My art is . . .

 I want people to like my art. I want people to buy my art.

I do not want to make things I don't like just because people will buy it. (the definition of "selling out" in my opinion)

Sometimes being an artist is weird, or maybe I'm just a weird artist.  I make things because I had or have a picture in my head, a vision, an idea.  It has never been a goal to become rich or famous.  My art is a form of personal expression, while I hope it resonates with someone and I hope that people will like the things I make, it is not necessarily a goal. 😏 

This is where the "artist" and the "business owner" diverge. As a business owner, of course, I understand and recognize that "sales" and making money is important, for some people that is the entire goal and purpose.  But that is not really for me, I don't want to make "prints" and sell the same piece of art over and over until 100 people have the same thing.  I love making new things, I love making one of a kind things and I am happiest when I love the things I make. 😇

Art is incredibly subjective, every one likes different things, which is why generally speaking I do not create with an audience in mind. Now that may be incredibly naive and backwards to some but trying to think of what people will pay for has never been part of my creative process. 😕  I'm not sure I could that. 

Facebook. . .

 Facebook is annoying me, this is nothing new really facebook has been annoying me in various ways for years now. 😏

I have a business "page" which they said would be good for sharing and promoting a business and products. But it has never really worked that way, you only get seen if you pay for ads. I know that sounds cynical but 5 years of experience says it's just the way facebook works. My page has been building a following for years and sadly even though I have over 230 "likes" and over 240 "followers" when I post to my page my stats show an audience on average of 20 people.  So facebook does not serve my content to all my 240+ followers, which stinks considering those people took affirmative actions and clicked the like and/or follow to express their desire to see my content. 😕

I have known that for a couple of years now, as even my best friend never sees what I post on my business page even though she has both "liked" and "followed".  Now maybe she just doesn't scroll far enough in her feed or more likely facebook just doesn't put my page posts in her feed. 

Now for the last year facebook has been nagging at me via suggestions and notifications and other methods that I should start a "group" in support of my business "page". Until recently I resisted because it didn't seem to make sense, it seemed repetitive and pointless, and like a lot more work coming up with more posts, more content. However, in discussions last week someone else said something that made me re-think that. . .see when you are a member of a "group" and someone posts in the group you get a notification of the activity, most will click the notification and go to the group and see the new post, whereas when I post to my "page" no one gets an actual notification and it may or may not ever get served in their feed. 😐

So I caved and created a "group" from my business "page" RainbowMaille shows as the group creator/owner, which is cool but now I can't get anyone to join it.  Literally, facebook will not let me invite my "page" followers to join the "group" in spite of there being a button for exactly that.  

When I click the "invite" button it gives me this stupid pop up that says I have no one to invite. 

That's totally bogus, what about the hundreds of "followers" or at least the 3 friends that have achieved "top fan" badges??? Why am I not allowed to invite anyone, is this a glitch or just more of facebook being annoying on purpose?  😕

Just as annoying as that dysfunction ^ . . .when I created the group yesterday it made a post on my business page saying I had created a group but apparently that post has not been shown to ANYONE. 

So seriously how the H*LL is one supposed to get anyone to join a "Group" for a "business page" when they won't let me invite my followers and they won't even show the page post to anyone?  😠
😣😟😒😖😵😶

P.S. It took a week after reporting my issue but suddenly the "invite" button for the group let me invite people, not all 240+ people but some people, so it's a start. 😇

productively non-productive. . .

 Sometimes it's necessary to be productively non-productive.

You may be wondering what I mean by that, I know productively non-productive may sound contradictory, counter-productive and even oxymoronic. 😏

When it comes to running my business there are many productive non-productive things I do, my husband would refer to these as "value-added" or non-value-added.  I can be doing valid, even important, things but they result in no product. Marketing, this very blog post, taking photos, editing photos, verifying inventory, tool maintenance like re-dipping my pliers are all examples of me being productively non-productive.  I do lots of stuff but I have nothing new to physically show for it in the end. 😕

Some days my husband comes home and asks how was my day or what I did today and I feel silly because even if I ramble off a list of a dozen things he just looks at me like I'm crazy. 😌 

I took out the trash, ran and emptied the dishwasher, separated the mini-magnets from the wire trees into different binders, updated my art notebook, shot photos for instgram and my blog, made 5 social media posts, stripped and re-dipped 13 pair of pliers, then cooked dinner.  It just doesn't sound that impressive, there is no perspective on just how much time each thing takes.  I would say I was productive as I accomplished a lot of different things but I have no new fabulous art or jewelry to show him so it's hard for him to understand that I actually was busy All Day. 😒  I may be a "housewife" but I do not sit on my couch watching soap operas and eating bon-bons all day every day. 

