
Nanette
www.jordancoaching.com
nanettedesigns@earthlink.net

Is The Universe Yelling At Me Or What???

2009-11-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

Is The Universe Yelling At Me Or What???
Within one week's time: I got accepted to teach at college #1 and college #2....to teach artist marketing
AND
I have an interview with college #3 on 11/30 to teach same...

Stayed up all night working on writing and asembling my artist marketing manual. Boy am I amazing...what I've done in that realm...managed wholesale reps, my work in over 400 fine galleries and stores, creating a dozen collections with over 200 separate designs, coached over 300 artists, my work in 2 dozen major gift catalogs, mass produced, did one-of-a-kind, my work in the collections of famous people (including Oprah by the way), my work in The Smithsonian for heaven's sake. Why wouldn't a college or a client want to hire me. I know how to make it big.

Now tell me that when you are in your calling it isn't effortless...
Go ahead.

This is what my coaching is all about. Few believe their calling is divine, fewer even try doing or being in their calling.

My most frequent excuse (including from me) is that it's the economy's fault that I am not in my calling. Yet, when I do place myself in the center of what is right (for me) I am lifted effortlessly to a perfect contentment....(I actually didn't say this...Ralph Waldo Emerson did)...

Where is The Universe yelling at you? Now don't confuse the voice of The Universe with your own mental cacaphony.

I want to start a movement here. WHERE IS THE UNIVERSE YELLING AT YOU???

PLEASE REPLY TO THIS BLOG.
Or send me an email (nanettedesigns@earthlink.net), or call me (510) 486-0446.

I really want to know where and how The 'ol "U" is trying to get your attention and what you are going to do about it. Then I'll bawl you out for not listening. OK?

Love,
Nanette

One thing is a "bomb", the other is "da bomb"...

2009-11-17T00:04:00.000-08:00

The "bomb": this past Saturday a four hour drive away in snow to make a pitiful $210. at a Christmas Bazaar and Flea Market.................................duh...anyone coulda told me so...but noooooooo, I had to see for myself just how prevalent rice crispy treats can be in the smalltown xmas bazaar world (see most recent last entries referncing rice crispy treats and cupcakes)...

"Da Bomb": getting accepted to teach at Klamath Community College...............yay me!!!
I am applying to 15 Oregon Community Colleges to teach various courses related to the arts and to selling arts and crafts. So, the first "yes" came in this morning.

I feel like a ping pong ball...life sucks...life is great...life is doo doo, life is beautiful...This seems to be the nature of my days these days. Is it that way for you too, dear readers?

And, by the way, my 18 year old cat is dying...but not put-down-able yet...just withering away peacefully.

On the other hand, Delia (my gorgeous brilliant 19 year old) just got into her first show on her own...a local Christmas show with her jewelry.

We talked for an hour about how to make her booth dazzling, her prices profitable, and her demeanor irresistable. That last one didn't require much attention since she is drop dead stunning...it almost hurts to look at her she is so beautiful (and I'm not the only one who thinks so).

I've often wondered; if one is drop dead gorgeous do you have better sales than normal folk just on gp (general principle). I can't wait to find out.

Oh, and one new creative project I'm starting...I'm cutting up sweaters and making skirts out of them with vintage buttons, sleeve pockets, cute ribbing from necklines...yes, I said little skirts, totally adorable and I'm selling them to a quirky upscale store here in bend. We'll see how they do.

And, by the way...those purses I designed and spoke about last month, I've sold almost all of them....now I'm tired of designing purses. I'm moving on to reclaimed sweaters.

Love,
Nanette
www.jordancoaching.com

A Show That Is Only Slightly Better Than A Poke In The Eye With A Sharp Stick...

2009-11-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

Why, you ask, did I do an unjuried $25. fee "show" yesterday at a church Sunday School basement surrounded by Rice-Crispy treats and reruns of xmas decorations from the Salvation Army?

For a great reason!

This was my test run to see if I could do an all day gig three weeks after my total hip replacement.

And I can and did!

Granted, I was next to a table with Mary Kay lotions, there were tole-painted paper towel holders at another table, crocheted toilet paper covers, paint-by-number xmas cards, and jewelry from China.

But did this dampen my spirits?

There is nothing like a little hubris to remind us once in awhile that we are not as hot a shot as we think we are.

Nevertheless, I DID IT!!!I was able to sit and stand all day new hip and all and even managed to squeeze blood out of a turnip once again! Nevermind that I looked simply fab in my new crip figure having lost ten pounds the easy way (you know, with surgery and eating hospital food...or not eating it...)

