How to Get Your Small Business to Begin?

It's been a crazy week, with car troubles, website dilemnas and figuring out how to do the paypal code for the paypal buttons.  It seems like such a struggle when you don't know how to do something.

In creating my websites over the last year, I kind of had to figure things out all over again more than several times and here I go trying to figure it out again. 

But now I am excited about have my paper dolls for sale on several blogs.  I never thought of selling them on blogs, but it seems like everyone is selling stuff on their blogs, so it seems like a good way to go.

I felt bad for not getting back to writing on my blogs.  My car troubles seemed to get the best of me last week.

But, I am back writing today and hope to continue and keep it up.  Yet, now one of my projects that is going to take over is getting all my paypal buttons for my paper dolls in the right spot on my blogs where I am going to sell them.  Or hoping to sell them.  I have to face the fact that they are a specialized thing and it targets young girls and women. 

I was told quite a few years ago at a craft show, that they are very popular in Europe.  And when I am selling my old vintage and reproduction paper doll sets on Ebay they seem to be very popular.  You never know until you try.

When we want our small business to start up we want to try everything under the sun to make it work.  We look at other people selling their stuff and we wonder how they do it.  We do have to do a lot of research and try to come up with ways that are going to work for us. 

And we sure seem to get doors shut in our face as we try to establish ourselves.  So far I haven't had very good luck with my photography.  I tried a local ad with Seven Days which did nothing for me.  I got business cards and put them in wedding shops, florist shops and any place I thought would attract people.  Nothing seemed to work.  I tried Marketingtool.com advertising last year.

 In the beginning, I got scammed by some modelling company called Hollywood Auditions.  I paid them $300 for putting an ad for me on their website and they were going to send me 130 to 150 clients to me each month.  All people that needed headshots (actors, actresses, musicians...)  After a week or a little more, they gave me the client list with addresses and phone numbers. 

I started calling them and all of them didn't seem to know what I was talking about and none of them of course needed my services.  And then the modelling company wouldn't give me my money back.  I reported them to the Better Business Bureau.

And I am choosing not to continue my ad with Marketingtool.com next month.  I did manage to get two to three jobs through them over the summer and fall.  One wedding, one boudoir session and a barmitzfah.  And since fall time all I have been getting is inquiries and then no jobs.  So it seems like I don't want to sink the money into it.

Maybe I just need to set up a blog for my photography services.  That probably would be the way to go and see if anything happens from that.

And I know the Paper Doll project is going to take some time to get it set up right but worth it in the end.

And then, I have been coming up with more projects that are going to take up my time.

I've been selling stuff on Ebay.  I have been discovering that repainted dolls are big on Ebay, and I am going to give it a try.  I'm going to start out with cheapo Barbies and see how things look after I am done.  I think the eyes are going to be the hard part as they are so small and I'm not used to painting on a Barbie.  Have been finding a bunch of the girls barbies that they don't play with anymore.

I'm not going to take all the faces off until I know I can do it and make them look good.  I did figure out how to dye their hair.  That was fun.  I took the acryllic paint, got the hair color I wanted and then combed it through the doll's hair.  And then I had fun cutting a few of the doll's hair to get a new do.  I think when you go to curl their hair, you wrap it around a straw or use a bobby pin and then you boil it.  Different.  It must be because it is doll hair.

For us, we just go buy the hair spray or the hair gel or mousse, but it probably wouldn't work the same way for the dolls.

If you ever go to ebay and look up repaint dolls, some of them are absolutely gorgeous!  Too rich for my pocket.  Some of them are repainting the Gene dolls, Tonner dolls, and the Monster High dolls and maybe pocketing a few hundred dollars or more for their work.  The eye painting is incredible.

One person had a Monster High doll redone with a gorgeous rose in her hair and pretty outfit.

Which brings me to my other projects.  Doll clothing.  I am going to learn how to make some of the dresses and other outfits.  Which not only brings me to creating the sewn ones but the knitted ones.

And then with the knitting, once I get a basic pattern, I should be able to create my own patterns for the dolls.  I used to knit all the time quite a few years ago, and I dabbled in making my own sweater patterns and other patterns.

Friends would often say, "What is that?"  They wouldn't know what it was and I would explain, "It's a bag.  It's a burp cloth.  It's a sweater.  It's a bandana.  It's a headband.  ETC..."

I've always been one to come up with my own creations.  Tried to think of clever things to sell at the craft shows.

