Selling in the New Market

Hi Peeps!

I have a new Facebook friend who paints chairs and always starts his videos with "Hi Peeps!"  I just love his spirit!  Just search for Andy's Chairs on Facebook to enjoy his optimism and love for his business.  He's a true inspiration!

Andy and his Mother have utilized social media to reach new people and find followers as he builds his business.  He's really getting his name out there and works all the angles.  As I enjoy watching Andy and many online videos, I realize that Im now five years into my own blog.  The investment of time in blogging has been minimal and it's been a lot of fun!

In that five years, I've been researching projects, business models and marketing strategies in my spare time after working at my full-time job.  I've been making small goals and discovering what I'm actually capable of doing.  What I've learned mostly is that the market place is a changing!  It's changing fast and it's time for us to change with it!  

The goal, however, is still the same....make money.  But how we make it is drastically different than in years past.  Instead of us seeing new brick-and-mortar stores, we're seeing an influx of new online businesses popping up all over the net. Additionally, well-established stores are also scaling back on their physical stores with more concentration on their online presence.

In an online sea of merchants, its seemingly more difficult to compete.  It looks like a business needs to set themselves apart from the rest; to offer more than traditionally expected.  This is called "value added."  Value added can be just about anything!  If you are a person who thinks "outside the box," then here's a perfect challenge for you!

There's so much information out there now.  You can find podcasts and videos on anything from accounting practices to how to take professional photos to making cupcakes.  There are bloggers and websites to guide you through the obstacle course in your field of endeavor.  Then there are places like Google and Pinterest to search for new ideas.  And, let's not leave out all the social media we can use to reach readers and customers!

Jennifer Allwood  can be found on Facebook and offers a wealth of information to convert your traditional ideas into a modern game plan.  Even without joining her "Inner Circle," you have so much to gain from listening to what she has to say.  What I'm learning from her now is the different revenue sources a business can enjoy by operating online.  I have some of those revenue sources, but want to learn how to get more out of them and create even more revenue streams.  She's a creative person who understands my way of thinking and has certainly perfected her business structure.  Try her out!

Finally, I want to give a plug to my cousins with InTouch Marketing out of California. You must read some of their material.  The information is very much "Value Added" for any business!  

Okay, Peeps, see you around on the net!  Take care and rethink your plan!

Vignettes - Exercising the Eye

Hi there!

I'm turning my attention to vignettes today, something I'm not very skilled at!  It is, however, something that helps to make a house a home.  It's attractive placement of the items we collected over the years.  It's the things we didn't throw away because we love them and they give us a memory and a good feeling.  If a person works on appealing to the senses in their home, it makes living there so much nicer!  To make our home more appealing, we must work on the smells, sounds and sights within.  So let's exercise our "vignette muscles" today with the first sight we see when we walk in the door; the entryway table.

I live in a small house, but maybe in terms of a New York City apartment, it is maybe....medium.  It is certainly half the size of the home we left in the country.  But, without children afoot, it's just about right for us at this time.

Side note:  A city lot is much much smaller than 20 acres!!!  

Anyway, back to vignettes!  Here's my entryway table.  It can be expanded by raising the sides, but it only gets done when the Grandchildren what something to play with!  

Today, I worked with some items I had around the house.  Two new books that have good neutral white covers.  Books are a great way to add height to a vignette.  I added this picture, which is actually a framed tile from Catalina Island.  My husband and I picked it up on our honeymoon in 2004, so...yes, I get a good feeling seeing this little work of art.  

The little bird was something I picked up from Hobby Lobby years ago.  I fell in love with the perfect imperfections and appreciate the warm yellow color.  Finally, the green glass piece is something I purchase with a box of glass items at an auction last year.  I purchase the boxes to resell on the online auction in my home town, but occasionally, I find things I want to keep or use to compliment the items I already have. 

Well, I hope I continue to exercise my "vignette muscles!"  It's fun and maybe with some pushing, I'll upgrade my entire house with the items I already have!  So, it doesn't really cost much to improve our surroundings!

Share your favorite vignettes below or give me some advice for this one.  I can use the help!  Until next time!

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Trunk Turned Coffee Table with Storage

Check out this fun project I've been working on all week!  It's a coffee table on wheels with some neat storage for all those items that can clutter a room!  I had so much fun painting, assembling and lining this piece!   

I started with an old trunk Mr. Amazing found at an auction here in our home town.  To be honest, I didn't know what in the world I was going to do with it!  It had a bold blue vinyl covering with some bruised and battered gold trim.  Keeping with the funky style the inside was made up of ugly brown particle board!

I started by cleaning the entire trunk and then giving the whole thing a good priming with an all-purpose white primer.

