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The Hermione Granger Guide to Creativity

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Photo Credit - Nan Lawson Illustration on Etsy

Hermione’s charm as a smarty-pants, know-it-all gets Harry out of more scrapes than one. And it’s all because she took the time to read Hogwarts, A History and just about every other book in the library.

As a blog writer and online business owner, the challenges you face won’t threaten your life but hitting a creative roadblock will certainly threaten your business.

Unlocking the power of endless ideas

If you are struggling to come up with blog posts or product ideas or are feeling down-right uncreative, the very best thing you can do for yourself is to drop everything and read.

Reading has a magical way of unlocking your thought processes. Not only are you stimulated by the material but it opens your mind to new ideas and greater possibilities.

Part of the magic lies in removing yourself from your current dilemma or the stress of running a business. Solutions to your problem will flow through unexpected channels when you are focusing on something else.

Some of the best methods for unlocking a never ending stream of ideas are:

  • Reading something outside your normal genre: If you’re a craft blogger, try reading some personal finance or business blogs. If you love fiction, try an autobiography. Different schools of thought open new and fresh ideas faster than staying with the same old stuff.
  • Read a variety of media: Try the newspaper, magazines, online publications, books – gather them all up and notice the different styles and approaches to delivering material to their audiences.
  • Read something purely for fun: Escape into something you absolutely love and where all your cares will evaporate as you soak in your favorite story. When you return to the real world your refreshed mind will be ready to race right past the roadblocks threatening you.

Trust me, you have time

There’s a difference between not having any time to read and not making the time to read. Did you see President Obama’s reading list for his summer vacation? It was massive. If he can find time to read, then so can you.

For those times you really struggle to find a few minutes to sit down and read, try:

  • Keeping a book on your bedside table and reading for 10 minutes before you go to sleep
  • Listening to books or podcasts on your iPod when you clean house, make dinner, commute
  • Reading a chapter-book to your children

 So…what are you reading? How is it making you more creative? Can you guess what I’m currently reading?

Filed Under: Blogging, Creative Process

Getting It All Done: How To Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

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Blog, Facebook, tweet and repeat. List, relist and update. Make, ship, engage and connect. And on and on and on. Sometimes it is never ending.

You love your business, it makes your heart sing. But so does having a moment to take a deep breath and just watch the clouds roll by, or read a book, or go for a slow walk. How can you make time for all the things you love and be successful in your creative business?

The myth of having it all

Unless you’ve figured out some magical way to add more hours to a day or to function with limited amounts of sleep, there’s just no way to have it all. And the same goes for doing it all. It’s impossible.

If you run a creative business, you wear a lot of other hats – mom, full-time employee, spouse, sister, friend, volunteer, etc. I’m not going to pretend to be a time management expert. Heaven knows I waste a heck of a lot of time on Facebook (and not on my business page). But I have managed to keep myself gainfully self-employed for the past 8 years while balancing a home, my family and volunteer work.

Sometimes I do it better than others, but when I’m really rockin’ it, it’s because I’m following these two principles:

It’s all about choices

Yes, you can have your cake, you can even eat it, but you can’t do that and stay super skinny. You have to choose what’s most important to you – the pleasure of eating the cake or the joy of wearing skinny jeans. You will make yourself crazy trying to hang on to all three.

You might choose the cake, someone else will choose the jeans. Whatever your choice, just make it the best one for you and your family.

That is to say – your business is booming, you don’t have to think twice about a $5 latte, but you might not have time to sip it slowly with your girlfriends, or if you do, you might not have time to sleep that night. Pick and choose what’s most important and sacrifice the things that don’t matter as much.

Then take it one step further and truly let go. Don’t look back at the things you choose not to do. And don’t compare yourself to other people. They may look like they are doing it all, but guaranteed, they are sacrificing something.

Set realistic expectations

I really hate that quote about reaching for the moon, because if you don’t make it you’ll land on a star.

Yuck.

For me I’d be sitting on that star, higher than I started, but kicking myself for not being good enough to make it to the moon. It’d seem like a failure and failures get me down and discouraged.

Get rid of those mile-long to do lists. You’ll never cross everything off in one day and to carry it over day after day makes you feel like you are spinning your wheels.

My favorite tool is a standard size sticky note.

I write down the most important tasks for that day on a sticky note. It is virtually impossible to write down too much for one day on that note. At the end of the day when I’ve accomplished everything it goes straight to the garbage can and the next day starts fresh and new.

The key to happiness

Yeah, I don’t have that, sorry. But I do believe it starts with balance.

I’m going to start sounding like my yoga instructor when I say this – but it’s really true. When you stop trying to do everything and be everywhere life comes into focus. You’ll be able to clearly identify the important things in your life and balance your responsibilities with greater ease.

