New FREE guide for starting a small business released!

I've released a new guide with advice on starting a small crafting business. 

It's based on the things I've come across whilst setting up and the research done when looking at how best to go about things. 

Hopefully you guys will get something from it, it's teh first of a few releases on the same subject so look out for the next one soon. 

You can get it via www.jacquib.biz and the best bit is it's FREE, so even if you already know everything in it you haven't lost anything! 

Thanks for reading 

Jacqui 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Lets get straight to the point, I like nice things. 

I like it when things just go right and I end up making something that's got all the right stitching, everythings straight and it all looks like I had imagined it would when I started. 

I don't like it when this doesn't happen. I'm sure everyone knows what I mean when I say that sometimes its just easier to stand up from your station and walk away. 

Well that's what I did last night. Making some simple purses, nothing too fancy, something that is normally so straight forward and problem free just would not go right! 

I make one from start to finish and every step seems to go wrong, nothing lines up even though I'm certain I cut everything perfectly, even straightforward pleats look just a little off. 

Finally it's finished and despite the frustrations and rework the outcome is still great and I'm pleased with it.

Then came The Zip... 


The zip is attached and looks perfect, all the stitching looks great and the whole thing looks like I imagined it.

I close the zip, all works well. I open the zip...nothing. I pull it again and it moves a little and then....snag. 

The zip is completely broken and has no intention of moving whether I force it or not! At this point I just look at the purse, wondering why it's not playing nice and just opening. After 10 minutes of trying to furiously get the zip to work I decide that the best thing to is to put down the instigating item and walk away.

So as I sat in the living room still frustrated I came to realise that there are three ways to get the outcome I want. 

• The Good Way - Do things properly and don't rush, never think you're too good to have to think about what you're doing and always put whatever you're doing down if its not going right and come back to it later. 
• The Bad Way - Keep trying to make things work no matter how angry and frustrated you get to the point that its a battle of wills between you and the item you're making. If you're at the point of talking out loud to your sewing machine for example and telling it "you may have one this battle but I will win the war!" You may want to consider reverting to the Good Way to reach a better place. 
•  The Ugly Way - This one should be avoided at all costs. Put simple if you're at this point you're willing to get to the end whatever the result. This normally means that the item you end up with will look like its been dragged through a hedge and dropped in a puddle because you simply refused to do anything other than push on through when you really should have stopped and come back another day.

I know I'm not alone in this so let's hear your stories of frustration!

Thanks for reading 

Jacqui

Funny is Good!

Well I'm really getting into the animation thing now and using GoAnimate.com to create some fun little ad's for Jacqueline At Home but it's also useful to just see what you can come up with! 

That got me thinking about advertising for your website in general. 

Everybody wants to get their name and product out there and get a step up on the competition (unless your not that way inclined in which case you may want to check out the rest of my posts on other subjects!). 

Sitting and waiting for people to come to you is a sure fire way to go down the tube pretty quickly, so advertising is one of the ways that you can be proactive and push your brand forward. 

So how do you go about advertising on a budget, or even better, for free? Well with just a little money you can buy a months worth of advertising on a reputable site  which would with a little luck serve you well to get some decent traffic interested in your product. 

But the one thing I love about doing things on a shoestring budget is that to get things done for free you've got to be creative! 

Sure you can advertise a nice looking banner or slogan on a few sites and sit back and wait, but being creative can lead to alot more open doors to traffic that wouldn't normally be looking at what you have to offer. 

As I said at the start I've started looking at animation. With a couple of spare hours and a laptop you can create funny and informative movies that can go onto YouTube and be seen by millions of people. 

But don't forget that the best adverts are the ones that stay in your head for days after you saw it. To achieve that you need to give people something they don't see as standard advertising. 

Think of the last advert that really stuck in your head. Chances are that it would have been funny, had a catchy tune, or had a celebrity doing something you never thought you'd see them doing. 

Taking into account that it's likely most of us don't know any celebrities and we're not in the running to win an MTV award anytime soon, I'd say funny is the best place to start. 

The best example I can think of  is the drumming gorilla on the Cabury advert. I laughed hard at that for ages and still like to watch it on YouTube now and again! 

It had nothing to do with the actual product but it still makes me think of Cadbury now, and it hasn't been on the TV for a few years now. 

So having some advertising that really stick is an absolute must for your business and will get you a name as somebody that really knows how to get into the head of their customer. 

So why not have a go at something different and see what you come up with. You might produce the next great viral video, or the funniest short film in the last 10 years! 



Jacquib's Animation by Jacquib on GoAnimate

Cartoon Maker - Powered by GoAnimate. Thanks for reading 

Jacqui
www.jacquib.biz 

I tried my hand at animation, I didn't draw it myself but it was fun to make! 

If it doesn't play here you can see it here if your interested! http://goanimate.com/videos/0X7H9zNQlplM?utm_source=linkshare

Jacqueline At Home by Jacquib on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.  

Jacquib
www.jacquib.biz

Nothing in Life is Free

I'm sure this post will be a contentious issue and divide opinions but I think I've got to the point where I feel I have to write it. 

What ever type of crafting you are into, sewing, knitting, painting, the list goes on and on, we all have one thing in common. We all started as a hobby. 

I can't believe that there is anyone out there that decided, 'I know I'll start a business in something I have no knowledge of and see how I get on'. No, we all started because we enjoy what we do. 

Now certainly not everyone is doing this as a business, some do it to sell items to make enough for their next project, some just do it to give things to their friends and family. But whatever your reason there seems to be a growing fashion that is starting to irritate me, and I would imagine others as well. 

