I just celebrated my 1 year anniversary in this shop on etsy so traditionally the 1 year mark is a time for me to reflect on the past year, my achievements, my failures and my future plans.
When I first opened Inkmeup I had been selling on etsy for around 3 years already in various guises,
Feltmeup Designs being the most successful of them, I had decided to open another shop basically to justify the fact that I have spent a rather large sum of money on a Gocco printer... my only aim was to make back the money I had spent on it and maybe a little extra for supplies so I could keep playing with my new toy... Boy was I in for a shock!
I opened the store in October... just in time for Christmas I thought... and I was right, in the run up to Christmas I hit 100 sales, let's bear in mind I took over a whole year in Feltmeup to get that many. What was I doing right? Beats me really... if I knew I'd probably be a better businesswoman!
My whole approach to Inkmeup has been without plan or reason and more or less I just made what I felt like making at the time. Back around July time I bought myself a Gocco stamp so I could print on fabric... I actually love it more than just the normal prints, the ink has a different consistency and gives a gorgeous quality of line on fabric... I have so many Ideas and I haven't even tried half of them!
It was around this time that I decided I should stop treating Inkmeup as a hobby and start thinking of it as a business since it was bringing in as much business as Feltmeup so I started the blog and Inkmeup fan page on facebook... I am staunchly resisting having an Inkmeup twitter account, mostly cos I know I wouldn't use it and find the idea of having to build up a new twitter following a bit daunting.
I hit 200 sales over the weekend... and I have to admit I am a bit baffled by the success even now. We haven't had any failures as such, the only one being the teatowels I bought to print which I haven't sold a single one of, I think there is just too much competition out there for teatowels... but any I have left at Christmas will make fab presents so I'm not too worried.
I'm pretty sure the future holds good things for Inkmeup too... I have so many ideas, most of which involve quitting my day job, but what I don't have is unlimited time that's the biggest frustration, my Inky days tend to be limited to 1 or 2 a month so I tend to be just frantically printing and then staggering my listing... I don't really have time to develop ideas and take them any further then making pretty prints.
I really hope that between my businesses I can quit my day job soon, my plan for next year is to actually have a plan, quit my day job and set targets... my day job which should only take up 20 hours a week saps all my energy... I you really need energy to be creative!
Here's hoping that this time next year I can write a blog post about my life as a full time crafter! Until that day I just leave you with a
link to my Sale section so you can grab a bargain and help me reach my goal!
x
Mel
I have already got some print qualifications but always thought that to make prints you needed a press... my friend convinced me I didn't and encouraged me to come along to learn how... I have always loved the process of lino prints, it's so different from gocco, and I love the style of print that comes out of it.
In the mean time I shall soon be introducing a couple of my lino prints to Inkmeup... my classic wren design has been give a new twist and of course in the run up to Christmas I am finding myself increasingly Robin focused!
