If you want to succeed on Etsy, don’t take advice from Etsy

Etsy has come under fire for anti-feminism once again; this time by Emily Matchar, whose book  Homeward Bound spawned a maelstrom of indignation on Etsy’s blog. Is Etsy, as Matchar suggests, peddling a false dream of DIY Utopia, a hipster revolution won with glitter and glue guns?

According to Matchar:

But now, in many progressive communities (Austin, Brooklyn, Portland, my hometown of Chapel Hill, NC ), small—very small—businesses have gained a new, distinctly groovy luster. In these parts, people speak of an "artisan economy" of "hyper-local" businesses selling "handmade" goods. In this new artisan economy, running a teeny-tiny business is not just fulfilling, it's morally good. Not only are you pursuing your creative goals and rejecting the rat race, you're also striking a blow against corporate behemoths and all they represent—greed, environmental destruction, the homogenization of culture.

If you take out the sarcasm, I agree. There are fulfilling moments in my own artisan career path unmatched by anything else. And it worked exceedingly well for me as a mom with children in my home. There are sound, wise reasons for women to cherish domesticity and yearn for a home based business.

The problem :

According to studies, less than 40 percent of small businesses are ever profitable.

That’s what Matchar cites to indict Etsy for peddling a false dream???? Really? Because according to this Inc Magazine interview “It seems fair to assume, using statistics the company has released, that there are fewer than 1,000 sellers who make $30,000 a year or more, and a mere handful who make more than $100,000.” So the very-bad-odds-of-success with a fledgling artisan business turn to virtually-guaranteed-to-fail if you rely solely on Etsy, Unless financial poverty is part of your business plan.

I was among that elite “fewer than 1,000” before I started my website  Lee Wolfe Pottery which now generates the bulk of my sales. In this I am typical. Most artisans who manage to sell well on Etsy graduate to their own website, which makes Etsy a poor barometer for how well artisan businesses are doing. It also makes the advice and collective wisdom spewing forth from there particularly bombastic. I mean, if you go to learn, most of your advisors are failing.

The truth is, the internet has changed the nature of commerce to the supreme advantage of Indie businesses IF you use it intelligently and think like an entrepreneur rather than a drone. This suits me just fine.

Back to the question,Is Etsy peddling a false dream? Not for its investors! But for those who really would like to quit their day job, Etsy is doing a very poor job of providing an artisan business access to financial success while giving itself a lot of credit for it. Many of the things that might nurture a fledgling business cripple an already successful one, so, perhaps inadvertently, Etsy is engaging and catering to marginal businesses while repelling viable entrepreneurs who want a professionally hosted site with more stability, fewer capricious changes, and less interference with buyer transactions and communications. In its favor, Etsy has undergone huge changes in its young life, and it isn’t done yet. The promise of supporting and empowering home based artisan businesses is a worthy one.

Your thoughts and experiences are welcome!

Creative Weddings

My niece, Cionne, was married on 6/27, under a beautiful hand built outdoor huppa in Chicago. Before I get all sentimental and philosophical, here’s a few pics of our family enjoying Chi town and the reception:

  

So today, Kelly and James dropped by to pick up the gifts ordered from their bridal registry. Here is the set they now own- 10 place settings of my Beach Cottage:

They shared some lovely pics from their wedding, with chic creative flourishes, all handmade, or purchased on Etsy. I am loving this trend towards creative weddings!

 

I loved James’ pinwheel buttonniere, purchased from rule42.  And look at the adorable handmade flower girl tutus!

I love how individual style is the rule these days. I wish both couples all the happiness that their hearts can hold. It’s such an honor to be a part of someone’s wedding- as a guest, and as the maker of their dinnerware, too!

Artisans Gallery Team

From top: ring by Markhed, vest by LoveandKnit, pottery by oneblackbird, clock by PaulaArt,   painting by StudioZen.

As the snowstorms raged and birds clung to our feeders like jewels of life outlined by white death, I dreamed into existence the Artisans Gallery Team on Etsy, in partnership with the talented and intelligent MerrittHyde. Okay... maybe it wasn't quite that simple or graceful, and yes, it took hours and days of endless lists and secretarial prowess (which I possess in scarcity) but in the end I see a team of extreme talent and professionalism that exceeds my original vision. If you visit the team blog or search the team tag, agteam, you will see what I mean!

We are a juried team of artisans of distinction, vetted by peers for excellence in design, skill, presentation, integrity, and customer service. Our team will offer buyers an online experience akin to shopping in a gallery by creating a marketplace of high quality, exceptionally skilled artisans. As an international team, with volunteer translators, we are a network aligned to promote the goals of the Handmade Revolution, to connect and support each other across language and geographic barriers, and to recognize and encourage professional standards and unique artistic voices.

