2009 Goals and ideas

Beady Goals, mind you.
In 2009 I would like to sell more than in 2008.
This should not be difficult since, 2008 was a hurried jumble for me, and incredibly slow bead-sellingwise. The only action I saw all year, was the show I participated in, which was fun, but didn't even break even. So for 2009 I will see if I can find other (cheaper) off-line venues to sell from. Getting out in public is good.
As for online selling - well, it isn't working too well so far. I need to mingle and promote more, and that is hard for me, not being a chatty type. And it is difficult to join in on the international bead scene. The simple fact that prices of materials are much higher here than in the US means my prices will be higher that those of US beadmakers. Thus I loose not only the US market, but everybody else that is confident in shopping online. For these reasons I am convinced that I should try my hands with the Danish beadmarket (if I can find it ;). I have tried googling, and even though not much comes up, I am still hopefull that I will find a good public spot.

There is also the possibility of getting my beads/jewelry into an actual shop. This is an idea I have not yet acted on, but I have compiled a (small) list of places I could contact in case I got extremely courageous. I suppose I feel like I need more finished and unique pieces before I can approach anybody, and so far I am happy just considering the possibility and keeping an eye out for places to add to my list.

In order for me to be more confident with my work I need to streamline my products. Recently when surfing beady sites I came across a site/shop that allthough very full of items, looked rather like a fleamarket since there were no rhyme or reason between the items. It may have been perfectly fine items, you just wouldn't know from the jumbled up look of the shop, and I'm afraid I see that in my Etsy shop too. So I have decided I want a more consistent look to my items. I shall make a soulsearch and find out what I really love in terms of colours, shapes and products, and then I will work from that.
One thing I know I love is my organic freehand shapes. Like this one:

Yes, my pod pendant again. I love it :) I might even love it more than the goddesses I make, because there are better goddess makers than me out there, but this one is all mine. I want to try to elaborate on this shape this year, and see where it takes me. As for colours, definately Ivory, and all the mild earthy colours. Browns, greens, blues, rusty reds ... Yes, I'll make a list in my sketchbook and then try to keep to it. It will do me good.


Two more things that need my attention this year, is my website and my book keeping. I may have kept all receipts since I began this glass adventure, but what good does that do if they all lay in box uncounted? I will line them all up and look at the lovely red numbers and tell myself it is all right. It is. We are still eating aren't we?
And the website ... yes, I have been building a new version slowly, but I keep questioning if this is the way I want it, and so I stop working. And furthermore, since jan.1'st I have the option of installing wordpress on the server that holds my domaine. Though I know nothing about using it, this is what I wanted when I got my domain last year. As far as I understand you could build a complete website using wordpress. So do I toss all my measly HTMLfiles and start from scratch yet again, or do I keep on with my very limited knowledge of HTML? Decisions, decisions ... and that is why I never get anywhere with it.
Maybe I should set myself a deadline? In fact many deadlines might be in order, so that I might do it in babysteps.

So these are my goals:
To streamline my items, my web precence and my economic insight, and to work on making a profit at some point.

P~

PS: with this post I just beat my all time hight of 6 posts in a month. Isn't new Years just invigorating? :)