Even when I do spend hours sitting still on my computer it is reading, researching, marketing, social media, testing keywords, editing listings, etc.,  Just think of the duck on a pond analogy on the surface it appears calm but below the surface his little feet are flapping like mad. 😉

So while today was too windy outside to spray more glossy finish on my painting and the lack of sunshine in these clouds means I couldn't shoot photos for all the jewelry in that pile that still needs to get listed, instead I took care of my pliers and shifted some inventory storage. 

I hate facebook. . .

 Seriously folks, I have always hated facebook, it took years for my Mom to convince me to make a profile and I only did it to send her bonus stuff for "Ghosts of Mistwood" a game that no longer even exists. 😕

I have never trusted facebook they collect and track too much personal info. People on facebook are entirely too trusting those stupid 20 question games that ask things like"what's your favorite color" "what's your pet's name" "what was your first car" those things are designed to provide info for hackers, think about it those are the answers to standard security questions, throw in your momma's last name and your birthday and welcome to total ID theft. Yeah those are covered by those what's your stripper name posts where they ask the month and day you were born to pick from the lists to make up something goofy.  😐 Layer onto that the number of people who use facebook on their phone to "check-in" basically telling everyone where they are and that it's a fine time to rob their house since they aren't home. 

I think you get my point(s).  The only reason I created my business facebook page is because everything says a business should have a facebook presence, but facebook limits the reach of small business pages. It has reached the point where you have to pay for ads to even be seen by one's own followers, which I think stinks since the notion that someone liked and/or followed the page means they are interested in the page/business/content.  So why should I have to pay for ads to reach people who have already agreed by affirmative actions that they Want to see my posts?  Simple answer facebook is greedy their entire business model is based on selling ads so if they hide your stuff unless you pay up they win. 

Yesterday they shoved a new layout page format on me, like I logged in and BAM there it was in my face. 😒  It is ugly and I am hating it for many many reasons, not just that it's new. 

My business page now gives me a headache to look at, I have to scroll forever to see my post from yesterday, there is a bunch of crap at the top that I am not interested in and have no desire to see, including a repeatedly appearing pop up suggestion to set up ads. 😠  I have x'd it out 3 times but every time I come back from a group or another page it just reappears.  It gave me notifications that I shared my own post, like I need a notification for that, I did it I already knew.  The off-center cover photo makes  me feel like am sitting crooked. The giant side menu that does not collapse and just eats screen space is ugly and stupid while being a total waste of space.  The "rounded corners" are the worst, boxes are square, squares have corners, corners by definition should not be round, the phrase "rounded corners" is oxymoronic and makes my brain hurt.

I switched back to the classic and filled out the survey telling them how much I hate the new one and everything I think is wrong with it. I can only hope that enough people also complain that they re-think this disaster or at least make some modifications. Sadly, I doubt even if every single person on the planet complained that it would actually change anything.  😕

Once the new fugliness becomes permanent I will use facebook way way less, I cannot spend extended periods of time on a site that gave me a headache in 10 minutes.  😐

learning goimagine. . .

 I have written before about how when I start on a new site I like to spend some time literally hovering every inch of screen and clicking every possible button, just to see what it does. 😁

I know it may sound weird but there are so many things you can find and learn by simply taking the time to investigate.  While hovering your cursor around a screen watch for things that change color, watch for the cursor to change, watch for things that are underlined, look for little arrows, there are a lot of sometimes subtle clues. 😉

I have been on goimagine and working on my shop since April so I have over 4 months in watching the site and vendor interface evolve and become what it currently is and in that time I have learned a lot about how it functions.  Some of the things I found where pretty well hidden. Some of the things I've learned, I learned don't always work exactly as expected. 

One of the things I learned fairly early that is very helpful is that you can edit prices, qty, and status straight from the "Product" list without ever opening the listings individually.  If you hover over the price or qty, or just click where they are, type-able boxes appear and you can make changes right then and there, just remember to click the "Save" button up top in the corner. 😉

The next awesome and helpful thing I learned is the bulk editing options, which are pretty amazing.  Goimagine's bulk edit allows you to edit as many listings at once as you want up to and including all. Now selecting them all can be tricky because the checkbox to select all is virtually invisible until it's clicked, the arrow for the drop down does not appear unless you hover or click right there.   