I hope that you will sense, as I do, the individual artistic voice of each member, and find joy in discovering the members of our team.

separate and unique magic

I'm in the Voter: Valentine's Gifts for Her. These are my thrown white bottle vases as a set. The tallest one is a full 12". I love how majestic and Zenlike this set is. I love to use them with flowers because you really only need a few to create magic. Look at what they do for carnations- what Charlotte on Sex and the City called "filler flowers."

Rather than cram a handfull of rare blooms into one vase, the bottle vases let each one glorious individual life reveal its separate and unique magic.

I'd love your vote!

Special Delivery: Share Your Love

 

I am in love with 2D collage, and when the scrapbooking craze started, it had me at hello. When I ran across Etsy's call for Valentine's Day cards to be delivered with Meals on          Wheels, my neglected piles of paper, pens, and punches cried out to be used. So here are some of my offerings, being mailed to Brooklyn today.

I wanted to do something that used my pottery, and I work hard to stage my photos for every season, so I printed out small pics of my bowls with the M&M hearts for each card, using the pithy phrase 'you "bowl" me over.' Then with punched hearts and circles, torn edge strips and mats, I created individual little collaged  cards.   I also used hand writing and doodles so that they look handmade and one of a kind. I love knowing that they will brighten someone's day.  

I once visited a large nursing home on Christmas with the Holiday Project, which was organized around knowing that suicide is high on holidays when those who feel left out of the merriment  experience depression. We were singing a rendition of Silent Night that would no doubt give Simon Cowell nightmares, when an older gentleman said, in a croaking voice, "Merry Christmas." The staff dropped jaws, and one nurse cried. The man hadn't uttered a word in 20 years. 

Acts of kindness are powerful. More than we might think.                                                                                     

my work is interfering with my drinking

My husband invited me to a wine tasting event at The Wine Studio of Asheville. Sounds good to me; I love wine, and we keep a nice collection. Then I started trying to recall the last time we'd uncorked a new bottle, and it hit me. We've practically stopped drinking.... how the heck did that happen??!!??

By late last September, my Etsy shop got on steroids somehow. My husband took on a full time job- less flexibility than free lance consultant- and continued to pack and ship my pottery after work. I was working 10 hours in the studio and spending 4 more hours managing my shop. Dinner became a quick sit down event, and our ritual glass of wine got lost in the manic energy to get on with business.

Furthermore, Friday evening used to be wine and cheese night, or saki and sushi. My husband and I either snacked in bed while watching a movie, or ate by the firepit and then laid in the hammock talking into the dark hours. This now seems like a distant memory, although I'm sure we did it last July sometime.

My work is interfering with my drinking. There. I have admitted that I have a problem. Sure, I have tons of cute photos in my Etsy shop, like the one above, but my cabs, merlots, and pinot grigios are neglected.

Abundance

I've learned an interesting lesson over the past year, which is that abundance has little to do with what you actually have, and a lot to do with your relationship with what you have. Abundance is less of a bank statement and more of a state of mind. Abundance is a feeling of having everything you need and just a little bit more, and generously giving from that context of gratitude that you've been blessed beyond your needs.

I was not born into a Norman Rockwell picture, and I did not learn these types of Precious Moments platitudes from my saint of a mother. I spent many years convinced that abundance was something I would acheive if my income went up $50,000 more, that generosity meant calculatingly giving to prestigious charities, and that gratitude was something we faked in order to not hurt grandma's feelings when we opened her gifts.

So this knowledge that abundance is not about money is new for me. My riches are now like this bowl, pictured above. The outside is a soft white, which absorbs all light, and all the beauty is on the inside.

ornaments

If you've followed my blog, you know how obsessed I am with getting the photography right in my Etsy store. Each season holds a new challenge, and now I'm facing how to do Chranukka (Christmas and Hanukkah) without losing my pagan buyers, and also eager to include any Muslims, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, or atheists. Because basically, we all want the same thing at our winter holiday, which is to charge less on our credit card than the amount that would cause us to go to jail!

So I pulled out these snowflake tealight holders as a backdrop for my ornaments, like the one above. My photo lab now consists of a Veritone taped to the outside of my back door, with me laying on the concrete patio to shoot. I did the snowflakes pretty well, and then started my Woodland Birds, with a paper and wire hanger. To cut to the chase, the paper caught on fire. I blew the candle out, which sprayed hot wax on my Veritone backdrop. I tried to scrape this off with a knife, cut my finger, and then bled on top of the wax. There was a bit of swearing involved at this point.

