newsletter

Monday, May 23, 2011

Slow Days, Cloudy Days

This month I have:

Listed 12 new pieces

Worked on something for my shop everyday

Revamped my blog and starting posting more regularly

Got record views and hearts on my shop

Had my work on the front page of Etsy twice

Been included in hundreds of treasuries

Had one of the treasuries I curated on the front page of Etsy

Had the hottest treasury on Etsy, thanks to my friends

Worked on social networking everday

Started a renewing regime on Etsy for days I didn’t have new pieces to list

Came up with new designs and ideas for products

0 sales.

That’s right 0 (zero) sales. Nada, zilch, the big goose egg, NOTHING.

But that’s ok. I’m not going to stop because 1) I love what I do, 2) I know that my hard work will eventually pay off financially, and 3) even if it doesn’t, who says success has to be measured by number of sales? (but if you do happen to know the magic chant for the elusive Sales Fairy, by all means please let me know in the comments)

Our days can’t all be Gilded Days, shiny bright and beautiful. We inevitably have cloudy days, bad days, slow days. Obviously we strive for the shiny bright days when things are beautiful and everything goes smoothly, but we need to the cloudy dark no-good days too. They make us appreciate our sunny days more and give us time to plan for the future. I know, totally overdone, dorky metaphor. But just roll with me here.

"Warm sunny travels" by SipofTea

This month I’ve had a lot of stinky, dumb, cloudy days, both literally and figuratively (because we have really had almost no days of nice weather, just lots of clouds and rain). There have been a lot of days where I’ve questioned what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and what’s going wrong. I mean, it’s discouraging to put in so much hard work and not see any reward. It’s hard to spend money and not see any return. And that’s ok too. I’m accomplishing a lot and confident that my Gilded Days have yet to come.

So what do you do when you’re in a rut? How do you get past the hard times? What keeps you going?

8 comments:

Jenna said...

Wow, I can honestly say I am whole heartedly surprised that after ALL that awesomeness...you haven't had a sale. Your items are unique and beautiful. Considering all the promotion you've had I would say it's the economy. People being more apprehensive on what they spend their money on. I know I've had to hold off numerous times on buying from an Etsy shop because of my bank account.
I'd like to think that's why no one is buying from my shop too but alas that may not be the case for me!
I hope your days get a little more gilded and don't lose hope!

Love at First Blush said...

That's quite a list of accomplishments!! Keep at it and sales will come, you've got great stuff!

julie cavender said...

That's a lot and you should be proud of all you've done. I think it is slow everywhere and not just on line sales. Some of the galleries that carry my work have been really slooowwww!

Tess said...

Thanks guys for all your kind words! I know it's tough out there right now, I hope things pick up for everyone!

Brouillon de fille said...

I'm sure all your hard work will eventually pay off. Rome wasn't built in one day! Keep up with the good work but don't overdo it... Enjoy some you moments, relax and don't think about anything Etsy!

Kristin Aquariann said...

Wow, you accomplished so much this month, I'm surprised the sales didn't follow - but they eventually will, don't give up! I'm not - many of my fans can't afford to buy my artwork right now, so I've been focusing on monetizing my blog instead.

Sara M. Tan said...

That is really surprising especially since your stuff is so wonderful + you were on the front page! I think you should keep going and the sales will come - we all have our slow times.

Vintage Precious said...

Your blog looks BEAUTIFUL! I've been feeling the same way. Here's to our success! :D