Once you have selected the listings you want to edit a magical new menu bar appears with several options. The "edit selected" gives you the amazing list of things to edit, it comes as a pop-up box with a massive amount of choices.

I highly recommend scrolling down to the "unselect all" to start.

You can pick whatever you want to edit, you can edit multiple things for each listing, just click the checkbox(es) with what you want to edit and click "Modify selected" and edit away. This can be handy for many reasons, if you want to add seasonal search terms, adjust your shipping time frames, change your shipping box sizes, etc.,

With Labor Day coming many may be thinking about having a "Sale" and while goimagine does not yet have coupon options you can definitely have a "Sale".  Actually, there are multiple ways to achieve that, you can simply change the "Price" from the "Product" list, you could use the bulk edit option, or you could use the "Global Update" which can be tricksie as many don't even know where it is. 

The "Global update" is similar to the bulk editor but more specific.  It can be used to set discounts on any or all listings but it is a multi-step process. First you don't select the listings first, just click the gear and select the "Global update", that will take you to a new screen. 

In this process you can set a discount by $dollar amount or %percent, note that in order for it to be a "Discount" you need to put a minus - so that it is subtracting. Then you select the products you want the "Global update" to apply to, you can only select so many at a time, even if you click the top checkbox it only selects the ones on the shorty page unless you change how many appear on the page.

Although, the search function in here is cool if you want to only discount a specific style of product or category, like just the earrings and not necklaces.   

Once you've set your discount and select items just click "Apply" up in the corner. 😇  

Now a bit of a warning, I know NOW a warning. ~LOL~  Yes while setting a discount with the "Global update" option is an easy way to discount lots of listings at once, there is no time frame the discount will remain in place until you undo it.  

WARNING : if you try to undo a "Global update" discount by reversing the process (using global update to increase the price back up by the same percent as the discount) it will not reset your prices to full regular retail, rounding and math and stuff. It will in fact be off by change. 

So your best option to reset your prices after a "Sale" is to manually reset them by just typing them in on the "Products" list so that your "Price$" and "List Price" match again.  😉

Good grief . . .

Reading the esty forums this morning I found multiple threads of people complaining about receiving infringement notices and/or having their shops shuttered "for no reason". (as if, there is Always a reason) 

I find myself rather annoyed with these people because when you look at their shops and realize that : 

One of them was reproducing stolen art. Literally found a picture of a painting, copied it without permission, and had them re-printed through some print on demand service and drop-shipped from god knows where. The "Seller" didn't do a darned thing they didn't create the artwork, they didn't print the repro, they aren't even seeing or shipping the product. 😡  This pisses me off, as someone who spends hours actually painting one of a kind artworks, I hope this fraud gets more than one notice and has their shop closed and is permanently banned from etsy. Lucky for them none of the stolen art they have listed is mine. (But I have seen POD people in my etsy stats, so I keep an eye out for my stuff.)

Second infringer example, "fan art" selling art based on very obviously trademarked and/or copyrighted characters. Their defense they draw and paint them themselves, never mind that it is someone else's original creation and famous cartoon characters are and should be completely off limits. Draw your own characters not copy Sailor Moon, the lack of creativity and originality is really troubling considering the art actually looks really good, the person has some talent just no morals or ethics or understanding of "Intellectual Property" rights. 😕  

Final prime example of what not to do, reselling junk.  No joke, not a single thing in that shop is handmade. Honestly, I do not believe that any of it is even qualified as vintage. New brand name make-up and commercially produced jewelry that looks so shiny and new, it's like the person decided since the wedding is off they should sell their engagement ring. Half way thru the comments the seller admitted they finally just read the seller handbook and if they had read it to begin with they never would have started on etsy. 😶  

Seriously why don't people read the "Terms of Service" or Handbook rules or anything really. ~sigh~

Too much fun. . .

Sometimes I have too much fun playing with graphics and making banners and cover photos.  Sometimes getting them just right size wise for facebook and pinterest and the blog is tricky mainly because they all need to be just a bit different. 😏

  I make them using Adobe Spark because they have templates that you can just add photos to and adjust here and there.  Spark also has, aside from the templates and layout, a resize option with preset sizes for assorted social media use.  However, in the years I have been using it I have noticed that the facebook sizes never fit quite right. 😏  Which may be why I always end up making at least a dozen.