Weekly update. . .all about effort

"You get what you give"

There are a bunch of variations of that saying, "you get back what you put in", you gotta give to get, you have to work for things if you want things to work.  There are exceptions, situations where no matter what you do you don't get the return you think you deserve, but when it comes to business you have to keep trying because the alternative is to give up and quit. 😏 

Honestly, I have given up before on a previous business, not because it wasn't working but because leatherwork became too much for my hands. I took some time and came back with RainbowMaille, a whole different business with different products. I started over from scratch, and while it has not been everything I had hoped for, I have kept at it for 10 years through multiple platforms. I am currently on 3 platforms, but others have come and gone over the years, I am currently thinking of ditching MakerPlace and going back to just etsy and goimagine. 

I am not a business expert, I do not claim to be an SEO guru, but what I have learned in all my years on many online sales platforms is the more listings you have, the more keywords you can cover, the more likely you are to be found in search. 😐 It is actually pretty simple and common sense based if you think about it and it has been my experience on every platform. Currently, my etsy is down below 50 listings and they are all jewelry my views have gone Way down, but I still get occasional sales because the jewelry listings I left have a sales history and etsy likes that. I have been continuously adding new listings to the goimagine restoring all the art and my views there are triple my etsy because there are triple the # of listings, and I am regularly pinning my new art listings on my pinterest.

Seriously pinterest is a huge source of traffic for my shop

But I also have all my social media linked to goimagine, I do not advertise etsy at all, etsy has plenty of money and advertising they don't need my help. I advertise for the site I would prefer my sales happen on, which is goimagine because not only are my fees slightly cheaper but part of it goes to charity. 😇 

For all the sellers still on etsy because they still get sales there, I totally get that, I'm still there, but if you never even try to point your customers to a better alternative you don't get to complain about how your goimagine doesn't get traffic. As a business owner it is my job to advertise my business for better or for worse. I'm not getting rich over here trying to sell art, but that's no one's fault but my own. Art is totally subjective and a hard sell, but I chose to sell art. 😏 I chose a difficult path. 

In my recent photo re-do of all the art, I ended up doing a complete inventory reconciliation and was surprised at just how many paintings I have sold over the years. I am still not done photographing them all, and it is a lot of work, but you can't sell what isn't listed. 😉 

Weekly update. . . it's August

Wow, it is August already, months seem to be flying by this year, and I just feel out of sync with everything.  I did get more art added to the website; I thought I had all the framed pieces done but I found a couple I missed. Also, I tried to figure out how many I had left which turned out to be an interesting exercise in I don't. . .😅 

So, in my art book there is a "master list" the list which includes, date, canvas size, short description, and official # I have painted 155 canvases that are numbered and listed in the book. I have photographed and listed 30 framed pieces, I counted the unframed canvases in the crates 67 and then had a mental melt down of wait what?!?! that's less than a 100 and nowhere near 155.  😕 I flipped thru the book counted the number sold (more than I realized) then went searching my shop and found the flag collection in a bag (not the crates where they belong). Then I went thru a box of frames and found some others and realized there were a few in the closet, but after over an hour of searching and counting and math-ing. . .I still have about a dozen canvases unaccounted for. 😐

And it's still bugging me today, so I guess I'm going to have to go through the whole thing again, make a list of every #number in each crate, search thru all the boxes, a full-on solid physical inventory of the art, which will be interesting since I have never done so in 7 years. 😅 I normally just track as I go, when something sells it gets marked in the book, when I donated a piece for charity it got marked in the book, the one I sent my in-laws marked in the book, the one a gave my Momma marked in the book, I'm pretty obsessive about it actually. That is why yesterday's not adding up is bugging me and must be solved. 

In other news the inventory is not the only thing making me mental. . . I went ahead with my plan for sub-categories for framed vs. unframed but I already had several listings from before, so aside from swapping photos on existing listings and creating new listings as need, I forgot to add the "framed" category as I was going and now that I've tried to go back and add it after I am missing one. 😒 There are 30 framed canvases listed and active and showing on site, but I only have 29 in the category. I've been through them all 3 times and cannot find one without the sub-cat but still only have 29 showing in the category. 😖  ~so frustrating~ I haven't activated the categories yet partly because they are not accurate at the moment and partly because they are currently very out of proportion 30 - 4. 

And as frustrating as this "re-photograph all the art" project has been in various stages, I do believe it has been worth it, I am pretty happy with the results. 😇 I got even happier when I saw that the goimagine team had selected and used one of my new listings in a promo. 

For me this is the Best compliment and reinforces that I am on the right track.  

It also gives me hope that future entries in the Maker Challenge contests might actually stand a chance of being chosen. 😊 

Weekly update. . .bad week

Well, it has been a bad week for progress on the art photos, every morning has been cloudy and by the time the clouds clear it's too late in the day and the sun is on the wrong side of the house. 😒  

I can't say it was a totally non-productive week as I have made some chainmaille and shipped a few things. 😉 My phone cha-ching'd the other morning and my husband actually got to hear it for once, that was nice. 

