It used to take a dedicated employee half the day to print and ship orders from my handcrafted cosmetics company, Orglamix. She'd spend her day logging in to multiple sites like Etsy, Shopify, eBay and Amazon to print orders and shipping labels. If we had a daily deal on a site like Zulily, Jane or Backyard Buffalo -- craziness ensued.
This tool has made running my small, handmade business a million times easier by simplifying our shipping.
It's ability to put multiple storefronts shipping information all in one place creates quick and easy pick tickets and shipping labels so I can focus my work towards other important tasks, like making and selling products throughout the day. No matter where all the orders originate from, they all come together in one unified place. Today it takes just three clicks and 15-20 minutes to print out 150 orders!
Since all the orders are in once place, customer service and tracking wayward packages is especially easy. Need to update an address, no problem. ShipStation lets you change addresses quickly. Need to find an order, no problem. There's no going back and forth with the customer to find an order number or see what platform they used to complete the purchase. Everything is in one centralized location.
I'm not super techy, so there was a slight learning curve, especially to set up automated tasks and filters. These make it faster to ship, but aren't necessary. Don't overwhelm yourself and forget about them at first.
I ship a lot of small orders every day, many to overseas addresses. After initially setting up the rules on how orders are processed – you never have to think about it again. Then, with a single click of a button, your shipping labels & invoices come pouring out – with customs forms already filled out. Awesome!
Initially I had a lot of support from ShipStation. There is a great database of how to’s, and I always get a quick and helpful response from support via chat. Everyone I've chatted with has been very friendly, and has gone above and beyond to make sure I’m all set.
Pros:
Cons:
Does your handmade business struggle with shipping? Using Ship Station has drastically improved our workflow when it comes to shipping and expediting products out of our lab.
]]>I get asked often about how I've grown my handmade business to the place it's at, six figures in sales. I'm shooting for seven figures by the end on 2018!
I started selling on Etsy in 2012 as a hobby with one product; an eyeshadow and sales trickled in. As I added more shades and new products, sales grew quickly. Today, my eyeshadows are still my best-selling product; and I have six hundred, amazing cruelty free cosmetics in my line.
If you had told me a few years ago what my business would be like today, I wouldn't believe you. I really wouldn't think it's possible. I've been featured in magazines, popular blogs, famous websites, podcasts and have received over 15,000 reviews from customers all around the world. I'm blessed and truly grateful. I love connecting with people who sharing my passion for handmade, small batch brands.
I hope this post gives you ideas for your small business; also inspires you to that there is tremendous possibility and potential for handmade businesses.
1) Consumable products. Having a consumable product makes a big difference, 25-30% of my monthly orders are repeat buyers. If you have a product that is a gift or timeless purchase like jewelry, art or handbags; it can be a challenge to get customers to keep coming back to buy from you repeatedly. You will have to think creatively to retain them as a customer and keep them coming back.
2) Find your unique voice. My best advice to anyone looking to create and sell handmade goods is to find your own voice. If you’re going to create a similar product to what’s already out there, make it your own. Be a first class you rather than a second class of somebody else. Your creativity is was what drove you to sell handmade products in the first place, and when you use that creativity your audience will be excited about what you’ve created.
3) Humanize your brand. I let my customers know I'm a typical mom, like them. I share personal info about myself, my family, my pets and my life so that people can relate to me and remember me. I work hard to build emotional connections with my customers.
If you place an order, you'll get a simple three line email from me. It's automated; yet I get dozens of responses every month. I respond to each and every one, personally. I have conversations. I'm genuine. When you make great things, and you connect with your customers on this level, they love you. They write about you. They tell their friends.
4) Ship fast, even though it's handmade. I know that when customers buy online, they want to get it fast, like yesterday. That's why I ship quickly. If you order on a weekday, I can typically get your order out the very same day. I ship anywhere from 500-1000 orders a month (so some days this is easier said then done). I've streamlined my shipping process with ShipStation. It's really fast and efficient. Even so, prepare for hiccups. On Black Friday I packed and shipped orders from midnight until to 2PM the next afternoon to keep up with orders --good times!