How is it that even in the most wrong of settings for me and my sophisticated and unique jewelry, how is it that the one or several quirky people that "get" my work happen by and just HAVE to have an emergency Nanette piece that they didn't even know existed while they were tasting fudge just one table away?

Be not proud! You too may have occasion to be at a "show" with church ladies selling cupcakes.

Now I'm really gonna step out...Just got into a one-day show this next Saturday that's billed as an Xmas Bazaar and Flea Market in Grants Pass, Oregon several hours away from Bend. I am really pushing the envelope here.

Could it be that I will have finally met my match and will go down in flames as the one upscale booth with Smithsonian Museum quality designs among handmade cup cozies, Oregon Ducks foam fingers, and last summer's garage sale items.

Will this challenge get me down?

It will not!!!

I love rice-crispy treats and cupcakes...

2009-11-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

Selling artwork is like having a total hip replacement...

Here's how: First of all, for many people, selling your own artwork is painful. You worry; "will I be rejected, will there be a fit, I'm awkward and don't think I can present well?"

All true for the hip replacement recipient AND the artist.

I am regaining my strength, I do my physical therapy exercises. (The physical therapist is relentless and shows no mercy. I must do my exercises. I must strengthen my new gift of a hip.)

Sales of your precious work can sometimes fell like an endless stream of unrelenting rejections (better known as "no thank you's" with attitude).

You don't have to sell your work, you know...I know many artists who just keep cranking out the stuff until the walls close in filled with inventory. Can't find the hip replacement metaphor here. Maybe it's just that I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other toward recovery or I'll end up limping around like before except pain free of course.

No, this metaphor doesn't work right here. As a coach I can hear myself asking the client how selling their work is like having a hip replacement. You see, as a coach, I don't have to have the answer. The client has the answer. As the coach of the artist (or of anybody for that matter), I am like the physical therapist. As the coach and as an artist myself, I know what it takes to sell, heal, uh sell...

Yes, client, you have to be as creative in marketing your work as you are as being the artist.
(Still not getting any more parallels to my hip metaphor here...sowee).

The human body sometimes wants to lie down and just watch tv. I can hear myself saying "Here, body of mine, you take over, heal thyself while I just hang out and veg."

And, as an artist, I have myself on occasion said "Self, can't my work just sell ITSELF while I make more art or rest or go on vacation"?

Funny how God made artists lacking the gifts of a salesperson. Funny how God gave me a new hip but I have to exercise it in order for it to function. Sounds like a bit of a raw deal. I go through all the medical stuff...I go through all the creation of my art...I feel the anticipation of having a new painfree hip...I look forward to creating every new piece of art...and then, doggone it, I have to WORK! Does that seem fair?

Sometimes I want to just say to people "so don't sell if selling is too painful. Just make your wonderful art, give it away to friends and family until they don't need anymore of your stuff. Fill your own walls, wear your own designs. Enjoy yourself and forget selling. It's just too painful sometimes."

But nooooooo, you still want to sell it. Then buck up kid, it's going to have it's ups and downs...(just like getting a new hip.) And don't confuse your auntie who LOVES your work with a real customer with money in their wallet.

In this economy I can't help hearing Shakespeare:
"A fool and his money are soon parted"...

By the way...I am doing a small show this Saturday, my first since getting a new hip three weeks ago. Let's hope there are fools who are willing to be parted from their monies.

Love,
Nanette

Total Hip Replacement For Bionic Coach, Nanette...

2009-10-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am two weeks after a total hip replacement and beginning to feel human...

My last craft fair was in September and not a moment too soon for my surgery, as it was becomming increasingly difficult to even walk let alone stand for so many hours...

So, It is opportune to throw in here that I'd love to exchange conversations with other hip replacement survivors if there are any out there that read my blog...Now that would be a VERY narrow audience, crafters and artists who have had a total hip replacement....it's a longshot, I know, but who says I'm limited to my original blog theme here.

In fact, I'd like to expand my blog beyond the art of selling your arts and crafts to the art of artful living or something like that. (I'm open to ideas and suggestions here)...

I would like to say that at my last craft fair (selling my hand made purses...see website if interested www.jordancoaching.com), at that last fair I spoke with numerous people who either survived a hip replacement or knew someone who did. The survivors all looked normal to me...

I have to admit that right after the surgery as I lay in my hospital bed I thought I was going to die. My entire left leg was in pain and I couldn't move my own leg. I thought, "what have I done...made things even worse, now I'm not just a limper, I'm a total crip"...(I can say "crip" because I'm a recovering "crip". You have m permission to reference me as a "crip" or
recovering "crip"...

