Get Organized (Part One): Business Planning Weekly

The new year is a time for resolutions, and every magazine I've read lately is replete with tips, hints, and other advice on how to achieve those lofty New Years goals, despite the daunting statistical evidence that suggests many will give up by the end of our first month, and almost all of us will within 6 months.


The part of "resolution" that gets people hung up is not the goal setting but the lacking in root of the word: resolute, which means "admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering."  


But it's difficult to be these things without a clearly defined target that can inspire that purpose and determination.  I know that I have a general idea where I want business things to go, and some idea how to get there, but all the little things that pop into my head on a regular basis--good ideas, inspirations, etc. tend to get lost in the daily grind.  I find myself looking back on "To-Do" lists that were either so cumbersome they were doomed to fail before they got started or too vague to be more than a suggestion.  


As I juggle two kids and a household to maintain, I find more and more that I need to see clear and concrete goals and the steps required to complete them on paper.  These don't need to be large goals, in fact, the larger, the more vague, so this year I'm going to try a new approach by just focusing the majority of my attention on one week at a time.  With an eye towards the longer term, breaking down goals into weekly portions can provide accessible and attainable steps towards the greater picture with the rewards of seeing specific progress as I check off all the things I did that I wanted to do.  It's flexible enough I don't risk feeling like a failure if "Item #5" didn't get done on Wednesday, per se, as long as it got done that week, but it's finite enough that there is a sense of urgency to get things done within the time frame specified.

There are tons of things I wish to accomplish this year, spanning quintessential life categories such as business, spiritual, and personal. It would be difficult to remember every thing that I think would enrich my life in these categories.  And since I'm constantly finding new sources of inspiration, the lists would be long and fluid.  I don't wish to think of these as a finite list of things that need to be "done" since we are always growing and changing, but I do want to keep better track of the ideas for growth and my progress.  I could come up with numerous ways to improve my life, household, or business, but if I never actually get to any of them, the inspirations are lost. 


So to simplify, I'm going to do a better job of chronicling on paper what I wish to accomplish in a given week or month on separate sheets.  I can make manageable weekly goals, and over time I'll be able to see what I have (or haven't) accomplished.  I'll be able to see which items regularly don't get done on time, and I can either evaluate them (maybe they're just not important enough) or determine that I need to change my routine and re-prioritize so that I do have time to get it done.

  


To start this endeavor, I created a Business Overview Planner, which generally outlines what I hope to accomplish this year for growing Sine Metu Designs, and then specifically what needs to happen on a monthly, weekly and daily basis to accomplish those things.  Then I created a Weekly Business Planning sheet where I can notate what needs to be done each week with a place for my weekly goals, daily checklist, to define a weekly project, write ideas for my weekly blog posts, etc. 


Obviously these are geared towards an artisan small business, but you could adapt them easily for whatever business you run or just your personal professional objectives to help you attain or advance a career.  


Download them FREE here:


Business Overview Planner
Weekly Business Planning Sheet


These are available as Word documents so you can generate your own text and tweak as needed.  Once the Google Docs site opens click "Download Original."  Do NOT try to print from the preview because the formatting has been skewed by Google Docs.  The formatting is fine if you click Download Original (upper right) and select open when your computer prompts you.  Then you can save to your hard drive.  


Let me know in the comments if there are any problems and I can email them to you!

New Studio Platform- Bonanza! Come Visit Us!

Sine Metu Designs has been on ETSY, the handmade marketplace, for about a year now.  We're branching out and just signed up with another marketplace platform, Bonanza (formerly 1000 Markets).

Shop Front for our new booth at Bonanza HOME

 Bonanza has some diverse features that may appeal to our customers:

Payment Choices-
You can check out using PayPal, Google Checkout (Google Wallet), or using your existing Amazon account!  That's three different ways to securely check out and most people probably already have accounts with at least one of those services.  The same buyer guarantees each service offers still apply to checkouts from the Bonanza studio booth.

Diversity of Merchandise-
Bonanza is kind of like an Amazon and Etsy hybrid--there are numerous artisans offering handcrafted original work, but Bonaza retailers also run the gamut of commercial retail outlets selling everything from name brand clothes, books, electronics, music and more.

Flexibility of Pricing (Name Your Own Price Opportunities)-
Some sellers may indicate that they're willing to negotiate prices for specific items in their shop, including Sine Metu Designs.  Items that we may be willing to let go at a lower price than our regular studio pricing just to see it move on will show a "make an offer" feature which allows customers to negotiate a new price.

