Ch-Ch-Changes

Q: "How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?"
A: "Only one... but it has to WANT to change."

Zadoodle is changing. What Zadoodle is changing INTO has yet to be seen, as the metamorphosis has only just begun. All I know is: change is inevitable.

I love vintage, and I will always love vintage.  I love the long-lasting quality of time-tested (aka used) items.  I love the old retro colors.  I love the price (see my blog post "Confessions of a Garage Sale Junkie").

Learn to Juggle in Ten Easy Steps

I never learned to juggle oranges.  Somehow it earned a low ranking on the List of Things To Do in Life.  Oh, I entertained the thought from time to time, but never long enough to actually venture a trip to the fruit bowl.

What I did not realize early in life is that juggling would become one of the greatest skills I could possess.  Who woulda thunk that the same girl who listened to "Like a Virgin" and "Thriller" on vinyl would one day be a wife, mom, pet owner, writer, director, online seller (and therefore a) facebooker, twitterer, blogger, amateur photographer, marketing executive, sales associate, postal employee, CEO, CFO, office manager, butcher, baker, candlestick maker.

I made those last 3 up. But I probably forgot some, so I'm sure it comes out in the wash.

So how do you learn to juggle in Ten Easy Steps?
1. Live in any developed part of the world in the present day.
2. Sign up for Facebook.
3. Get married.
4. Have a child.
5. Have another child.
6. Start a home-based business so you can be home with the kids.
7. Build your business while attempting to raise your children.
8. Promote your business on every website imaginable.
9. Begin to succeed at your business.
10. Blog about your business.

K.I.S.S.

keep it simple... susie.

Whenever I embark on a new endeavor (my husband has affectionately referred to them as "projects") I tend to go overboard.  I found some old sheet music at a garage sale and sold them... so I went on eBay and bought 700 to sell.  duh.  I still have at least 670 left.

The problem my little online shop developed was that it became lopsided.  If I listed all of my sheet music, no one can see anything else I have to offer.  So I had the brilliant thought to open a second Etsy shop.  I hardly have time to market the first, let alone open, maintain and market TWO SHOPS!

I have actually become inspired by the plethora of sheet music and records I have, so I am abandoning my 4 day-old music shop on Etsy and moving my 7 humble items into Zadoodle.  The good thing about my name, zadoodle, is that it could mean anything so I am open to many options.  Many of my sheet music I will use for decoupage and framing projects, selling many pieces for scrapbooking projects, and selling others individually as I have been doing.  I just have to incorporate the items into my art so I can start to make a dent in the pile...s.

Back to work.

So back down to one shop.  Hallelujah.

It's All About Who You Know (Rather, Who Knows You...)

I was doing so well.  I was Twittering (or is it tweeting?). I was blogging.  I set up a Facebook fan page.  I linked my online shop to twitter and FB.  Now I check in the Forums at Etsy and find a list of TWENTY-FOUR networking sites to connect to in order to build my "online presence." It's a great list, find it here.

Now, before I start looking at the cup as half-empty, I must remember that I have been working my new business less than a week, so one day at a time, right?  So if I set myself up on one new site every day, within a month I should be done with the list.  Or maybe I'll give myself more time. Or maybe I won't.

This is my thought process.  Aren't you glad you're not a fly on the wall of my skull?  Who wants to listen to THAT all day?

There is so much to remember to have a successful online business.  You have to build your product.  You have to build your clientele, and you have to build an offramp on the information superhighway leading potential buyers to your door!

My brain hurts.

Success Is a Daily Journey

Yesterday I set a goal for myself: to list at least 10 new items each day at my Etsy online shop, Zadoodle.  Since I started the process late in the day and am generally a confessed self-interrupter, I found myself propping my eyelids open with toothpicks as I toiled to get my ten listings in.

Success!

Ok, so technically, most of them listed today.  But I got them done BEFORE I went to bed, so that's all that matters.

Today I'm starting early, so it's good.  Never mind that I've already checked my Twitter, my Facebook Page, am setting up a StumbledUpon account and I am currently blogging. Networking, I'm learning, is all part of the game.  But I am going to get the listings done.  Early today!

Success to me is not a destination.  If it was we would reach it and then we could just lie down and die.  Then what?  No, success is the process of moving forward toward your goals, toward continued improvement, away from your past failures.  And yes, there will be failures along the way.  I am reminded of Edison's lightbulb that took him hundreds of attempts before he got it.  If it weren't for the perseverence of the Edisons of this world, we would still be sitting around kerosene lamps.  Instead, we have light, we have technology, and medicine, and we can speak to someone on the other side of the planet in seconds.

Uh oh, baby just coughed.  Gotta get a move on.

List ten. Today.

Success!

The Birth of an Online Business

The dust has settled.  The line has been drawn.  It's on.

Zadoodle Vintage: my Etsy vintage store in the making.

Before I settled on launching an online business, I struggled to find a direction for my career, what is it that I would like to do.  I am a very creative chick, but I have never really had a single outlet.  I've worked in theatre, in real estate, in a health club, in a church... and I am now a stay-at-home mom seeking my fortune (or at least a few extra bucks a month) at some endeavor that will continue to allow me to remain a stay-at-home mom.  Hence the idea for launching an online business.  For some time I thought eBay was my only option, but it did not really cater to my more creative side, and the cost of doing business was increasing monthly.

Enter Etsy.  It allows me to peddle my crafty wares but also the vintage oddities that I seem to be attracted to as of late.  Etsy's policies don't seem to change as often as eBay's do, and now that eBay is significantly raising their rates AGAIN, I decided to abandon ship and swim toward Etsy Island, the land of promise, the land of milk and honey.

I gotta start chasing those cows and bees.