By the way, the apparatus that was inserted into my hip bone and it's hip socket counterpart were an amazing piece of sculptural perfection...

As I sit here in my studio feeling more able every day, I'm starting to think about future projects.

How about a special fanny pack for total hip replacement survivors that says "I survived THR",
or maybe "THR artist for walking straight again"...or finally, "THR survivor beginning to feel human again"...Those would have to be some larger-than-normal fanny packs I know.

I'm no longer the leaning tower of Nanette, I'm instead the slightly-slowed-down-and-no-longer-walking-with-a-walker-just-graduated-to-a-cane-artist coach.

I'm bionic!!!

2009-09-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

FYI, I am taking a week off from my blog for family visiting. Please check back with me after 10/3.
Thanks, Nanette

2009-09-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Today I want to talk about targeted marketing of your work...stay with me here, you can do this, it's not a foreign language.

The Bata Shoe Museum called me to order my little silver shoes today because I called them to tell them I had little silver shoes that they could sell in their museum store. I plan to target lovers of little miniature chairs, those with a passion for teapots, and other focused enthusiasts .

Do you paint paintings of the Marin area? Then target some nice restaurants in the Marin area for a show.

Do you bead, make cards, or do altered clothing? Then write an article telling your story for Stampington's magazines and get published...really! (Look up 'Stampingtons' and choose your magazine. Write about your process as an artist. They'll publish you).

Do you make ceramics? Then choose some of the high end ceramics and pottery shows and get a booth.

Do you knit? Then put your things on consignment in a yarn store.

Do you take photographs with a specific theme? Then sell in stores or at shows where people want to buy things with that theme.

Do you want your work in Museum Shops? Then buy the National Museum Directory and target museums where there is a "fit" and they have a gift shop listed.

Do you want your work in a high end gift catalog like Sundance or Gumps or Coldwater Creek?
Here you'll have to hire me as your coach and I will hand walk you through the process of getting your work into a catalog. (This is a little more complex than the above examples).

Choose your target audience based on your works' materials or themes. Then go where you want to be seen or want to sell. Ask for what you want. Ask ten different "targets". One will come through. You need ten good irons in the fire for one to come through....It's a numbers game...Really!

2009-09-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing I have a website or I'd never get anywhere...
I had a new experience yesterday...After 20 years selling my work, for the first time I actually had a store give me an APPLICATION TO APPLY to have my work viewed for consideration...

Now, is this a ploy to communicate how upscale this store is or do they really get solicited by so many designers that they must have "prospectives" apply to apply?

Wow, must be a pretty prestigious store. I wonder, thus, if I did manage to get "in", would my work sell any better than on-line, at fairs, or with my own wholesaling.

The point is, I experiment. Every day I try some new approach. That is how driven I am to make a living selling my work.

Of course, I also teach this same blog course in various colleges and schools, I coach, I have art shows in restaurants, I write this here blog as well as several books I'm working on, I have a column in Beadwork Magazine... It all comes together to make me a living that I love doing.

I highly recommend doing what you love...affording it is the challenge.

FYI, I also believe that generous sharing of information is ultimately more profitable than not and invites the Universe in as a guide rather than shutting the door for privacy.

2009-09-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

Are people like me right now, only buying necessities just in case we need to eat?
Can I blame the economy or do I have to blame me or my products?
How 'bout I blame those dumb fair attendees who don't know a good thing when they see it.

So so fair this weekend. I thought my booth looked fab and my work even fabber...
Maybe this is as good as it's gonna get economy-wise...and I'm gonna have to really use my ingenuity to make a living these days.

I'm only doing about five things; craft fairs, Life Coaching, college teaching, working on my book, art show at lovely restaurant, wholesaling my work too...

Is everybody multi-tasking a living to get by these days? Maybe people aren't getting by...Maybe I'm doing great and I just have nothing to go by.

Guess you can tell I'm tired and disappointed. Only did $750. this whole weekend.

Maybe y'all should be giving me tips.

Love,
Nanette

2009-09-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

NEVER say "thank you" when you receive a compliment about your work.
ONLY say "thank you" to a compliment if you want a prospective customer to walk away.

Instead, view a compliment as an invitation to tell your prospect about a feature or benefit of your work....no matter how much they continue to oooh and aaah about your work. ALWAYS come back with another feature or benefit.

Try it! You'll see I'm right. In fact, if you WANT anyone to leave the vicinity, say "thank you" to their compliment. They are not paying you a compliment. They are paying you to leave your vicinity.

Try it in your personal life too!

