Customers Love It!

I thought today would be an AWESOME day to show in photos, my gallery of a few of my favorite customer photos! Enjoy and hope you all had a great weekend!

Thanks so much everyone! Have a great day and be sure to check out my Buy One Get One Shop SALE!!

New Displays!

Decorative Tree from Ikea 4.99

I've been out and about lately and have dicovered some AWESOME finds! I wanted to share them with you. The above display tree I found at Ikea. The price was fabulous and the white color was just what I needed for my displays at craft shows! (I picked up 2 of these!) I plan on using them to display bracelets!

Storage Container from Ikea 4.99

This awesome container is one of my favorite finds! The lid lifts off and I keep it on my work table with my most often used components in it. I bought 2, but 1 sits empty still! This too, was another IKEA find!

Display Stand from Ikea 5.99

These stands I also found at Ikea! Perfect for bracelet displays too! I bought 2 in white so that I would have different levels on my table!

Red Containers from The Container Store

These fabulously awesome containers I found in all these sizes from The Container Store. These can get pricier the bigger they get, but I bought loads of the biggest size so that I can send them out with bigger orders packaged inside. They are very pretty and re-usable! Hope these have stirred up some ideas for you!!

I Had the Time of My Life...

Cheezy, I know, but I truly had a fabulous weekend!! I know you all want tips on business running and promoting, but today I had to steal a day to write about the awesome weekend I had! I finally got a hair cut that I love, I mean LOVE. My father insisted on taking me to his stylist, since I have been known to fall into the mommy look with my hair pulled back and out of the way of tiny hands! I hesitated to go, since my last hair cut was a disaster and I paid waaay too much for it, then I paid even more to have it 'fixed' and I still hated it! This is the first time I have ever had a stylist tell me what I needed and guess what? I needed it! haha! I never know what works for me, what looks good and what doesn't. I NEED that persons opinion, this is their career, their job, their life! They know what they are talking about. She topped it off with a headband by PinkPewter and it was glorious and perfect!

I walked into the hosue to see my husband and he smiled, he told me he loved my hair and it's his top style yet! Believe me in 10 years of being together, this is a huge compliment! I change my hair all the time!

Next was dinner at the Signature Room on the 95th of the Hancock Center in Chicago. It was absolutely fabulous if not magical! We had been there several times before kids, but somehow, now that we have kids, it seemed so much more elgant, fancy, dreamlike! It's great seeing a menu without chicken fingers on it! After a before dinner drink at the bar, we were seated along side a window the view was amazing. We had another drink while overlooking the menu and finally my husband decided on Lamb and I had the Filet. We ordered new drinks with dinner and it was decadent. Everything seemed to matieralize out of nowhere. Service was superb! Dessert followed and then it was time to keel over after settling the bill! Down we went in a super fast elevator and as if by magic a cab was down there ready to escort us to the Cadillac Palace, we were off to see Dirty Dancing! OMG! It was closing night and it was crowded! We were easily the most overdressed in the theatre, my husband in a suit and I was in an evening gown. (Remember, first big night out in 4 years, we wanted it to be perfect!) But it was still awesome! I bout too much merchandise, but I had to! It is my all time favorite movie!! Everything was SPECTACULAR, but I swear I fell in love with Tony Vincent. Was he in the lead as Johnny Castle? Nope, he was a singer and played Johnnys cousin, you know, the guy that takes baby to see the staff only quarters? WOW, he has a voice that makes women swoon! We had a truly fabulous weekend! I could go on, but I think I have said enough! haha!

Word for the Year...

I was browsing the Lollishops Guild (a private forums for vendors) and I came across a thread by Jill of Bailiwick Designs. It was all about choosing a word to set the tone for the year. I thought this was a great idea and went and thought about it. I chose the word Patience. I am a very impatient person, think 3 year old pouting and demanding. The sad thing is, is that it always works. I was an incredibly spoiled child and only grew up to be a spoiled adult hahha! I would be lying if I said my father didn't still spoil me. I was also lucky enough to marry a man that spoils me a bit too much too. I feel sorry for the man our daughter marries! hahaha! So I have decided to really try and work this out. I found some charms with the word PATIENCE on them and I made them into a Purse charm and a cell charm. When I move to my new studio, I am hoping to put the word on the wall. I not only want to learn patience in business (my lack of views and sales on Lollishops is a big one for me). I also have 3 children and trying to juggle this business and being the perfect stay at home mom is difficult sometimes. I need to be patient and realize that having it all is not always important. So what is your word?

Here is the direct line from the thread:

Every year I choose a word to use as an inspiration
and encouragement to myself. I'll even print it out and put it up all around my studio (and the bathroom
mirror too!) to remind me. Last year my word was
"focus"; this year it's
"grow". For one thing, I want my business to grow.

