Summer in Arizona

Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that it has been so long since I have posted. It looks like I was the last one to post anyway. :(
It is summer and it is HOT here in Arizona. We have already had our first 118 degree day, we have had 2 giant habubs. We haven't had much rain though. Wish we would get more here in the valley.
Business has been slow. Either because of the summer or the economy. Don't get me started on that....
School will be back in session soon and I have picked up some work with back to school items like back packs and lunch bags. There are sure some cute ones out there.
I have a new line of tote bags coming out soon. I find more and more people trying to be "green" (I prefer "Blue" since we ARE the blue planet" ;)  I use tote bags for the grocery store or a quick run into Costco or Sams. I always have them in the car. Will have them on Etsy and Craigs list soon.
As always I am so Thankful to know the awesome women of SuperWAHMz.com.
Well, take care, have a great summer........ until next time. :)

Etsy

Well, I finally got around to posting on my Etsy page.
Business is slow but finding time when you are a home/mom based business is hard to do sometimes.
There always seems to be something to do and no time to do it.
At this time I don't have embroidered items on Etsy.
Instead I chose to post some of the NEW stock I have left over from custom embroidery jobs
that I did and over ordered.
These blanks are perfect for embellishment.
They will make great gifts for birthdays or Christmas.
Since it is Thursday and I usually post on Thankful Thursday let me say now that I am
so thankful to have known the women of SuperWAHMz for so many year. You are awesome.
I am Blessed for sure to have you in my life.

21st Century :)

Here I come, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century LOLOL
I need to work on my website.
I think it is about time I learn how to do that myself and
maybe take a class or two on search engines and how they work.
I need to learn how to blog more efficiently and
I need to learn how to tweet LOL
OH.... and I need to make a newsletter.
Not much to learn there. Maybe I CAN teach this OLD dog some new tricks.
I think I might be looking forward to the challenge.

Integrity

Every month I am asked to paint a piggy bank with a sports logo, college mascot or cartoon character.  Every month I say no. 

Why?  Because these images are copyrighted and I do not have the license to reproduce them.  It is illegal for these images to be sold on unlicensed items, and I could be sued.

My piggy banks would look so cute painted as various NFL helmets, and I could make a lot of money painting these.  I have to admit it is tempting.  But, it is not worth the chance of losing my business.  The business I have worked so hard at for over 20 years.

It baffles me the number of sellers on the web and etsy who do paint licensed characters and logos.  It is illegal.  Yet they continue to do so.  To me, it is unethical.  

Whether or not a customer begs you to paint a licensed image is beside the point.  It is against the law and you should have the integrity to tell the customer that.   

Is an easy buck worth the chance of a lawsuit?  For me, it's not.

Finally....

After a really busy holiday season, and weeks spent catching up on orders, I am finally working on orders that were placed in January.  Yay!

I am finally just about caught up.  Well, caught up in the sense that orders are shipping about 2 weeks after being placed.  And that's not too bad for hand painted to order items.

I saw a shop on etsy that has an 8-12 week turn around time!  Holy cow!  That is totally unacceptable.  Waiting 3 months for an order?  And yet they get orders.....

I start to stress when I am 3 weeks behind.   Anyway, I am getting caught up and have a few new ideas I want to paint.  So, when I have some time, I'll paint something new and get those creative juices flowing again.  Stay tuned...

Facebook & Twitter for your business

Please don't read this expecting advice on using Facebook and Twitter for your business.  I have none.  Not one iota.  I am writing because I don't get the whole social networking thing in connection to business.

I have a facebook page.  I haven't visited it in months.  I don't have time.  And I hear you can have a facebook business page, but I don't have time for that either.  Since I can't type well, I haven't even looked at Twitter.

I understand that you need to network to build business.  I guess that pertains to some businesses.  But as a one mom business who hand crafts her product, I do not see how it applies to me.  I spend most of my time painting, and packing, and various other business related tasks, where do I find time to Facebook or Twitter?

I am not bashing either network.....I am just trying to understand.  Is it because I am already busy with my piggy banks, that I don't have time or need for them?  Am I just behind the times and don't get it?  Am I missing out because I am busy painting?  Am I just Twitterilliterate?  Or Facebookphobic?

Someone enlighten me.....I don't want the world to pass me by.

I'm Back....I Think

Haven't posted here in eons....kept meaning too, but life got in the way.

Had a super busy holiday season.  Man oh man, it was scary.  Mostly because I got the majority of my porders the LAST day I was taking them for Christmas delivery.  Up until then, I was comfortably 2 weeks behind.  Then, on December 1st I recieved 23 new orders....that is a new record for me and my website.

I think I am finally getting caught up again.....it's been a long few weeks.  I feel like I am working ALL the time.  And I am getting tired of it.  Hopefully I am getting to where I am caught up and can take my weekends off again.  I miss the down time.....

This week has been one of those weeks.  I ordered some new piggy bank molds...they came on monday.  The boxes are huge and heavy.  This time, the boxes looked like they had been broken open and smashed.  So I took some pictures.  Then we opened them.