What works for you? How do you keep sane while running your biz and wearing all your different hats?

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How to Find Your RSS Feed URL

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This post is dedicated to all my wonderful Etsy customers who have asked for help linking up their RSS buttons. I’ve been sending everyone off-site for a couple of months. But no longer. Now you can learn about RSS buttons the Moxie Tonic way.

 

Finding your RSS URL


Just like any linked image you need two pieces of information

  1. The image source – ie where the browser is going to look to find the image
  2. The link URL – where the browser will send you if you click on the image.

RSS doesn’t have a direct URL like your Facebook page and Twitter feed, so while getting the info isn’t hard, you just need to know where to look.

Step #1

Log into Feedburner with your google account name and password.

Step #2

Under “Feed Title”, click on the name of the blog you want the feed for. If you only have one blog, then only one will show.

Step #3

Just under the name of your blog (in the top left-hand corner) you’ll see the option to “Edit Feed Details.” Select it.

Step #4

Look for the line that says “Feed Address” followed by “http://feeds.feedburner.com/” and then the name of your blog. The whole thing starting with “http” and ending with your feed name – that is your feed URL.

If I were linking a button to the Moxie Tonic feed, I would copy the following:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/MoxieTonic

It’s “Moxie Tonic” at the end  not just because it is my blog name, but because it is the name of the feed. It just happens to be the same as my blog title. Most feeds are, but some might not be, it depends on how you set it up.

Step #5

Enter your feed URL into your link code:

<a href=”YOUR FEED URL”><img src=”YOUR IMAGE LOCATION”></a>

Why do I need RSS?

This is actually a question I had for a long time. I used to just bookmark my favorite blogs and visit them when I felt like it. I switched to using Google Reader about a year ago and I love it! The added benefit is you get to see if there are new posts without going to the site. I can keep up with a lot more blogs this way.

Offering a feed subscription is a great way to get readers to start reading you regularly.When they click on your RSS button you they can pick their reader and your posts will be added to their list. Or they can choose to get posts delivered by email.

If they choose RSS to Email our readers will get an email each time you post on your site. This is even better than a reader because RSS to Email subscribers don’t have to go anywhere for you content. It just shows up in their inbox and they are usually your most tuned in readers.

Feedburner offers this service, but I highly recommend using an email service provider like Mail Chimp. If you want to learn more, you can read: 10 Things Your ESP Can Do That Feedburner Can’t

If you have any questions – please email me. I can walk you through the specifics if you are struggling getting your buttons to link up.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

And the Winner is…

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Wooohooo!

Congratulations Jenny!

You won the Annie Howes giveaway of the beautiful Florentine pendant kit. I’ll be passing your info on to Annie and she’ll get in contact with you for your mailing address.

If you missed the amazing interview with Annie Howes – one of Etsy’s nicest and high volume sellers – well??? don’t wait a second longer…go check it out.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Why 10-Cent Wing Night Rocks and Groupon Doesn’t

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In my last newsletter I talked about having a 10-cent wing night. It’s an awesome way to get customers to try you out and the perfect opportunity for you to upsell.

(If you don’t get my weekly newsletter, you should sign up — over there on the right. It’s always fresh, new content, different from what you get on the blog and 100 percent focused on marketing your biz.)

It raised some good questions and it got me thinking why I recommend 10-cent wing night but I think Groupon is a total business killer.

Groupon hurts more than it helps

Groupon has a huge list, they get your company in front of tens of thousands of eyes. It can be pretty tempting.

You probably know how it works – you offer your services or product at half-off. Groupon takes half of your sales as their cut and leaves you with 25 percent of your regular asking price.

I’ve read horror stories of photographers running all over town to shoot their 200 Groupon sittings for less than the gas it takes them to drive to the location.

When Groupon works

Ironically I just saw a Groupon deal that worked for the business. A haunted mansion-turned-restaurant/hotel in Colorado Springs offered a $20 Groupon for $40 towards a four-course meal. A click to their website shows the meals regularly run $30 to $60 a plate.

The deal is perfectly structured in the restaurant’s favor. Since you will probably go to the haunted restaurant with your sweetie (either for the romance or protection), they are nearly guaranteed a second, full-price meal ticket. They’ll also make a killing on the wine. The upsell opportunities make it a win-win for them — more customers from the Groupon advertisement with the reassurance they won’t lose their shirts.

The difference is in the upsell

When you are planning your 10-cent offering, the key is to determine the upsell in advance.

If you offer new customers a screamin’ deal, what are they giving you in return?

This isn’t something you can afford to leave to chance. It’s got to be a part of the plan from the get-go.

