Weekly update. . .I'm not "Star" material

So, if you read my last post you will already know that I'm talking about facebook "stars" but for those that didn't see the last post, facebook has been making some changes. 😏 I noticed a glitch with the comment filter on posts not doing what I had my settings set to and clicking around I found a list of expanded options, one of those new options was comments "sent with stars". This led to a "what the heck stars are they talkin' about?!" moment, which led to more questions, a helpful answer from a goimagine founder leading me to the right backside pages in the meta suite. . . only to discover that I'm not star eligible. 😐 

Oh, I'm good with the community standards, I'm compliant with policies, I'm over 18 and in an eligible country. What I don't have is over 500 followers, I currently only have 372 followers on the facebook business page. 😞 Anyone have 200-ish friends and family they can send my way? 😅😅

This sort of reminds me of etsy's star seller program which I almost never qualify for, if I get the minimum # of orders they don't meet the minimum $, or if I get both of those then I don't have fresh enough reviews, by the time the people leave reviews the other things have reset. 😒 I feel like I need some sort of miracle star-alignment blessing or something. The things I can control like message replies and shipping are always 100% but I have zero control over when people order or if they leave reviews, it's always just out of reach. 😔 

Oh well, I guess I'm just not star material, yet. 😎 I guess I'll have to just keep plugging along making new stuff, posting more regularly, sharing, trying.  I got a new phone over the holidays, so maybe I'll figure out the camera(s) and start getting better photos, or maybe I'll just get around to re-doing all the old photos finally.  😇 In my mind I have "big plans"(for me) for 2024 but I admit that many of the things I'd like to accomplish may not happen, for instance, there is a local market I've been told about that I'd love to get into, but I've also been told that there is a waiting list and it's very hard to get in.  

Some days tech is not so savvy

It is a whole new year and for me personally, it is not off to the greatest start, family loss, crazy weather, and this week questionable technology issues. 😅 Now I am normally pretty competent with my technology. I've been online since the 90's, I've had standalone websites and used dozens of platforms, dare I say I'm tech-savvy. But these days it seems the tech itself is not always so savvy. 😎

I have known for years that etsy's stats are not really exactly accurate, but I have seen a couple of things in mine this week that really have me shaking my head.  😐 First, was the traffic source the other day, I was shocked it actually gave one because it next to Never actually provides a source in the "Direct & other" category. Then there is the source itself which is weird to me, it says yahoo mail and I do not use yahoo, I do not have a newsletter set up. 😐

So, did someone else include the link to my etsy listing in their own newsletter?! Again, weird.! On the other hand, I'm pretty used to the standard inaccuracies of numbers that don't match, views that never show, the app giving different numbers than the website. 😏 Yesterday, the 10th the app says I had 9 views from 4 visits, but the website says 4 views and 4 visits, although it only shows 2 listings as viewed. 😅

This type of conflicting information used to drive me nutz, now I just laugh and shake my head and wonder why so many people are still convinced that etsy is so great. 😂

Now on to the second tech company that everyone thinks is so great but I personally kind of hate, facebook, it glitches way more than most people will admit. For the last couple of days, I have noticed that my "all comments" setting is not what fb is actually showing me. I have double checked my settings, and group settings and yet. . .

I have to keep changing it on every post, in order to actually see all the comments. And after I posted about it this morning, something new showed up and I'm pretty sure the change is what is causing the settings to not actually function properly. 

We have gone from 3 options to 5 and I kind of hate the sound of the last one. "Sent with stars" ?!?! really?! I don't even know what that means, what stars? 😟 Man, I really hate when they make changes like this and I have no idea what's going on. 😅 

Happy New Year

Well, the holidays are over and I'm still recovering, although I have done some work on the online shops not a lot but some. 😎 I started the keyword editing to remove the "Christmas" and "stocking stuffer" tags and change it over to Valentine's and Mother's day, seasonal keywords are a good idea but a bit of a P.I.T.A in that you have to manually edit lots, regularly. 

