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| One of my newest sticker designs: an African Fat Tailed Gecko |
Woo hoo! Our first blog installment!
Since opening up shop, I've had a lot of feedback on Etsy and on the shop's Facebook page. In just two months the shop's page has received more than 450 likes! That's quite the jump for just word-of-mouth and sharing on Facebook. I'm so excited and happy to have my shop in such a successful round so soon. With the encouragement of friends, family and peers I've decided to take the shop to the next level.
Expo vending time! Has anyone been to a reptile expo before? How about vending at one? It's quite the experience. I've vended twice before for the local little non-profit organization that I help run, but I've never vended for-profit before. Not only is this expo going to be my first time vending for-profit, but it's also the biggest one that we've had for the Portland Metro Reptile Expo. It's got about 70 vendors already, up from the last expo that took place on a much smaller venue. It's great to grow, but it does make me a little bit nervous.
So far, I've ordered all the extra stickers that will be sold at the expo, including a few new ones to be debuted this month. It's the first time they're going up for sale, so I hope they're successful. I've been working my little butt off trying to get as many designs for stickers up and going for the shop. I even doodled two squigs in one day, which really is a record for me. I do a lot on top of the shop, but I'm really hoping that this really takes off in the next couple months and that eventually I can find myself able to live off of sales at expos and the like. How wonderful would that be?
And I totally see it. I am looking at the future now, with a position that I can take and be successful at to bring bread to my table. So that I can work from home, support myself and be able to spend more time in the reptile room and at school. Just... how wonderful.
Expo vending time! Has anyone been to a reptile expo before? How about vending at one? It's quite the experience. I've vended twice before for the local little non-profit organization that I help run, but I've never vended for-profit before. Not only is this expo going to be my first time vending for-profit, but it's also the biggest one that we've had for the Portland Metro Reptile Expo. It's got about 70 vendors already, up from the last expo that took place on a much smaller venue. It's great to grow, but it does make me a little bit nervous.
So far, I've ordered all the extra stickers that will be sold at the expo, including a few new ones to be debuted this month. It's the first time they're going up for sale, so I hope they're successful. I've been working my little butt off trying to get as many designs for stickers up and going for the shop. I even doodled two squigs in one day, which really is a record for me. I do a lot on top of the shop, but I'm really hoping that this really takes off in the next couple months and that eventually I can find myself able to live off of sales at expos and the like. How wonderful would that be?
And I totally see it. I am looking at the future now, with a position that I can take and be successful at to bring bread to my table. So that I can work from home, support myself and be able to spend more time in the reptile room and at school. Just... how wonderful.
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| Another newer design, a reticulated Gargoyle Gecko. |
This expo is a big deal to me. It makes me nervous, excited, scared and hopeful. If I do well at this expo, then I will probably do well at the next expo as well. Which means, whatever expo is coming up next I will be at. If both of those expos do well, I'll probably begin vending at all the reptile and pet expos within ten driving hours of our home. I could easily do 1-3 expos a month.
I've been Facebooking a lot about my plans for my shop. I started out with about eight or so designs. That was in October. Now my shop has 21 designs up for grabs starting January 18th at the expo and January 20th online. February I expect to have about six more designs available. I'm having so much fun. It doesn't feel at all like a job, just as a really fun stress-releasing activity that sort of pays for itself.
I've been Facebooking a lot about my plans for my shop. I started out with about eight or so designs. That was in October. Now my shop has 21 designs up for grabs starting January 18th at the expo and January 20th online. February I expect to have about six more designs available. I'm having so much fun. It doesn't feel at all like a job, just as a really fun stress-releasing activity that sort of pays for itself.
I've decided to start doing a wholesaler kind of business, too. If this expo does well I'll start offering products from my shop to other reptile enthusiasts and expo-vendors from other parts of the country that I can't reach. I'd get the word out there, spread my brand and get a little extra in the mean time. (If you're interested in doing this, visit my Facebook Page and we can talk about wholesaling!)
Since I'm reaching a bit broader clientele, I've also decided it's time to make some things a bit more standard. Every sticker is going to be a streamlined price and size, and the price is calculated by how many stickers I can fit on any one given page, which we are shooting for the same number of stickers on each page. So, we're also discontinuing some sizes. If you look in my shop right now, you'll see a few stickers on sale for clearance.
My favorite part of my shop is probably the mini sticker sets. They're completely random, so you never know what stickers you'll get in a set. That excites me! Six random mini stickers in a little envelope. You play the cards and can collect them all.
Soon, commissions will be open. Before that can happen, though I would really like to have a great collection of stickers available to everyone first. Please be patient with me on that one--I don't really want this to start to feel like a job, and so even when I begin to accept commissions it will be a short list of ones that I do take on. If you really want a commission I could probably connect you with a few great artists that do wonderful work for great prices and can do so in a timely fashion. The only time I pick up a pencil (or stylus) is when I've got free time, inspiration and desire. I certainly don't want to get burnt out on drawing. It's a one-true-love that's been with me my entire life.
I never dreamed it would be this fun and easy to sell reptile stickers. Thank you Etsy! I'll blog at least once a month to talk about my little discovery of doing business, what's coming up, what I've learned while doing this and how we're growing along the way.
Thanks for reading.
Happy Sticking!
Rachel
Since I'm reaching a bit broader clientele, I've also decided it's time to make some things a bit more standard. Every sticker is going to be a streamlined price and size, and the price is calculated by how many stickers I can fit on any one given page, which we are shooting for the same number of stickers on each page. So, we're also discontinuing some sizes. If you look in my shop right now, you'll see a few stickers on sale for clearance.
My favorite part of my shop is probably the mini sticker sets. They're completely random, so you never know what stickers you'll get in a set. That excites me! Six random mini stickers in a little envelope. You play the cards and can collect them all.
Soon, commissions will be open. Before that can happen, though I would really like to have a great collection of stickers available to everyone first. Please be patient with me on that one--I don't really want this to start to feel like a job, and so even when I begin to accept commissions it will be a short list of ones that I do take on. If you really want a commission I could probably connect you with a few great artists that do wonderful work for great prices and can do so in a timely fashion. The only time I pick up a pencil (or stylus) is when I've got free time, inspiration and desire. I certainly don't want to get burnt out on drawing. It's a one-true-love that's been with me my entire life.
I never dreamed it would be this fun and easy to sell reptile stickers. Thank you Etsy! I'll blog at least once a month to talk about my little discovery of doing business, what's coming up, what I've learned while doing this and how we're growing along the way.
Thanks for reading.
Happy Sticking!
Rachel
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| An Axolotl!!! Cuuuute! |
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