I can now give you a great tip. To remove wax and blood from a Veritone, use nail polish remover. That is my photo tip for today. So if you are in awe of my nifty candlelit shots, you now know exactly what kind of knowledgeable and capable photographer I am!

Guardian lantern

My Guardian Lantern is in this week's Etsy Voter- please check it out and consider voting for me! It is my first time in the Voter, so thank you to whoever nominated me. I have one like this piece in the front window of my studio. It greets me as I come and go, it shows off to my visitors the exact colors of Autumn, the glorious residue of stored up memories, the impossible reds, the sun soaked dust of gold.

The colors of autumn are the most fleeting in nature and maybe its a bit of irony to use them on my pottery, which is so unchanging and solid. Or maybe this is what all artists do. We capture moments that might otherwise be lost.

What I do not know, exactly

I have been wondering about Divine Guidance lately. Are we born into this world to meet up with certain people, to develop specific inner gifts, to leave behind a pre-ordained list of accomplishments? I do not know.

What I do know is that the success that I've had in the past year could not have come about except as a reaction to what seemed like a tragedy at the time, and that I prayed, meditated, visualized, and asked for Divine Guidance continuously in the first month after my husband lost his job last year. It's almost funny to me looking back, because I was, at the time, a news junkie, so my daily routine consisted of reading blogs and watching cable news reporting on the international economic collapse and impending Depression. I needed prayer to deal with the fear!

I was also living inside many faulty beliefs, such as that no one would buy pottery online and pay all that extra shipping, that selling to high class galleries was the pinnacle of accomplishment and so selling my own work would be backsliding, and that I couldn't stand out amongst the millions of internet shops and sites anyway.

So I only tried Etsy out of sheer desparation, and because it was healthier to immerse myself in a world of artists and vintage sellers as opposed to the paralyzing unemployment statistics, reports of new layoffs, home foreclosures, and corporations going bankrupt. As a bonus, I had my husband at home full time, a former operations manager, now executive VP of Operations. He set up the sales tracking, packing, and shipping systems for my Etsy store, and once all that was running smoothly, he found another job.

I also found a freedom on Etsy to sell more indie, one of a kind experimental pieces, which I've always preferred making. These are harder to market through galleries because of the gallery mark up, but I can sell these easily and affordably on Etsy. I am much happier working now, more excited to go into my studio, and I've close to doubled my income!

The luminary above, titled SUCCESS, has a bee and a dandelion, which are symbols of happiness at work, and spreading fertile seeds, or growing one's resources and wealth. I surrounded myself with these images as my Etsy store blossomed.

Did these images help guide my life? Did The One Who Sustains Us darken my world, and then illuminate the path that lead to my highest and best good? I do not know exactly.

recognition for my Night Chi dinnerware

Etsy Finds: October Shopping Guide came out in the Storque (Etsy's blog) today, with my Night Chi dinnerware set in the lead photo. I can't quit staring at it with a tinge of shock and pleasure. I'm not a yay! Look at me! Yahoo type of person and I'm not going on a twitterfest over this, but you know what? There is a warm fire in the cave where my creativity lives, and every acknowledgement and recognition throws a small stick of wood on it. Abe Lincoln said:

Don't worry when you are not recognized but strive to be worthy of recognition.

My Night Chi dinnerware depicts the feeling of nighttime energy, with its starry black sky and golden mountainscape in autumn colors. We eat dinner late at my house, at 7 or even 8 some nights, and it's dark in the fall and winter, so we eat by candlelight. The moon wanders outside my windows spreading its magical radiance. Occasionally a raccoon peers inside, the owls chant, and is still enough to hear rustles of wind.

I go out almost every night for a few moments and soak up some Night Chi.

3 new dresses

My daughter can now drive; she has her own Etsy store, and has done rather well. I want her to save some for college and also have the experience of being in charge of her own money. So, for the first time, Marci drove herself downtown to shop the small independent stores on Lexington Ave, and bought 3 new dresses with her own money, and without me to help her choose. I like them all! I like that she is choosing independent designers selling in small Indie shops, and I really like the hand crochet on the 3rd dress, which is her favorite. It's a new kind of moment for me, I mean, it's one thing to pass along your genes, but to see that I've helped nurture my daughter's talent, helped her start her own creative business, and really enjoy her sense of style, too- that's a lot to be thankful for! Dress #2, the one with the pockets, that's just so cute. I like that she'll still humor mom with the posed pictures, too.

dinnerware and dreams

I've been working on a large set of dinnerware, custom made for a client here in Asheville, and just listed a sample on Etsy. I loved mixing one bowl in that has 1 glaze in common but 2 that are different; it breaks up the matchy matchiness that I loathe in commercial table settings. I absolutely love the way that the cobalt blue glaze flows into a subtle pebbly pattern and then ends in an aqua pool.