And suddenly I have another idea of other things I would like to try selling on Ebay and my blogs.  I'm going to attempt to sew up some aprons on my sewing machine and the doll clothing and my cute little pincushions and then see if I can sell them on Ebay.  Over the last few weekends, I've been making these cute little yo yo pincushions.  If not on Ebay, I will try them at a craft show later this year.  Or maybe on my blog.

That would have to be different than the paper dolls as I would probably only have a certain amount of each thing.  I would probably just have to go in and change the pictures once something is out of stock.

I am hand sewing the pincushions, but I think I will need to machine sew the outfits for the dolls to make them look more professional looking.  And the aprons.

So now I have a bunch of doll patterns for the outfits and even one to make ragdolls.  Good lord, there's another project. I saw another woman's site where she had handsewn the doll (a topsy turvy doll).  She had gessoed it and then painted on her with acryllics and it looked really good.  I got thinking, I could probably paint a good face.

I did a dress once of my paperdoll Julia.  My daughter.  I created the dress, which I never completely finished and I drew the outline of my paperdoll on the fabric.  We still have it kicking around the kids house, but the shoulders of the dress aren't completed.  I did the same thing and made a fabric doll face and drew on it with a black fine tip marker.  It came out neat, but I never did a body for her.

I think as crafters, we all try to come up with a product that people are going to love.  But first of all, I think we have to love what we do first.  That is the important thing.  And then we need to try to find a niche for it and make it work.

We all would love to start up a small business crafting what we love and providing it to an audience of collectors who are going to love our quality products.

It can be very hard and daunting to try to find our outlet for it.  It takes a lot of trial and error and I have also heard a lot of advertising to get it off the ground.

And the hard fact is that many of us don't have the money to put our business where we want it.  Established, growing and profiting.  For some of us it takes years to get something off the ground.  I was told that I have a unique thing with my paper dolls, but getting it off the ground and promoting them is another matter.  And as entreprenuers and business owners and all of us that would ultimately like to be working for ourselves and be our own boss, we realize that it takes alot of time for something to grow and prosper.

It takes a tremendous amount of patience and effort to make it work.  But what we strive for is to grab hold of the moon and let our dreams take root and become something that we can be really proud of.

I've always been a person that tries really hard to make a success of something, yet it has been a hard road to figure out what works and what doesn't work.  It doesn't come easy.

And most people will say that it doesn't happen overnight.

Well, perhaps it does for some people.  Some people just have the luck of coming up with the perfect product that everyone is going to be wanting.

And another thing, it is so much easier for a celebrity to come up with a product and promote their fragrance line, clothing line, handbags, write a book, or anything else.  They are already famous and people flock to the products because they are a celebrity.

It comes a lot harder to the regular average Joe, Dick, Harry, or Jane, Lesley and Rita.

And then there is Tom, Dick and Harry, but that should be a post for all of us women.  I think we have all met our own Tom, Dick or Harry in our lives.  And some of them all seem to be Dick.  Ha ha.


I wonder what the name would be to men.  Dickina?

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted February 15, 2012

http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/
http://bloggersblock.blogspot.com/
http://yourstrulycraftygirl.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/
http://jennyjofayfancyphotography.com/  Wordpress where I've got to get back to my patiently waiting new chapters to my novels.  Sorry chapters!!!

I guess I have created some very full plates for myself.

My really fun thought with the sewing.  I've drummed up a cute christmas gift for my daughters, neices, two of the little sisters that wait with my girls at the bus stop and my friend's daughter.

I'm going to make a cute yo yo pincushion for each of them, buy some needles, a measuring tape, thimble, stitch ripper and a few other little sewing neccessities.  Then I think I will make a cute fabric bag to put it in, along with some yo yo circles so they can practice making them.  And then I think I will cut one or two American Girl Dress patterns and they can practice sewing them together.  Kids like to make fun little things.

I know I did when I was their age.  It all started with making a Shawn Cassiddy Doll.

These two are my most provocative Paper Dolls.  I think Pretty Kitty (this one on the bottom) has an extra page somewhere that I haven't completed.  I think it is one where she is all tied up!!!

Marla Mermaid paper doll is the one on top.  She was a lot of fun to create too.

I want to do more mermaids in the future.  And then there is my Gothic Girl line that I haven't created yet, and the Bella Swan one that I want to do sometime.