I am working very slowly on transferring listings to MakerPlace, I'm over 50 and I just added Valentine rosette bracelets, which is nice because they are right at the top making my shop look all freshly updated for Valentine's. I've only added the 3 main rose bracelets so far, but I have updated my goimagine shop's featured listings and I have 9 rosette based listings over there. I think I need to add a row of art on the goimagine page to make it an even dozen features. 

In the meantime, I have resumed social media posting, I've joined nextdoor, and I have started looking to plan events for the year. 

Weekly update. . .Merry Christmas and Happy new Year!

Well, I've been looking at the calendar and because I normally post my "Weekly updates" on Sundays, this will be the last one for this year. 😇 Seriously, next Sunday is Christmas eve and the one after that is New Years' eve so this is the final update of 2023. 

I would normally post about my etsy "year in review" and while they did still do the shop personalized "y-i-r" thing I found no joy in my incredibly sad low numbers. 😏 

 I have never really liked the "splashy" graphics and contrasting colors they use for these things most of the time it is just tacky.

This was my favorite and best review of 2023, so at least they pulled something right. 😏

But like I said it was a very pathetic year otherwise, I am not surprised by it really. I sort of expected some decline because I let most of my listings expire and moved all the paintings and wire trees to other platforms.  I turned off all etsy ads and changed all my social media links to goimagine too. So again, I am not surprised by the decline in my etsy numbers, I literally gave up on it. 😅 However, if etsy was so great and had so much built-in traffic then my changing my links should not have had this effect. Plus looking at my etsy stats historically the art had very little in consistent views or purchases so removing the art should not have tanked every metric either. 😐 

The year-end total books won't be as bad as last year, no thanks to etsy, because I have 3 platforms and did multiple in person events. I have already started on the year-end books, it's basically lists and a little math. 😉 I only have one more monthly sales tax report, maybe next year Georgia will allow me to move to a quarterly or annual filing instead of monthly, I doubt it but it's worth asking. 

Weekly update. . . well that was fun!

My final scheduled vending event of the season was here in my new hometown, and I really enjoyed it. 😊 After weeks of being sick and being disappointed in the previous event it was really nice to arrive at a well-organized event and have a great space. 😇 I do love a good corner and this is my favorite corner in town, literally that's the Library on the left (which I love).  Also, I was on the end, which can be good or bad depending on the event but in this case, it was great it made load-in and out easy, plus with the parking over there even this end was an entry-point. 😉 

My biggest disappointment of the day was my own forgetting of my RainbowMaille sign 😅 which I could have gone home for (it was a mile from my house) but I chose to just use one of the abstract flags. The business name is still on the front of the art crates and with the short 3' racks I didn't have a good place for the large, framed piece anyway. 😉 I was pretty happy with my booth set-up, my tent my be a 10'x10' but the spaces were 12'x12' and with the fabulous weather it meant the racks and magnet board could hang outside the tent.  

I passed out many goimagine info cards. 😎 I had multiple people take my business card for various reasons, possible custom orders later, to show a friend, to get me to vend at their event next year. The good thing about that is even my own RainbowMaille business cards have goimagine info on the back now. 😉 I am hopeful that doing this event will open up more local events, now that I've met the organizer and she has seen my work. My husband has suggested that next year RainbowMaille should have a small float in the town Christmas Parade. 😅 I am not sure about that plan, but I will definitely be back at the Mistletoe Market next year. I am thinking about having a professional fancy banner made for my booth but I hate spending money on such things. I know it is "an investment" but I'm not sure it will pay for itself, I mean it's just a sign even if it's pretty and you can see it from space, I'm not convinced it will generate more sales. 😏 

Today I get to unpack and restore my shop. Last night I did my inventory reconciliation and deactivated the wire trees that sold. 😁 Later I get to assess my chainmaille inventory and make a list of things to remake. 