Better Coupons, Special Offers, Automatic Discounts and Freebies-
The Bonanza Platform offers sellers more control of how they can set up coupon codes, which is pretty limited with ETSY.  We can also set up automatic discounts that everyone can get just by meeting a certain qualification--for example, right now we have an automatic coupon that will discount 10% off an entire order of $50 or more (that's $5 free at the minimum!)

We also have shipping discounts--many items have US Priority shipping included in the main price with no special handling charges.  For those items that have shipping costs, ordering additional items that have shipping costs will only cost $1.50 more per item instead of whatever the shipping fee would be for that item separately--giving you the fairest shipping fee possible!

Plus Bonanza has an entire section devoted to FREEBIES--and will let you browse all the shops which offer items for free--either alone or available with any purchase.

Local Pick Up--
Bonanza also lets local buyers schedule a local pickup--avoid shipping charges and waiting altogether!  If you're nearby we can hook you up!

We are just getting set up and don't yet have our full ETSY line up uploaded, but we hope you stop by our new booth and take a look!

We realize some prices may be different on each platform.  The reason for this is that ETSY and Bonanza charge us as merchants differently for different listings, so we can pass along the discounts as we get them for some items.

See our new Bonanza booth HERE!
And of course, our ETSY studio Here.

Materials & Supplies: In-person on Online? How about alternatives?

For the crafter, jewelry designer, artist, or any other artisan in the handmade marketplace--where you obtain raw materials is significant.  Whether you're looking to support your local economy, or towards the resources of the global market, whether price drives your business decisions or uniqueness, your source for supplies has important consequences.

In this article, I categorize supply sources as either in-person or online, and I am framing my examples from the vantage point of a jewelry and accessory designer, because that is what I am! There are advantages and disadvantages to both, which you as a crafter or artisan must weigh with your needs.  Theese needs may be different if you are frafting for pleasure or business.  You business needs will even change over time--issues such as turnaround, cost, and cash flow, and being able to establish reliable personal  contacts with suppliers will be factors at different stages of your handmade business.

If you've always done what you currently do, there may be pros & cons you haven't even thought about.  If you're just starting out and have to watch every penny pent on supplies, these considerations may help you get the most bang for your buck.  As a long-time personal crafter transitioning to the handmade market business, I have, and still do, struggle with the limitations of a fledgling small business and its baby budget.  I've experimented.  sometimes things worded out, sometimes I've been screwed.  All in a days work!

Advantages of Buying In-Person

• Being able to see, feel, & smell
• Your craft relies on appealing to the senses of your consumer to be sold, right?  If you sell handmade soap--your soap must have a great smell;  if you make jewelry, those beads must  look and feel just so for the piece you have in mind.  Different finishes change as you move them in the light, escaping even the best online photographs. 
• Certain materials have predictable qualities such as heft.  If it doesn't feel like what it says it is, you (and your customer) may infer a lack of quality or feel the item was misrepresented.  For example, if I see a strand of metallic-looking beads, and upon picking them up, feel they are as light as plastic, I know they aren't solid metal.  If the packaging says "metal-plated," even if I saw them online and knew they were plated, I could not tell just how cheap they felt in-person.  
• You know what you are getting--you can inspect the packaging, read all the fine print, see where the item was manufactured, see what the exact contents are (may be important for allergy considerations) and make sure that all the pieces are in-tact and tarnish-free before cashing out. While you can work with online retailers to fix problems such as broken parts, it is still time and effort consuming, not to mention disappointing, particularly if you were ready to start your project.
• You can check size, color shade, texture, and other factors next to pieces you've already selected to see how they will go together.  The caveat on online retailers that your computer resolution may affect the color representation you see is there for a reason.  If you need THAT EXACT shade of blue for your work, you can not be certain until you see the potential material for yourself.
• Having a direct person to go to face-to-face to right wrongs.  
• Nothing is more frustrating than going in circles trying to resolve a consumer problem to no avail.  Even if you get a run around in a store, you are still dealing with a person, right in front of you, who will have to be willing to go toe to toe with you and refuse to help fix something.  It's far easier to give an e-blowoff!

Disadvantages of Buying In-Person 

• Cost
• With retail stores you get retail pricing, which you will have to pass along to your customers in order to remain financially afloat.  This can affect both your competitiveness on the market, and the quantities and types of material you can buy at one time.
• You may get less available quality for the same price due to the overhead of the retailer.
• Selection
• Retail suppliers offer a limited selection by the very nature of their space.  Not only is the selection limited, but it has been seen by the general public.  Big box retailers may have even featured their supplies in national ads, making them seem redundant to the consumer.  While this doesn't matter much if you are in the market for acrylic paint or essential oils, it does matter if you need beads or fabric.
• The store may not have or be able (or willing) to get enough to meet a project need.
• You may wind up settling for what is available rather than what is perfect.