This weekend I am at a small fair in Sisters, Oregon and today it rained and it gusted and was generally miserably grey and unfrequented.

I still managed to, as I am wont to say, squeeze blood out of a turnip.

Why am I able to do this over and over when those around me are dying on the vine?

1. I am a fanatical adherant of the artist marketing tips of Bruce Baker (I've mentioned him before...when are you going to go and get his cd's already?)
2. I've got a story to tell about my work. People want to buy a story, the art or craft is the accessory that goes with the story. I've got my story compacted into one (maybe two) sentences.
"My work has been in the Smithsonian's Renwick Museum since 1996 as well as over 50 major museum stores and hundreds of fine galleries and stores worldwide".
3. I DON'T say stupid things like :"Let me know if I can answer any questions" or "Let me know if I can be of any help". Why "stupid" you might ask?....Because everyone knows this already and it is really annoying to most people who will let you know when they are ready by asking a question.
4. I SHUT UP after a brief "hello" and wait to be invited to speak about my work. The signal to do so, which can also be viewed as a "buying sign", is usually a question which is then my invitation to offer sound bites about my work.
5. When I get a compliment from a prospect I NEVER say "thank you". When you do they will leave the booth or the vicinity of you. Why? Because a "thank you" means that they are paying you the compliment in order to leave your booth.

OK, don't believe me. Try an experiment. Say "thank you's" after a compliment. They will NOT buy.
Respond with a brilliant tidbit about you or your work EVERY time, they will stay, oooh and aaah some more, and even possibly buy.

This is enough to digest for today.

Tomorrow the weather report is that Sisters will be sunny and moderate.

YAY!

2009-09-17T21:35:00.001-07:00

I know I said I wouldn't sell "stuff" and today, there was I out selling...
Selling as a job, at least for me, sucks. I'm not a natural salesperson. That would not be the natural me. That would be someone like George Clooney or the actress from Sex in The City who's married to Matthew broderick, (who, by the way, is also a natural salesperson.)

Think about who you know who could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.
Are they charming...Yes!
Do you want them to love you...Yes!
Do you want to believe them...Yes!
Would you let them sign you up...Yes!

I, on the other hand, am afraid that the prospect smells fear. Now I'm not that way when I'm selling to the public at a fair. I AM that way when I am selling to a store owner.
I'm not that way when I am coaching a client because I am well trained and have the certifications to prove it AND I know that coaching isn't about me, it's about guiding a client toward who they are becoming. I'm big on becoming.

And I am that way (afraid) when the product isn't quite "ME".
I'm not that way when the product is totally "ME".

Hello...is anyone out there. Can you identify?

I think I would rather stay home and eat ice cream than go out on a sale's call. That idea immediately brings me back to a time when I was cold canvassing and had stomach aches all day long. Of course, that kept me a lot thinner than I am today.
I was a forced sales person. (Don't ask...that's another story). Suffice it to say that when I am selling my work at a craft festival or believing in a client's magnificence...
I AM GEORGE CLOONEY!!!

I'd love to hear from you about selling. Do you love it? Are you a natural? What is your mindset so some of that can rub off on me and anyone else out there "listening".

This weekend I am at a very fine fair. I'm looking forward to decorating my booth for xmas and to the big "S"...

Sooooooo RAH RAH go go go Nanette!!!
and
RAH RAH go go go you, salesperson or not!

2009-09-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

As of today I am announcing that I am no longer selling stuff.
I am, instead, selling treasured keepsakes, a promise of what is to come, feelings of tenderness and joy, and a big fat story that accompanies product.

Just finished reading "All Marketers Are Liars" by Seth Godin and I really get it that we are NOT selling a hunk of wool that's a hat, a strand of beads for around a neck, an oil pastel landscape because we like oil pastel landscapes in general...

We are selling a story. People buy these things because of the story they tell themselves about the item, the buying experience, the meaning of the product, the setting, the artist, and what it all amounts to for them.

I am no longer selling life coaching.
I am selling the vision of who you are becoming.

I am no longer an artist with collage on display in a fine restaurant.
I'm the enhancer of a fine dining environment and experience.

I'm no longer a blogger with a blog of free artist marketing advice.
I'm the bringer of hope for artists to be acknowledged and recognized.

I'm no longer an artist mentor.
I AM MIGHTY MUSE!!!

Love,
Nanette

2009-09-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

DUH!!! The reason you don't finish projects or you have 5 or 12 going on at any one time is that YOU are a RENAISSANCE MAN OR WOMAN!

Doing the same thing over and over is painful for us. Isn't it a much better feeling to call yourself a Renaissance person than to put yourself down as an ADHD scatter-brained non-completer?

