In Stores

I am so excited! Homegrown Accents is now in stores!!!! Two local stores agreed to place select items in their store.  Both are in downtown Summerville, SC. So the biggest hurdle (getting through the door) is done, what's next?  Well, my next challenge will be to create enough unique jewelry to keep the store owners happy.  This is where I need some advise. As an artist you experience periods of non-creativity. When your there how do you find inspiration? 

Lost My Job

As with many small business owners Homegrown Accents is a part time career. Last week I lost my full time job, so until I find a new position HGAccents is becoming my full time job.  I have decided to use this time to be creative! I will be creating new products and leveraging social media a lot more. Wish me luck :)

How to post during the Holidays

We can all agree that social media increases sales. Posting to Facebook and Twitter often increases visibility and your chances of making a sale. While it sounds simple often times it is difficult to accomplish when your a small business. Especially, when your a one person show. So when the holidays approach and your spending time with family and friends the last thing on your mind is spending time posting to FB. This holiday season I am planning ahead. Using a post scheduling program called Hoot Suite I am able to preschedule my postings.  Allowing me to enjoy a family dinner while technology does my marketing.

Halloween Earrings

Normally, I do not make a lot of seasonal jewelry.  Until, now I have not seen a high demand for it.  This year though, it seems everyone is more festive from Easter to Halloween people are decorating and wearing themed costume jewelry.  So I decided to give it a shot and make five pairs of earrings for Halloween.  To my shock and excitement, they became a best seller.  All five sold!  Ok, this may sound crazy but I was over the moon.  And the best part? People keeping telling me how much they like them and how they went great for dressing up today.  Yippy!

Hmmm.... Which is better?

I have been trying to come up with a new recipe for handmade lotion.  The problem I am having is finding the right ingredients to give the lotion a long shelf life.  Of course, I could add chemicals but I want to keep it natural. 

So which is better using chemicals or having a short shelf life?

Girls Night In

In the Charleston, SC area and looking for something to do? How about a girls night?

An Online Jewelry Party

I have friends that live all over the US, which is great, for traveling.  Not so great, for trying to promote my small business.  To overcome this problem I decided to ask friends and family host an online jewelry party.  Throwing an online party is an inexpensive way to market your business. For ideas checkout my website http://www.homegrownaccents.com/jewelry-party.html

Upcoming Craft Shows

From now until Christmas Homegrown Accents will be having online craft shows.  Checkout my facebook page for dates and times and promo codes.  www.facebook.com/homegrownaccents 

HGAccents Virtual Craft Show

A few months ago I decided to create a place where artist could post their handmade products for free! Please take a moment to view all the wonderful products @ www.facebook.com/hgaccentsvirtualcraftshow
While your there feel free to list your items as well. 

Sales Tax

Most online companies do not charge sales tax, but they should.  When making online sales be sure to charge sales tax when a buyer is from the same state that you are registered as a business. For example if you are a SC business you must charge sales tax to all online purchases by SC residences.  If you are using Etsy to sell your items, you can easily setup the sales tax for your state by logging into your account, going to your shop settings, sales options, clicking on the taxes tab. 

Down Time

When you own your own business there is no such thing as time off. However, there are slow periods. During these slow periods don't fall into a rut; use this time to celebrate the success you have had and develop ideas to improve. Between working full time and owning a business not very often do I find periods when I can relax. But when I do, like today, I use them to the fullest extent. I spend time researching the newest marketing strategies, reviewing my business plan to make sure it still accurately reflects my dreams. My point is always make the most of your time, even if it means taking some R&R to help rejuvenate yourself.

PO Box vs UPS Box

As a small business owner that does not have a brick and mortar store, I have pondered getting a PO Box so I don't have to use my home address for my business. The down side to getting a PO Box is that is does not look as professional (to some people) as having an actual street address. The UPS store has capitalized on this perception by offering business owners a physical street address to use. In addition, the UPS store offered several features that were not available through the post office. For instance, a notification when mail is received so you don't waste time driving to an empty mail box; they would also sign for packages from UPS and FedEx on your behalf.  Yesterday, after weighing the differences between getting a PO Box and a UPS box I decided to go with a PO Box because of the cost ($150 for a year, vice $52.00 for 13 months).  When I picked up my PO Box keys yesterday, to my surprise and delight, the USPS rep informed me about the new free services that the post office is now offering for PO boxes. They now sign for packages, notify you when you have mail AND allow you to use their physical address. WOW!  No longer will there be a need for companies to use the UPS store, a good old PO box will once again do the trick.

Etsy Decoded

I ran across this article today and thought it would be helpful to people selling or thinking of selling on Etsy. http://outright.com/blog/decoded-analyzing-etsy-success-tips/ 

Update on Quick Books

Ok, I know I previously posted that Quick Books is amazing. I was wrong. The more I tried to use the program the more difficult it became. Luckily, Intuit does offer a 60 day money back guarentee, so I wasn't out a whopping $250!  Since my cancellation of QB I have found a free cloudbased system to use, Outright. Outright is great for tracking your expenses and income. It links directly to your accounts and monitors for new activity.  The only down side is there is no inventory management, but for free I can't complain.

Virtual Craft Show

For a while I tossed around a question. How can people from all over the world possibly make it to all the craft shows? They can't. And if they can't how will they see my items? My desire to reach a larger customer base lead me to the idea of creating a virtual craft show. I posted my idea on my FB page and artisans seemed to love it. So today I created HGAccent's Virtual Craft Show! The show is designed so that all artisans can post their unique products for free. My hope is that people will spread the word about the show which will lead to great success for all.

 

Please take a moment to view the show. www.facebook.com/HGAccentsVirtualCraftShow

 

Feedback would be greatly appreciated