2 posts tagged “realization”

Now that things are quieting down here and life is starting to gain some semblance of order I've been taking some time to think about my Etsy shop and my separate website.  I've always been horrible at updating my non-Etsy shop.  Even if I use the magic of copypasta to stick in item descriptions from my Etsy, I still can't seem to get sales on there.  OS Commerce, while really helpful, can be a bit tricky to use with all the code involved.  I love the idea of having my own website and I DO get visitors there, but I barely make any sales. >_< On the flip side, people know me on Etsy and I've got great ratings, and I think I do all right on it.

Normally I would just plug away at my domain and hope that if I'm stubborn enough that will somehow magically make it work, but with the upcoming arrival of Lemony (yep, that's her name! ^_^) I've been trying to make things as easy for the both of us as possible.  We're trying to build better habits like doing laundry every other day because of the cloth diapers we plan on using and making sure to start the dishwasher at night and unload it in the morning...  Little domestic tics that when in place will make things run that much more smoothly.  I'll confess that the laundry is taking work, but we've got the dishes bit down pretty good.

What about my business?  I won't be able to stay up all night and bang on code or try to divide my time between updating both Etsy and a separate on-line store.  So far my business has been self-supporting, which is wonderful.  The bit of extra money I bring in enables us to purchase little things that make life better, like books or even just some really well-made, super-comfy socks.  (Seriously, having socks that fit well and are super-cozy can make your day a lot nicer right from the start.  Or maybe I'm just that easy to please.)

But a little thing is arriving at the end of May that will make our life better, and for me that means it's time for Rabbit Dance Designs to level up!  ^_^  We could survive on his income alone but I don't want to just "survive".  I would much rather we LIVE.  I want to be able to get family passes to all the great museums and zoos that we have here in Pittsburgh, and have a stroller or carrier capable of going into the gorgeous national parks we're surrounded by.  I would like to make enough money to be able to hand Lemony over to a sitter now and then so that me and Brian can go out and connect with each other as people.  I've been looked at funny when I mention that last one, but happy parents usually equal a happy kid.

Luckily I've got a few ideas and some actual plans that should help RDD do better.  Etsy has an awesome widget that I seriously don't use enough that can show people what's for sale in it right now.  Clicking on it takes visitors right there, so I can probably have a single page with "What's For Sale".  The other site I post my work on, deviantArt, allows me to embed my images on blogs, etc. and even has a little widget to display my most recently added works.

Check it out!

I can use this to showcase the pieces that I'm most proud of and to show off things that might not have made it to Etsy, like outside commissions.  I'm going to start off by revamping my website (AGAIN) and getting it all CSS-ed up nice and pretty the way I want it.  Except now I have a really good idea of what I want and what I'm doing.

Maybe Vox has some cool widgets so I can post this blog...  ^_^ That would be cool.

Well, I'm off to sit in a more comfortable spot (with bunnies) and draw up site plans.  CSS should make the building go so much faster, and the added widgets will REALLY cut down on my update time, which is my main stumbling block.

What do you think?  Am I crazy?  Setting my sights too high?  Or have I finally scaled things back to something manageable?  Do you maybe have ideas that can help?  Because that's a nice brand of cool.

Till Next Time,
Crazed

I got my new wall calendar in the mail today and my evening has been mostly full of me filling it out.
Sounds boring, but I mention it because I have discovered something about myself, want to share it, and I'm curious about the rest of you guys.

I don't fill out my calendar with a pen and then hang it up on the wall. I use a variety of cute stickers, gel pens, and hi-lighters. The calendar itself is a Rilakkuma (Relax Bear) wall calendar covered in Japanese-styled cute. January is pink, and the picture above the dates features Relax Bear sleeping, with his little bear pal dressed in a cow suit (no clue why), with a baby chick sleeping next to him. The date area is now covered with ninja stickers, lines of different-colored hi-lighter ink, and a lone sparkly blue dolphin sticker. Each Saturday has a black slash through it. Blue gel pen is prominent.

Why all the "ZOMG KAWAII!!" and sparkly-ness? It's because I need it.

I figured this out last year, and for my whole life I've always tried different things to keep me on schedule. Plain stickers with text on them? Nope. Writing with colored pens? No. Electronic computer calendars and phone alarms? Never worked. Calendars that we got free in the mail? I didn't look at them. Daily desk calendars? I wouldn't tear those off for months at a time. Day planners? I lose them.

But last year I decided to give day planners another try. I had always used the ones I got free in the mail from like funeral homes and car dealerships. You know, the ones with those plain textured vinyl covers with the name of whatever business embossed in gold lettering on them? Blargh. So I bought myself a cute black Japanese planner with a loop for a pen - Monokuro Boo, for anyone familiar with San-X stuff. I also bought a cute matching pen and picked up a Relax Bear wall calender, along with some random cute stickers "just for fun". (I love shopping at Kawaii Gifts)
We got home and I realized that I had a lot of stickers. I would normally snag them if I was walking through a craft shop and saw something that caught my eye. I mean, they're cute, they're like $2, so why not? I'll use them somewhere, right?  Wrong.  Most I did was put them on cards when I remembered I had them, and use them to decorate the edge of my computer monitor and my CPU tower.

I decided to use them to indicate birthdays on this cute calendar, and IT WORKED. 0_0 I didn't lose my day planner because not only had I paid money for it, but it was just so damn cute. Even the interior pages were covered in cute little piggies. The wall calendar was not only cute, but large and brightly-colored, so I had to notice it. I might ignore things in black ink, but stuff written with gel pens and hi-lighter accents? I always caught it.
Granted, I did lose the planner here and there, but I always found it again, and I used it. I found tiny mini-stickers with different symbols and little bears on it, just right for the main monthly pages, so I bought them and used them in the day planner, and I used it more because of it.

This year I'm tying the same thing, but different. I'm not really writing on the wall calendar - I'm sticking to color and sticker codes. I find that I glance at that, then I want to look at the planner for the fine details. I don't like writing details on the wall calendar; too hard to write neatly vertically, and my handwriting is atrocious to begin with.
My new planner is a Circa notebook with custom-printed pages, inside a pretty Celtic embossed-leather cover that Brian wasn't using. All it needs is a pen holder, but I'm not too worried about that - There's always a pen within arm's reach of it. I've got the little calendar event stickers tucked in the inside cover, right where I can find them. It's not cute, but it fits perfectly to the left of my keyboard. I like to touch the embossing, so I pick it up and use it.
I'm extending The Cute to the rest of my desk, and it's working. I've got a tiny kitty notepad instead of plain post-its, and I haven't lost it yet. I've got a plastic kitty folder to hold my monthly business receipts in, and that's working well so far to keep things neat on my desk.

So, that's what works for me. I'm wondering what you guys do. Are you still loking for a method? Have you gone through more than a few computer programs? Everyone learns differently and has their own scheduling needs. What works for you, or do you just not bother?

Tell me, I'm curious!
Crazed

My Resources:
Super-Cute Office Supplies - I'm sure there are other sites, but their physical shop is in here in Pittsburgh, so I love it.
Circa Notebooks - Expensive, but oh so nice.
Printable Calendar Pages, etc - FREE AND AWESOME. I love these guys.