The Tax Man Cometh

The holidays are done. If you're like me, you're looking around at your life trying to remember what it looked like before the holidays struck! What exactly do I buy at the grocery store when I have time to go there!? Why is the line at the post office so SHORT today?? What year is it!?? Truly, we all deserve to take a deep breath and celebrate our survival through the joyous, yet stressful, holiday season. This is especially true of we Etsians (of the SCAD variety) because, with any luck, each and every one of us was swamped with holiday orders.

Ah, the sweet smell of relaxation.... wait, what else am I forgetting? I feel like there's one more thing on the horizon... oh, no, it's TAXES!! Just when we thought we were safe, in walks the Tax Man.

To be honest, I must confess that I am a FREAK of nature. I ENJOY doing my taxes. Well, I should say I enjoy organizing my finances, figuring my earnings, working on financial strategies. It's like raking the yard or cleaning the bathroom or painting the kitchen. Not exactly fun, but rewarding and satisfying. Spending time with your financial reality is a very good idea, especially when you are operating on a shoe-string budget. I'm no expert- I'm trying to learn what I can as the need arises, and I thought I would try to share some of the things I learn with you.

This year I learned about Sales Tax. It's the first year I have ever collected it because I officially became a business this year. These are different than your income taxes, which are due in April. In California, where I live, you report your earnings and pay your sales taxes based on a schedule provided to you by the state Board of Equalization (http://www.boe.ca.gov/). For me this is yearly, and happens to be due in January, so I filed already and got a head start on my BIG tax day stuff.

I found a blog post from last year that covers the basics of sales tax and a little bit about how it applies to Etsy sellers. Take a look: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/tax-tips-everything-you-need-to-know-about-sales-tax/

Etsy has a great feature that makes adding sales tax to your items pretty simple, but they can't tell you what tax rate you should be using based on where you live, so you'll have to do some research on your own. Remember that each state is different! To set the tax options on your shop go to Shop Settings>Sales Tax Settings.

In CALIFORNIA, my BIGGEST TIP is to keep track of all your sales made within the state of California, and look up the COUNTY right away. Store this info with the record of your sale. You will have to report how much money was sent to you from each California county when you file (because of varying sales tax rates, I suppose) and it is a PAIN to look up each county when you have a huge  list of sales in front of you (ok, it wasn't as huge as I would have liked).

 The other great TIP, which they mention in the blog above, is try to be as accurate as you can in your tax collection because you cannot keep any extra money and if you come up short it will come out of your own pocket. No fair. Life (and taxes) are not fair.

I hope this will help to get you motivated about tax time. Now is a good time to at least begin organizing your books and figuring out what you will need to do to square things with Uncle Sam.
I'll try to post helpful things as I advance in my own tax adventures. Good luck everyone, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Laurel http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaurelBushman

Moo to the Rescue

We had a discussion on Team Board a little while back about a promo Moo was running, and I thought I would share how we've found this product to be a wonderful way to highlight your brands.

Click this link to score 50 Business Cards for FREE all you have to do is pay shipping.

I almost like the free ones with the visit my shop on Etsy and Moo watermark on the bottom better than the full price version!  The banner on the bottom automatically sparks a conversation about our shop every time we pull out these cards. We made an assortment but focused a bunch of these with our picture to give to friends and family.  These cards are a great way to highlight your merchandise or illustrations but don't forget sometimes people like to see pictures of you too ;)

One of my favorite products they have are their sticker books.  We made some assorted stickers that help put that finishing touch on all of our Etsy orders :) The stickers are 1" and make perfect closures to products and gifts to highlight your logo or message.

We have been thinking of purchasing some of the new post cards now that you can make them with double-sided prints... They were originally only available with one image and a selection of pre-made backs to chose from.  Their print quality and the weight of their cards are so nice I am sure the post cards are awesome.  I'll have to let you know when we place our next order and try them out.  If you want to get either the postcards or the stickers they are running a free shipping promotion with the code YAYSTICKIT

SCAD+ ETSY=LOVE Thursday Finds

Howdy Y'all! Hope this week is panning out nice for everyone.  The weather is finally nice here and it is making me want to run from my studio and soak up some vitamin D.

Incase you may have missed some team updates here are some important things to check out:

SCAD on Etsy- Shout out in the District

Team Tags need to be changed from "SCAD" to "SCAD Team"

(please also change: "I am a proud member of TEAM SCAD + ETSY = LOVE. Please enter SCAD Team into the etsy search to find my fellow team members.")

There are good discussions happening on our discussion board... Please check them out and add your input here.

New Treasury Picks Below-

Happy Crafting!

