I cannot believe we are already one week into 2019! I know I say it every year, but I just don't understand how 2018 went by so fast! It could be because the last two months were a blur for me. I always tend to be very busy at the holidays, but this past November and December I was completely blown away by how my Christmas ornaments really took off! I first did glitter and vinyl ornaments in 2017, with some success, but for some reason this year after custom designing one for my high school alma matter, it snowballed into close to 200 customized ornaments depicting school mascots, favorite sports teams, movie characters, and more! My ornaments were even part of several fundraisers for different organizations!!
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| A sample of some of my custom designed ornaments in 2018 |
The best part of it all? I never got bored. Frustrated, maybe, but never bored. Often times if I am doing the same thing over and over I just yearn for a change, but because there were so many designs to work with, that feeling never came over me. Of course some of the designs were really difficult to recreate and I wanted to quit many, many times, but I found that if I put the file aside for a day or two, then went back to it, I was able to take an "I just can't" and turn it into a "look what I did!!!" What a great sense of accomplishment and pride!!
This achievement also gave me greater confidence in marketing myself. I often post my creations on both my business and my personal Facebook pages, but sometimes feel silly (or guilty) for flooding my friend's timelines with "crafts." However when I started getting messages from strangers that saw what I was making for other people, I realized my work was getting out there and recognized. People were sharing my creations because they loved them so much!! This led me to approaching a friend on the committee for our town's summer festival about making an ornament to sell as a fundraiser. I figured I could offer one ornament that had the name of the festival on it which they would buy at a discount and mark up a few dollars to raise some money. My friend had the brilliant idea to take it a step further and asked me to create 10 different designs, one for each of the events happening during the two weeks leading up to July 4th! So, no longer will my ornaments be just a Christmas product, but I'll be selling them in the summer as well!!
With this great new opportunity, I started to think about how I can make 2019 my best year ever for Joatmon Creations. What can I do to sustain a profit all year round, instead of just making most of my money at Christmastime? How can I make my hobby business into something a little bit more?
While I was giving this some thought I stumbled upon a challenge on Facebook. The timing could not have been more perfect! I actually cannot even remember how I found out about this or what group she posted in, but I joined this three day online seminar of sorts called Create Your Profitable Craft Business. The challenge is now over, but if anyone is interested in checking it out, perhaps she will be offering it again in the future.
The challenge really did not take up much time, but it did cause me to really think things through. The first thing I needed to do was pick my right goals for 2019, figure out what sales channels to focus on, how to create a bigger impact, and how I can give more value to my customers. These are some things that I never really sat down and thought about before. It made me realize that by utilizing my blog more or posting questions on my Facebook page, I can really engage my customers and see what kinds of things they are looking for all year round. The reason I have so many product lines is because customers are constantly asking me if I can make certain new things for them.
This brings me to where I disagree with the challenge facilitator slightly. She has excellent points about creating products for just one specific customer, but I feel that my business has grown exponentially by being able to customize and cater to a wide range of people. When I recently did a craft fair at a microbrewery I was exposed to more male customers than ever. They weren't interested in my headbands, but they did like my beer mugs and ornaments. If I just stuck with my original ribbon items, I would have lost out on a lot of sales (or not gone to this fair at all, which ended up being one of my more profitable ones this season). The description of my business is "handmade novelties and gifts" but it really should be "customized solutions for what you really need right now."
Now, see, I have digressed from the important information I gleaned from this challenge, but that actually segues back into our second day assignment... creating a project calendar. I am so easily distracted, as you could see above. This happens mostly when I am telling stories, but also when I am crafting. I see a shiny object and I start focusing on it, until something else catches my eye. It also sometimes results in lack of follow-through. Not because I don't want to finish a project, but because I am too afraid to start it, or don't know what the right time to start would be.
By creating a six-month plan I could see what big projects are on the horizon (like the 100 piece order for a local high school hockey team or the ornaments for the two-week family festival in June). Then I can plan out when I need to start working on these projects to be successful. Interspersed through those will be my regular sales and promotions. I have a bad habit of advertising my products the week before a big holiday, but now I can see when there will be some down time while I wait for the hockey ribbon to be made, so I can whip up some Valentine items and put them in my shop, like this frame I made today.
With this project plan I can also see when I may have time to fit in some craft fairs, something I want to add to my calendar all year round, not just at Christmas time. I've looked into new fairs that I'd like to participate in, as well as their deadlines so I am not jumping in last minute. By doing this, I'm guaranteeing a little income throughout the year, but I am also getting my name out there and my products noticed. Just today I got an email from a customer that bought an ornament from me in November based on a posting in a local Facebook group, and now she is looking for some matching decals. There is nothing that I love more than a repeat customer!!
Finally, one of my biggest takeaways from all of this is that I need to give back a little, so if you order from me in 2019, expect to find a small token of appreciation with each order. It could be a small decal or a little bookmark, but just something to say "thank you and I really appreciate that you thought of me for your handmade items." So far, I think 2019 is already shaping up to be pretty great.
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