That fashion is...begging for free stuff. 

This free stuff takes the form of many things - free equipment, free materials, free friends on social networking, this list goes on and on. But there is one thing that I find gets to me for than most, asking for donations of money. 

Don't get me wrong if you've provided advice or services to the public free of charge then go ahead and ask for donations, you are after all, helping everyone out with your time and knowledge for example. 

An example of this would be one of the many logo creators out there on the Internet. These sites provide an excellent service that helps its clients look just a little more professional than they could do on their own. These sorts of people and groups have every right to ask for donations. 

But why would I or anyone else want to donate money to you just because you smile and ask nicely? 

How many more sites am I going to come across that think its ok to ask  for money for doing nothing more than being there and telling me nothing but how wonderful their latest creation is? 

If your creations are that good and you're after some cash why not do what the rest of use do and put in the continuous hours of effort into trying to sell what you create. I'm all for congratulating people on a job well done but when I'm putting in all the hours I can to try and promote what I am creating why would I want to give someone money for showing me a lovely picture of a cushion for example. 

Get out of your room, go to a craft fair and start selling them, you'll make money and offend less people on the whole which can only be a win win situation for all concerned. 

Now I understand that may seem a little harsh to some people but if you're one of those people that think I'm missing the community spirit of the crafting world then I put this point to you. 

When was the last time you stood in the middle of your local town asking for money? 

That's essentially what we're talking about here. I'd be more inclined to give some change to someone busking if their playing a decent tune, at least their providing me some entertainment. 

It comes down to the fact that we don't get anything for free in this life so people need to accept the fact that you need to go out and make things happen. Nobody is going to come to you and just give you things because you asked nicely. 

So in conclusion by all means give me a reason to donate, but do not expect me to just give you something for nothing. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, both for and against so feel free to comment or contact me. 

Thanks for reading. 

Jacqui
www.jacquib.biz 

Creating eBook, looing for submission input

I'm looking to create an eBook based around sewing how to's and working through to getting a business up and running online.

I'm interested in hearing from anyone that would be interested in contributing to this project in anyway with their expertise in this area.

You would get the credit and promotion of your website within the eBook for your contribution. 

I would not be looking to make money out of this project it is purely to help others that want to get started in this industry.

If you'd like to be involved in this let me know and I'll go through any further detail with you. 

You can leave yoru details on a comment below, email at jacquelineathome@hotmail.co.uk, via ukhandmade.ning.com or on Twitter @jacquib_JAH.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Jacqui

x

www.jacquib.biz

Upcycling, Sustainable or just a Trend?

Upcycling, the fashionable version of recycling. 

A few years ago most people wouldn't be seen dead in a charity shop or walking around in something someone else had worn. 

"I don't know where its been" 

"It's going to be dirty!" 

"I don't want to be seen in there!". 

Charity shops were barely surviving and everything we wore was brand new and worn only by us. 

How times have changed. 

Now everthings about upcycling. Now the growing trend is to buy everything from a t shirt to a kitchen table second hand and upcycle it into an amazing new item that has a new lease of life. 

There are many designers and creators out there who make some fantastic things out of unwanted items. The popular show 'The Apprentice' even featured upcycling and the potential for money to be made out of this. 

The question though is, will this trend continue or is it mearly a product of the current economy? 

People don't have alot of money and generally speaking there is alot to be said to spend a little less on something upcycled which in some circumstances are better than the original product. It can be quite rewarding to do it yourself and create your own upcycled masterpiece out of something you find in the back of your attic or your garage. 

There's a sense of accomplishment from turning a broken old chair into something that compliments your living room or making a new jacket out of various old clothes. 

There's certainly alot out there in the big wide world of the internet telling you how to create these things and it generally doesn't have to cost much to do it either. 

But if the economy was in a better state would we still be upcycling or would we be back to wanting the best products straight out of the packet? 

Are just making ourselves feel better about all the years we thought recycling was for hippies? Maybe we are, maybe we just want to feel like we're doing the right thing by upcycling and making the most of whats laying around. 

I've discussed the pricing issue previously but it also creeps into the upcycling point as well. Walk through any major city centre and see how many shops you see selling upcycled goods. Then take a look at the prices they are charging. 

It certainly appears to be that there is a big difference between the homemade upcycled goods and the goods coming out of highstreet stores. 

The highstreet shops certainly do sell some nice things but do they warrant the prices they charge for what are essentially secondhand products. Some of these prices being charged are more that you can buy the original item for when it came straight out of the factory. 

The items made by the couple down the road in their living room may not be the most obvious place to buy your upcycled products from but its worth considering that the care and attention is is generally going to be of a far higher standard. The price (if they are pitching it right) will also be highly competitive compared to the highstreet shops offering 100 of the same unique item. 

The point of the article is to put across two points. Firstly, we should do everything we can to keep the trend of upcycling moving forward in the mainstream. It not only serves a great purpose environmentally, but it is also opens up a door to those people that don't have the skills to build chairs and tables for example, but do have the imagination to turn them into something visual compelling and interesting for little to nothing. 


The second point is that this is the time for the small businesses out there to step up and challenge the bigger stores on upcycling products. Whilst its still seen as just another trend to pump out at high prices, the smaller businesses can keep their prices in line with their lower costs and promote their products to the masses by being true to upcycling and making unique items that stand out amongst the crowd. 


Thanks for reading.


Jacquib
www.jacquib.biz