Sunday Spotlight: My Slow Store!!!

Haha, so it appears this week that I am veering off course from my usual Sunday Spotlight designer feature. (For those of you interested, I will be resuming that again next week!) In the meantime, I just have to write today about how SLOOOOOW it has been lately at my store. It is unfortunately the thing that I have been thinking about all week and trying to figure out!! I can't even believe how few people have been coming into the store lately--you'd think every day was the 4th of July of something. It's frustrating too because it's something that feels totally out of my control--I can't just make people come in and buy my jewelry (unfortunately!!). Although some days I really do feel like dragging people in off the street :)

It would be helpful if I felt like the store had a definite marketing plan or was really being proactive about attracting new business, but it just feels like things have been stagnating a little bit lately. I mean, marketing is not an easy thing--it's something that requires both time and money--either lots of time (making phone calls, writing emails, keeping up with social media, doing press releases yourself and so on...) and little money, or little time and lots of money (hiring someone to do all the things you don't have time for!), or some sort of combination of the two. And I'm not sure the guys running this place have much of either to spare at the moment, which means that we are for the most part depending on whoever happens to be walking down Broadway on any given day. We do of course get repeat customers, but we definitely do not have so many that we can depend on only them and street traffic to support the store.

But we all really want this place to work!! I don't want to have to leave the store next year because it can't support my business. I know that the location is great, that the concept is great, that the store itself is really, really great. But the bottom line is that we just HAVE to have more customers. Not just during the holidays, but year round. Otherwise none of us will be able to afford to stay here! None of us are big businesses--all of us are small, independent designers who really depend on our sales at this store to pay our bills.

Which means that for now, all the designers here have been trying to put our heads together to come up with ideas to try to increase business, since the lack of traffic has been really affecting us all. It can be hard to make decisions and find solutions when you have 15 different people with 15 different ideas of what should be done, but I think we are all starting to agree that it's better to try more things instead of less! And so yesterday we all more or less agreed on a free wine happy hour from 4-7pm! It was a really fun and easy idea, and it's something we're going to start doing every week. It will probably be on Friday evenings in the future (and maybe Saturdays too!), so I will definitely let you know. It's a fun reason to stop in the store and hang out for a little while! We also even had someone get into a yip yip costume and run around the store yesterday :) That wasn't an official idea per se, but it was hilarious. And sometimes you just really need some silly, fun energy to lift your spirits, which it most definitely did.

I'm also feeling hopeful about all the other things I'm working on in my business right now--the lookbook shoot is, after all, happening tomorrow--I can't wait!!! I will be posting at least one or two shots from the shoot here tomorrow. And hopefully we will get some more traffic in the store today....keep your fingers crossed for me! And hey, come visit if you're in the area :)
Have a good Sunday night everyone!!!

A Silver Circle For Carol Ann...

Today was a super slow day at my store, so I spent most of it creating some new pieces! Since my look book shoot is happening on Monday, I have to have everything ready to go by Sunday night. So I'm planning the looks now--and even making a few more statement necklaces that I think will photograph really well and make a nice addition to my current collection. I am so excited for the shoot!!

I also spent a lot of the day talking to the lovely Carol Ann! She has been working recently for another designer at my store, and because it was so slow today, we had plenty of time to chat. She's moving to another continent next Tuesday, which is really too bad for our store!! She has been awesome and will definitely be missed. She bought one of my necklaces today to take with her on her travels--a beautiful and simple brushed silver hoop on a delicate silver chain. She also ended up getting this cute bicycle tank, which was also really cute. (I now want one too--they are from SM Wardrobe, one of the other designers at my store, and only cost $20!) So today was fun, even though it was slow :) Hopefully tomorrow will be busier!! Have a good night everyone, and sending lots of good luck and wishes out to Carol Ann :)

More New Photos...

As promised, here are some more photos that I took using different filters on my new Camera+ app! I am such a ridiculous amateur when it comes to photography, but it's a fun thing to play around with.

And speaking of photography! I think my new lookbook shoot is officially happening next Monday, which is very exciting. And thankfully I will not be the photographer :) I have scaled back a little bit from what I originally wanted--I'm going to be the model again--but there will be many more opportunities to make more involved lookbooks with more models and setups, etc. down the road. For now, I just need to get the jewelry photographed so I can start putting together the book, and hopefully get it out by the end of the month! That's my goal, anyway--we'll see how I do. I think I'm going to have help with the layout, which will make that part of the process go a little bit faster. I'm in a race against the calendar--I really want to be doing my physical mailing before the holidays hit, which means I only really have a couple of weeks. But because we're keeping it simple, there's no reason it can't be done! Can't wait to post pics from the new shoot :)

New Photos & A Holiday Market!

My iPhone does so many things for my business right now that it's kind of ridiculous--it's how I accept credit card payments (the amazing app Square--I talk it up so often that I should probably be earning a commission at this point!), and I also use my phone to do all my jewelry photography. There are definitely limitations to using an iPhone as a digital camera--lately, I have been wishing for better picture quality and I was considering buying an actual camera for my business. But I decided that for now, I'll just try to maximize what I can do on my phone. So today, I got myself a new photography app--it only cost me about $3, and it is pretty awesome. Here, you can see some of the photos I took today using my new app. It's called Camera+, and it is pretty great for making pictures look a little bit nicer. It has some nice filters and a stabilizing option that really came in handy today. I will be playing around with it more this week, so I will be posting more pictures soon using some of the cool looking filters... Eventually I will get myself a proper digital camera, but for now I think this is a pretty good solution!