Yes, we may be called the "Jack of all trades" but drop the "The Master of None".

The biggest self criticism I hear from coaching clients is that they don't finish things. They hang heads in shame as they describe the many projects they are juggling at any one time.
They call themselves "chronic ________er " names.

I'm not going to say much more on this subject except to tell you that I am off to La Rosa's fine restaurant in Bend's upscale Northwest Crossing to hang 10 large framed collages and my brief bio with prices.

This weekend I will be at a fair selling my sterling collections AND my tapestry purses with the darling antique button pins attached.

Then I plan to throw the furniture around in my living room because I have a vision of the perfect living room and MUST change the way it is right now.

I'll be coaching a wonderfully talented client this afternoon (remember, I AM a certified Life Coach as well a myriad of other things.)

And finally, this evening, I'll be creating a new collage I've got stuck in my head.

Today my advice to you is: breath up our air, walk up our carpets, read up our books, marvel up the world's art, soak in the planet's beauty, and live it all up.

LIVE IT UP!!!!

2009-09-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

How NOT to shoot yourself in the foot, yes, I mean with selling your creations....or, what does giving your work a "higher perceived value" mean and why is that a good thing?

This coming up weekend I have a booth at a lovely fair in the town of Sisters, Oregon, about 20 minutes outside of Bend where I now live, (having here moved from the San Francisco Bay Area two months ago.)

I'll be showing both my jewelry and my tapestry fabric purses (again see my website for pix) which I have embellished with a removeable pin I made for each purse out of antique buttons. Trust me, these button pins are C*U*T*E cute! And they took so little effort.

Voila, they make the purses seem all the more like such a good deal. The button pins are added value, they give my purses a higher perceived value for the money. Now imagine the lovely tapestry purses without the handmade antique removeable button pin. Still cute, still a good deal...and "is that all there is"?

So I thought, why not make a bunch of extras of these button pins and put them on home-made cards and sell them for $______....

NOT!!!

Are you beginning to see how this would be shooting myself in the foot?

Let me give you a clue:
Customer: "Oh, these purses are soooo cute".
Me: "Yes, and they come with the removeable pin I made out of antique buttons".
Customer: "Oh, and I see you are also selling the pins alone for $____ each ."
Me: "Yes, the buttons alone can be purchased for $____ each."
Customer: "So, can I take this pin off the purse and have the purse for $____ instead now that the pin, which costs $___ by itself, is removed"

Get it?

No little button pins will be being sold separately at this show lest I give away the house with my lovely purses embellished WITH the handmade antique removeable button pin.

ON THE OTHER HAND...just to make things ambiguous:

It takes so little effort to come up with some neat little add-on to your work.

A gorgeous necklace can come with a tiny matching pair of earrings, tiny...one bead...no skin off your back, right.

Or that lovely landscape...can't it come with a set of four greeting cards wrapped with a ribbon?

What about you ceramic artists...why can't that lovely platter have a small matching spoon.

The sweater...a hat,
The cutting board, a special knife with a matched wood handle,
The wind chime, a little bird dangle
and on and on.

You don't need me to think of these little extras that give people that last push over the buying edge. (If you are wincing because of this blatant manipulation, think about if you were the shopper. Wouldn't you rather have the little bit "more" than the "less"?)

Build it into the price.

When I design, I build in this "more". My sterling teapots come with a tiny crystal or pearl drip.

My keys have a tiny lock and so on.

What can you do to give your work a higher perceived value without shooting yourself in the foot?

C'mon, try it...you'll like it! After all...the purpose, lest we forget, of being in BUSINESS is
TO MAKE The Big "M".................................dare I say it MONEY. Ok all you artists for art's sake.
Remember, this blog is called: "The Art Of Selling Your Arts And Crafts", so if you can't take this heat...go back in your studio and stop reading my blog!

2009-09-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Is Art Worth It???....... Or "Sales" Is Not A Four-Letter Word...

What a ridiculous question...Think of anyone you know who doesn't create something. Don't we all create, we humans? If we don't create art, we create babies, marketing plans, infrastructures, laws, chocolate cakes, inventions, con artists....no, I didn't mean that kind of artist.

I am obsessed with creating; collage, jewelry, blogs, short stories, recipes, decor, clothing outfits, more money, living room arrangements. It is impossible to not create. Thought of anyone yet?

My parents, both artists, are in their 90's and are in their studios daily. My dad paints ten foot tall paintings. My mother goes to Florence to learn bronze casting.

