Christmas Craft Fair

The Mililani Mauka Christmas Craft Fair was this past weekend.  I had planned long ago when my mom first mentioned to me she bought a table that I would make a lot of stuff to sell that day.  Well, that did not happen.  Not only did I not make the huge batch of new stuff that I wanted to make, I got sick a couple days before.  Not just a cold but hook me up and keep me attached to the nebulizer breathing machine sick.

I decided the night before that I would try to come up with a few things to take if I felt well enough to go.  I was really happy with what I made but my girls would not cooperate and kept touching all my supplies.  I went to bed feeling like I would not go and fell asleep without gathering anything up for the next day.

Here is my mom's table with all her crafts.  She worked for 3 months straight making all her amazing things.  Her last addition to this bunch was all her different angry bird plushies.

I am trying to convince my mom to open an etsy shop but until then all her creations are sitting in her sewing room waiting for new homes.  If any of you are interested in anything  you see here, let me know.  Oh!  And the picture does not show it but you see the red table cloth?  Under the table is a ton more stuff.  She just put out a few of everything and kept re-stocking.  There were big bins full of her stuff so there is a lot more than is shown on the table.

When I woke up that morning I was not feeling well.  I could not breathe good and had to go on the machine before I even got out of bed.  My 2 older ones out of the three little girls woke up so I decided to get ready and go to the craft fair even though it started at 9am and it was almost 11am.  The girls were so excited to go.

My mom bought this beautiful rot iron bust and brought it for me to display my crocheted leis on it but I forgot all of them.

I got there late and rushed to get all my stuff displayed.  I love how it turned out.  It was perfect.

I put together this necklace shortly after I set out the entire display.  Put it out on the display while a friend was browsing and she took it right off and bought it.  I love this one a lot.  A couple of hair clips went home with her along with this necklace.  I forgot to take pictures of those before I wrapped it up and handed them over to her.  I was rushing and wasn't feeling well.  Lesson learned for the next time.

This next necklace is one of my first pieces that I made when I decided to open my etsy shop.  So many people love it.  This one was also bought that day.

Showing up towards the end of the day did not work in my favor.  I did not make any more sales for the rest of the time but I was so happy that others loved my creations and wanted it for themselves.

I love the way my display turned out and was surprised at how amazing all my creations looked.  I took this photo and edited it a few times then created a shop button below.  In fact, based on this picture alone I changed my shop name from "Naluana Creations" to "A Little Piece of Me Shop".  I was torn between changing the name since my original creations were more things from Hawaii or Hawaiian type accessories.  This is with stock I have had from things I've made way back.

Since I started my blog and am creating new things that I love, the name to match my blog seemed more appropriate and so does this picture and new shop button.  I'm excited and once I feel better I'm going to re-stock my shop and add the few new things I created just for the craft fair that did not sell.

Support Handmade this Holiday Season

Visit my shop here:

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Small Business Day: Fleeting Thought Turned Sale!!

It's Small Business Day at Three's 4 Me blog and one of my necklaces is featured over there!

Small Business Tuesday

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83403093/multi-colored-braided-and-rolled-triple?ref=pr_shop

This week I want to share how one fleeting thought brought me a sale.  Yay!  I don't know why I haven't thought of it before.  The other day while I was writing a post I was searching for just the right picture of myself to add to it.  I just wanted one picture to go along with a poem that was about me.

Then, I remembered the "Journey" necklace photo I took for my shop.  So I added it to the post which was perfect.  I added the details of the necklace and the link to my shop below.


Guess what?  Someone loved the necklace and bought it!!!  Not only that, when I went to check out the order, she had bought 3 other items too!!  Yay!!  I have been adding other blogs and shop links on my blog homepage if I had won something from a giveaway or if a giveaway was done by another blogger on my blog.  I have been advertising for everyone else but not for myself!  Light bulb!


So here are the other pretties that went to a new home with the necklace.

Lesson for the week:

- add photos of your products in your blog posts

- add an album for your shop on your Facebook Fan Page

- add an album for your shop on all your personal media outlets

- share on Facebook or Twitter regularly about your products

- make up greeting cards of all kinds that feature your products

I have not added any holiday items to my shop but these go along well with the holiday spirit.  Red, White, and Green.  These are available in the shop and are awaiting a new home or shall I say a new owner to love them and wear them proudly.

All Lei are crocheted using ribbon and yarn.  They are very soft, easy to wear, and look like real flower lei depending on what combination of ribbon and yarn are used.  These can be used to wrap around vases, on any type of hats but look great on cowboy hats and women's floppy hats.

Hoping to share new items next week.

Until then choose Handmade for your Holiday shopping...  

Visit shop here:

If you already do these things things to promote your business, how has it been working for you?  Do you have other ideas you would like to share?  If you try these tips, please let me know how it worked for you.


Good luck, see you next week!