I am also feeling excited and nervous today about the holiday market that I recently applied for. I haven't been officially accepted yet, but I got an email back from them today that they would be sending me an invoice and more information later this week. Which is a very good sign! The market will take place over five weekends this November and December, and I applied for all ten days. I'm a little bit terrified because it will be the first time ever that I have ever committed to running two separate locations at the same time. I feel nervous about leaving my store on Broadway, and I feel nervous about the new market and how well my jewelry will do there. I think that I really have to try it though--I really want to maximize this holiday season as much as I possibly can! I don't want to be kicking myself next January, wishing I had tried to do more. I think it will be a great opportunity to connect with new customers, so I have to give it a try. I have a feeling that I will probably be very, very tired throughout November and December, but I know it will be worth it! More details will be coming soon :) And if anyone knows of any awesome salespeople who might want to help me out starting in late October, let me know! I am on the hunt for someone great...

Sunday Spotlight: Yoga Twins!

I have decided to start a new weekly feature here on my blog--every Sunday, I will feature a new designer and his or her work! So today, for my first ever Sunday Spotlight edition, I am thrilled to be writing about the talented Rose Berger and her wonderful jewelry company, Yoga Twins. Rose does a lot of beautiful work with sterling silver--she creates chunky charm bracelets, pendant necklaces, and makes amazing sterling rings. She also has pieces for men--she makes men's rings as well as bracelets, both of which I would love to put on Nick :)

She also has a brand new line of chainmaille jewelry and accessories that is absolutely spectacular. The shoe piece above is one of her most recent designs, and I absolutely love it. I finally got to see the piece on someone's boot and in action today--and I think it looks pretty darn sexy! Here you can see one of her women's bracelets, modeled by me--she has a great selection of different colors and sizes to choose from. Below, you can see a picture of Rose in her boutique here at 12 Lions, hard at work on a brand new chainmaille piece. Each chainmaille piece takes Rose hours of work to create, since she creates it one jump ring at a time, slowly woven together to create the piece. If you want to visit Rose's website, click HERE! Or, you can see her and her work in person when you come visit me at the store :)
Have a good Sunday night everyone!!

New Mixed Metal Designs...

All week at my store, I've been feeling inspired to work on new jewelry designs. On Thursday and Friday, I was focused on bracelets--I created a pretty extensive assortment, which means there will be many new things going up on my website this coming week!

So today, I decided to focus on making some new styles of earrings. I had a few ideas going in my head already, so I went to work creating... The two pairs you see here are my favorites of what I made--I really love the way they both came out. They are made in mixed metals, which I also love--sterling silver and 14k gold filled. I want to keep them both for myself and wear them immediately!! Which of course I won't--they are both currently up for sale right now at my store. But whenever I have that feeling of wanting to keep something, it means that I succeeded with my design! So that makes me happy. And I will be making more earrings soon in similar styles soon--so maybe I will make a pair for myself after all :)
Let me know what you think!!

Sore Hands & An Australian Adventure!

Today, as I was cutting through some memory wire to finish off yet another bracelet at my store, I realized something: My hands are really sore!!

I guess that shouldn't really surprise me, considering that I work with my hands for many hours almost every single day. And it's not just general "work" that I do with my hands--it's super detailed, exacting work, that requires a whole lot of bending, twisting, sculpting, and stringing. And I have the blisters and callouses to prove it! I forget too that my jewelry making also takes a toll on not only my hands, but other parts of me as well--after a particularly long day, my left wrist aches (fun fact about me: I'm left-handed!), and even my shoulders hurt from hunching over my work station. I almost feel ridiculous when I come home sore from a long day of jewelry-making--you'd think I was breaking rocks!!

I think it's kind of hilarious that I used to work jobs that were much more physically demanding--back in my technical theater days, I spent my time running up and down ladders, often carrying, installing, and removing pieces of very heavy equipment! What I do now seems like it should be "easier" on my body, so I forget that making jewelry actually is still physically demanding, in a very different way. So I guess I need to start doing more hand and wrist stretches or something!! Let me know if you have any suggestions of what I should do :)

And speaking of the days of my technical theater past, I have something exciting to report--I am coming out of my retirement (???) to go on tour with Banana Bag & Bodice next March! I will be spending two weeks on tour with them in Australia, and I can't wait. Banana Bag & Bodice is actually the first company that I ever worked with in New York City, back in the summer of 2006. I have worked with them many times since, and I am so happy that I have the opportunity to work with them again. If you're not familiar with Banana Bag & Bodice and their work, well, you should be! Yes, they are my friends, but they are also pretty freaking awesome, and I feel like I am being objective when I say this :) You can learn more about them HERE.

And hey, if you're going to be in Australia next March, then you should come check out the show! Of course I don't even know which city I will be in yet or what the dates are :) But I will keep you posted! I think the tour will be a fun reprisal of my lighting past, and I will enjoy the opportunity to take a little break from NYC! And maybe I can find a way to spread some of my jewelry around Australia....many more details to come :)