Plushka's Story: 10 things I learned after 3 years in handmade business

Previously on "Plushka's story":

"The more techniques I discovered and learned the more I wanted to create. I felt great doing again what I used to love and enjoy back home. It made me feel all cozy and myself again, something I didn’t feel for some time. Moving to another country started taking its toll but craft made a new place where I lived feel like home."....

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Took me a little longer then expected to write this post but I decided to take some extra time to make sure I cover everything and make it short but sweet! Although it still turned out to be fairly long post, I hope it will be helpful and informative! Thus, here are 10 things I learned after 3 years of working on turning my crafty hobby into a handmade business: 

1. Label your creations as soon as you can! 

It's been only a year or so since I started labeling my items and I am still kicking myself for being so slow with ordering them. It is so important to make sure your customers can find you again even after a year or more by simply googling your business name on the label. Not mentioning how much nicer and more professional items look with labels on them.

2. Invest time and money in branding your venture. 
To be honest, I just followed my intuition when  it came to branding my business. I wanted to keep everything in the same colour, same font and same packaging way before I read all the advice for handmade business branding. I knew I'd better get the banner/logo/business cards done for me by professional designer and so glad I did. I saved up and did it all, even the newsletter template. Later on I learned that cohesive look of your brand is essential for brand recognition. Well, I did something right. 

3. Go your own way, from items you make to pricing them. 
I won't mention copycats issue, that I came across during these years, simply don't want to touch this subject. It's obvious that designing something unique and that shows your style is not easy, but it is possible. Not mentioning that great feeling you get when people buy something you designed and love using it in their homes. So, make an effort and you will be rewarded! 

In general, looking at the competition when you pricing is a good idea (in order to stay competitive) but keep in mind that other makers might be using different supplies, calculating and charging differently for their labour... Maybe, another business owner got their own pricing wrong and here you are matching the price that doesn't really cover any of your time! So, calculate you own pricing.

4. Plan, plan and plan your day, month, year. 
Earlier this year, I wrote this post on Time management so do stop by to have a look if you feel that you need some help with time planning. Depending on a season, my routine changes a bit to accommodate the demand but good old list of things to do is a great place to start. During the day, log out of the media accounts so you are not tempted to check them every hour. Scheduling your Facebook/Twitter posts is great for getting things done.

Get your food and drink ready in the morning. Why do you need a lunch box when working from home? I used to skip lunches a lot until I felt that this is not doing me any good. Even when working from home, sometimes you feel that taking 30 minutes to make your meal might interfere with your creative process so having food/drink ready is great time saver and good for you too.  

5. Do not panic and start discounting your products like crazy when it's quiet! 
Use this time to your advantage by working on more stock or creating something new. Although, I do know it's easier said then done. When you just started, it is very hard to get through the month so it is a good idea to have an emergency stash to fall on if you can. For a long time I had to invest everything that I made back into my business and sometimes even my wage from the day job. Unless you are super good with your spendings (I am not. I have a fabric addiction!) you will have to put back everything you make in a first year or so. I really hope it won't be the same for you though! However, discounting your creations at the end of every month or very frequently, paints a picture of a business that is not doing so well and, after some time, you will rarely sell at the full price as people will know that you will have sale in the end of the month anyway. No, I am not saying not to have specials or sales at all, just don't do them constantly. What do I do when I have a slow month? I bite the bullet, cut down on spendings and sit tight as I know it will get better.

6. Start small, aim big! 
It's my personal opinion, and something I worked out for myself, that starting with the local market and then going international is the way to go. In the beginning, after trying but not really succeeding to sell on Etsy and other international websites, I decided to concentrate my efforts on the local market. Madeit is a great platform to start on. It's friendly, easy to use, you are a part of an Australian handmade community where you can learn, gain the confidence and build up your brand. I only recently felt that I now have a good range of products to offer a big international handmade market and re-opened my Etsy shop. 

7. Build a mailing list for your newsletter. 
My biggest regret, to this day, is not starting to send out a newsletter a year ago. I don't regret waiting until I felt comfortable with what I actually want it to look like but I do feel a bit disappointed that I haven't started to think about it earlier, like a year earlier. It took me a while to understand what is the purpose of sending out a newsletter and how I can make it feel as a part of Plushka's brand. I didn't want it to contain only discounts and "buy this" links. I wanted it to be another way to connect with my customers. It's been up and running for  8 months now and I love it so far. It's fun and it reflects my style, just the way I wanted, and hopefully customers enjoy reading it too. 

8. Plan your collections. 
Depending on the way you run your business, whether you accept customer and/or wholesale orders or just make items ready to purchase, your collections will vary. However, thinking ahead, creating seasonal items and releasing 3-4 items that complement each other, creates a nice shop to browse through and gives you a sense of stability. By planning your collections, you know what you need to work on next and there is no worrying about having too many ideas. I am, like any creative person, love working on something new and quite often come up with a new item out of the blue but do I have my future releases planned out months ahead. 

Back in March I wrote my thoughts on building a handmade collection and interviewed other designer too so if you would like to read more on this subject, here are the links: part 1 and part 2  of that post. 

9. Make your items in bulk. 
(when you see that an item is getting a good response) 
There is always something in the bulk production line in Plushka's studio, like robins at Christmas. It's always feel like it is taking long time to make 10 at once but in the end you have enough stock and time to work on something new. When I make one at a time, I feel like I cannot work on anything else and it holds me back. I love having piles of shapes cut out and ready to go!

10. Release your creations slowly. 
This year, I learned not to get all of my creations out there all at once. It prevents all that stressing out that something new has to be made urgently! If you are just opening a shop, have some stock stashed away and list items slowly. Do the same after a new collection release, it's a good idea to have some items at the back that you can list after the release (colour/size variations) in order to keep shop looking fresh. 