Then it took a day, some "manly tools" and a little assistance to attach the wheels and make the upper tray.  

Once the main additions were in place, I moved forward with some paint.  I added some white for another good undercoating then used an aged painting technique in a duck-egg blue.

My favorite part (and my first try at something like this) was lining the inside of the lid!

I still can't believe how easy it was to line the fabric up to the inside lip.  I had planned on using a thin piece of cardboard to pull the fabric around for a straight edge, but because I used a good cotton fabric, it wasn't necessary.

Next, I added some stenciling and then finished it off with a good black wax to continue the aging process.  The waxing was so easy, I let my Grandson have a go at it too!

Since I don't refinish much furniture, this project was a joy to work on!  I'm so pleased with the finished product. 

QUICK FIVE: PALLET WOOD SIGNS

For a more sophisticated home, signs may not be the right décor, but for all the rest of us, they are just as adorable as ever.  Check out these cute signs that are perfect for Valentines Day decorations!

1.  Renae Schmidt from Kansas crafted this sign and offers it in her Etsy store, My Craft Shed.

2.  Carrie Owens with Southern Cute Designs has this sign for sale on Etsy as well.  She makes her creations in North Carolina.

3.  Artist is unknown for this "together" sign, but Dawn Johnson pinned it on Pinterest.

4.  Shannon Putman posted this sign on Pinterest.

5.  This sign came from The Coop Design Co. on Etsy by Brianna Holley.

So that's it for Today's "Quick Five!"  I love the fact that an old piece of wood that was otherwise destined for the trash can become something so special for our homes.

2018 IN REVIEW

As always, I like to review the year and then start planning for the new year.  And, as always, my plans never go as planned.  I can say, though, that if I don't reach for something, I rarely move forward. I've progressed each year in my slow, methodical style, working through each life milestone as they come.  So....let's review.

• First, we backed out of the purchase of the land and house on the Blue River.  The appraisal came back way under the asking price - by about $80,000!  We just couldn't stand over paying for it and thought we would be kicking ourselves for a long time over a stupid mistake!  So....we are here in one of our rent houses (sold our home in the country in 2017).
• We took over ownership of 40 acres of land that was gifted to us by my father-in-law!  Wow!  We're so excited to have a new "country" place!
• In May our son, Jaycen, graduated from high school. He and his girlfriend have our seventh grand baby, Kamber!  We're up to 22 in our family!
• Another year almost under my belt watching my Mom.  In February, I will have completed three years! She continues to decline, but we are doing everything we can to slow things down and keep her comfortable. I'm so blessed to have her here with me.
• My beautiful daughter, Brooke, got married on October 20!  We welcome with open hearts  the wonderful man she married, Chris Hall!

• Now....on to business.  I had a great run at posting on Facebook and making sales from our auction buys!  More than doubled our money and averaged around $500 extra (in my pocket!) a month! That's $500 profit.   I had a couple of relapses, but I doubled my posting goal of 30 items per week to 60 items per week!  Yay! Coalgate, OK, has the best auction site!
• I posted on Etsy more than ever before, but did not reach my goal of one item per day.  I made a few things, but mostly posted antiques.  
• My goal of refurbishing one piece of furniture per month fell short by 10 items!  lol  But the two that I completed sold for a nice profit!  Yay! 
• Posting on other (bigger) online Facebook sale sites was a NO GO....
• We have started repairs on our building on Main Street!  Whoohoo!  That's all due to Mr. Amazing Riley!  First and foremost, he stopped the roof leak!  We have a kitchen, because it used to be a restaurant, so he's already started clearing it out and getting ready for repairs.
• Quit my job?  YES!  Since we sold the country home, we paid everything off!  Now we just have minimal bills.  It's such a freeing experience.  
• I did pretty ok on my blogging, Facebook and Pinterest posts.  

It was a great year!  My improvements on the business side will begin to pay off some day.  I'm a slow and steady kind of person, so we'll see what next year brings!

Quitting My Job Wasn't So Bad!

I noticed some buzz around my post on quitting work and thought I'd let you know how it's going for me - year one!

Well....we sold our home in January and paid off all our debts, so nothing to pay here except utilities, insurance, and food - the basics.  We were fortunate enough to buy real estate about 15 years ago, so we have a rental income.  We are currently forced to live in one of our rentals, but we rent the other one, so we are not big real estate moguls!  haha  My husband works part-time and I sell things from home.  My Mom also contributes to the household.  We have both started businesses of our own.  He has honey bees and sells a little honey and I, well, I sell things from home.

Is not working making it difficult for us to live?  Not at all!  Even though my husband works, we use none of that for our bills.  We only use our rental income from our one rent house to pay the bills.  It's not much, but remember, our "money move" was paying off every debt we owed.  Definitely, debt can keep you as a prisoner!  My husband keeps what he makes from work and I keep what I make selling things online.  