I hear a lot of whining from artists or wannabe artists who claim that they are too old to be a this or that. What a crock. I mean it. In fact, I might go so far as to say that if you think you are too old...then you are, so move aside so us other altecockers ("oldtimers" in yiddish), can speed by on our walkers.

At the age of 70 my grandma started painting in oils for the first time. Before that she doodled on napkins until my dad put paints in front of her and protected her from all those helpful sorts who wanted to teach her perspective and art "techniques".

Several years later my parents entered a painting of hers in a group show at the Whitney Museum in NY. (I don't know what the theme was).

At the gala Opening, over cocktails and hors'd'oeuvres, my parents brought my grandmother up in front of her painting. Now you have to understand that "Mutti" (that's what we called her, a take off on the German "Mutter"), was a late bloomer and somewhat childlike in her demeanor.

She looked at the painting and brightened: "Oh, it's like mine....only better".

Today, Mutti's profile (Esther Hammerman) can be found in The Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. She was a Grandma Moses who also painted into her late nineties.

Back to "Is Art Worth It"...Now, on the other hand, selling art is another story.

I like the off the wall (you should pardon the expression), stories. My Dad has had many honors
as an accomplished serious artist including group and one man shows at major museums including The Legion of Honor and The De Young in San francisco.

Did he sell there??? Not much.
Instead, in a small neighborhood coffee shop, he casually hangs a few pieces including a silly portrait of Einstein leaping in the air. This painting, and others, was viewed for weeks, or least was the backdrop for weeks to many a coffee drinker's nosh.

Now that painting of Einstein hangs above the entrance to The Princeton Library....one of those coffee drinking nosher's was the director of the library.

So??? "Why are you telling me this, Nanette"...

Duuuuhhhhh!!!, to quote my teenager...

You have to be as creative in marketing your work IF YOU WANT TO SELL IT as you think you are in creating it.

"But Nanette, that's what reps are for...I don't want to sell my work I want it to sell itself or have a rep sell it for me. And, besides, sales is a four letter word"...

A word on "selling itself". Here's one I love: "My work sells itself." I say, "so what". Everybody does work that "sells itself". We all think we are unique. Unique is a dime a dozen.

I often do a little exercise in my artist marketing and entrepreneurship classes at various colleges and schools. I've taught at UC Berkeley, California College of The Arts in Oakland , formerly CCAC, The Fashion Institute Of Design & Merchandising, FIDM (don't you watch Project Runway), College of Marin, Bay Area Bead extravaganza, to name a few.

Anyhow, I draw a huge cartoon on the board of a big silly person. Then I ask the students to call out things they feel about salespeople. They fling things like : "shiney-pants, liars, dollar signs in the eyes, liars, blow hards, liars, actors, liars, untrustworthy, liars". Get the picture.

This poor salesperson isn't anyone that people would want to meet, let alone BE in a million years.

I'm not what I would call a natural salesperson. I know quite a few of these and they can be very charming both as salespeople AND as friends and that is NOT a put-down.

Here's how I learned to sell (and not without a few bouts of stomach aches too accompany my sale's calls). Fresh out of college, I worked for a company once that sold imprinted t-shirts and hats and cups and pens to companies for their advertising.

On a weekday morning, I was dropped off on the corner at an industrial park. I would carry a small sample case. I went from door to door, business to busines asking for the owner, showing my wares if I didn't get thrown out on my ass by the front desk full-back, and I DID write up a few orders in my time.

My motivation...a car, a company car, which I was assigned when I reached a goal of $1000. a day in sales.

Actually, I was much more creative when I wanted that car than when I finally got it.
I would walk into a business, pick up the business card. Run to the corner phone booth, call the owner on that card, and ask for an appointment, "cause I'm in the neighborhood calling on some of your neighbors".

This process struck fear to my very core....AND kept me thin.

Get a little gumption, people. Get a little creativity. If your cat portraits don't sell in galleries, put an announcement up on the bulletin board of the vet.

If your paintings don't get picked up by your local gallery, paint pastries and have a show at the bakery.

C'mon. If I can think of these things, so can you...or if you can't, host a brainstorming party with all your friends and family and shut up and take notes no matter how sublime or ridiculous the ideas.

There might just be the kernal of a million dollar idea right there in front of you.

2009-09-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today's Title: "Squeezing blood Out Of A Turnip" or how I booked a meager $325. in sales today at a completely dead small craft fair (because there was a beerfest going on two blocks away that I and most others would surely have rather frequented), while all around me other artisans were dying on the vine in 90' weather, (not to be too egotistical, of course)...

Today I had the last of my weekly summer Saturday booths at Bend, Oregon's Saturday Craft Market.

