Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Scavenger Hunt!!

Let's have a little fun!  

My kiln is currently undergoing maintenance so I can't make beads for a couple days. 

So I thought we'd have a scavenger hunt!

There are 3 randomly chosen items currently for sale in my etsy shop with the number 50 in the listing.  If you find one of them send me a message either here, on etsy, or on facebook  and I'll give you
 50% off that listing!! (first one to contact me on each listing is the one who gets the discount)

Good luck and have fun!!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

5 Social Networking Errors Businesses Should Avoid

 You are a small business. You sell products or services that I'm interested in and I'm ready to become your best customer!  And then I notice a few things and look for someone else in your field.  Even if you have customer service down to a science, there are things that make me walk away.

1.  Do not load your feed with political or religious posts.  It's okay to have an opinion, and even to share it occasionally in a respectful manner, but remember you are talking to your customers and many of them may not share your views.

2. Do not badmouth a customer.  Ever. Seriously, other customers are reading this and wondering what you are saying about them.  Is it worth a two sentence rant to lose even a small percentage of your business?

3.  Do not complain or whine or gripe about your lack of sales.  When I see that, I just assume that everyone else knows something I don't and join them in steering clear of you.  While we're on the subject, don't post sob stories about why I have to buy something from you because you need the money so badly.  We all need money to get by in this world. If your kid needs braces and you whine about how much you need to sell because of that, you may just remind me that my kid needs braces too, so I should save my money.

4.  Do not write a blog post about how to sell the stuff you don't like, at your top price, to a group of people that you consider less important than your real clients.  You think I'm joking?  I've seen this!  Some of us treat every single customer with the same respect and work hard to give them our top products. Customers do know the difference.

5.  Do not make me try to decipher what you are saying.   DO use proper English, and check your spelling and grammar. Also,  I don't want to see how many swear words you know, or how many creative ways you can use them.  If you can't shout it in a room full of grandmas, don't say it online.

Your name is inextricably connected to your business, so even if you post these things on your personal pages your customers know, and despite what you may think, they probably care.  Stay positive and respectful, it  makes the difference between success and failure.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Bead Inspiration ~ Tropics

Once again, I am dreaming of some tropical location and wishing I lived under a palm tree!  I think this week I will focus on all things tropical ~ palm trees, the ocean, sea creatures ~ you name it, I'll be trying it on a bead!

Here are a couple of things I'm going to use for inspiration this week:

And I think I have a really interesting idea for this:

This week I'll start posting pictures of what I made based on the inspiration.  I promise I'll share the good, the bad, and the ugly ~ as long as you understand there will probably be more ugly than anything!

Since it's on my mind again ~

Two Tickets to Paradise by Eddie Money



Have a productive week!

Monday, April 23, 2012

MONDAY?!

Ouch!  Looks like I fell off the blog again.  I think I may have skinned my knee this time ~ they ought to make training wheels for these things!! 

Okay, today's motivation ~  hmmm....  Flowers!  I've been working on improving my flowers lately, and I've come up with quite a few things I like.  But I think I'm ready to up my game!  Let's try something like this: 


Or this:

These might be wishful thinking, but I have to keep pushing myself!

I guess a little music about flowers is in order :)

Scarlet Begonias by Jimmy Buffett


Have a great week, and stay motivated!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Motivation Monday - Custom Orders

Oh, so it's not Monday? It is still early in the week though right?  I hope so, because I still have a LOT to do this week!

I didn't have much time during the past week to play with the cupcake patterns I posted last Monday because virtually everything I made was a custom order.  Did I tell you I love custom orders! They often inspire and push me to try things I may not have otherwise considered.  Please don't hesitate to let me know if there is something special I can make for you!

Here are a few from the last few days, and I have several more on the board for this week.

I think a little Bachman Turner Overdrive is in order for this week's motivation!


Have a great week and stay motivated!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Motivation Monday - More Cupcakes

I'm not sure why I find cupcakes so inspiring for beads.  Maybe just because they are round?  In any case, I'm always finding the cutest cupcakes on pinterest and thinking I can make them into beads!  Here are a couple I think I'll try today.




And I'll be listening to some of my all time favorite music ~ it is most definitely "Good To Be Me"!

Happy Monday and Stay Motivated!

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

What's Up Wednesday - MARCH CONTEST!

It's March (well, almost) and time for a new contest!

I know there are a lot of Veda's Beads out there and I think it would be great fun to see what everyone is making with them. So post your pictures on my facebook fan page VedasBeads and you will be entered into a random drawing for FREE BEADS!  

A set of squares in your choice of color

The more pictures you post the more chances you have to win!  If you don't have your VedasBeads yet hop over to my Etsy shop and get yours now!

As a bonus, you get another place to advertise your great jewelry, and I'll promote you too ~ you win either way!

Here's the first entry from Sun Dog Bead Co.:  

 Click Here  to purchase this one!

So get out your VedasBeads, post something on my fan page and enter to win, what are you waiting for!!