CATCHING UP....

The bad thing about having a small business is that YOU are the ONLY employee, so business management sometimes gets in the way of your creativity.

 

CLICK HERE for my Bead Soup Blog Party post!

I have been busy with several new classes (blogs hopefully coming soon) and organization of my business.

Unless you have a business of your own, you can't imagine the amount of time it takes to keep a home based handcrafted business organized and running smoothly and balanced with your home life.  My husband, on too many occasions to mention, has had to come get me at 2:00 in the morning and say ENOUGH!  I just get so lost in what I am doing that the time just goes by.

So, anyway, I have been re-inventorying all my jewelry components, organizing my tools and supplies by type.  The enameling tools and supplies are in their own corner, metal smithing and torches are in their own space, etc....to be more organized and efficient with the use of time.

I have also been working on my webpage and learning the SEO aspect of designing your own page.  You wouldn't think it would be sooooooooooo hard to write about yourself, but I find that that is one of the hardest things to do.  Because in my business I am not only selling a product, I am selling myself and my handcrafted piece of art.

And designing my own webpage takes TONS of time.  Just adding one item to my website takes close to an hour.  There are so many things to be considered - taking the perfect photographs, what is best description for your product, layout of the page and keywords.  KEYWORDS!!!  It really taxes my brain sometimes trying to figure out keywords and what you as a consumer will be typing in your search engine that will lead you to my page and getting my page on that front page.  Because how many people truly go to the second page, let alone 5, 6 or 20?

On top of the designing of the page, you have to advertise on all the social media to try to get more traffic.  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, yada yada yada.....  And timing, making sure that you find the correct time to do these posts to get the most views.

I am also re-photographing all my jewelry and custom wine bottle serving trays to make sure they show to their best advantage.  Here is an example.  Fill free to share away and pin to PINTEREST!!!!

So to make a LONG story short, I am so hoping to get back into the creativity of making my jewelry soon and to get my blog updated to show off the the new techniques I have learned!!!  Not to mention the Bead Soup Blog Party hop.  I so need to get to all the 400+ participants blogs and see all the beautiful jewelry and let the inspiration flow!!!

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, back to work :)