Yup.  More projects.

That's the life of a writer, artist, crafter and any other creative person.  We all have a tremendous amount of projects lined up.

In hopes of finishing and prospering.  So we never have to work for someone else again.

Another thing that always crops up in the back of my mind that my mother said and one of my college teachers.

"You should learn to do one thing and do it well."

Well, I try, but I've always been the girl with many different projects and ideas floating around in this head of mine.



If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/ 

Think Twice Before you call it Quits (relationships, marriage, babies, jobs and calling quits on my website. Don't throw in the towel yet.

Think twice before you call it quits.  This would apply to almost anything.  A relationship, a job, an opportunity, a business, a website, a marriage and just about anything else that applies.

When it is a relationship or a marriage, you really have to think hard about all the options.  Think about all the things that are good and all the bad.  Which outweighs the other?  Is one worse and you just can't deal with it?

Perhaps make a list of all the positive things and then all the bad things that you can't stand.  Then examine them and decide which is worse.  Explore all the things that could happen if you decide to throw in the towel.  Think really hard.  Is the relationship for you?  Can you work out all the kinks?  Will you be satisfied and most of all will you be happy with the outcome?  Or is it the change that is going to make things better. 

Think really hard.  Can you really walk away from her or him?  Or aren't they the perfect fit?  Or perhaps is it something in the relationship that you want to change.  A fault.  A compromise.  A change in a situation.  A move.  A big step?  Moving in together.  Tying the knot.  Having a baby.  Having more than one.  Moving to a new house.  Change in a job.

Whatever it is, you both need to sit down and talk about it.  And as a relationship moves on to something more serious, naturally one or both of you are going to want to decide on making a move in the relationship.  Are you ready yet to begin your life under one roof?  Moving in together can be a big deal.  But usually it is something at least one or both of you would want.  Usually this is the girl hoping for it.  Or the girl hoping for marriage.  Lets face it, the girl wants to change her address.

Make sure you are both ready for either moving in together or getting hitched.  Either way, if it ends up being a really long time before it is talked about, one of the two of you is going to question the relationship and want more.  Or leave.

So that is relationships.  Then there is babies.  That is another huge step in life.  Make sure you are ready to play russian roulette, because once that egg is planted, there is no turning back.  And believe me, they will change your life whether you want it to or not.  But they are great.  I love my four.  But at this point in my life, I wouldn't want any more.  If I ever ended up pregnant by some fluke, I surely would love it to death anyway, but I have reached the age where I am done.  I was a breeder, but four is my limit.

Spend time together before you have kids.  Then your time is cut in half.

So that is babies.

The other things when you want to call it quits is your job.  Maybe you want a change.  Tired of your current place of work.  The hours aren't that great, the pay is bad or you aren't happy working where you are at.  Weigh out all the options.  Can you live on less money?  Can you find a different job?  Do you want to do what you really love?

So that's the job.

Now there is the website that you have created for your new business.  This is where I am at.  Well, there are things I would like in my relationship too, but this present thought today has been my website. 

My paper doll website has only been up and fully running for the last three months.  It's seen 2030 visitors, but no emails, comments or sales.  I've been kind of bummed out.  This morning, I was almost seriously thinking of calling Vistaprint and pulling the plug.  I called a few other places that I needed to get a hold of, found out I had a credit on one of my utilities so I don't have to pay it for a few months.  That was nice to hear.  Then I was almost ready to call and cancel the website.

Then I got online to my site, went in to edit the website for a minute and add a share button for twitter tweets.  I should go in and do that on every page.  As I was doing that and looking at my stuff and my account, I had a slight change of heart.  I called them up anyway.  I wanted some questions answered and was kind of ready to cancel if I felt like it.

Then, I thought of my old websites that I had created last year in the beginning of the year.  I only gave those two months at the most and I was told by lots of people that I gave up too soon.  And those sites were more expensive and I didn't realize I was locked into a contract for a year and I had to fork over more money to them for quitting early.  And I made nothing.  I was really bummed out by no sales.

So when I was on the phone, I thought back to that time.  And I talked with the girl about calling it quits too early.  I told her I really did want to stick it out for a year.  But I started to ask her some questions about advertising and all the info about google ranks and getting found.  I told her I really couldn't afford to pay for all kinds of advertising.  But we talked about free advertising and different ways of advertising.  Getting the word out.