Weekly update. . . It's December

Holy Cow! It is December already. 😦 This year is almost over and honestly, I don't feel like have accomplished much, but I've recently been told I'm too hard on myself. 😏 I have one show left this year and I have spent very little time and effort thinking about it, again for the sake of honesty I've been a bit distracted and I'm still sick. 

The kitten is growing and has another vet appointment coming up, which is good because he still has worms and I think we need to change meds. I have a dental cleaning coming up and unfortunately, it's the same day as the kitten appointment, I think there is enough time to get from one to the other but only just and mainly because my town is so small. 😅 My plan is to just show up at the vet's office early and tell them I need to get to the dentist after. 

Merlin is adorable, handsomely marked and up to 3 pounds. 😇 

I am sick of being sick and extremely tired from the concept of "holidays" I could use a monthlong Rip Vanwinkle nap, but I'm not likely to get it. 😏 I am however, not having "sales" or over-promoting or over-worrying about the business this season, I just don't have the time or energy with other things going on. I have to do the end of the month bookkeeping for November and then prepare and start on the whole "year-end" bookkeeping for tax filing. 😒 It's not fun but I have system so it's fine, just time consuming. 

My etsy is still dead, they are punishing me for replying "late" to a message, I missed the 24 hour window by less than 1 hour over a weekend. 😖 And because I get so few messages over there, there is no way to make up for it and it gives me a big fat ZERO% preventing me from getting star seller for 3 months over 1 message that was replied to "late" in their opinion. Not that it matters or that I care that much it's just crappy and part of why I have come to dislike etsy so much. 😒

In other annoyances USPS's tracking is malfunctioning, I have sent multiple packages and I cannot check on the location of any of them because I just get this "we suck" message. Really?!?! people a crash of the tracking system right at the beginning of the biggest shipping month of the year!?!  What the actual hell on earth?! 😕😵

The tracking numbers are valid, they worked earlier in the week but the last few days when I went to confirm delivery, I cannot get anything but this crappy message on multiple tracking numbers. 

Weekly update. . .its been a week

Well, it is "weekly update" time, but it has been a rather boring week of blowing my nose and being sick. 😕 I cannot say I have accomplished a "lot", but I have managed a few things. I did unpack and reorganize and file my sales tax return and fix my flattened display tree. 

unwrapping the beads, lights and garland to re-fluff the tree while it was being constantly attacked by the kitten was fun 😅 he's so cute when he's "helping" 

He is growing and learning to sit still . . .but only for a minute at a time unless he's asleep. 

I did manage to cook awesome Thanksgiving dinner(s) including pumpkin pie and many sides. We successfully had company for dinner. I basically skipped dealing with "business" for the holiday, no posts, no specials, no deals, no sales, while it resulted in no orders it did give me a peaceful holiday weekend of not worrying about things. 😇 I am ok with my decision it was quiet and less stressful than many past holidays with no alerts or notifications or interruptions. 

Yesterday I decided to work on my MakerPlace shop a bit, I added 5 new listings for the chainmaille Christmas ornaments. This morning I woke up to a message there about a custom color bracelet, I'm not saying that being active and having activity are connected it's just interesting timing. 😉 On the flip-side of that is my etsy where I was slow to reply to a message at the beginning of the month and my whole month is down 80% compared to last year. 😒

Actually, etsy currently has the lowest monthly views of my 3 online shops. Whereas, I have found recently Micheals using one of my listing photos in an aol ad. 😯

Also, I'd like to point out that goimagine is spending $ on ads for me, because there are cpc clicks in my analytics and I am not currently running ads anywhere. 😁

I have one more in-person event coming up on December 9th and I am working (thinking) on my booth planning, it will be outdoors so limited to the 10'x10' tent canopy. Although, the tent canopy does give me some good hanging space for larger trees and art 😎 not that I plan to take a lot of art for this one. This final event "Mistletoe Market" is very Christmas focused so the tree, wreath and ornaments will be the main focus with the jewelry in gift boxes. Lucky for me it's in my own town so no extra travel and if I forget something it's literally only blocks away.