I would have to say I'm extremely blessed and I could sit back and enjoy the support from my husband.  But that's not me.  I like having my own money and love to create things to sell online.  Buying things at live auctions and selling them online gives me a thrill.  I don't really know why...maybe we would need a psychologist to uncover the reasons why.  At any rate, my life is so much better now than it was when I was in the rat race!  My hubby relies on a relaxed part-time job where he has plenty of time to think and do what he wants during certain slow times.  Quitting my job was different at first and hard to adjust to the idea of it, but I'm good now.  

So, how about you?  What money moves are you going to make to get you in the position to quit your job?  I know its not as easy as it sounds and there are many reasons why you can't just quit.  Believe me, I've been in that place where it seemed impossible. I remember reminding my kids as they were growing up that life is not fair, you just have to get things swingin' your way! Jim and I have definitely gotten things going our way.

If you've read my first blog, I was whining about not having enough time.  Well, I got it now.  It's hard to get moving sometimes and there are always challenges to overcome, but I'm working on it every day.  I feel like I'm on my "second act" like some retired folks! I'm 52 and living the life I want to live. 

NEW DAY! 2019

Ahhhh, I love the idea of starting over.  Time to forgive myself for not reaching all my goals and think about what I want for the year ahead.  I'm such a planner.  The down side to that is I can plan too much and don’t get much done!  Uhhggg!

Oh well... here we go anyway!

• Post 60 items to the local online auction each week.  Last year, we made a profit of around $500 per month and it's easy. This year, I'm hoping for $800 per month.  It can be done!
• Refurbish and post one piece of furniture each month.  I have some ideas....  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!  Brooke is promising to come work with me at least once a month. 
• Post 4 new items per month to the Etsy store.  I'm hoping to list each item in multiples to plump up the store for better sales.  Four items per month can translate to one per week.  
• Open a Shopify store once the Etsy store is plumped up.  Yep, I think I'm gonna make the move to my very own (editable) online store.  I'll also keep the Etsy store.  Yay, more fees for me!  LOL
• Repair the building we own in town.  Still working on having a warehouse for all our good stuff!  Jim is working his bee hives for delicious honey and we will need a storage place for that and all my crafts and antiques.
• Find some automation tools for increased sales.  I'm learning more and more about this kind of marketing.  Looking forward to learning more and implementing some things some time this year.

Well what do you think?  I think it's doable.  I really want to find a way this year to make my life easy as I explore my creative abilities.  I would love more time creating and less time on background things.  Hiring someone to help may be on the horizon as well.

Quick Five: Adornaments!

Oh, I love Christmas!  My favorite memories are of decorating the tree.  Now, I'm obsessed with ornaments.  And, of course, making them from objects found in everyday life!  Check these out.

1.  Ali from Southern California was a guest blogger at mythirdtruelove.blogspot.com and she posted some ideas on reusing children's book illustrations!  So cute!

  2.  Yellowblissroad.com featured Alice W. with a tutorial on these cute arrow ornaments.  So cleaver!

3.  I've been obsessed looking at these cute dioramas this year!  This one was found at Findinghomefarms.com.

4.  Featured in Country Living Magazine, Barbara from 21rosemarylane.com, shows us how cute popsicle sticks can look as snow skis!  These are simple and smart!

5.  I love what Amanda from Relovedrubbish.blogspot.com did with sheet music!  Here's just one of projects!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and now ready for a very special Christmas!  

Different!

Who says you have to pay a fortune for a wedding! Check out this bouquet Brooke made for her special day! It’s an upcycled book, “365 Ways to Say I Love You.”  If you zoom in, you can see some funny illustrations from the book! If you’re planning your wedding day, use your imagination... and cut those costs!

Wedding Bells!

Can’t believe it, but my baby girl is all grown up and now married! She and her handsome man were married on top of a hill in southeast  Oklahoma overlooking Atoka Lake. It was simple and beautiful! 

This May, they both graduate from OSU so they’ll be well on their way! So proud of them both!

Christmas Times a Comin’

Ho, ho, ho!

Are you ready for Christmas? 

I’m procrastinating on all holidays this year, but watching all the Hallmark movies I can to get into the mood!

This season I’ve been totally obsessed with Brooke  Riley’s Facebook page, Re-Fabbed. She’s great and has wonderful free-style videos showing how she creates her home and surroundings on a low budget! That’s her tree top for this year...totally awesome tree! I had no idea you could do that to a tree!  You’ve got to check her out! Follow her links to her blog and store too!

So.... what are you doing this year?