XOXO,

KC

Tips for Etsy: Avatars and Shop Banners

We have been so happy to see the SCAD + ETSY = LOVE Team applications flooding in!  I wanted to say a quick hello from Laurel and I to all our new members :)

The beauty of being in a team is having helpful incites from your fellow team members to constantly evolve and tweak your shop so that not only you will increase business, but also to bring other team members exposure on Etsy as well.  Now more than ever there are so many things to shift threw online that it can be a very exhausting process seeing everything.  While we want our team to not be too labor intensive for those of you on  a busy schedule, I do want to point out that for some of your fellow teammates their shop may already be the prime focus for showcasing their business.  By having some shops empty or without an avatar/ shop banner it lowers the standards for the overall group.  Here are some helpful (and quick) tips to get your shop appearance set and up and ready for business:

Standard Info for Banners and Avatars

For your Avatar/ Profile Picture:

You can use image editing software (for example: Adobe Photoshop or GIMP) to tweak a photo you've taken.
You will need to crop or re size your image to be a small square, 75 x 75 pixels in size at 72 dpi resolution. The file should be one of these formats: .jpg, .gif or .png.

For your Banner graphic at the top of your Shop:
Make sure you have your properly sized image saved on your computer. Your banner should be 760 x 100 pixels at 72 dpi. Banner images must be .jpg, .png or .gif file format.

To upload your banner image to your Etsy shop, go to Your Account > Info & Appearance. Click the Browse button to locate the file on your computer, then click the Save button at the bottom of the page. Your new banner will show up in your shop momentarily.

Make a Quick Banner HERE on Etsy's Banner Generator

Etsy Resources- Pre-made Badges

Etsy Resources- Pre-made Banners and Avatars

Here is a post from Etsy on Making a personalized shop banner in Photoshop

Wanna get a graphic designer to make a super sweet one for you?!? 

For Under $10 You can get a custom made avatar and shop banner from a fellow Etsian-

Modern/ Fashion

Simple/ Modern

A little bit pricier, but includes everything you would ever need- 

Full Packages with Vacation, Sale, even a custom reserved listing place holder!

I have created a fun picture for an Avatar you can click and download here:

Feel Free to promote your shop and our Team using this 

"Solid Gold" avatar or Etsy Flag picture ©Make Shop Live-

 

 

Tips for Etsy: Treasury Widgets

Hello Team Members!

Laurel and I have been having so much fun working on the Team and I am so happy to see the growth in membership!!! We have created this blog to promote and help our team members with their Etsy business and I am going to help with a section featuring tips and tricks to maximize your time on Etsy and within the team.

Some useful sites to bookmark are:

CRAFTOPOLIS: http://www.craftopolis.com/  

This site is sooooo helpful and you would be a fool not to bookmark it!  It sets up a calender that shows on each day how many people visit your shop, if you receive a heart(s), and how much money you made daily/ monthly! 

The best feature here for saving time when updating your shop is "Edit Express" where you can  edit price, title, description, and quantity on items in minutes.

Etsy On Sale: http://www.etsyonsale.com/sellers

This site is useful to batch organize your items for sales and it very easy to even set up sales in advance.  You can even use it to change the tags on your items if you haven't tagged SCAD yet ;)

My absolutely favorite site for Etsy users is Craft Cult! http://www.craftcult.com/heartomatic.php

You can see who hearts your items and shows helpful charts that you can use along with your analytics to maximize and analyze your sales.  If you haven't set up analytics in any of your sites- No worries! This helpful site gives you all the information you need :)

Here is my latest Treasury Selection for the Team.  If you haven't tagged your items with "SCAD" you are missing out on an opportunity to get exposure in our treasuries and features,  Please make sure you tag your items as well as put the following text in your shop profile: "I am a proud member of TEAM SCAD + ETSY = LOVE.

The above treasury widget can be created on Craft Cult as well and it is super easy to create!

http://www.craftcult.com/treasury_widget.php?userid=

These widgets are perfect for including on your blog or site promoting your Treasuries and Team.

You can also make a super awesome Shop Widget here too, and we are hoping for a similar one on this blog each month featuring one of our Team Member's Shop :)

Hope this can help!
XOXO,
KC Cooper Sears

Etsy Success Symposium Feb. 8th, 2011

Etsy held their 1st online Symposium today in Brooklyn, NY.  The Symposium culminates and helps finalize their 2011 Shop Makeover series. If you weren't able to attend in person they featured most of the sessions streaming online too.  I missed a few of the talks so watching the archived videos is going to keep me busy the rest of the week! While watching I kept notes and here are some links to reference in case you missed the live feed.

Here is the link with all the amazing and inspiring guests featured
Here is the list of times and overviews of the Symposium

I caught the tail end of the day and here are the sections I was able to virtually attend:

Generating Creative Energy
Speaker: Noah Scalin

You may know Noah from the award-winning daily art project Skull-a-Day or his 365: A Daily Creativity Journal that was spawned from his daily skull projects. He of course spoke a lot of the benefits from having a daily project or added rules to your current projects.

"Think Big- Work Small" & Perfection is Overrated was one of the main themes of his talk.  The note he made was that you can always come back to things- just put it out there!

Set your Goals & Remember limits are good- If you focus just a day at a time you don't get overwhelmed.  These goals aren't set in stone.  Let them transition and change because inspiration is everywhere!

