Times are tough. What is usually my most busy season has been some what of a disappointment. I know I should not count my chickens before they hatch but I really was counting on my sales to make the holiday spending easier on us.
I was doing great this last spring and summer and It was exciting to see my shop really take off! Then October hit and my sales came to a grinding halt or a trickle. Etsy made some changes to the categories that I think was a huge loss for us in the ceramic world. Then Google changed stuff and on top of that there was a new surge of ceramic bead artists that have come up.
I love to see new peoples work and our bead group encourages people too with all kinds of helpful info on the blog. What I don't get is why they have to undercut our prices so drastically. It drives me crazy to see stuff going for practically nothing and it under values the hard work that it takes to do this.
I can not put that many hours into something and then sell it for nothing it is a waste of my time and makes me unhappy. I don't want to try and cut corners either because that is unfair to the customer. So I have some thinking to do.
I know I am going to spend more time on my miniature sculptures. So I am looking forward to seeing where that takes me.
So keep a look out for new miniatures and hopefully some new designs in the component category.
1 comment:
All of us that are in business, any kind of business, are experiencing the same preasures. I have had a store front for 7 years now and I am going to have to close- there are no other options. What we all need to consider is how to support all small privatly owned businesses. This is the only way that we will keep our money in our communities...
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