Newest strategy

So I still have a million things to do to improve and promote my ArtFire studio, but I also want to diversify a bit. I considered Etsy, but I really would rather not have to pay to list. I suppose I could list one thing every other day and it works out to $3 a month. I have several reservations regarding Etsy. They have made several changes recently. Personally, I think most of them make sense from an outsider's perspective. But the forums are full of people screaming. Although that is not unusual. I mostly just worry about the lack of communication from the administration. ArtFire is so awesome about communicating with us. I guess I got spoiled. :-)

So my latest strategy is Zazzle. For those of you unfamiliar with Zazzle, it is a website that allows the seller to design customizable products using their own designs. I have already designed a few products. The coolest, in my mind anyway, are 2 really cool pairs of Keds. That's right, I designed sneakers! I would post a link to them, but they have to be approved before they are released for public view. I spent most of yesterday creating new designs based on my style of art that would work better on more products. I am just getting started, but I can see that with intense promoting, Zazzle could easily produce a decent income stream. The best part is that all the shipping and production are done by Zazzle. All I do is create art, design products, and promote. So check it out:

My Zazzle store

I'll be adding new products on a fairly regular basis. It is pretty time consuming. I think a realistic goal is 2 new products each day. That leaves me with time for creating art and promotion for Zazzle and Artfire. Plus I am still selling on ebay which takes up a good chunk of my day on Sunday.

All in all, I feel good about the direction my business is taking. I'm trying to carefully weigh my options and make choices based on activities I can actually fully commit to. It doesn't do me any good to sign up for 50 stores or sites and not be able to put in the time at any of them. I think it's much more productive to commit to a couple sites and really work my you know what off to promote them.

So that's what new in the life of The Artist Michelle. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week! :-)

Michelle