Today was a day of celebration at Etsy! Oh yes! Sooo… what happened? Rob Kalin is what happened.

Yesterday Rob started posting in the forums, answering questions, erasing fears and generally calming people down. It continued into today, complete with a party in the Virtual Labs. (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stick around for much of the party, but I will be posting the how-to for TrashCan Chicken-or-Turkey after Christmas.)

Not only are they not going kamikaze corporate on us, they’re actually going to implement some much-needed, long-begged-for improvements, and are eliminating some of the less-than-desirable “enhancements” that have been implemented over the last year or so.

Rob states they’ll be adding more (desparately needed) seller tools, redoing the category structures, working on marketing (an affiliate program – yes!), completely eliminating the “Weekend Deals” crappola, and moving into social marketing as opposed to the sterile retail “experience” that’s been going on.

That’s just to name a few things. Wow. I have to say, I haven’t been this excited over a marketplace – ever. Matter of fact, I’m just not real excited about marketplaces in general. But Etsy is a different sort of environment. I saw this years ago when I first stumbled on the site, and it’s with heartfelt gratitude that I’m there now to see it take wing and fly again, and be a part of it.

Yes, I’ll still be developing my sites, but Etsy will play a prominant role in my online presence.

I’m sitting here with a glass of wine, continuing the celebration. I offer a toast to you, Rob Kalin, with deepest thanks for stepping in and saving what is the most incredible site online today.

Merry Christmas, Etsy :-)

This is very sudden – no major announcement, no fanfare, like you would expect for a change like this, just a quiet post. Also, Maria seems to be leaving with very short notice.

Overall, Maria has done a good job getting Etsy organized and steering it off the chaotic path. So why is she leaving, especially after less than 2 years on the job? Something’s screwy here…

Etsy’s been running in the red since Rob first “opened the doors”. I’m sure Maria’s been under tremendous pressure from the VCs to “show us some black.” This would partially explain some of the questionable actions taken by Admin (pushing Etsians to spam social networking sites comes to mind here…).

Have the VCs gone too far in their demands? Have they asked Maria to do something stupid that she knows would start a major uproar with sellers, and she refused? Is this why they’ve brought Rob back in?

Rob left Etsy because he didn’t like what was being done to the site, the direction it was taking. He could hardly argue with his backers, since their money was keeping the show running, so his only alternative was to leave. Now his only alternative is to cave to their demands, whereas Maria is able to take her marbles and go home.

It will be interesting (to say the least) to see what develops with Etsy in 2010. In the meantime, I’m stepping up the work on my own sites, and will be reworking the business plan… once again.

Oh, Etsy will still play a part, but not as dominant as was planned, and certainly in a way where I can hit the door running, if necessary.

Call me paranoid, but I learned a hard lesson with eBay.

I only wish people would use their brain and think, instead of just reacting. Why do people take everything so literally any more? Is it something in the flu shots? Sometimes it can be sooo hard to communicate these days.

Do y’all pick apart the food on your plate, separating all the ingredients, or do you look at the overall idea of it being food to eat? Chew before you swallow, folks!

People were stabbing at Gary’s words with their forks instead of listening to the message. Their loss. But it’s not surprising. I see this a lot on forums and such. That’s why I mostly lurk and don’t participate much. That’s my loss, but it’s so tiresome when people jump on you because they can’t see the context, only the words on the page (if even that). But I digress…

It’s so hard to speak in literal terms when you’re in conversation, without having to “script” it – at which point it ceases to be conversation.

Hey people, go back and listen to what he’s saying and not how he says it.
(I personally loved the reference to the CEO…)

Here’s what I got from Gary, very basically (he really said a lot):
Focus on what you’re putting out there – CONTENT.
Focus on how you’re interacting with others – CUSTOMER SERVICE. CARING. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS. Don’t just throw a bunch of links out there like so much mud on the wall, but actually relate to people like they’re… uh… people, not cash drawers!

That’s the steak…

All the other stuff – tracking analytics data, what camera to use, video or written word, ROI, SEO, blah blah blah – is all “seasoning” to help you serve that steak up as a delectable meal for the world.

Think of it as tweaking a recipe. Seasoning’s good, and sometimes necessary, but without the steak you’re just sitting there with a salt shaker…

I get it! I’m amazed and excited! Thank you, Gary!
(Can you tell I loved the steak/salt & pepper analogy?!)

Oh – and the bit about the Thank You economy is very interesting. I do believe you’re right about this. Will be back to your site to watch the video!

Okay, now I’m hungry… Talk to ya later :-)

So what have I been doing???

Getting back into photography…

But mostly, working.
I’ve been making lots of things for my Etsy shops – DanceTheMoon and JewelryObsessed. Haven’t listed any of them yet.

I have mixed feelings about Etsy, and am debating on whether to keep those shops or where to move them. Will probably stock them up for the holidays and then make some changes in the spring.