Of course, all along I have been using my blogs, facebook (which is friends and family and your friends and family usually don't buy your stuff.  They would rather have it for nothing)., twitter, digg (which I have been told is a wasteland), stumbleupon, delicious, buzzfeed, linkedin, myspace, igoogle, blogher, and any other type of social bookmarking site.

I am considering getting my paperdolls on one of the blogs to have for sale on the blogs.  And Blogger is free. 

While I was on the phone with her today, she mentioned googling free advertising, which I started to do.  Then she mentioned googling paper doll groups and joining and doing some free advertising with people that are into the same thing.  I thought that was a very good idea and tried to join two places so far.

Then I started looking at free advertising.  I started with Yelt and discovered I was sent to a section where I was supposed to pay.  Not free.  Backed out of there.  Then I went to Manta.  I was able to get my website on there for free.  Of course they want you to pay if you want more exposure.  But I called to verify my listing and told them I couldn't afford to pay and could just do the free advertising. 

Then, I discovered another place.  Intuit.  I thought, "Oh great, now I am back to my other old website service."  I really liked their website builder though.  It was my favorite site out of the three places I created a website with.  I had one with GoDaddy.com  but never really got that one started.  I had one with web.com but I didn't like their website builder as well.

So, today as I started to sign up for Intuit, I read very carefully the plan.  You can have a free website with them for up to a year and then they charge you $4.99 a month.  Which that isn't that bad.  Especially if by then I'm getting some orders.  Which I really hope.  So today, I have signed up for the free plan for a year.  What you get is a domain, 3 pages and I'm forgetting the other part.  Maybe the memory space?

Which for what I want it for, 3 pages is fine.  So I have published the first page today.  It hasn't been registered yet, but I imagine by tomorrow it will be.  I basically got my first page, with business, address, all the important information.  A big introduction which also refers them to my writing sites and my blogs.  Might as well advertise for them too.  Then at the bottom of the first page I had added a few of the paper doll pictures with some details.  I think my second page will have lots of other pictures and then my third page will be an order form with all the details for them to order.  I haven't decided if I'm going to add paypal buttons.  I don't want to suddenly have two websites where I am paying. 

But what it will be basically for is to direct them to the full blown website.  Where they can order paper dolls.

So, I'm not calling it quits on my website yet.  I should give it a good year.  If I was to quit now, I would always be wondering, "What if I had given it a year?  Maybe I would be getting sales."

Paper dolls aren't a neccessity.  It is a specialty.  But people are buying them.  I go to look at the OPDAG paperdoll magazine and I see all these popular new paper doll artists that seem to be making money at what they do.  And I wonder to myself, "How are they doing it?"  I probably should ask the editor to have an article from one of them about the secrets to success and having a successful paper doll website.  That would be really helpful to read.

I once was told by another artist that I had something really unique that could take off and become a business.  I have always remembered that, and now I think, "REALLY?  How do I attempt to do that?  With luck?" 

And another person said it takes a lot of advertising.


Well anyway the new advertising website is going to be:  http://www.jennyjopaperdoll.com/  That's the domain name.  But I'm not sure if it will work until I get it registered.

jenniferjofaypaperdolls.net  My paper doll website.

I would really appreciate it if anyone would leave a comment with some possible suggestions.  I will take anything.  I feel like I'm just grasping at straws right now.

Which seems to be the same with the writing sites and earning money writing online.  That's more fun than anything.  And it's kind of fun to see a little bit of money trickle in.  I've actually had enough to buy a dunkin donuts pound of coffee and then some.  And with the writing sites we are getting practice and connecting with a community of writers.  Which is always a good thing.

And selling on ebay is great.  But I would love it even more if my paper doll website could just take flight.  I don't want to throw in the towel just yet.  What if someday I got found?  That would be great.  And if not, I have the paperdolls anyway to pass down to my kids.  But I would love to see it become something else.
Money in my pocket.

So anyway, any suggestions would be helpful.  Maybe there are some things I haven't thought of.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted January 31, 2012

If anyone likes paperdolls or knows someone who likes paper dolls, check out my paperdoll post on each of my blogs where my paper dolls are for sale:

http://jennyjofaypaperdolls.blogspot.com/
http://jenniferpaperdolls.blogspot.com/  The Official Paper Doll Blog
http://mommiedearest101.blogspot.com/ 
http://yourstrulycraftygal.blogspot.com/
http://prolificpoetrychick.blogspot.com/