Hello and welcome to my new blog!  After lots of encouragement from some of my favorite friends in my creative, handmade village, I decided to start my own blog focusing on the growth and marketing of my business.  Handmade goods are a truly a labor of love and if you want to be taken seriously in a market flooded by cheap, cookie cutter goods, you have to be willing to work hard and you always have to be a student.  So, here we are.  The Joy of Marketing Your Crafts blog, and now--my own Facebook group too.


I started my business in January 2014 with my cousin.  We literally had an idea, we talked a bit about what we wanted to focus on and what each of us brought to the business, and then we jumped in with both feet.  Our first show was the swap meet in Packwood, WA.  We worked our buns off each making 100+ items each.  We did pretty well for being the new girls, and it ended up launching us into other business opportunities.  Just a couple months after the swap meet, I took the business to our local flea market here in Bremerton, WA (hosted by the Uptown Mercantile & Marketplace) and my cousin ended our year with a show at her home in Yakima, WA.  Our first year, we focused on getting our name out.  We decided on a business name and we had a logo designed along with all the online elements we might need.  Then, we purchased our domain name and launched a website.

In January 2015, we met to reflect on our first year.  We focused on our branding, and we decided on the shows we wanted to apply for so we could get our calendar set for the year.  A couple months later, my cousin made the decision to leave the business and go a different route with her small farm and I decided I was in for the long haul.  So off I went to see what 2015 might have in store for me.  And boy was it a heck of a journey!  In 2015, I launched a blog on my webpage and my Facebook business page saw significant growth.  I was invited to participate in some of the biggest vintage shows in the Pacific Northwest. Two of the shows I attended are in the Top 25 Vintage Markets in the country.  I closed out 2015 with two fall shows and in the midst, something completely unexpected happened.  On November 1, 2015, I opened the first brick and mortar location for At My Cousin's House.  And since then, I've been open five days a week and teaching lots of sold out, vintage inspired holiday and home decor classes.

I have learned so much the past two years.  I've grown as a business owner and as an artist.  I've made some fabulous new friends, and my creative village has grown both in size and in friendship.  I have a core group of class attendees who make me smile and guarantee my weeks end on a high note.  And above all, I have the joy and the honor of sharing the things I've learned with all of you.  I hope that you will find my blog and my Facebook group helpful and welcoming.  And most of all, I hope that you have fun.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined."  Henry David Thoreau

The Joy of Marketing Your Crafts, on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/206270489722880/

Returns, Exchanges, Custom Orders, Classes and More: You Need to Have Policies

Before you start selling online or at shows, it's important to decide on your official business policies such as Returns/Exchanges, Custom Orders, and Classes. Here are some great tips for writing your policies and for getting them out to the masses on your social media platforms:

1. Research. Visit similar artist and maker's websites. Read their policies. Think about the policies we agree to when we shop with big box retailers. What do you like? What do you not like? What are you not wiling to compromise on? All of these are essential brainstorming questions. 

2. Get it all in writing. Once you have written your policy, have several people proofread for you. The human brain automatically autocorrects, so it's important to get more eyes on your writing. You are being represented by the words you share and there is no such thing as a real deletion on the internet. Once it's out there, it's out there for good. Check your grammar. Check your spelling. Always, always put your best forward for the world to see--just like you do with your handmade goods. 

3. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple!!! If you write policies the likes of Facebook and Twitter, you will lose your customers and you will lose sales. People don't have time to read lengthy policies. They want it simple, plain, and straightforward. 

4. Share it. Once you have everything finalized, be sure you share it on your social media platforms. Pin it on your FB page. If you send out customer emails, it might be worth a special email. Include your policies as Note posts on Facebook and in your business description.  And repost them now and again to keep the information fresh for your customers.  Get the word out!!

5. Don't recreate the wheel. You don't have to come up with a new way to handle returns or exchanges. Find the policy that fits you best and use it. Work smarter, not harder.

6. Be consistent. If you constantly make exceptions to your policy or if you are changing it all the time, you lose integrity. And your reputation is everything in this world. You have a policy. STICK TO IT. That means for friends, family, and strangers. Period. If you want to be respected, you have to act like a "real" business.

7. No Guilt. You are a small business owner. You are a talented artist and maker. And you are no less valuable than the big box store that makes our movement important. Repeat after me: "I matter!" And when you doubt yourself and your policies, remember that you are a consumer and as a consumer, you are bound by retail policies too. You're not doing anything that every other business isn't doing.