It's a small "fair", maybe only 20 artisans, nothing fancy, nothing special. It was about 90' like I said (I don't actually mind but my sterling silver pieces in my glass cases get so hot I couldn't pick them up)...

Anyhow, all the crafters were complaining, there weren't very many shoppers, and, frankly, I was grateful to squeeze $325. out of the few poor AA shoppers who did happen into my booth which, I hear, was better than most of the artists who were complaining about barely making the $25. booth fee...

This economy is tough, I hate to say it. You have to get reeeeeeeeeeeally creative to set yourself apart and to make people really want your shit, uh stuff, uh crafts...'scuse my French...

So, that's a good issue...how to make yourself really stand apart from others in your medium.

I was thinking today "why should people make themselves stand apart? After all, plenty of ordinary stuff sells too. There are people who love the ordinary. There are crafters who think they are not ordinary when they really are".

Far be it from me to tell them that they are dismally ordinary (unless, of course, they pay me to tell them the truth which I will do, always breaking it gently, of course, and then helping them move forward toward what would make them really special in their OWN eyes)...

Trust me, after 9 years of selling at fairs, and another 11 years before that selling wholesale to a zillion kinds of galleries, catalogs, and department stores, I'm an afficianado or what's ordinary vs what's special.

Now, on the one hand, most people don't necessarily want special (when it comes to jewelry at least.) "Oh no" you might say. "That's not true". Well, think about it. Do you really want to wear a sterling silver chair or shoe or key or teapot or suitcase around your neck, now really?

Wouldn't you really rather have something that goes with your outfit or matches your furniture?

Apparently not, seeing as how I'm the only one at these markets that sell much of anything.

(Oh, and by the way, this week I had my purses there too which you can see on my website at: www.jordancoaching.com
Didn't you know I do other accessories too? I get too bored not too.)

I've sat and watched too many poor extraordinary artists wilt in the sun waiting to be "discovered" by shoppers. Better to be ordinary sometimes? What a quandry.

Both the ordinary AND the extraordinary sell....Why, you might ask? What makes the difference?

Ah, great question...It could be that you just purchased Bruce Baker's great artist marketing CD's and are diligently practicing what he preaches because he is so right-on and you need help learning to be a salesperson. (It's about time, Bruce, that you acknowledge the virtually hundreds of customers I have sent your way...or at least send me a free CD set....Bruce...are you out there? )...

Or it could be that you have a gift for display, raising your tables up a foot higher in your booth or your stores so the poor customers don't have to walk around bent over for two hours looking at table after table of merchandise as they get kinks in their necks and then you wonder why they don't want to be bending over for just one more booth.........yours...

It could be that you hired Nanette to be your coach and, just like Vivian Virkkula, you now have your pieces in a major gift catalog.

It could be that you were personally tutored by Nanette on how to have your own original designs cast for you in sterling.

(Shamless self-promotion here)...

Or maybe it's some mysterious x-factor about you, your dazzling personality, your amazing charisma, your unique packaging, your extraordinary ordinary product...

I think I'm getting a bit daffy here after a day in the sun...After all, I don't want to insult my few readers.

To quote Shakespeare: "A fool and his money are soon parted"...

Maybe in my next issue I'll share my fees.

2009-09-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

A few words about consignment:

Today (I haven't lost my touch), I dressed to the nines, stood up straight, took in some jewelry to a nice store, and had that "don't you dare ask me to consign" look on my face.
Now with consignment there is "YAY"!!! , and then there is "YUCK" :-(

"YAY" :-) is when you get a call that your work is selling like hotcakes (do hotcakes really sell that fast), and "can you please come by and bring some more and by the way here's your check."
"YUCK" :-( is when everyone at the store pushes their "paid for"
merchandise and yours is shunned to lower and lower shelves gathering dust because, after all, it doesn't cost them to carry your work. Not only that, "oh, sorry, some of your pieces were stolen or onesies of earrings were lost and we did't keep track anyway"...

What can you do?
Nothing.

When I was new selling my crafts I tried a lot of approaches including consignment. I always felt a little desperate when I consigned and , for me, it never amounted to much. The loss of confidence inevitably accompanied a knee jerk voice inside me ready to cut my prices before we even got to that part (I didn't consign today...nor did I cut my prices).

On the other hand, I still, 20 years later, have to suck it up when I ask people to buy my work even though I've reached goals that many designers envy.

I have clients that I coach and mentor worldwide who try consignment and like it. I, for one, don't as you can tell.

I often find that the same artists who consign their work are the same ones who labor meticulously over each piece only to price it at half a sow's ear above cost.

