Warning…. I’m going to do that soapbox thing now.
Wasted Energy
Stop spending time and energy worrying about competing with
other jewelry makers. Spend your time
and energy on improving your work, your store, your listings, your audience.
First of all, it is a turn off to potential customers if you
bad-mouth the competition… snarky, bitchy, whiny… all of it. And guess what? You NEVER KNOW where a potential customer
is. Anyone and everyone who sees your
written words on the internet is a potential customer.
Secondly, it’s a waste of energy. You will rarely see a focused professional
jewelry maker whining and carrying on about their competition. And by “competition”, I don’t just mean other
self-representing jewelry makers. I mean
don’t bitch non-stop about Chinese mass-produced imports. Just don’t.
Don’t bitch about people copying your work. Don’t bitch about nasty customers who
approach you in your show booth. Don’t
bitch about how much the price of silver has gone up.
If you simply MUST bitch, do it only occasionally and in a
private setting with a few people
When you are whiny/complaining/negative often and in public,
I can guarantee you are turning people away from your business.
Spend more time practicing your workroom skills and less
time worrying about things you have no control over.
Okay, rant over. Now onto something completely different... a new line of jewelry.
The Start of My
Medieval Line
Recently I designed a piece of jewelry as a gift to the
stylist of the TV show “The Originals” to be considered for use on the show
(wish me luck… this is a new thing for me).
This is the piece…
But then I liked it so much (isn’t it great when we like our
own work?!) that I decided to keep going and I made the start of a whole line
of medieval inspired jewelry. Okay, not that vampires and medieval are the
same thing, but I think the styling could be similar.
So here are some of the first pieces in my new line.
I agree about the 'whiny' thing; not grownup behavior at all :-)
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't even know what anyone around me makes or does artistically unless I happen to see it in a group setting. I like it that way because I don't want to feel I 'nicked' or subconsciously 'borrowed' from someone else.
The Medieval line is looking great! More more! :-)
Thank you for saying what a lot of us want to say, but are afraid to say. I have seen this behavior destroy bead buy groups, destroy other designers reputations, destroy friendships (the worse).
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the almost possessive competitiveness - everything from where someone got their beads to someone asked for help.
Anyway, I LOVE your medieval designs.
Your rant was spot on. Love the medieval line!!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLOVE your medieval line - very nice work!! And agree with your comments regarding folks complaining endlessly. Both as a peer & as a customer, I get pretty tired of the complaints I hear so often. Nice post!!
ReplyDeleteYour new line is really exciting and good luck on the TV spot!! You're spot on about the turnoff complaining can be....this tends to keep me out of Etsy Forums, except to lurk....sometimes there's useful info there, too =D
ReplyDeletelove the new line of jewellery and agree with every word of the rant.
ReplyDelete