Phew, I think I covered the main points but do ask if there is anything you would like to hear more about! 

What's next for Plushka? 
Stay tuned for the next week's post.

P.S. Have you entered my Mollie Makes giveaway yet? 

Plushka's story: Getting started and where it all began...

Previously on “Plushka’s story”:

....I also thought that cross-stitch creations will be the main product line in my shop as I've been cross-stitching since I was 12. However, something exciting happened in mid 2010 that changed my creative direction completely.....

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Starting a little shop for my hobby craft passion seamed like a great idea as, after my first ever sewing machine was given to me as a birthday gift, nothing could stop me! I made my first bag, pegs holder and a few more experimental projects. However, for a year or so I didn't feel confident enough to start selling my items so most of them were given to friends.

It was after I started blogging and met some wonderful people from craft community that I felt inspired to open my shop. As I mentioned in the previous post, I  thought I just make and sell what I feel like making, mainly with cross-stitch but I was also obsessed with making fabric buttons so some button hair ties were created too. I got hooked on making appliques and fabric yo-yos and it just snowballing from there....

The more techniques I discovered and learned the more I wanted to create. I felt great doing again what I used to love and enjoy back home. It made me feel all cozy and myself again, something I didn’t feel for some time. Moving to another country started taking its toll but craft made a new place where I lived feel like home.

Then, I discovered Shop Handmade in Canberra, it was just opening it’s doors and was inviting designers to apply. I had things piling up after a few markets and I thought why not send my application?! 

When I got excepted, I felt like I can really call myself a handmade designer! I send my parcel off and never looked back. Being in the shop motivated me to create more and come up with new ideas. I had a little shelf to fill and my hair ties, appliqués and clips could only take so much space. 

I remember talking to mum on the phone one day saying that I need a new creation that would be different and fun. She reminded me how we sew together a toy for my school friend and I really enjoyed helping her. Designing my own toy really appealed to me. I love drawing and stitching and I could use felt that I only just discovered that year. That’s when my felt owls were born. Why an owl? Owls were very popular in 2010 and there were so many fabrics with owls in my stash so I felt inspired to draw one in my style and use some of those cute Japanese prints I adored. 

Receiving a list of the sold items from the shop felt so good and encouraging. The possibility of  being handmade business owner didn't feel unreal and unachievable anymore!

That how it all began...

Did I know back then that it will take me good 2 years to set up the business and discover what actually sells? 
Not really, but I was very determined that if I will keep doing what I love, work hard, it will produce a result.... but more on what I learned in the last 3 years in the next posts... 

Hope you are enjoying reading the Plushka's story so far!

What is Plushka and why tiny stitches?

I thought I shall start the “Plushka’s story” series with the story behind the brand name. Choosing the name for the shop is probably one of the hardest things I've done when I started. It took me ages to commit to one.  

I already had a Plushka’s Craft blog back then but, for some strange reason, I wanted to give my shops a different name. I didn’t know back then that the first rule of branding  your business is  keeping all shops, blog, Facebook/Twitter pages and emails under the same name. I am so glad Mr.Plushkin talked me into changing the name later on.

Thus, before I was talked into using Plushka as a brand name for my business, I opened a store on Etsy and then Madeit called "La vie quotidienne" (everyday life in French as I love everything french and used to speak this beautiful language, about 7 years ago...). I had an idea to make one-off things  or a limited edition creations only and do it as hobby rather then full time creative business. That was my banner and, as you can see, I stuck to the same colours scheme from that moment on as I love a warm feeling it gives.

 Madeit shop was the one where I made my first sale in November 2009. It was an owl brooch that slowly, in about a year, evolved into "I heart owls brooch" collection. 

More about my first creations and what I used to make when I started later on the series. 

For about a few months after opening my shop, I talked and talked to Mr. Plushkin about my concerns and uncertainty about the shop name (I wasn’t sure people will actually remember long French shop name!), he said to me that Plushka sounds lovely, warm  and more importantly is part of my Russian heritage so why not call the shop Plushka?!  

Plushka was the first thing I baked for my husband when we just started dating and he loves it ever since. 

So, what is Plushka? It is a traditional Russian yeast pastry filled with poppy seeds or just sprinkled with castor sugar. In my family, they were only made on holidays (my Grandma used to wake up at 4am just to make a dough and let it rise properly) so you might say baking is in my genes. Since I was a little girl, Plushka was my favorite type of pastry as it had a pretty heart shape, and was handmade with love by my grandma. It’s now even more then that, it’s a symbol of my love for everything made by hands. 
 It’s a very lucky coincidence or (maybe a“destiny”?) that later on when I started making toys, a lot of people thought that Plushka comes from Plush toys - Plush-ka making my brand easier to remember. 

Why my logo says "in tiny stitches"?  

(logo was created much later on, in June 2011)

One of my first creative projects was decorating a simple linen skirt with a ribbon. I didn't have a sewing machine back then so I stitched  it on by hand. It wasn't a big deal for me, just a natural instinct as my mum used to decorate my cloths all the time. I would never have noticed it, if not for my dear friend. She complemented me on my tiny and even stitches, saying how cute the hand sewing looks and suggested that tiny stitches should be my "signature",  since I was determined to stitch all my creations by hand anyway. 

I also thought that cross-stitch creations will be the main product line in my shop as I've been cross-stitching since I was 12. However, something exciting happened in mid 2010 that changed my creative direction completely.....

Stay tuned for the next post next week with "How it all started"! 

P.S. Although the shape is a little different to what my granny used to make, here is a nice Plushka recipe.