5) Customer service. Provide excellent customer service. I pride myself on having amazing customer service, so I can keep my customers happy. I respond to emails daily. Word of mouth and person-to-person referrals are the one of the main reason for our success. I also reward customers that refer new customers with a simple referral program.
6) Collect leads. While not all leads will convert into sales, they are the best starting point for a small business owner seeking new business. I can not stress how important it is to collect email addresses. For your business to thrive and grow, you need a constant flow of new leads.
I have several "funnels" setup to collect leads. But there's no need to get fancy or overwhelmed, just start. Over the years I've worked to streamline my process for collecting email addresses and sending newsletters. Today I have an automated system that's on autopilot. I have a list of 28,000 subscribers; and can contribute 25% of my monthly sales to email marketing. I don't constantly sell. I really try to think like my customer and provide useful tips and information that would interest them.
7) DIY PR. I researched PR agencies in the beginning and quickly realized how expensive it was. So, I took matters into my own hands. I set up a blogger / vlogger outreach program on my website.
In the beginning, my goal was to reach out to 10 bloggers a month. Today I average over 100 requests a month; and they come to me. I have a dedicated VA that manages the process for me. To date, Orglamix has been featured in over a thousand different blogs.
It takes a few months to get the momentum going, so don't give up! Every so often, I catch a break. I've been lucky to be featured on several influential websites including Refinery29, Stylelist and Lucky. These features were a high point for me because they really helped to put my brand on the map. I am so grateful for those opportunities. That said, do not underestimate the power of small blogs or accounts. Typically they have a small, but highly engaged audience. When considering a new opportunity, I'll take great engagement over a large number of followers.
8) Curate content. Instead of just featuring my products, I try to curate a cohesive, lifestyle approach. I do this by featuring things my customers love: healthy food recipes, yoga, spa treatments, animals. They're busy, creative moms so I feature things that appeal to them while keeping them updated about new products, current sales, and what’s happening behind the scenes. I also involve my customers in this process with my Instagram brand ambassador program. I choose new people every month to promote my products on Instagram.
9) Social media has been a huge help for me. Instagram and Pinterest in particular have been wonderful. I post my products regularly and link my website, and that has lead to a huge boost in traffic and sales. Doing so also allowed me to reach out to bloggers and gain attention. My sales have been steadily increasing mainly by social media, blog reviews, and participating in giveaways.
I think customers like seeing my journey, glimpses of day to day life, or just pretty pictures. All of my pictures are taken with my iPhone, but but I highly recommend learning what makes a great image. You can check out my images @orglamix.
8) Drive quality traffic. I thought that if I made beautiful products they'd practically sell themselves. Boy was I wrong. It takes a lot of work to drive qualified traffic to your site, it's not something that happens overnight. SEO is a constantly evolving process. The good news? You can fast track traffic and sales with paid advertising, even if you're on a budget. Start small, on one platform like Facebook or Pinterest and spend $5 a day to start learning the ropes.
9) Streamline your handmade business. I didn't realize the need for processes until I become extremely overwhelmed. Slowly, I've been able to streamline my business. I do this by automating everything I can from social media to shipping to marketing. I use a variety of tools and apps including IFFT. I also try and batch everything from ordering supplies to making products to shipping. It saves time; and my sanity.
10) Listen and respond with action. It's one thing to provide the opportunity for your customers and community to give their feedback and voice their desires. It's entirely another to show them you've listened by responding through action. When you truly listen to someone, you gain their trust, and more importantly, their respect. I crowdsource in order to design the next products and shades in my line.
11) Fail forward. When I first started selling online, I made so many mistakes: from under-pricing to poor photos and crappy copywriting. I've made plenty of mistakes in my journey. At first they used to make me cringe and I was ashamed of them. Today, I've learned to embrace my mistakes and think of them in terms of stepping stones for success.
