Door County Vintage Weekly Wrap Up

Door County Vintage Weekly Wrap Up

Hey guys I hope all is well with you. It has been one rough year since my last post. 

 I have had everything from major financial setbacks to deaths of close relatives and everything in between! I am happy to report things are looking up! I should now be able to keep up with my blog!

There is my cat Snickers posing for the camera in my studio setup. 

This is a common occurrence :)

As far as my Etsy I had a sale today which was welcome news due to a recent dry spell. 

                     This beautiful cherub doorknocker sold for $45.00

I have not added any new items for a week or so which is a no no! 

My AAA Support teammates on Etsy would be the first to tell me I should be ashamed of my laziness..lol

Earthday 2014

With #earthday here I would like to encourage all who read this to not just use 

this day to become aware of the earths importance and the issues facing it but 

also make real efforts everyday to make a difference. If you see garbage on the 

ground pick it up,if you see a spot in your yard that could use flowers or even a 

tree plant them, if you hear of a fundraiser to clean the ocean or to purify water 

for the poor buy a plate. If we all look outside the bubble we surround ourselves 

with we can make sure our grandchildren have a planet to enjoy.

That being said I'll share a few #earthday inspired items in my shop.

                                             A Vintage Hull Bud Vase

                                        

                                     Antique Tokanabe Ware Vase

                                        

                                          Pair of Small Red Bud Vases

Well that is all for today guys off to prepare my steak ramen stir fry and cucumber salad for dinner..yummo!

Etsy Success Tips

Hi everyone I am going into year 2 on Etsy and am close to sale 120 which
is not bad for a vintage seller. One thing you must consider before selling on Etsy is how patient are you?

Etsy is far from a quick start sales site. In fact few make the first sale within the first month in business. If you can get past that then you can be successful
on Etsy!

One of the things you learn early on is your effort directly correlates with your sales!

What this means is if you do not get yourself out there and think just placing your items for sale is enough effort then you will soon be frustrated and lost in the mix.

1) You need to get social! Facebook, Twitter,Google,Blogger,Pintrest and on 

and whatever happens to be the hot social media outlet at the time needs to have your shop as part of their clientele! The more you network the more presence you have and the easier it is to be found on any search engine!

2)Get photogenic! 

Etsy puts huge emphasis on quality photos!

Here is what I found works after much trial and error. 

a) Lighting get as much lighting as you can.  Natural lighting works best but for some of us it is just not realistic to be able to get outside often enough for it to be a viable option!  Florescent works well if you have enough of it. You need your work area to be bright! 

b)Background I have noticed all white bright backgrounds work best!

I bought a large white piece of construction paper and glued it to a box and used another piece on the table. I place my object tight against the background and make sure the lighting is sufficient. So far so good! 

A good photo editing program. Use it! Make sure every photo is ready for prime time  Properly cropped and any noise cleared up!

3) Inventory. One of the first lessons I learned was 100 is the magic number,

if you do not yet have 100 items to sell build your inventory!  After all inventory is the life's blood of any business, at 100 items people take you more serious as a seller and sales soon follow.

I will write and publish part two tomorrow!

Last Minute Finds

A beautiful Piano Music Box

I'll take this opportunity to share some of the things I currently have for sale this holiday season!

Another Piano Music Box

Gone With The Wind Egg

These are just a few things. I will add more soon!

Below is a link to some of my X Factor Team Members please help to support these small business entrepreneurs and help America come back strong!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTU5NzE4Njd8MjcyMzY2MzU2Mg/x-factor-vintage-featured-shop-entrants?ref=pr_treasury

Return and Transformation

I have been on hiatus as of late but I am now back!

A lot has occurred in my time away. X Factor Vintage has

grown to be a 600 member strong Etsy team, My business partner

bought me out, I Changed the name of my shop and added a second,

and also got a new kitty name Snickers.

I shared this on Etsy and may as well share it on my blog for you all to read!

"I just got a cat before thanksgiving and wouldn't you know it as I'm preparing to do a marathon of Cyber Monday listings she gets violently ill. I took her to the vets today and they said, "if you cant pay up front there's nothing we can do to help you". I said "so you are just going to let her die?".. And the vet said I know it's tough"..very uncool. Anyways I was under the impression she swallowed a marble that she liked playing with and would need a surgery that costs 1000 dollars. I considered spending every penny I have in the bank right now and doing a wholesale sale of my inventory to save her...Well today Snickers is acting normal and since the visit has started eating n drinking like normal so I guess I keep my shop a bit longer."

She is fine now and ever energetic!

My Introduction

Was it Nietzsche who said: 

• On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.

Well it was a quote long ago read to me I have never forgotten. I have tried and failed many times to explain why we are here,what is our purpose? No matter how many theories I have tossed around inevitably it always comes back to just enjoy what you do and the time you have.

          That led me to my epiphany this April. I had been out of work much like most of the country, had been looking for work and finding none. All the time dreaming about my childhood passion..PICKING!! I love Garage Sales,Auctions,Swap Meets etc.

Being unemployed and having not saved well prior to losing my job this seemed a pipe dream. Enter my great friend Mike a factory worker by day and heavy metal guitarist by night. He had decided he was fed up with not being appreciated and being caught in a dead end go nowhere job and asked me if I would join him in forming a business. I was hesitant because I had no money to give to the venture, Mike assured me he was willing to take the risk. 

What ideas where had early on where unwise and have cost us months of regression and growing pains, in which time each of us at different times have almost thrown in the towel n walk away but perseverance was in our souls. We are now proud owners of an online business called Door County Blues!

What is Door County Blues?

A simple answer is a jack of all trades store in constant evolution. The long answer is we are building capital at the moment by tapping into my life long knowledge of vintage items and mikes knowledge of cutlery and some jewelry. We have two active online stores Etsy Store and our Ebay Store. Thing seem to be heading in the right direction.

I will be adding more about me,mike our business,the color of yummy and much more...

I'll leave you with a few pictures of some items from our business!

         

 Thanks for reading!