I say to these people, "go take a time-out and come back when you're ready to price your goods like an adult.

(More on this later, and, you can also catch more of my advice in each issue of Beadwork Magazine where I am a regular guest columnist).

I invite your comments and questions in this blog...

Next, pricing for profit...yes, in this economy.
AND
"Sales" is not a four-letter word.

Love,
Nanette

2009-09-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Today's subject: How I "nabbed" a rep or eight...or how I made a million dollars from my kitchen table, after all someone's doing it, why not me or you.

I had brought samples with me to The Moscone Center wholesale gift show where hundreds of buyers from far and wide come to choose then items for their stores and catalogs (catalog orders, another subject for later), not of "the ugliest earrings on the planet" . I was a little more evolved by then. I felt pretty sure that I had hit on something unique by the time I gave up on the fimo earrings. (By the way, I owe an apology to those of my friends who humored me with the clay earrings by actually buying them)...

Anyhow, after I walked the massive show, I made a mental note of several reps who might be a perfect fit based on the other jewelry hanging in their booths.

One of these reps, leon Smith, had a spare moment to talk with me.
WARNING!!! Do not, I repeat, do not talk to any rep with customers in their booth. I think I'll assume this is self expanatory...

So I spoke with Leon and showed him my few samples (carried unceremoniously in a plastic bag...don't do this, you can think of something better than a plastic bag)..

I discovered that reps can be open to new "lines" to round out the 10 or 20 or 30 others they represent. Leon was complimentary, (this I felt was sincere). He then instructed me to come up with 30 earrings styles, 20 necklace styles, and 10 bracelet styles...with style numbers. These pieces would have to be repeatable since stores would be ordering from my samples. And they'd have to be displayed uniformly to the other lines in his booth (more about all kinds of display later including for craft fairs and to nab catalog orders)...

Now this is where I lose about half of you. "Repeat styles over and over...oy!...not me, never, I'm too talented or in need of constant stimulation to repeat anything....except if someone paid me to". Someone was about to pay me to.

I wasn't proud. After doing a year-long experiment selling as much of my previous fimo earrings as I could, I achieved a gross selling to stores (later about "gross") of $15,000. You might think this is just peachy, but I wanted a full blown business with bigger goals.

So I knew my next step was to go home, buy those standard velvet pads from Rio Grande or Fire Mountain, display my jewelry in some kind of order, price it (more about pricing for profit later) and assign style numbers...whew!!!
It took me three weeks to get back to Leon and he said "YES"!
Leon became my first rep and mentor and guided me through filling orders, shipping them, collecting the money, AND coming up with a new collection 4 times a year.

To be continued and, lest you think wholesale isn't for you, I'll address one-of-a-kind designers in another blog.

Be back soon!
Love,
Nanette

2009-09-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

Ah, the art of selling your arts and crafts...where to begin...How have I had my own collections in The Smithsonian's Renwick Museum as well as over fifty major museum stores and over 400 fine galleries and boutiques nationwide? What enabled me to have my designs in almost two dozen major gift catalogs and many major department stores?
And how have I received numerous write-ups in well-known magazines?
How did I eventually retail my own work at some of the most prestigious juried art festivals in the country?
How about I begin with my own story:
Grew up surrounded by art and artists, mother, father, grandma, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, probably more but isn't that enough?
Fresh out of college, I began a fulltime career, not as an artist, but as a marketer...fifteen years in fact. And those fifteen years became the solid (and utterly unexpected) foundation of my successful jewelry and accessories business.
While working in advertising and marketing, I began divert my attention from promoting other companies, to making what I refer to as the ugliest earrings on the planet, made of fimo baked in my toaster oven and ornamented with flea market dangles. Honestly, these were truly ugly and if you could see the few pieces I saved from back then, you would agree...
To my utter amazement, people purchased these, people and then stores. This was my first introduction to "wholesaling". I'd wheel my baby in a stroller into a a stores and walk out with a check! Didn't even display or carry my work with apblomb...it was laid out on a tea tray.
Then I got cocky: "if I;m selling these to stores, maybe I can find a rep or three to do the same in other areas or states.
How did I find a rep you might ask: I went to "Market" aka the SF Gift Show, had to have a bujsiness card that showed I owned a retail business and made some up that had nebulous title. I think it read simply "NanetteDesigns". This was enough to get me in.
And there, in San Francisco's huge Moscone Center, I walked the aisles passing one booth after another in utter amazement in the amount of sheer creativity under one roof.
So, dear readers, I will close for now and continue my next entry on the subject of how I "nabbed" my first rep or two.