From Trash to Cash: Dribbling a river

elly68

skint toots might be able with the directions sorry i just drive round them ,would have been great to meet up but i will be halfway to wales whooooooooooooo

skintbint_2

thanks elly - will find it, hate that new bypass still go through Kirkliston to get to the airport! o/h just brought me a tin of lager hope he's no holding in for anything! nae chance.

HopeAndDriftWood

Paula - Did you get your copy of that book from Amazon? I paid for it but now its saying it's unavailable, and they've emailed me to cancel. My local library doesn't have it either Will try Ebay but wondered if you knew anywhere else that sold it? Thanks again

(Sorry for interrupting)

Amber_Sunshine

skintbint wrote: »

Saucy - think what Amber says is right, also its a big step for you both so you will both be on edge and feeling vulnerable right now - better to have tried and failed than never have tried at all

That was my exact philosophy when I came out to Spain - and 3 years later, I'm still here!!

HopeAndDriftWood

Amber_Sunshine wrote: »

That was my exact philosophy when I came out to Spain - and 3 years later, I'm still here!!

I hope I am too...and hopefully with some friends, and feeling a bit happier, and a little more healthy too wouldn't go amiss!

You are an inspiration :T

paulabear

Saucy, I got it from a Waterstones shop, wasn't very expensive - have you tried the secondhand ones on Amazon? I'd let you have my copy but I'm a bit attached to it sorry!
Skint that's hilarious! I can see how you made the mistake lol!
Jo, I did sorry, thank you for thinking of me! I'll love doing that

-well my topper has been on Ebay two days now and nobody is watching it - I feel very anxious and my inner saboteur is urging me to give it all up as it clearly isn't good enough etc etc. Yuck. However, I find a nice mix of mentally swearing at the negative voice in my head, and thinking about all the nice things all of you have said, is working somewhat. I keep thinking it's a bit like fishing, all this throwing out adverts into cyberspace and waiting for a nibble. Here, bride-y bride-y! lol. Well I've got a day with the sister of a friend, she's like a child in some ways and hard work mentally but it'll give the friend a chance for a rest so I'll try to keep her out as long as possible. And the kids love her, so that's good. Can't believe the kids are going to family from Thursday til Tuesday, what a luxury, will finally have a chance to get the house sorted upstairs...:) xx

jo70mo

Paula it is probably just about exposure at the moment. ebay is a huge place - if you have 1 auction on then it may not get found quickly as there will be lots of pages of cake toppers finishing sooner than yours. However, as the time moves on it will get nearer the top of the list and seen by more people.
It takes time to build up. you know even non handmade stuff is hit and miss. one week we put a microphone of DHs on and got no takers we put it on again a month later and it went for £80. It was NOTHING TO DO WITH THE QUALITY of the item just the quirkiness of Ebay.
You are doing lots to get yourself off the ground and slowly as you get one thing sorted you can move on to the next. tweeting and facebooking will help a lot especially if you start interacting with the wedding twitterers. But pace yourself and move forward at your own pace. You will get there.
This is the hardest stage with no reputation and feedback to bolster you. Its a slog at the beginning and thats true of any business and not about whether its worth while its just true that you need to keep pushing for a while till it builds up and then you will have testimonials and feedback which will give others confidence in buying from you.
Jo x

nixinixi

Paula - this is the hardest part, you are ready for customers but your customers don't know about you. You need to keep building your Etsy shop...so can you put some of your Sulkies on too? They all show examples of your work. Then it is promotion promotion promotion.....or to say it another way....lots of communicating and talking to your potential customers. Unfortunately over night success rarely happens over night !! If only !!

Are there any wedding orientated groups or pages on FB....if so join them and tell them all about your toppers, do some research....think there is a special occasion board on mse....go on there and ask them any questions....I know you can't post your link on their but you can start to make contacts, and ask them if any brides to be would have a look and give you feed back..... real aim to get them to look but you never know you might get some good feed back to, and maybe even a sale!!! Try and find wedding planners.....email them a link. Find Cake makers and email them..... Can you offer competition prizes? If so contact wedding magazines? (and me!!! please )

I will be blogging about you today...sorry yesterday went a bit to pot with Ben managing to land on his head when he lost his footing at swimming. Other than a cracking bruise on the back of his head he seems fine....but after the week I have had I realised how emotionally drained I am....but had a good night sleep so as long as children play nicely for long enough I'll be blogging Also could Amma blog about you? Her blog is very popular and specifically wedding orientated......

Honestly you have to persevere......it will happen!

xx

Loving all the rest of the dribbling - fantastic to read!!!!!

nixinixi

Hi Jo! Thank you for all the the cyber hugs! They have been much appreciated. Hope you are ok. Have you submitted that job application yet? xx

jo70mo

Hi Nixi, glad to hear Ben is ok. Job application day is today and then hand deliver it.
Your more than welcome with the cyber hugs. I have been worried about you. Although I do believe you can get through whatever it is - that doesn't always help in the middle of it. Extra Monday hugs for you.
Jo x