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SBM Challenge # 5: Fortune 500 Goals

Small Business Challenge #5

Here's our challenge:

write your goal{s} out like a Fortune 500 CEO would.

Naluana Creations

Fortune 500 CEO Goals

1. Naluana Creations will have a permanent shop name by December 31, 2011
2. Naluana Creations will have a purpose/theme chosen by December 31, 2011
3. Naluana Creations will have a new logo by February 1, 2012
4. Naluana Creations will have a stationary and packaging theme picked out by February 1, 2012
5. Naluana Creations will have a set schedule for production, planning, and customer service by November 1, 2011
6. Naluana Creations will have made 20 or more items for the Christmas Craft Fair on December 5, 2011
7. Naluana Creations will have a safe environment to hold all completed merchandise by October 31, 2011

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Small Business Month:: Challenge #4 Diversifying Your Audience

Small Business Month Challenge #4

DIVERSIFYING YOUR AUDIENCE: 

Okay, we're getting into the nitty-gritty. Really think here: What are a few ways you can do this? Could you attend a craft fair? Should you attend more craft fairs with different demographics? What about guest posting on other people's blogs? What about thinking outside the box and guest posting on a man's blog to promote your products to his wife? Should you advertise outside of blog world? REALLY think about this one. Tell what you can do to DIVERSIFY YOUR AUDIENCE more than you already have up until this point.

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My etsy shop is new so I haven’t really thought about it.  In the past I have done craft fairs, sold at work, word of mouth, through family and friends.   I will be doing a craft fair with my mom in December.

So far with my shop, it’s too early to tell.  I’m in the middle of my second giveaway in a blog swap but so far, no sales. 

I haven’t thought of advertising outside my blog because I started my shop just to have a little extra money to help my family.  Once my sales pick up and there is more of  a budget for advertising that is when I will look into it.  Right now, all the sales I make will need to go to providing for my family.

I have never thought about advertising to men or asking men to look into wish lists for their significant other.  This is a great idea actually and one that I will look into especially with those who don’t want to go out shopping and walking the mall for gifts.

One thing I need to do is get my daughters into this and have them wear my merchandise.  There are 6 of them and 2 sisters I can make use of.  6 out of these are adults who are in the business world and could bring in some interested customers I’m sure.

I feel like one challenge for me living in Hawaii is that the influences I use in my merchandise is geared more toward the local people here.  I’m trying to figure out how to change things up to meet a broader group of people.  I think I’m still trying to figure out what types of creations are me.  I tend to just whip things up because I feel like it or something inspires me.  I don’t usually stick to one type of thing. 

Once I figure this out then I think it will be more clear on who or where I should focus on.

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Linking up here:

Wordless Wednesday:: Etsy Shop Photo Shoot

http://naluanacreations.etsy.com

All my heart…

Salena

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Small Business Month:: Challenge #3 My First Sale

Today's Small Business Month Challenge is to

tell, in detail, about your first sale. Where were you, what were you doing, who did you tell first, did you jump up and down in excitement, did you call your mom, did you scream the news at your husband, what?! I know you remember!

{And if that first sale hasn't found it's way to your inbox yet, what will you do when you see those blessed words, "transaction complete?"}

{Don't act like you haven't thought about it!}

My First Sale!!!

I woke up to check my etsy shop the following day after I listed my first few items and noticed a message in my box.  I was quite shocked to find that someone left me a message about living in the local area and needed the product the next day.  I didn’t think I would get a sale that fast.  I honestly sat there for a while not knowing what to do.  It was my first sale and had a read through all the handbook info yet?  Ummm, no.  =)

The first person I told was my husband.  He wasn't as excited as I thought he was going to be.  I'm thinking it's probably because I've sold stuff before so it's nothing new to him.  ???  Well, that's what I keep telling myself.  

I replied to the customer and we decided to meet in the middle because she lived on the other side of the island.  For those of you who don’t know… I live on Oahu, Hawaii.  I live on the Leeward side and she lives in Town.  25 miles away.  Yes, for those living on the continental US, this is a short lovely drive. 

My husband works on the way so I asked him to make the delivery.  I didn’t think of packaging at all yet so I frantically tried to think of a way to package her purchase.  I thought maybe I should print the invoice and send her a little message so I had to create something fast because my husband was on his way out the door.  Just in time I got it all together to hand him the box and phew, I was relieved and yet anxious about what the customer thought of my product, the last minute packaging and my note.  I haven’t heard from her so I’m assuming all is well and she loved her purchase.

The next thing I did was shout it to the world on Facebook.  I was excited that I was an official etsy shop seller.  I felt great about how my first sale went but I can’t wait till the next time because then I’ll be more prepared! 

All my heart…

Salena

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Grand Opening of Etsy Shop

Grand Opening!!

Check it out…

my Etsy shop opened today.

A Little Piece of Me

 listed as Naluana Creations

In my shop you will find various accessories.

Take a look.  =)

All my heart…

Salena

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