For example:

  • You’re a jeweler offering a free pair of earrings – with the purchase of a necklace.
  • You’re a photographer waiving your sitting fee – this comes with an 8×10 of one pose, and you know from experience that you can upsell the additional poses and multiple prints.
  • You’re a seamstress selling fabric headbands at cost – if your customer joins your mailing list.

Future contact is an upsell

Getting permission to market directly to a person is an upsell that will keep them in the loop for future purchases. But it’s one you have to closely monitor and you have to have the infrastructure in place for it. Facebook likes are okay – but you still have to wait for the customer to come to you and depending on their engagement, your posts may not make it to their page.

Email is best. It’s permission for you to go directly to the customer. You’ll know if they are getting the message and you can even monitor if they are opening it. Even cooler – you will know if someone clicks to buy from your email.

If you email at least twice a month for six months, but don’t see repeat sales from the 10-cent wings customers, then it’s time to switch tactics until you find something that does work.

It’s really tempting to give away services and products to get more eyes on your shop. If you have the upsell in place, it will be a win-win for you and your customers. If not, it could be a disaster with you working for free and resenting it. So if you’re going to do a 10-cent wing night – plan for success!

I’d love to know what 10-cent wings you have offered and how it has worked. Or if you have an idea you want to bounce off the group – leave it in the comments.

Filed Under: Etsy, Uncategorized, Why Email?

Where to Get Hard to Find Social Media Buttons

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…Ummm…

You can find them in my Etsy shop.

If you are looking for everyday buttons, I have tons of those.

If you are looking for Pinterest, Klout or Google+ buttons…

…I can help you.

If you want them to match your blog and look all pretty (because after all you are a creative type and you like everything to match)…

…I can help you with that too.

And if you are on a budget and don’t want to spend a lot of dough because, well heck, you can get buttons for free (allbeit, not very cute ones)…

…I can even help with that.

For a limited time a set of 4 buttons made to match your blog is only $1. Why so cheap? It’s my version of 10 cent wing night. And it’s doing exactly what it should…introducing great crafters and bloggers to Moxie Tonic.

And while that’s awesome, some of you came by me through other routes so it’s a deal that I need to extend to you too.

The most important buttons on your site

Social media buttons are essential. Some people aren’t really blog readers. Or they find you once but don’t know how to come back to you. If you offer them ways to connect to you on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to an RSS feed (sometimes it helps to let people know how this works)…

…Viola!

You will never be far from them.

Also, as a creative entrepreneur it’s vitally important to showcase your creative superpowers on Pinterest, Flickr, Tumblr and Etsy Treasuries. Taking the time to do this builds your brand in powerful ways.

Moxie Tonic buttons in the wild

If you want to get some of your very own matchy buttons, please head over to my Etsy shop. If you’d like to see some buttons in their natural habitat – here are some links to a few customers who not only have my buttons, they also have tremendous blogs.

Etincelle Creative Studios

Polka Daisies Boutique

Ally Lopez

Soapendipity

A Year With Mom and Dad

Filed Under: Etsy, Social Media, Uncategorized

A Fresh New Look

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Yippie!

Finally – Moxie Tonic doesn’t look like some boring corporate blog.

When I originally designed the site I was planning to focus on a more corporate market. Hence the stark blue and orange with the boring font and the boring everything. Then I switched gears, decided to have fun and was having so much fun writing about creative ventures there was no time to whip things into shape.

But finally everything is matching

Well, almost everything. A few little tweaks are needed. They will come. Sooner or later. Here’s hoping it’s sooner!

In the meantime, I’d love your feedback. Do you like the new look? Is it readable? Anything you would have me change?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter Annie’s giveaway of a free glass pendant necklace kit! The giveaway ends on Thursday.

Filed Under: Etsy, Marketing Plan, Uncategorized

Etsy Shops With Moxie: Annie Howes

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Be the expert in what you do. Be kind, be generous with your communications, be honest, be yourself and all the rest will follow. –Annie Howes of AnnieHowes on Etsy

Annie is offering a wonderful giveaway with this feature — this beautiful kit that makes six glass pendant necklaces. I’ve ordered from Annie before and can attest that your necklaces will turn out equally beautiful. To enter the giveaway, read the interview and leave your comment.

Annie Howes is settling in to her new surroundings – having gone from the woods to the desert and trading riding horses for riding bikes. She’s busy searching for new adventures in Arizona while trying to keep a balance between family and business – which is can’t be easy considering the huge success of her Etsy shop.

Annie is used to moving – having lived in Guam, Florida, Martha’s Vineyard and Kentucky in the space of 5 years. While in Kentucky the Howes lived in a rural area where she didn’t stand much of a chance to find work as an art director. So, she took her small online business to Etsy and from there…

…well, I’ll let her take over telling the story.

How did you develop your shop idea?

