Jeweltastic: Free Business Stuff

Jeweltastic is running on an extreme shoestring budget.  If we spend even $0.01 it costs in materials to make jewelry.  I've been purchasing supplies $20.00 here, $20.00 there.  Many of the things I use are low cost to no cost.  This is my list of cool things that I use.

I use Microsoft Office but before I used that, I used Open Office which has a lot of the same capabilities as Microsoft Office. 

Photoscape has photo editing capabilities.  If you have a blemish you can erase it out.  You can make videos, a collage, and more.  If you have an online business in which you need photos then this is perfect.

SBA offers free business advice and SCORE offers mentoring.

Contact Office   offers calendars,  bookmarks, notes, fax and more 100 MB are free any more than that there is a charge.

You can get free magazines. 

Online content that is incredibly valuable:

Entrepreneur
Forbes
Business Week
Inc.com
Generation X Finance
Management Craft
Duct Tape Marketing
Score More Sales
Small Business Trends
Starting a Small Business
Weebly     is incredibly easy to use if you've ever used Blogger, Weebly is just as easy to use and it offers business solutions to open an online store.

Jeweltastic: Branding

October first my mom and I discussed a name for our home business.  I Googled it, trademark checked it, researched it forward, backward, and inside out.  Jeweltastic is what I came up with.  On October seventh, I joined a popular crafting community.  The problem with the community is they announce new members and it left me vulnerable to people who would scavenge the name Jeweltastic.

I chose this name for a reason.  I researched it.  I knew what I was doing when I named my shop Jeweltastic.  To do a Google search and find a shop from the same crafting community attached to Jeweltastic was and is an insult.  It's taught me, that I will have to do it all on my own.  I can't trust anyone online any longer.  Jeweltastic is my brand and I have the electronic files as proof.   It's also going to end up trademarked.

You wouldn't call yourself Hershey or your shop Hershey Whatever.  It would be violating a trademark owned by a company.  You can use that name it doesn't belong to you.  This is why it's important to come up with something completely original and not something you saw from a username.  Coming up with something original and unique to you is hard work.  It took days of research before I settled on this one.

Branding:

"The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

Therefore it makes sense to understand that branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem."

I had branding in mind when I came up with this.   I make homemade jewelry.  I know there are others who do so.  I admire other people who are creative enough to do so.  I don't admire those who steal other people's ideas.  When you say "That's jeweltastic!"  I want you to think of me.  When I fight for the name Jeweltastic, It is no longer personal, it's business. 

Entrepreneur has a few points that are highlighted for small businesses when it comes to branding.

1. Create branded online destinations.   Luckily, I've done this.  if you see shirleyatjeweltastic or atjeweltastic, you've run into me.  I own Stumble, Facebook, and Twitter accounts and there is more to come.
2. Establish entry points.  They suggest providing meaningful content.  I'm working on that.  My blog posts are all labeled and Google now knows I'm here.  I write like a maniac and I have other blogs.  Perfect!  I can advertise elsewhere.
3. Locate your target audience and bring them back with you.  I believe I am doing this.  Thos who are my friends on social networking sites are into fashion.  I have to work on commenting on blogs but it will all get figured out.
4. Connect with influencers.  I do need to work a little more on this.  I've friended sites like InStyle.  I do hope to mail out free "samples" to various people and companies.
5. Give more than you receive.  I'm working on this point.  This one is a daily work in progress. especially since I have so much to do.

I highly suggest you visit the link.  This has mostly been my personal experience with branding.  The points are all valid though and better explained at the provided link.

Branding is hugely important to any business and a mixture of your own imagination and your own creativity should be what you use, not someone else's.

Jeweltastatic: Reinventing Myself

I have been online and blogging for a few years now.   As much as I love my blogs I think I am now going to have to reinvent myself.  I will probably pull those blogs from any social networking sites I'm connected with or just plain and simply ignore them.

I want to make sure that my jewelry and my children are my focus and if I am expressing my personal views on certain subjects, I know it will hinder what I'm trying to accomplish.  There are people that don't agree with my points of view.  That's the same in anything you do. 

It's taught me a few lessons in marketing.    I know how to use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Blogcatalog, and several other sites.  I know to act like a real person and not just someone trying to earn a living.

I can advocate for the things I believe in and create jewelry.  I can donate to Habitat for Humanity or help build a domestic violence shelter.  I can take a portion of my profit and donate for those things I believe in.  I can do a large portion of what I was doing before, with a twist.

This is the first time I will not provide links to my other blogs.  I'm trying to separate from personal.  This isn't personal, it's business.  I will not be doing paid for posts or you can win this posts.  I am done with that.  This is a new chapter in the book.  I want to achieve certain goals and if I am blogging at a million blogs it just isn't going to happen. 

I will probably implement a blog schedule.   My other blogs are a post when you want to post.  I think I need to treat this one as part of my job.  This is not just part of my livelihood and survival but my mother's too.  I am not going to allow myself to fail.

My marketing ability has started to hit.  I have people interested in what I offer.  I've been giving out freebies.  I want people walking around and advertising for me.  Since I can't pay for ads, word of mouth is good enough for now.

I admit to a little sadness in the reinventing of myself.  I have a lot of blogging friends because of the previous blogs.  I can only hope they will follow me through another of my life changes.  They have been with me through sleepless baby nights, an apartment with poor living conditions, and a brand new home.

Another roller coaster is going on and I hope they aren't getting too frustrated with it.  It is life though and it is filled with changes.  I don't regret the other blogs they are different aspects of who I am.