Advantages of the Online Wholesaler

• The advantages are avoiding the disadvantages of retail:  cost & selection
• You can tap into a virtual infinity of potential--for materials such as beads, pendants, fabrics, paper goods and more, a quick perusal of eBay can elucidate more different types of "stuff" than you could imaging.  If you can think of it, you can probably buy it. 
• You can buy at wholesale prices and avoid the retail overhead markup
• Electronic tracking
• You can usually order as much as you need, and your purchases are electronically coded so if you need some more of those periwinkle lampwork beads with the swirlies, you can go to your previous orders and the SKU info is still right there. 
• There is an electronic "paper" trail of your supply costs, which may be more easy for you to maintain for business tax purposes than remembering to keep your paper receipts (and keeping them away from light & moisture).  

Disadvantages of Online Wholesale

• Playing the Tax & Tariff Evading Game
• Getting super cheap product from overseas may involve hidden expenses--such as inflated shipping charges, or import taxes or tariffs depending on where you reside.  A favorite method on eBay is for wholesalers to charge you a few cents for the item, then put the real cost of the item into the shipping charge.  This is a tacit understanding between the buyer and shipper that they will reduce their tax liability (they are only exporting something with a marked value of 99-cents) and you may also take advantage of this false valuation if your state/nation charges import tax.  However, you may run into a plethora of problems later on, especially if you ever get audited.  There is a limit to how much shipping and handling charges you can declare as business losses, and those are refunded at a different rate than raw materials.  Even more problematic, I've received numerous packages from online wholesalers in Hong Kong, China, and Japan which are marked & invoiced as  "gift," also to elude taxes both outgoing and incoming.  But could you be putting yourself in a pickle by claiming all these "gifts" are really business expenses?  Maybe, maybe not.  Depends on who is looking over your return.  

• Sketchy or misrepresented product descriptions or shop policies
• Product descriptions may have language or (worse) auto-translation problems.  You may not be able to get satisfactory answers to specific questions due to a language barrier (which may also be the excuse later for why you can't get your money back.)
• You may make your own erroneous assumptions based on photographs
• You may run into problems making returns (if you even can) or find yourself chalking unsuccessful orders as business losses.  
• Time
• International orders may take a long time. Most eBay wholesalers tell you to wait at least 30 days before they'll even begin to address issues of non-receipt, and then usually tell you to wait some more.  Even at best, you're looking at a couple  weeks to receive what you've ordered, and that is assuming everything was alright with the order.  

The Alternatives

Fortunately, it doesn't have to be black or white.  You can make both online and in-person supply purchases depending on your project needs, budget, and risk tolerance.  If you score some cheap deals online, it may not matter if once in awhile you get screwed out of a minimal investment.  If you need something specific which you only feel comfortable seeing and touching, you can head to the store.

But there are even more options. 

The Handmade Market!

 If you are a hand-crafter, you are already part of a whole community of artisans who can fill just about any need.  Handmade marketplaces like Etsy and ArtFire have sections devoted to artisans who make things you need: from beads, pendants, cabochons, and any number of different jewelry making supplies,  to raw materials that can supply artisans of other domains.  Independent artisans are almost always happy to build for you whatever you need in a timeframe you can work with.  Building relationships with suppliers in the handmade market can not only show support for the community in which you also belong but the possibilities for networking, cross-promotion, and special partnerships are numerous.  For example:

• Can you cross-promote?  Can you post on your online site how these stunning feature beads came from a fellow hand-crafter and can she post an image of the must-have necklace you made with them on her site?  How about Facebook Fan Pages?  Blogs? 
• Can you work out special arrangements?  You'll buy X amount from her, guaranteed over Y amount of time, and she'll cut you a Z% discount?

Check out Etsy suppliers here: http://www.etsy.com/category/supplies?ref=fp_ln_supplies

on ArtFire: http://www.artfire.com/supplies

Learn a New Craft

The last alternative to conventional suppliers I will touch on here is...to learn how to make what you need!  You are a creative and innovative person or you wouldn't be interested in arts & crafts.  Even if it's not your thing...yet...you can delve into manufacturing your own raw materials.  If you are a jeweler, you can explore the many things you can do with polymer clay:  liquid polymer clay, waterslide transfers, foils, tints, powders, stamps, texturizers and more are available and affordable to the novice.  The internet has closed the gap between those who know how and those who want to.  You can find instructional videos, online tutorials, help forums, and more to support your new creative endeavor.  Then there's always the library, where you can stock up on books that cover numerous styles, techniques, and methods..for FREE!