Good Morning! Time to get to work!
First off, I’ve decided wholesaling tends to make me feel like a machine. That’s uncomfortable. The creative muse hates it, to the point where she’s on vacation.

Step #1: Drop the wholesale business. Done!
Step #2: Revisit pricing.

Dropping wholesale led to thoughts on pricing. For now, I’m concentrating on JewelryObsessed, as that inventory is currently at full retail. DanceTheMoon has “old stock” that’s already below wholesale. (Though that will probably change, too.)

Do I need that cushion between wholesale and retail prices now? If not, how can I give my retail customers the best deal, without going broke and getting the lights shut off?

A bit of number crunching revealed that yes, indeed, lower retail prices will work. Not only that, but I can throw shipping in on the deal! Whoa!
Not only that, but my prices were a bit high for jewelry on Etsy. This will put them right around average.

Right here is where I want to give you a head’s up on a great spreadsheet for pricing handcrafted work. If you haven’t tried Chris Parry’s Excel sheet, you’re missing out. It’s a real eye-opener. There’s actually two sheets: One is good for jewelry and other things that have more precise expenses, the other you’ll want to tweak to fit your art/craft. They’re both amazing – and free.

Sooo… this weekend, you’ll find me at JewelryObsessed:
Step #3: Set up new shipping profile.
Step #4: Change prices.
Step #5: Revise policies.
Step #6: Revise shop announcement.
Step #7: Freshen up existing listings, new photos; freshen profile.
Step #8: List more jewelry! Now that I know where I’m going with this shop, I can get busy with it :-)
Of course, 7 & 8 aren’t weekend projects, and will be ongoing.

In the meantime, do try out those spreadsheets and let me know what you think. I just might share some tips and tweaks in the future… ;-)

Off to refill the coffee mug… Talk to ya later :-)

Oh, hello, long-neglected blog! So sorry for the back-burner treatment…

It’s been a busy month or so, which you’ll question if you’ve visited any of my shops or blogs. They’ve all been sitting there, languishing.

Creativity took a hike, so it was time to switch to the left brain for a bit.

That alone can be a challenge. Googling brought up some great right brain/left brain info.

Which side is your most dominant?

Spinning Dancer Image

If you see the dancer spinning clockwise, your right brain is at work; counter-clockwise would be your left brain. She went counter-clockwise for me only when I concentrated on HTML coding or some such stuff. As soon as concentration broke, she went clockwise again. Fun toy!

That search brought up lots of different quizzes to determine which side of your brain is more dominant.

Averaging several results, my right is dominant – in a strong way. Interesting, since I’ve been in left-brain mode for a while now. Also, I can get pretty geeky, and enjoy that. But it does take focus, while making stuff just happens.

Okay, now I’m hijacking my own posts… Anyway, so where does “busy” come in, if nothing’s been done???

Well, it was time to study, analyze, take notes, think, re-think, plan, re-plan, re-group, and do a lot of mumbling and muttering (one of my high skills). In short, it was time to reinvent.

I have emerged from the murky depths, crawled out through the black hole a wiser woman.

Murky Black Hole

I’m hoping, anyway…

Of course, this has resulted in a looong to-do list… added on to the already-existing list. I’m going to share with you as I go down the list. Maybe you can make use of some of the things I’ve been learning.

I’ll be starting bright and early in the morn, after a good night’s sleep.
See you when the coffee’s done :-)