One of my biggest mistakes was not being prepared for the demand of my product. I looked at my business as something small, but when popularity hit I wasn’t able to keep up, and people were really upset when they couldn’t order. Anytime you have to pause your business you lose crucial momentum. So plan ahead for this possibility.
Now it’s your chance to turn your passion into profit.
If you’re a maker that wants to start a business or you want to get your handmade business to the next level business, let me know in the comments below. Tell me what's holding you back from that next step?
]]>Farm Fresh! This double moisturizer and scrub unlocks playful memories, but offers a complex vitamin-packed moisturizing system that you'll love mushing-up.
Juicy strawberries are suspended in a nourishing aloe gel to bring supple softness to skin. Be carefree when scooping - the rich sweet cream fragranced shea butter whip blends with the strawberry fruit extracts leaving skin soft, dewy and brightly fragrant with strawberryliciousness.
1/2 whipped shea butter, and 1/2 aloe gel + all the just-picked fun you can muster-up. Pure decadent fun!
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Apply liberally as often as needed.
]]>Have you ever posted something from your blog on Facebook and noticed it's not pulling in the correct information? Maybe it's not pulling in the correct text or the graphic you just updated. Perhaps you promote the same blog page over and over again, but make changes to it frequently. Facebook caches your information, sigh.
To clean up the old information after any changes have been made, you'll need to debug or 'delint" your URLs. Try the Facebook URL Linter. Now you can make sure Facebook pulls the freshest, most updated content and images by delinting your Facebook link.
As many of you may not realize, Orglamix is for the most part -- a one woman show. Aside from my virtual assistant and my husband, most day-to-day responsibilities fall on my shoulders. This means I do it all-- from updating the website, images and blog, mixing products, handling review requests, pulling and packing orders, social media and customer service. Whew! It's no wonder why there never seems to be enough hours in the day. I'm sure many small business owners out there can relate. I try and prioritize (future post idea), but my ADD and spinning mind tend to easily throw me off task. Squirrel!!!
The highlight of my day is customer service and reading your reviews -- the good -- the bad and the ugly, not so much. I thrive on making an excellent product. Customer feedback is important to me. Loads of rave reviews stream in for Orglamix every single day day. I'm blessed. I love that people appreciate my work. However, I admit if I get a negative review or complaint-- it SUCKS. It hurts. It stings. I take it personally. Why am I so defensive? It's because I've failed. I've let a customer down-- and that's hard for me to admit. I cringe. I believe that after you've released your product, you are not done. You're done when your customers are happy.
I stop and ponder as I type. I teach my kids it's OK to make mistakes. I tell them mistakes are necessary to learn and grow. I believe this, yet find my own mistakes are painstakingly hard to admit and accept. I'm working on failing forward. It's a constant battle; a work in progress that's in perpetual slow motion. As I set forth, I am envisioning my mistakes as stepping stones on the path success. As I look back, I've traveled quite far. The path ahead is long and difficult, yet filled with wondrous adventure.
Can anyone else relate?
If you're looking to expand your business using Pinterest, check out this interesting article from Vincent Ng. 10 Ways E-commerce Sites Can Use Pinterest to Increase Sales provides many great tips not readily available.
PS: We love that they featured Orglamix!
Comment below with your favorite must read business books for entrepreneurs.
]]>I started experimenting with mineral makeup. Within a few days I have my first eyeshadow. It's a bright, neon green shimmer. It’s by far the coolest color I’ve ever seen.
I push past my paralyzing fears and force myself to pass out samples. I'm shy, It's not easy. I give eyeshadows to everyone -- strangers at Starbucks, moms at the preschool and park, cashiers around town, even our local UPS driver took one for his mom (bless his heart!)-- no one was immune to my sparkle hustle. I sent a few dozen samples to a makeup artist friend-of-a-friend who was doing a runway show; and low-and-behold everything sold out within minutes. They wanted more. Within a few days, I've opened an Etsy store.
Summer 2010, it’s time to get serious about trying to sell on Etsy. I wanted to buy a swing set for our backyard. I needed to sell four hundred and seventy five eyeshadows. I wondered how many months it would take me.