It looked like the boxes had been broken open, the contents droped in the mud, rolled in the dirt and then just tossed back in the box.  I took more pictures.

I emailed the guy I get the molds from and told him it looked like ups had a problem with the shipment.  For as dirty and disgusting as the molds were, they actually survived the ordeal intact.  But would require a good bit of cleaning up.

He wrote back and apologized, but HE had packed them that way.  He was out of styrofoam peanuts, and that was all he had.  The peanuts looked like they had been dug up out of the ground.  Really.  *sigh*

So I haven't written back yet.  I don't know what to say.  I am flabbergasted that he would send anything like that.  Yes, the molds are fine, but it took me over an hour to clean them up and get them ready for use.

My hands are tied....he has my master molds and I cannot get new molds anywhere else : (   I'm not really mad.....disappointed I guess.  We've done business together for years now and I can't believe he sent my stuff like that.  He could have at least let me know what was coming.  Or asked if I minded waiting for packing materials to come in.  I was in NO HURRY.

I don't know.....I am tired.  Tired of dealing with my business for now.  I think I need a vacation.  Or at least SOMETHING to look forward to......

What to Include in Your Elevator Pitch

To keep my business or not to keep my business

That seems to be the question I am asking myself these days.

Are any of you asking yourself that same question? Times are tough, nothing any of us don't know. My industry seems to be suffering maybe more than some. The first thing to go for a business is the little extras and embroidery seems to be one of those little extras. Even the local sports teams are having to cut back.

I totally understand but it does beg the question.... can D's stay in business another year. That is a question I never though I would ask myself, especially after 17 1/2 years.

In the back of my mind I continue to ponder opening a different type of business. I think I will always own my own business. I think it is in my blood. Just trying to figure out what that business might be keeps my mind turning.

Hope all is well with everyone. I miss the chatter.

It's been a long time

Been so long I almost forgot how to post to our blog. I say that with a sly smile on my face. Sorry for being MIA. Summers in AZ are so hot it is hard to wrap my mind around doing anything but hibernating. ;) Fall is quickly approaching though so there IS a light at the end of this tunnel.

Work has not been so good for D's Stitcheree.
I am hoping that the summer months have been better for all of you running your own business. The economy is tough, we all know that. I do have a question though for anyone who might like to chime in.

How is the economy effecting your OWNING your own business.

I just got a notice from my bank that effective Oct. 1 they will start charging a service charge of $15.00 a month on business accounts that carry under $1,000.00 daily balance. Since moving to AZ I have not had to pay a service charge with my bank and I have never held a daily balance of $1K. It is only $15.00 but in months where I might only make $100.00, that is a lot of money. I will see how the rest of this year goes then I am seriously considering closing my 17 1/2 year old business. I thought I would always work for myself but I may soon join the ever growing number of people unemployed.

Slow and Slower

*sigh* Business is slow. Not entirely odd for this time of year, but a little odd for me. If I work really hard this week, I could get all my orders painted and shipped. And I would see the bottom of my to-paint pile.

And that is a little unnerving to me. And scary. I haven't been without orders for years. Really. Busy has been steadily steady and I have come to rely on that income. Which I suppose I really should not have done.

Now I have bills to pay and a budget I don't know if I will meet this month. I do have some money left from the holidays, but I am now thinking the new car I bought 2 months ago really should have waited. But that's water under the bridge...

While I have some free time, I am starting an Etsy store. Not sure if it will benefit me or not, but it certainly can't hurt. I am thinking I am going to make it my "in stock" shop. Anything posted on Etsy will be available for immediate shipping. What's listed now is NOT ready to ship. But as I paint orders, I am going to paint what I have listed. And get that stock in stock and ready to go : )

I am also going to try and get some stock on hand for the fall. Just having blank piggy banks and plates on hand is a HUGE time saver for me. All I have to do then is paint the design and fire away. It won't pay my bills right now, but it will be a huge stress reliever when I get slammed with holiday orders.

So those are my plans for this slow period.....although I am hoping to still get some orders coming in so I can pay my bills. If not, I guess I'll just have to ask Hubby to take over a few of the household bills that I pay. He can step up for a while : ) How do you spend your time when business is slow? Oh, and have any tips for promoting Etsy shops?  Or taking really great photographs of piggy banks?

Forever and Ever?

Yep, it's been a long time since I posted here.  I bet it was just at the start of my Christmas rush.....and that seems like a long time and a lot of piggy banks ago.  So a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

And with this new year comes new hoops to jump through. Last fall brought me PCI compliance. That's having your website scanned to make sure it is completely secure when taking credit card information. This is not a government thing....this was put out there by the credit card companies to combat fraud. Which is a great idea. It really is.....

So my site was moved to a new secure server and should pass all the scans and guidelines as set forth by the credit card companies. BUT the company that scans websites, keeps scanning my old IP address and not the new one. So, that is kind of in limbo there. I think I have a fine to pay if I don't pass the scans. I am in the process of switching merchant account providers, and they will have a different scanning company and so forth. I should be hope everything is okay then.