In late winter of 2008, I realized my first big idea: I could be a teacher. On Etsy, I would receive more questions about my technique and materials, and more requests from others on how I took my photographs. I paid attention to what I was hearing and took action by developing a unique product that would satisfy the desires of those who wanted to learn a new technique, or wanted to refine their technique.

After a few weeks of testing and procuring all the components, and designing the tutorial and taking the photos, and assembling the product, I launched the first DIY Pendant Kit. In addition to kits, I began a branding process of supplies which now include several supply items: Glamour Glaze, Glamour Glue, Luxe Jewelry Resin, and Bella Paint for Glass.

My focus is to provide the best quality products at a reasonable price with knowledgeable assistance because I know how frustrating and expensive it can be to learn a new process. My studio is part selling and part testing. I specialize in helping the customer get what they need and learn how to do it with minimal waste of their resources. If you want quality over quantity, I can help. If you want quantity over quality, I offer that, too.

Your blog seems to be a big part of your shop and marketing. How have you used it to push your business forward?

The best blog material has been offering advice on what products and processes have worked for me in what I do as an artist. I have a tutorial on there for making Scrabble tile pendants, a tutorial on how to adjust photographs for listings. I also like to give people a sense of who I am. If I have a few moments, and a photo to share, I get to the blog. I think if you run a blog, it’s really important to include at least one photo or image, mix that with tips, and ideas, as well as something personal and people will want to read it.

How did you find and decide on your suppliers for your kit items (like your bails, glue, glazes, etc.)?

I spent a lot of time researching companies. I’ve asked a myriad of questions and tested quite a few products under different conditions. I work with specific manufactures to develop formulas that will meet the needs of my customers, those who prefer to use safe, non-toxic products that will last a lifetime.  If I find a product doesn’t fit the profile of a quality item, I discontinue it. I don’t want to do a disservice to anyone, neither the customer nor myself, by offering a product that will fail in 3-6 months.

What do you use for marketing? What do you think is the most effective? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Etsy, Etsy Shops with Moxie, Marketing Plan, Uncategorized

Are You Just Flirting With Your Business? Or Are You Ready to Get Serious?

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A little about me

I’ve been in marketing in one form or another for 5 years. I love it. I breathe it. I totally geek out about touch points and strong calls to action.

I also love to create. I get on these little benders where I doodle all day. I see color combos and have to snap a pic and replicate it at home. I’ll wake up at 4 in the morning with a flash of inspiration that drives me out from underneath the covers and onto the computer.

So as you can imagine I’ve turned several of my artistic passions into creative businesses. I’ve also applied my mad skills to the world of corporate marketing.

Me + a Marketing Blog for Creative Businesses
= Match Made in Heaven

I want creative business owners to succeed – to really, truly rock! I want you to be proud of your business and to have the freedom extra income will provide. That’s why [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Etsy Shop Feature & Giveaway: Hand Knit Pet Clothing by Jenya2

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In the dead of summer, in the middle of a huge heat wave, it’s hard to remember what it was like to be cold. But winter will come again, and when it does we’ll have to bundle up to keep warm. So will your furry little friends. That’s where Jenya comes in.

She hand knits doggy sweaters. They are amazingly cute with fabulous colors.

Jenya’s shop has been open since November and she is off to a great start. I imagine only good thing are coming for her as the weather cools down and people start thinking about keeping Fluffy warm through the winter.

If you don’t have a dog, no worries – Jenya offers several other hand-knit items. Like this beautiful, original design necklace that she is giving away as part of this blog feature. Please see the bottom of the post for details on entering the giveaway.

Tell us a little about you and about your shop.

I offer hand knit one of a kind original design pet sweaters, vests and jackets.

How did you start making your products?

It started as a hobby, knitting pet sweaters for my local shelter and family and friends.

What excites you about your craft/art?

What excites me is the creative process. The colors and textures of the yarn. I often start a project without an exact design in mind and let it evolve as I go along. Those projects are the most exciting for me.

Where do your draw your inspiration?

I live in the beautiful Hudson Valley where I find inspiration in the peace and tranquility of nature and wildlife.

What makes your shop unique?

What makes my shop unique, is that I feel that my work reflects my personality. I put a lot of myself into each design.

How do you advertise your shop?

I advertise on Twitter, FB and my blog, and also on the forums and teams.

What is your most effective marketing tool?

A positive attitude!

You can find Jenya on Etsy and at her blog.

To enter the giveaway – leave a comment below. Double entry if you also leave a comment on Jenya’s blog (just come back here and say that you did it – scout’s honor!) and one more entry if you pop over to the Moxie Tonic Facebook page and give us a like.

Good luck!

Filed Under: Etsy, Uncategorized
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