Get out of your comfort zone/ environment and don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself. Most times when you take a risk- Good things happen!  Also, work with the unexpected because sometimes that reaps added benefits you couldn't anticipate.  Some of the benefits to a daily themed project is adding skills to your "tool box" and learning things outside of your comfort zone that can be a skill-set or an important tool later.

Group Activity During Presentation- Take 1 image you are comfortable with and in a 20min time frame make 10 different variations of that image.  Photo once done and move on- 

While working: Make sure you do it quickly and don't make things "Precious" which is the secret to this style.

Attract Your Target Market: You’re Not Walmart
Speaker: April Bowles of Blacksburg Belle 
Ideal Customer Characteristics Worksheet
Target Market Workshop Worksheet
April's workshop was on matching your product to your perfect buyer and finding your target market.  One of my favorite statements she made was- It is okay to eliminate a group of people to make your group more focused to your fan base.  Make your own story to describe your "Ideal Customer Profile" which should be specific.  Attract your Target Market- You're not Wal-Mart you don't have to appeal to everyone.

Remember to market to people the way you would want to be marketed to. This can be done by adding text to your descriptions that answer questions and concerns you would have with your product while shopping. Tips/ examples are adding "Splurge on yourself" for high priced items.
Other helpful tips: Add product placement, life-styled, or finished packaging pictures as an option in your listing photos.  When addressing a product that would be bought as a gift your target is still the purchaser not the receiver. And, consider sharing a longer story for each of your products on your blog that links you to your shop.

Ascertaining Your Awesomeness & Articulating It Without Sounding Like an Ass
Speaker: Michelle Ward of  When I Grow Up Coach 
Her presentation was all about creative bragging and explaining your powers for good :) 

Here is the whole presentation on PDF that she used in her presentation.
Here is a link to her worksheets that I didn't notice in the presentation but are super helpful-
Creating Mission Statements
Here is one on How do you find your uniquity? (She likes to make up expressive words btw)
What makes you unique? This should be used to make the blueprint for your business.  When you are answering this don't be shy or humble. If you need help starting your list here are the questions she posed in the workshop:
#1 Why do you rock people's socks?
#2 Why are you doing what you do in terms of your business?
#3 Why do you think you can succeed in this business?
#4 What do you want to be known for in your business?
#5 Why do you care about your field?
#6 What difference do you want to make in this field?
Your answers can be similar, or all different- as long as your honest with your answers.
Go back and use one sentence for each answer which can be used as the basic building block for "your pitch".  This pitch is helpful as a description for your shop or an easy answer to the question "So, what do you do?".
Homework was finalizing your Elevator Pitch.
When you finish your homework post in the Etsy Business Topic Discussion Here
Along with the homework you should go to her other site The Declaration of You which is a 1 month online course- next one runs  Feb. 21st- March 21st.

Reaching Your Creative Dreams: One Goal at a Time
Speaker: April Bowles
(She referenced her worksheet from her first talk on Target Market Workshop Worksheet)
April is an amazing speaker and I am so glad she did a second section on Taking Action & Not Using "Crap Excuses". Crap Excuses are what you say to yourself to get out of doing work and by figuring out what they are you can stop sabotaging yourself by using them.

"SMART" Goals- The best goals are ones that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. 

Think of your end goal and what that emotion would feel like.  By focusing on the feeling that is attached you can work towards making a life change.  When making a big change- Change habits.
Ex: Rider- logical, Elephant- Emotional and the 2 must work together to be successful. Shrink the change so you don't spook your elephant.

By adding things on slowly and focusing on high leverage tasks you can feel the rewards quickly and they will help motivate you to continue making the changes.

One point that she made in the beginning of her speech was that too many options can inflict "Decision Paralysis".  She gave a great example of winning a free trip and half the group having a set prize and half that could chose their destination and how the group with the choice isn't as satisfied. This theme of decision paralysis coincided very well with her end point of the speech dealing with a daily to-do list. With every decision you have to make your will power goes down making taking action and focusing on high leverage tasks a must.

There is nothing wrong with not doing the crap that doesn't work! Get rid of your crap excuses and focus on tasks you can utilize the pockets of time in your day to the best of your ability.  Crazy point of interest- April has ~6 items on her to-do list! Long to-do lists work against you.  Prioritize your daily activities the night before or have a weekly schedule where you have certain activities for each day and lay out your daily high leverage tasks the night before.
Homework is make daily, weekly, monthly and yearly $$$ goals for what you'd like to be making.  If you don't spell these goals out for yourself you may not be focusing your time and effort in the right direction to achieve these goals.  By going over these goals you know if it is realistic and what you need to work towards.  An Example is: Maybe hand-knitting everything may not make you enough money to achieve your goals, but selling PDF patterns or online classes in addition to your knitting will give you the profit you desire . 

Hope that this post is helpful for anyone who missed the live feed today!


This post is written by KC of Make Shop Live.  You can find their Blog Here &  Etsy Shop Here