It’s time for me to work. Not just the usual day to day work, but the sort of work that earns money.
I did finish all of my CA client’s clothes and ship them off last week ( hooray!). Then I made a several yoga mat bags ( someone else in my class asked me to make one for them ).
Is there something wrong with me that I feel like celebrating by doing some personal sewing?
I’ve been struggling to make sales on etsy, with not too much success. It seems like there is a ton of stuff you need to do to keep your items in view – refreshing the listings on a weekly or even daily basis(!) which is not only annoying, but the cost of that could add up in short order. I started with Artfire, but that’s been a bigger bust. I like the idea of having a site similar to etsy but with flat fees, but every time I’ve looked around there I’ve been unimpressed. I’ve given it more than a year, but still it just isn’t going in a good direction as a site in general, so it’s time to cut the cord.
I’m considering taking out a small ad in the paper for custom sewing/alterations, but ………..
I get comments on things that I make regularly, so the other day I thought I’d finally make some business cards to hand out. I tried my hand with some of those that you self-print since I had them here from a long time ago. If I decide that they’re exactly what I want I’ll have some printed; for now making 60 or so is just fine.
You have to remember that I’m not the graphic designer that my sister is. I sew. And working in Word is not in my comfort zone. Here’s what I came up with:
I’m going with a simple and to the point message here. I may revise it a bit ( removing the underline on the title word), but for now I’m happy with it. Any feedback is welcomed. I think I’ll drop a few off at both of the quilt shops here, as I know there are always people who come in asking for someone to sew. I’ve given a few out already, so we’ll see if this gets me anywhere. I figure that I can continue to make new things for the etsy shop and try to understand how that whole thing works.
When I was thinking about a direct approach, I remembered something from a long time ago. I was a teenager, waiting to be seen by my doctor. The receptionist and the doctor were having a discussion about his listing in the phone book, and he thought it would seem unethical to have his name listed in boldface type in the white pages – and a yellow pages ad was out of the question!
I can actually see the point about the doctor and the boldface. Shouldn’t doctors NOT be in competition with each other? Is it too much to ask that everyone just make a modest living without an expectation of grandiose pay for grandiose jobs? But I digress.
I love the card. I love the fact that you offer a service that seems to be ever disappearing in this age of cheap replace-ability. My heart and my hope go out to you for the success you deserve.
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That whole thing about the doctor’s office was in the days before doctor and drug ads on TV, and while cigarettes were still sold across the airwaves.
thanks for the sweet comments. Love you, Ethan.
I love the card. Short, sweet and to the point. Only change I’d make is take out the word “then.”
Agreed – thanks!