I've also been working on some Halloweeny designs, but my daughter, Marci, scooped me on this, and got herself into a gift guide!

I am watching the soft patter of a light rain fall on individual petals and then roll off in teardrops. Do the flowers mourn the end of summer, the passing of Teddy Kennedy, or the sorrows of this world? Or do they merely accept the rain, and turn towards the sun when it returns, as if all the fleeting moments of life are precious, and none scorned?

Well, I must get a grip and go glaze some plates, though the flowers call to me: discover my secrets, live to observe and praise. It's tempting.....

Evidence of Grace

We don't see the roots pushing their way through dense soil to find moistness. Our sense of time doesn't track the uncurling leaves nor the opening into brilliant bursts of mesmerizingly scented flowers. We take for granted that the flowers will come forth and bloom, and so it makes sense to me that I might trust in mysterious processes at work in my own life.

Marci and I have both been working in flower bowls! She made the Plum Poppy Bowl, above, and I made the Turquoise Waters Serving Bowl.

We are both thinking of Laura Slocom, and etsyprojectembrace, watching a community come together to support a woman in her healing process. I am also thinking of the strange and yes, wonderful, things that have occurred since the economic recession took my husband's job. In search of new income, I found Etsy. In search of a summer job, Marci also opened her Etsy store. And we now work side by side, and I get to hear her 16 year old heart for hours each day, a priveledge, a flower also unfolding.

Evidence of Grace. All of it.

The Embrace Continues

Hawaiian Coconut Nesting Bowls by GlazedOver



Shore Merino wool felt necklace by MaisyandAlice



Isadoa Dancers by Maclancy



I Heart Fridge magnets by LauraSlocumPainted



Teal Heart by Sigmosaics

There are now 337 items tagged etsyprojectembrace, to show support of Laura Slocum in her battle against stage 3 ovarian cancer. What touches us all is Laura's bright and beautiful attitude, the way that she cares so deeply about others.

"I believe that you must play the hand you’re dealt...I’m going to play the hand I’ve been dealt in the best and most positive way I know how. There will always be some people in this world who have it better and some who have it worse. That’s just life."

Laura's words call to my mind words that I read often, words that I endeavor to live by, those of George Bernard Shaw:

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

I'm part of Etsyprojectembrace

You know I love treasuries on Etsy, and the best people I've found are mainly other treasury makers. Laura Slocum offered some insight into this recently:

"The one thing I’ve learned in the past year is that Etsy has made it a point to have their competing sellers be friends through promoting each other in the treasuries. That sounds kind of funny, but, on the quest to have the “coveted” FP, we create treasuries, we comment on other treasuries, we “convo” people all over the world to congratulate them on their successes, and we make friends. Aren’t we supposed to be competing for sales?? Well, maybe some things are just more important than sales. From the moment I had a diagnosis, while still in the hospital, my Etsy friends were first on the scene – building treasuries just for me, wishing me well, offering advice, sending gifts, and a few have gone so far as to donate proceeds to the American Cancer Society in my honor!! Just to remind you………these are people ....I’VE NEVER MET! They have completely gone out of their way to be a friend or try to put a smile on my face. I now even talk to some of them on the phone! Now, I’m not talking 2 or 3 friends, I’m talking like 30 or 40! Some people just have checked my profile and offer words of encouragement! The first day that we learned about my chemo and all the ‘ins and outs’, the ‘goods and bads’, etc., my husband went online to search for support groups. He said to me that night, “I will never do that again, I was so depressed that I had to get off the computer” I said, in reply, “I don’t need support groups, I all need are my friends on Etsy”! They lift me up on a daily basis."
...............................................................................................................................................................

I love being part of Laura's support group because she cheers me up by having such an optimistic, proactive relationship with her healing process. Haven't we all been affected by cancer in some way? I know I have. Last week, one of my daughter's good friends lost her dad to cancer. As a means of dealing with her grief, and also her fears that she could lose one of her own parents, I suggested to Marci that she make a treasury for etsyprojectembrace, and showcase works that will generate donations to the American Cancer Society when sold.

Then we went a little farther and designed this dinnerware set together. Through Etsyprojectembrace, we are donating 20% of our sales to the ACS. Maybe by the time that Marci has her own children, no child will ever again lose a parent, a friend, a partner, or a child to cancer. Imagine that!