About a month ago I posted some stats for each of my online storefronts, I won't post updated numbers as that's not my point. I will say I had a few "abandoned" carts that kind of made me sad, but I think it was just delayed purchasing because I have since had orders on both platforms that showed abandoned carts. One of the etsy orders even used the comeback cart coupon which honestly is kind of weird since according to etsy they haven't sent any of those emails.😑

literally zero

I have always known that etsy stats were not accurate but wow. 

Also, according to their data they have sent more "thank you" coupons than I have had orders. 😅  I am considering closing the shop on Micheal's MakerPlace I've never had much luck over there, it's been 2 years, and I've only had 5 orders. Since re-opening there my stats are stagnant and I can't even be sure if they are accurate since their stats barely work half the time. One of the big things I love about goimagine is that my Mosiac allows for google analytics, so I have confirmation of real data. 

Weekly update. . .making progress

I have been making progress on the photographing and listing of art project. I am nowhere near finished yet, but I do feel good about what I have gotten done. I have over 20 listings active so far, I have yesterday's photos processed and ready to make new listings today. I only have a handful of framed pieces left to photograph then I can move on the 100-ish unframed pieces. 😅  

I would be further along if I could get some decent sunny weather instead of this ridiculously cloudy rain almost daily. I did shoot some yesterday in between clouds but the snatches of sun didn't last long and then my camera batteries died mid-shoot. 😏 

I am pretty happy overall with the look on site with the photos being more consistent. I'll have to be careful to make sure the first photos are all from a similar distance, but for the most part I'm happy with how things are going. 

I am thinking I will need to add new categories under the "Original Paintings" for framed vs unframed. Currently the sub-cats are just by canvas size but for shopping purposes I think the framed vs unframed is a good idea too, since the frames do increase the prices quite a bit. I won't need to add that until I start re-listing the unframed pieces in a week or so. 😉

Weekly update. . .Art for Sale!

After months of moving and things being in storage, finally unpacking in the rental and battling bad lighting and blue walls I have art photos I am happy with, and I am working my way thru re-activating the art listings. 😎  I'd throw a party to celebrate but I'm too tired. 

My poor little Merlin does not like mom always being busy, he gets rather pouty when I'm not playing with him, but at least he has stopped walking thru my shots and attacking the tripod. 😅 Now he just pouts from a distance and gives me dirty looks. I am making real progress now on getting the art relisted for sale, it is the slow but steady kind. I've got almost a dozen listings up and I have photos ready for more, but those listings need to be created new, not just edited. 

There are so many paintings that have never been listed for sale online before, like this one. 😉 I have always liked this one, it was just impossible to photograph the true colors and textures. 

Or this neglected piece, painted in Indiana in 2020 it spent 3 years in Georgia on my office wall and had never been photographed at all. 😅 

I have only ever sold a few paintings online previously, but I think a large factor was the sub-par photos, so I am hopeful that with improved photos and increased selection (once I get them all listed) that I may actually sell a few more. 😇 I don't know, whenever I set up in person the art gets a lot of compliments, but with many paintings the human eye in natural light can pick up so much more than the camera ever could.  So, I get a lot of "wow, how did you do that?" or "hey great effect" or " those colors are amazing!" my personal favorite "I've never seen anything like that". 😅 I never know if that last one is good or bad, but I chose to think it's positive. 

Weekly update. . .July!

Not going to lie I am still pretty sad and randomly bursting into tears off and on, but I did manage to do some stuff this week.  

I am still working on the new photos for the art, but I think I've finally made real progress.  After weeks of trying different things, I have some shots I'm kind of happy with, they are far from perfect but a huge improvement. So, I think I'll continue to use this set-up and shoot all the art, that way I can have the consistency in the first photo for the website. Then I can adjust and try the next thing, but in the meantime, I will at least get the art relisted for sale. 😏 Which I have started, but it will take me a while yet, I think there are currently 3 paintings active (not counting the magnets). 

This is tricky project, it may not sound like it, but it really is. First not All of the art has ever been photographed or listed, so some of these are being photographed for the first time and will have to have new listings created. Second some of them that have been photographed before are being re-done because they are now framed which means it's not just a quick swap the photo style of edit, it's a full on change the description, change the price, change the photos kind of edit. 😉 Then there is the crazy-inducing time-consuming trying to search listings and match photos, while keeping track of which paintings I've already photographed, which photographs need new listings, and which listings need photos. I think my brain is scrambling. 😅

Weekly update. . .still sad

I have had to fight hard this week to do anything. 😞 

Monday evening, I was informed that a friend had died in a motorcycle accident, she was such a bright brilliant young woman it is heartbreaking that she is gone so young. 😢 Just thinking about it is making me cry now. 

Tuesday, I logged into fb and found a post from a cousin that her dad, my uncle had passed. I haven't seen him in years, but the loss was like a punch in the gut, the flood of childhood memories. 😭 

Honestly, I spent most of Wednesday crying and then fighting a headache from the crying. 😢 So. . . yeah, not a really productive week business wise or in general, I managed some cooking and housekeeping but not a lot else. My goal of getting the art relisted this month has been a spectacular failure. 😒  

Maybe next month will be better, I think I may have finally made progress on the photo studio look, hopefully it will lead to useable photos.