I analyze and research. I spend hours on end observing shops studying what successful shops were doing. I was looking for the magic in what was missing in the market. At the time, it seemed every Etsy shop was doing the same thing, but with a different name: the same packaging, the same products-- even the same colors. There are plenty of me-too brands. I knew I wanted to be different. The philosophy and inspiration behind my products is a mix or organic and glamour. The possibilities made my mind spin with excitement.
Within a month I’ve sold over a thousand eyeshadows. Holy sparkle!
The next year proves that I can make more money putting in 40 hours a week into Etsy. Everything went back into the business, slowly improving everything from packaging, photos, products, etc.
Fall 2011, adding wholesale to my gigantic workload. I cannot turn away the business. My orders have grown from a dozen a week to dozens a day and I can’t keep up. I am making over a thousand of eyeshadows a month. I am answering over two hundred customer service convos and emails a day. 7 days a week.
My oldest daughter starts kindergarten. My younger one attends preschool for two hours twice a week, otherwise she's home with me. My husband is working out of state and commuting home on the weekends. I work night and day and when they sleep. I work through the weekends and when my husband is home.
All I do is work.
I have eighty hours of work to do and twenty hours to do it.
No one starts a business with the intention of offering the world’s worst customer service. No one ever intends to quit responding to emails. But remember friends, making the makeup takes time. And now it comes between making an eyeshadow that was paid for two weeks ago or answering a question of whether my foundation contain bismuth oxychloride? Or my turnaround might be? Or what color blushes are these swatches? Or am I taking custom orders? I didn’t want to triage my business, but that’s what happened.
And then I had a nervous breakdown.
I couldn’t do anything. I didn't feel like eating or sleeping. Or anything.
I couldn’t think. My mind was spinning.
I couldn’t even get on the computer.
I was empty. For six whole weeks, my brain sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me in silence.
I shut down Etsy.
And it's hard to look back.
Remember in the very beginning when I was planning to make four hundred and seventy five? That was my goal? Not thousands. I never imagined that my products would sell so successfully. Not because they don’t deserve it, they totally do. They’re awesome. I believe that that with all of my heart. I just didn’t realize that anyone could actually be so successful on Etsy. Or, more importantly, once achieved, what it would take to maintain that level of success.
I wasn’t ready for my small business to outgrow me within months of opening. I was living in a bubble. I was in constant motion, slowly spinning out of control. My kids deserved more from me. My marriage was disintegrating. My world was closing in around me until I shut down the Etsy store.
Fast forward a few years. My kids are a little older now. They are in school during the day. My husband is back home.
I become we. My husband + I work together.
Now we plan, strategize and prepare.
We look to grow Orglamix and our team, broaden our product line and completely overhaul our methods of production.
We make amazing makeup in every shade of the rainbow.
We partner up with brilliant beauty bloggers and beauty boxes.
We open a website and sell makeup and wonderful fragrances that ship from us to you within a week.
We connect on Facebook, Twitter + Pinterest and it becomes the main hub of information and business for Orglamix.
I can work the amount that I want and you don’t have to wait.
We are all very happy + blessed. We = my family + you, our customers.
Don’t get me wrong, Etsy is an excellent venue. There is no better way to start a handmade, crafty business in my opinion. It’s an amazing community and it drives tons of new traffic to your product.
The problem for me was outgrowing Etsy in a very short period of time, lack of support and not being able to hire the help I needed-- mostly in terms of maintaining customer service, which can become the main “job” of running an Etsy store. If a person were disciplined in spending hours a day answering emails, they might have great success. Otherwise, hiring an employee would be essential for running an Etsy store with high sales.
For now, I am moving on.
Hence the opening of ORGLAMIX.COM
And lastly, to all of the friends, family and fans that have supported Orglamix, my very deepest thanks. Please remember that supporting independent designers and small businesses means paying their bills and feeding their children.
My sincerest gratitude to all of you.