I’ve also been sorting through my tons of inventory for my eCrater stores – IncredibleClutter and CraftCottage. I’ll be getting those things cleaned up, photo’d, and listed, starting this week.

AND – I’ve been working on themes and templates and such for the web sites. Just installed a new theme on my main site: DanceTheMoon.com, which is a WordPress blog right now, with more to come. Also got a home page up on my web store site: DanceTheMoon.us. It’s still a work in progress, but really needed to get something up there. The ZenCart is on the site, but no link to it yet, as it needs lots o’ help…

WordPress themes are all over the place, but ZenCart templates are few and far between – unless you want to pay a bunch for one, which I don’t. So I’ve been digging through code and working on customization. Looks like I’ll end up having to do my own, to tie all the sites and pages together. (Yes, there’s more sites, but they’re on the proverbial back burner for now…)

Of course, living out in the middle of nowhere, there’s a lot of preparation for season changes. I’ve been busy with that, too.

Winter, it’s coming… are you ready?

Here’s a quote from the Carnegie blog from which I think we can all benefit:

That one’s getting printed and put on the wall.

Many thanks to Dianne Bassett, who has the link to the Carnegie site on her blog, DiBA All Things Jewelry.

Want more motivation mixed in with some inspiration? Check out Dianne’s blog, folks. Good stuff :-)

Gallup’s not the greatest for shopping. Unless you’re after Native American items, especially jewelry, the merchant selection is either very limited or non-existent. We always stop at Wal-Mart for things we can’t get at other stores or have to pay much more for at those others. It’s one of those necessary evils.

Last month, Wal-Mart was chaotic. They were in the middle of revamping the place. ack. So it was not surprising to walk in there yesterday and see a different environment which, I have to admit, was almost pleasing. It’s definitely an improvement.

But there were a few surprising changes:
Packaging on the “Great Value” products – Wal-Mart’s store brand, for you non-wallyworld people – was clean and simple, white package with very little printing and no graphics. Okay, so it’s probably cheaper for WM, but it’s got to be easier on the environment, considering how much of their product they turn over and how much ink and dye their former packaging used.

There was a price roll-back on recycled printer paper. Yes! It used to be the most expensive, now it’s cheaper than the other stuff even if you buy the other stuff by the box. Bravo! Now if they’d just offer it by the box… I’d be real happy about that. Disappointing, though, is Wal-Mart’s web site doesn’t even carry it.

There were more coolers with doors. Eggs and some of the other stuff that were in open coolers are now behind glass. This has to save energy. (This was actually in place last month, but thought I’d throw it in here.)

So is Wal-Mart seriously and conscientiously going green? This has been talked about for years now. Are they really doing it?

If this is so, then they have a bit more respect from me. Now they have to work on going back to “Made in U.S.A” and help bring industry back to our country.

Actually, it hasn’t all been neglected. There’s this thing called Organization. Been working on that. Sorta.

Do you have an organized life? Are you one of those who has a time for everything? Is your home organized? Is there “a place for everything and everything in it’s place”?

I used to be like that. I got over it. Unfortunately, I’m finding that maybe just a wee bit of organization might be a Good Thing after all. Mom would be proud…

So now there’s a work schedule – when to work, when to play. There’s also a schedule within that schedule – what will get my attention, and when. Time management. Once upon a time, I excelled at that. Now, not so much. It’s a rough road but, when you get so many irons in the fire, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

There’s some great software out there for those of you who might need some help with this organization crap. It’s called My Life Organized. I downloaded it a while back and will be digging into it in the coming week. We’ll see how it goes…

If you try it out, let me know how it works for you.

As for the “place for everything and everything in it’s place”, well, that’s more of a challenge… heh. Will think about that for a while :-p

I’ll be back in a bit, gotta go check the stores and shops :-)

That thread made me stop and think: What am I doing?
Hmmm… well, first, I’m doing what I love – Making Stuff. That’s always been a biggie for me.

Second, I’m selling that stuff (or trying to). This is partly because I was pretty much raised in the retail world and actually like retailing, and partly because there’s bills to pay.

Okay, so am I “planning beyond”? Am I on the path of “something greater”?
Well, there’s no particular need or desire to “make it big”, since I’m old -chronologically, anyway – and have no heirs to leave all my bazillions to. (BIG LOL on that one!) My life is simple, living expenses extremely low.

Right now I’m having fun building some web sites, and I’m loving this blogging thing. Not necessarily to grow my business, but mainly because the internet is pretty much my only business option. It’s all good – I’m quite fond of my computer and addicted to the internet.

So yes, one could say I’m expanding but, at the same time, I’m not trying for something greater. Being able to plod along at a comfortable pace helps maintain the enjoyability (is that a word?) of being an “online corner store”.

Thank you, MarkJamesDesign, for stirring up the grey matter! It’s a good thing for us to stop and ask ourselves now and then, what are we doing, why are we doing it, and how far do we want to take it.