And with 2009 comes the CPSIA. And that's enough to make your head spin. I guess I will know in the next couple weeks exactly what I have to do to stay in business. The act is so vague, it is hard to figure out who needs to do what. Hopefully the legislators will hear all the voices shouting at them and they will amend and clarify this bill so we small businesses know what's going on and aren't forced out of business. It really is a hard read....and can be interpreted many different ways. I don't want to get into that though.....google CPSIA and you will find many sites and opinions on this.

What I wanted to blog about was, wow, what if I have to close my business. I never ever thought of that possibility. Unless business was so slow I had no choice. Being self employed, I thought I had the advantage over others who were being laid off. I would always have a job....until I chose not to.

This CPSIA has scared me. I really have no other skills. I did not complete college. I haven't worked for anyone else in 20 some years. I've been self employed forever and this business is a huge part of me and my life. I paint, and I paint well.  I love what I do and am blessed to be able to make money doing it.

This business is supposed to last forever. It is supposed to be here when hubby retires. Then he can either help me, or give me my space and leave me alone : ) It's my "piggy bank" so to speak, because it helps me pay quite a few bills here at home. Plus I can save some money for a vacation if I want. I don't want to be done yet.

Life without piggy banks, and me without a paint brush, just seems very, very wrong. I hope the legislators pay attention to us little people out here and correct things so we can stay in business. I plan to be painting a long, long time yet.

P * A * N * I * C

After the power outage of last week, and combined with being busy all summer, I can feel panic coming on. I usually get so busy thru November and December I paint almost 24/7. I get scary busy. Really.

I do have some help, but as a control freak/wahm, it's hard to "outsource" a lot of what I do. I just like being in control. It's my business and I want to do things my way.

Anyway, as I was shopping this morning, thinking about the upcoming Holiday Season, I could feel the stress starting. The panic setting in. I told myself I have to figure out a way to calm down and take it as it comes. It's not here yet, there's no sense in panicking now.

So I thought maybe if I made a little word game....I'm not sure if it would be an acronym or something else...each letter of PANIC will stand for something else. So, when I start to panic, I can go through these other words in my head and maybe I can de-stress myself.

This is what I have so far. Suggestions are welcome for all letters...
P - patience. Because sometimes you have to take your time and do things slowly.
A - attitude. A positive attitude will take you much farther than a negative.
N - no. Because sometimes you have to say "no." You can't do everything asked of you.
I - I had something thought up for I, but now I can't remember it.

C - calm. Stay calm and don't get worked up over the little things. Or the big things, for that matter.

Well, I need help with the "I" since I forgot what it was I had in mind. Hopefully I can use this as a mantra, or maybe print it and post it here at my desk. Then when I start to panic, I can get a grip and relax. Anything to make things easier this fall....

WAHM w/o Power

I missed last Monday's post. I had no electric. Who'd have thought that Hurricane Ike would strike us here in SW Pennsylvania? It did. And it did bad. Thousands were without power for days. We lost ours for 2 days and the news is saying there are still a few folks without it yet.

Starting last week with no power made for a strange week. My business is internet based, as well as my kiln is an electric kiln. So, no electric meant not much work getting done. I did run over to my SIL's to use her computer, (and shower) but all firing was on hold. And that threw off my groove and put me behind.

I was almost caught up when Ike struck. I could see the bottom of my order pile....it was within reach. Then Ike came and went and my small pile orders grew into a larger one. Funny how many new orders came in last week. Which is good. But sometimes it is nice to know that you are caught up and have some breathing room.

Add on top of the newly placed orders, the current orders I screwed up. I'm going to blame it on our 2 days without electricity, because I want to blame it on something. I am not a stupid person, yet I made a few really stupid mistakes last week that I can only correct by repainting the orders. I'm not taking the blame for those myself, I must have been distracted or stressed or something. I know better.

This is not a good time for me to be making mistakes. Although, it's better to make them now and not in month or two when I am really swamped. It's just that I have SO MUCH to do to prepare for the fall rush and I don't have time to do it because I have to repaint orders that I should have done right in the first place. (How's that for a run-on sentence?) Argh, it's just frustrating.

At the very least, last week showed me I have to slow down a wee bit, take my time and read my orders carefully. Pay attention to the details. Or I will be in a hole too deep to climb out of when the holiday rush hits. And that will be very, very bad.

Jill Be Nimble

I’ve had my own business for almost 25 years. And one thing that is always constant is change. Styles changed, storeowners changed, and my eye site has changed, just to name a few. But it’s really amazing to think about how much how we do business has changed. I used to receive all my orders in the mail, (that’s snail mail not email). I remember how excited I was to get my first fax machine, and then most of my customers were very slow to start using it. Now business travels at the speed of light, and we need to learn to be nimble. We never can turn into that old dog that can’t learn new tricks, or all the puppies out there will pass us buy.