Are you stalking me on Pinterest? That's awesome, but why should I care? Pinterest is growing by leaps and bounds. It's quickly become the belle of the social media ball for some retailers, who are seeing a growing number of traffic referrals from the social sharing site. Unlike many social platforms, Pinterest has two things going for it: it isn’t just a bunch of early adopters and it leads to actual sales.
As of July 2013, Pinterest has 70 million users. Pinterest has become one of the most efficient traffic sources, surpassing Twitter, Google + and Linked In combined for my business, orglamix.com. Naturally, a lot of bloggers and social media marketers are embracing Pinterest to increase social media reach and to drive traffic and sales to their sites. Here are 10 Interesting Pinterest Facts.
While pins and repins are great, the trick to using Pinterest effectively is to increase engagement with your audience. I've found the best way to do this is to check who's pinning your images, then engage them. This also gives your pins a boost. The following tips work well for me.
Pinterest Tips:
Now let’s give it a try with your site:
http://pinterest.com/source/YourWebsite.com/
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Cheri is a mom, entrepreneur and small business owner who is passionate about beauty and wellness, aromatic notes, bespoke bath + body, natural makeup, color and anything + everything Halloween. She's a self proclaimed computer geek and loves a good DIY project. She has a black dog, a blue and gold macaw and two turtles, Slip + Slide. She likes to review time-saving tools, post practical tips and smart tips she's learned along the way about entrepreneurship. She invites other women entrepreneurs to share their best advice and business trials and tribulations here.
]]>I know I'm not alone here. Most brand owners work really hard to consistently post great, inspiring content on their Facebook page. Which is why it''s so annoying that you can't easily (there is a time consuming work around) pin directly from Facebook-- until now. Enter Pinvolve. Thanks to Pinvolve, you can now convert your Facebook page into a Pinterest board.
Pinvolve is a nifty Facebook app that allows users to share content from their Facebook fan page to Pinterest. What Pinvolve does is that it adds the famous “Pin It” button to your Facebook fan page, so that you can share stuff on Pinterest without opening a new tab; or having to cut and paste a URL. The app also pulls in the Facebook likes and comments associated with each post, as well as the comments’ text. If a post has a lot of comments, however, only the first few will be listed on the main Pinvolve page, with a link to the rest provided below. When clicked, that link will take you to the photo’s page on Facebook.
Interestingly, Pinvolve isn’t just about re-displaying Facebook content with a Pinterest look-and-feel, it also provides tools that let you and the page’s fans re-share those posts over on Pinterest. When you hover over an image on the Pinvolve pinboard, Pinterest’s “Pin it” button appears. Clicking this will then re-post that content to Pinterest itself.
To add it to your Page, just open Pinvolve on Facebook and click on Add to My Page. It will add a Pinvolve tab on your Facebook Page showing all of your recent posts. Pinvolve currently offers three pricing levels: free, $5 per month, or $25 per month. The free package allows limited interaction between Facebook and Pinterest, while the still-affordable $25 per month subscription allows unlimited interaction. The company’s most popular service is the $5 per month subscription, which allows almost unlimited usage, as long as you only have one fan page to promote. Each package includes a free 14-day trial, which is easily cancelled or upgraded via customer support. To try out Pinvolve free, head over to the page here: http://apps.facebook.com/pinvolve
Features
Since installing Pinvolve, Orglamix.com has achieved a 250% increase in re-pins. You can see an example of Pinvolve in action now, over on Orglamix natural mineral makeup Facebook Page here.
Have you installed Pinvolve? Post a comment below + let us know what you think.
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Cheri is a mom, entrepreneur and small business owner who is passionate about beauty and wellness, aromatic notes, bespoke bath + body, natural makeup, color and anything + everything Halloween. She's a self proclaimed computer geek and loves a good DIY project. She has a black dog, a blue and gold macaw and two turtles, Slip + Slide. She likes to review time-saving tools, post practical tips and smart tips she's learned along the way about entrepreneurship. She invites other women entrepreneurs to share their best advice and business trials and tribulations here.
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