Are You Getting Repeat Business? AND I'm a Featured Artist!

Bacon Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld 13.00

Don't you just loooove when your customers gush about your goodies and then COME BACK for more?? How about when they send their friends back? Be sure you are getting your customers back in the door with a few little tips from moi!

1. Business cards. USE THEM! You would be surprised at the amount of packages I get with no business cards! I buy a lot (shop-a-holic) and that means I am getting 3 or 4 packages a day in the mail, I can't remember where everything is coming from!


2. Turn your business card around, see that blank spot on the back? It's begging to be used! write a discount on it, free shipping, free earrings, 5 dollars off! Something!! Remember to keep track of your discounts! Remember my post on this?


3. Send an extra card AND discount and write: FOR A FRIEND! And let them know that if a friend (different address and username) THEY also get something free!


4. Labels or Stickers. Put them on all of your packaged goodies, baggies, tissue paper, whatever you use! Make sure they see your shop name enough to remember it!

5. Shop stamp! Stamp your packages with something that has your logo on it. I've gotten 1 order (only 1, but heck it's 1 more that I wouldn't have!) from a post office employee! She knew I came in every day and knew there had to be something good in the envelopes and she said she loved my pieces I wore to the post office, so she wrote down the shop from the stamp, shopped and bought! STAMP the inside of your boxes too! I've had one sale from someone that bought something that had bought something from me and re-used the box! (Confusing I know).

6. Have a newsletter that people can sign up for and be sure to not spam them, have it come out once a month! Put pics of some of your hot items, a discount coupon and your shop news! Some highlights and what you are working on next. Offer EXCLUSIVE pieces to these people!


7. In one of your reply emails updating on their shipping let them know about your newsletter and offer a sign up sheet for them to sign up and get exclusive customer discounts!


8. EXCELLENT customer service. Acknowledge their order,let them know when you plan on shipping it out and try and leave feedback in a timely manner. Remember my post on this?


Wafer Cookie Earrings by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops 6.00

Don't forget to check out the Lollishops Blog this weekend! I'm the featured seller! I will let you know tomorrow in a teeny tiny post if I finally got any sales in my Candy Colored Lollishop Paradise. Remember, I have one heck of a rockin' goodie bag for anyone that purchases from my Lollishop today! Remember ALL my prices on Lollishops have shipping included in them, NO extra charges here!!

Photos...The Be All, End All?

Gingerbread House Brooch by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

Ahhh....we've all heard it right? Go into the forums and ask about being a successful shop and at least 75% of the replies will be about photos. GO ahead, try it, I dare you ;) Yes, your photos should be clear and a bit bright, but don't stress over them! Don't take 10 photos of each and every one of your products hoping for the right one, or your items will end up costing 50.00 each! (Yes, you should be adding in your photo taking time into the cost of your items.) Don't go running out to take photography lessons and buying 50.00 lightboxes. HOLD UP! WAIT! Take a deep breath and have a look around. light boxes and lessons take money. Wait until you have it in your business account to do it if you really want these things. If you don't and just think it's a necessary thing to sell anything, then wait and keep reading.

Tea and Crumpets Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

I have 1100 something sales or something like that, I do not have a lightbox, take my photos at night in a dark room sometimes, change my backround like all heck and worst of all? My photos are blurry sometimes! Go ahead, I will wait here, Check out my sold items section and go waaaay back to my last page. Did you see them? The blurry, pixelated messes I called photos? They were awful, dark and unedited. I made my first sale within an hour of being open! I knew right off the bat I needed a new camera, but it was not in the budget at the moment. I had a craft show lined up for a month after opening and until then I asked for advice. I started taking photos outside in natural light and that helped ALOT! Then the midwest reared it's ugly head and sometimes it was 100* outside and there was no way in heck I was going to photograph outside, so I started doing it by a window, this was also good!! Then sometimes my kids wouldn't take naps on some days and I was stuck waiting until my husband got home at 430 and sometimes it was already getting dark?! So I started using a photo editing program!! That has been my BEST FRIEND! My photos are still not great, not even good sometimes, but I'm selling regulary and you can at least see what it is you are buying :) MY new camera eventually was purchased after a successful craft show and though it was not the magic answer to my photos, it did help! (Macro setting was a must!).