MarciG, now on Etsy

As her profile says, she grew up in my studio. I had a portable playpen to the left of my wheel, and there she was before she could walk, watching. My daughter is now 16, and has a store on Etsy, with 1 sale so far. She has been tweeted and retweeted by our local newspapers! There are two packages ready for shipping by the front door, one with a OneClayBead label, and one with MarciG. I love that when she started stamping words into her bird trays, one of the first words she chose was Dream.

It's a great word!

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. -Gloria Steinam

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

-Harriet Tubman

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

-Henry David Thoreau

Gender in the Arts; Gender on Etsy

Once upon a time, long, long ago when I started as a potter, there were only a handful of women in a sea of male potters. The way that men typically approach pottery was In, and what I did, for the most part, was not. The In thing was wood or reduction firing of simple, primitive, massive pots. I, on the other hand, liked thin pots with careful, intentional imagery. I liked oxidation firing in an electric kiln at cone 6, which is economical, earth-friendly, requires no chopping of wood, and uses no power tools.

Things have changed since long, long ago, and now the way that I like to make pots is In. There are more female potters, and more women in the arts. We are now 46% of all full time career artists, but we earn 75% of what our male counterparts earn. So long, long ago isn't really all that far, far away, is it.

I admit that I absolutely love how there are less than 4% men as sellers on Etsy. It's not at all that I dislike male artists- I just really, really enjoy having women drive the aesthetic bus. I love women making most of the treasuries, and dominating the discussions. Mind you, for most of my artistic life, I was the 4% minority, so I think that a bit of turnabout is decidedly fair play. And though Etsy has recently been called a Female Ghetto, I think that this is missing the point, which is that art always gestates in underground settings. By the time any art trend peaks and becomes mainstream, it is creatively dead. Etsy may be the time and place when young (compared to me) women create a new genre of art. I don't know what it is exactly, but it's very interesting to watch the flow of visual ideas on Etsy. It's not something I've ever seen before. Something new is happening.

If you have any ideas or observations about this, please comment. I'm interested.

I understand SEO!

Before the outcry in the Etsy forums that we were in peril of being evicted from Google search due to Etsy admin's malfeasance, I thought that SEO was either another atmospheric pollutant, or maybe an 80's rock band. I checked my sales (or lack thereof), convos, treasuries, craftcult, Etsymudteam thread, and when my husband explained to me what he learned from checking Google Analytics, all I heard was that people were looking at my work, and that was enough. When my views dropped, I did what I understand to stay visible on Etsy- make more treasuries, make my photos more attractive, etc.

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation. It is a study of the way that search engines, such as Google, decide what links to show people who type in a search on their taskbar. The website that best explains how this works to a novice like me is Handmadeology. It is owned by the metal artist Timothy Adams, whose Twig card holder is pictured above. Not only did he provide the clearest, most accurate picture of why our views were bombing in Etsy, he gave the best information on how we could roll with the changes, and improve our page ranking. His Town Meeting on the changes gives very precise instructions.

Etsy has since corrected its problem, and I accept their explanation. Ironically, I now understand far more about SEO, keywords, and meta-tags than I ever did before the Forums became a boiling sea of protest and paranoia. Using Timothy Adams' advice, I rewrote my shop title and announcement, and, as a test, I rewrote the copy and tags of just one listing, which sold less than two hours later. I also had another sale the same day from someone who came to my shop from a Google search.

That business card holder, in metal twigs, is a beautiful blend of natural easthetic and technical skill. I'm now a fan of his work, his website, and his willingness to share his really useful knowledge. Thanks, Timothy Adams! You've given me an improved ability to support my family as my husband seeks reemployment. You've made a real difference in our lives! I get it now- SEO, meta- tags, and how to buddy up to the gi-normous jargon of Google.

lilies in vases

I have forgotten what's important lately, and stopped drinking my coffee in utter lazy luxury out in my garden swing. I have instead read endless business and marketing strategies about Twitter and SEO and important topics for your blogs. Meanwhile the lilies have opened their petaled doors to offer honey and fragrance. In each place where we planted one or two now five orange and golden faces sunbathe all day, getting the whole complex photosynthetic job of being a lily done without any social networking at all.

I gathered an armful of silent, fragile blooms to put on my desk, and the dining table, and stuck a few in vases if you'd like to see them on my Etsy site, to show how the containers that I make can best be used. Which makes me wonder if the Divine also thinks of us as containers for the beauty of this world, and maybe, at least sometimes, I need to be empty and receptive.