Hibernation

After a whirlwind holiday season with houseguests and lots of cookies and get-togethers, oh my, I am finally regaining my breath. Today the sun is shining, the snow is sparkling, and it's beautiful outside.

I'm restocking my eBay and Etsy shops for the last time before I leave for my annual month-long trip on Jan 21st. I have two major demarcations in every year; the Tucson shows and the Bead & Button, both of which require me to be away for a month. This year I won't be attending Tucson, but I will still be gone.

There's so much to do before I leave. State sales tax for the different states that I do shows in, for example. In three states I file taxes twice a year, and those are due right now. Plus I have to make certain that the money will be okay while I'm gone. I won't be selling online for a month, which makes a difference.

It's a period of introspection too, though. It's a time to think of what I want to accomplish when I get back, and how I want to do it.

I've wanted a website for ages, and time has only sharpened this. Etsy and eBay have their strengths, but unfortunately, because of the way they're set up and the way the fees work, I have a hard time justifying the listing of several of the same item. Having a website would make it easier to deal with this, because it would be possible to buy more than one of a single item.

So I think I've finally convinced myself that a website it a must.

I'm also thinking about jewelry, and how best to work with new designs and what to do about that. My issue is still photography. I looked at the pictures of my shop through another's computer and was not satisfied with the colors. I've had multiple issues with my monitor and with Photoshop and I'm still not 100% certain that what I'm seeing on my monitor is what the majority of people are seeing.

I'm still determined to work on the ideas I have for metal components. I really need to get that into motion, too.

My work is cut out for me in the new year, obviously! Hope you all have a brilliant, prosperous, healthful and lovely 2010!

Decisions, decisions.

So my Etsy shop has been an interesting experiment. I put both beads and jewelry in it, because even though my first impulse was to make separate shops, I had heard that Etsy frowns against it, and I was wary of having to put extra work into the venture.

Now that I've had the shop stocked for six months, and I've passed the 100 sales mark, I'm taking a close look at it, and trying to decide whether to split it into two shops, one for jewelry and one for beads.

While this would be less confusing, I wonder if it would be rewarding. Jewelry is quite saturated on Etsy. Perhaps I should just concentrate on putting jewelry on my own website, but it seems silly to neglect Etsy if it could help get me more exposure. I'm torn between the two at the moment.

One thing I do know--I think it looks a little hodgepodge to have both in the same shop. So now I just need to decide if I want the trouble of another Etsy shop, I think. Or maybe I'm overthinking this...