The Minutiae (of Business)

mi⋅nu⋅ti⋅a [mi-noo-shee-uh, -shuh, -nyoo-]

noun, plural -ti⋅ae

Usually, minutiae. precise details; small or trifling matters: the minutiae of her craft.

Business (at least a business like La SuaVoce) seems to be made up of a whole bunch of small things...facebook groups and fan pages, twitter accounts, forum posts, shop updates, small changes to photographs...

I have to admit, that these things definately seem trifling sometimes (like who would've known Twitter was great for marketing!?), but they certainly add up. Advice to myself: Don't stop with the small parts of your business! That's what makes your business successful!

Happy Creating,

Sarah

First Friday Fantasy Feature: On Gossamer Wings

Introducing our first Friday Fantasy Feature: On Gossamer Wings!

On Gossamer Wings caught our eye while we were browsing through fantasy-inspired work on Etsy.com. Her work is truly unique (we've never seen anything quite like it!), and we were drawn in by her fun personality (see questions below).

On Gossamer Wings is the first artist to be featured in our "Friday Fantasy Feature" series. Keep an eye out for a new feature each week.

What do you do? I create singularly sublime fairy wings of stylish originality! If you are pleasure-bent for the finest in fairy "art-wear" made specifically for you, my traffic-stopping, handcrafted fairy wings just can't wait to take the spotlight!

Where do you get your inspiration for your work? Over the years (12 of them to be exact), I’ve been inspired by everything around me from autumn leaves to stripey socks…ok, ESPECIALLY stripey socks (they make me happy)!! Anyhoo, some of my favorite artists are Amy Brown, Molly Harrison, Linda Ravenscroft, Renee Biertempfel, and Nene Thomas just to name a few. Their influence can sometimes be spotted in my work.

Do you have any pieces that are inspired by fantasy? Or are reminiscent of fantasy? I truly hope so, otherwise I’ll have to get a “normal” job, and for safety's sake, no one should really want that to happen!How did you become involved in your work? Waaaaaay back when I was in college, I was an Art Major, and I developed an affinity for the goth culture…only, I wasn’t filled with quite enough angst. I found that there was a movement of “Perky Goths,” and one of the pastimes they seemed to enjoy was making fairy wings. They looked so beautiful in the pictures that I saw, and I found my artistic side crying out to make my own pair. And make my own, I did! And then I made another pair, and another.

What made you start selling your creations? Making fairy wings became an obsession for me, and I was swimming in them. It was at that point that I decided that I needed to start selling them or risk losing my dog forever under the piles of wings.

What is your favorite item that you make? It varies based upon the day and my overall attitude, but lately it’s been my Moxie wings. I think it’s because they have such a strong Halloween feel to them. I have a design for a set of peacock fairy wings that I’ve been dying to make, but time is rather short right now.

Which fantasy creature is your favorite: fairy, dragon, or vampire? I think I’ll have to go with fairy…otherwise, I’ll have to face legions of upset fae. Ever seen a mad-as-gump fairy? Trust me, you don’t want to! My eyebrows are just now growing back.

Vist On Gossamer Wings at her Etsy shop: http://ongossamerwings.etsy.com/

Website: http://www.fairy-wings.com/

Blog: http://ongossamerwingsblog.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ongossamerwings

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ongossamerwings

And on http://glittrrgrrl.deviantart.com/

Angie & Sarah

La SuaVoce Designs

Yay/Nay

Yay

Women's Business Development Center
http://www.wbdc.org/default.aspx

A great site for women entrepreneurs (especially in Chicago). They host conferences, workshops, and have great links and resources on their site.

The holidays!
http://www.etsy.com/gift-guides/

Etsy's gift guides have some great Halloween costume ideas and gifts.

Ice cream...
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30803506

Or these great handmade cards. Worth the click!


Nay

Giving our shop a makeover...and redoing all our photos. Only to realize we took the new photos in the wrong light and they turned out yellow.

CALCULUS...needed for a Business major, but still annoying.

Giving our shop a "romance and fantasy" spin then realizing that style wasn't for us. Now we stick with fresh, young, and fun!

:)
Sarah and Angie

A Quote to Consider

"Entrepreneurship-

the ability to organize and get something done."

-Economics, Colander

What I've Learned Recently About Business

In the past year I've started a business (La SuaVoce: http://suavoce.etsy.com/), declared myself a business major, and started helping out with the family business (Sun Tamer!). It's kind of been a business overload...in a (mostly) good way.

Some things I've learned lately about business...

-It's stressful, but addicting. Once you start...how can you give it up?

-Marketing is actually...fun! In fact, I love it! It's even more fun when you see results. I made "Grazie!" gift tags for our packaging a couple days ago and it was great to see the finished products, cut and ready. And Angie designed a beautiful banner to put on our suite door and in the student center on campus.

-You can never stop learning. This is probably true with everything. I've just spent my homework breaks browsing Etsy Storque How-to articles. A wealth of info! And it's endless, thanks to technology.

-Principles of Econ (the class) is SUCH a good idea. Seriously, I can watch the news without feeling completely ignorant of current economic situation. It's such a beautiful thing to begin to understand a topic of such importance.

-Getting a sale when you least expect is one of the best feelings you can have (it's right up there with starting a 100m sprint race in high school track and asking that guy you've liked for two months on a date). :)

-STAYING POSITIVE IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS TO DO (I mean this to extend beyond business too! Enjoy things. Life is soooo much better that way).

Happy creating (and business-ing?)

Sarah

Advertising on Craftcult: Our First Expedition into the World of Online Advertising

SuaVoce was able to acquire enough money (and we worked up enough motivation) to advertise online. But in fact, it wasn’t that much money and it didn’t take us that much time.

Several days ago, we purchased an advertisement from http://www.craftcult.com/ . The ad cost us only $15, and for four days, four of our pieces would rotate through the website’s “carousel.” (Check out craftcult to see what I mean. It’s right at the top.) We were worried, of course (never having advertised online before), that we could get nothing from the ad. Our jewelry pieces tend to only cost $15 at average. So if we sold once piece due to the ad, we would only be paying off the price of the ad (in fact, we wouldn’t even be paying off that since Etsy.com takes a percentage of the $ from your sale). So…we were worried.

Our Pride and Prejudice Journal we advertised on Craftcult

And we haven’t made a sale from the advertisement.

But we might. And that’s the key. We got many more hearts for each of the items we advertised. Hearts means that an individual “favorited” our item so that they may look at it later. I always heart something before I buy it.

The Pretty Little Rosebud Hair Clip, also advertised

All in all? Go for it, if you’re considering purchasing an advertisement spot. Just think about what the benefits might be of the advertisement (even if they may not be explicit or apparent). Plus, it couldn’t hurt now that the Christmas season is almost upon us!

Happy advertising,
Angie