Conversation Heart Rings by MichellesCharmWorld on Lollishops

Now take a look at some of the shops out there, some of them have THOUSANDS of sales and their photos are so dark, half the time I don't even know what I'm buying without reading the description. (Maybe people like the grab bag idea?! heehe). Some shops have photos that are excellent, but so overpropped, you don't know if you are getting the 5 strands of pearls are part of that bottlecap key chain, and yet they have loads of sales. I think it's all about a catchy thumbnail, combined with a CLEAR, DESCRIPTIVE title. (No need to get creative with your titles, I find my creative titles have the least amount of views). If you've been here yesterday, you will also note that I made the front page too! So see, just try hard, but don't overdo it. Perfect pictures are not always the answer. I've seen some FAB-YOU-Less photos out there in shops that have been open and avtive since 2005 and they still only have a few sales. It's all about your product. Work with what you have and don't stress!

Awesome New Goodies!

Do Not Bend usually means shove me into the smallest spaces you can find!

I love to read new blogs and come across interesting little windows into peoples lives! I rarely enter give-aways as my luck is awful and I love giving others a shot! Well there was one that I just had to enter because the items were so cute and guess what?! I won! Go figure! haha.

I won the giveaway on PinkAndPosh blog. It's such a bright blog, that I got hooked into reading alot there and when I came upon the contest, I entered! It was for a shop called Healthy Little Ones.

Before I entered the contest, I checked out the site and fell in love! So many things that I wished I had had when my littles were in carriers and strollers! She makes signs that say Don't Touch The Baby in the nicest ways!! I used to get so annoyed that people would touch my kids faces, hair, Legs and sometimes EVEN PICK THEM UP! Strangers!! It was just too crazy for words. I also wish I had put one of these signs on my belly while I was pregnant! haha! That would have certainly kept people at bay! They were always grabbing my belly!!



The package arrived so fast I was amazed at her prompt shipping! It was great to open up the treasure trove of prizes!! I wanted to keep them all and not give them to the kids! hahah!

Quality: Superior

Ease of Use: Perfect (kids are 2 and 3)

Packaging: Maybe a little carboard sleeve to put the goodies into once in the envelope to keep from getting to bent when the post man gets lazy and bends anyway! (not her fault my post lady is crazy though!)

Individual packaging: So cute and colorful!!

Overall: A++ communication was fabulous, shipping super fast and best of all the items are GREAT!

Everything is going to be perfect for our upcoming road trip! The kids will definately be entertained! I only regret not going ahead and buying an additional board for my son.

The Goodies:

Drama Queen Bag Tag

Dishwasher Clean/Dirty Tag

Reminder List

Alphabet Practice Sheet

She even threw in EXTRAS!?! and the best part? Everything came with it's own marker that needed one, so I didn't have to run out and get one to complete the sets! I'm in love! hurry up and check her out!

Customer Service Is Key

Pretty Bow Bracelets by MichellesCharmWorld

Hello Shop owners and shoppers! Tis the season for Christmas shopping and it has definately begun. It's time to start thinking about our business practices and how we are treating our customers.

Emotions. Keep in mind that while what you write may sound fine in our heads often times can seem rude or patronizing in an email. Internet selling is so difficult because we really don't know the feelings and emotions behind words. I have recently heard back from sellers from different sites that customizing an item to my likes was NOT WORTH THEIR TIME. Yes, said just like that. Maybe they did not intend it to seem so harsh, but it really did stun me for a second. Another message said that the answer to my question was in their profile section and had I taken the time to look there, I would have found it. Very Very odd practices in business.

Questions. Please take the time to answer all your messages, even if they are not something you want to deal with at the moment. I have 4 conversations to sellers out there at the moment and not one of them has replied. I have definately removed items from my favorites and will not be buying from them at this time if ever. Sometimes it's just a quick question about an item, that could be answered in no time. It's too bad really, because you don't know what you could be missing out on by neglecting a response.

Trades. We don't all trade and we may not trade all the time. Heck, I limit my trades to one a month, so that I don't lose out too much on any money. When someone messages you a trade request, get back to them. Even if it's just to say no. I'm so bad about these because I feel so guilty saying no, but I know I have to respond. Guess what? 8 times out of 10, those people have still bought the items they wanted to trade for!! Yay!

Customer Contact. When you sell something to someone, don't forget to thank them for their order! I have been getting really bad at this lately because I get so busy and keep putting it off, then I forget who I messaged and whom I didn't! I am trying to get back on track!!

Feedback. Try and leave feedback in a timely manner. It's pretty hard to get them all in order, but maybe schedule a time or day to catch up on them. I'm sticking with wednesdays! It seems to be the day when i've calmed down from the hectic weekend. As a Buyer please remember to contact sellers FIRST if you have a problem with the item before leaving negative or neutral feedback. It's so easy to fix most problems and many of us are so willing to work with you!

Bows and Pearls Earrings by MichellesCharmWorld