But here’s the thing…while Beads of Courage is in the number one position (thank you for your support) all of our partners are not right up there with us, and they should be.  If Beads of Courage is #1 that means that our other 25K partners should be #2 and #3!  Plenty of room for all of us.  Our other partners should be higher than where they are too.

Please, help Beads of Courage stay at the top, but more important, helps us to show our partners that we stand together with them.  They’re voting for us, let’s show them what we have.  Let’s see if we, alone, can help raise their ranks in the next day or so.  Are you with me?  Us?  Them?

Click the VOTE NOW button above and vote for ALL TEN PARTNERS.  ALL TEN!  Sorry to yell…I got carried away.  If you click the facebook link you will be casting a vote with your facebook account.  If you then go down to the bottom and log out and then click the link again you can log in with your email account and vote again.  Yes, for all ten partners.

You can also sign up for the Beads of Courage Pepsi mailing list if you’d like to receive a daily reminder so that you can help us every day in August.  That link is here.

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/mailinglist.htm

If you would be so kind as to also blog, facebook, twitter and pass the word along, please send the partners link and encourage full on voting.

Thank you!!!

The Glass Challenge is holding just that…a glass challenge.  Make something out of glass and perhaps you could win.  Mountain Glass Arts is the sponsor.  Here are the details and rules:

This is an Artists Choice Glass Challenge. Any theme is welcome as long as it is a glass creation that YOU created for this specific glass challenge. Soft or Hard glass welcome. All skill sets welcome. There will be one prize.

The winning entry will become the property of MGA and will need to be shipped to MGA before prize will be issued. The piece will be placed in a show case that is on display now showcasing other’s work. The winning entry will also have the artists information attached to piece. The staff and owners of MGA will be picking the winner.

Get melting!

If ever there were a jewelry book that should be appreciated on Mother’s Day, I would say that this one is it.  The cover image itself is soothing and relaxing and if you could judge a book by its cover, you would find that what follows in the coming pages continues that theme.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I’m not a jewelry-making person so I have to be honest, when I received this book I didn’t jump right on it.  I was amazed and quite happy to find that when I did sit down with it, I was actually inspired.  Yes.  Inspired.  It opened up new avenues of thinking for me that actually made me want to make jewelry!

Not only are all of the steps easy but materials are easily found and many of them are already on hand.  Sherri’s book made me feel like I could take anything and make it into a piece of jewelry, and not just any jewelry…something stylish as well as meaningful and personal.

Being continually interested in the creative process I was absolutely delighted to see that the first thing that Sherri wrote about was “Living a Creative Life.”  Yes!  Because, that’s what it’s all about for me, personally. It’s not about making things, although that is fun too, but LIVING a creative LIFE. Every aspect from decorating your space to how we view the world to creating and how we think.  Thank you Sherri!

Before I get to the actual jewelry making portion of the review, let me just say taht I also loved seeing glimpses into Sherri’s own studio. How she organizes things and how she designs.  When looking at the pictures I thought, “wow, if I had a space like that…” and then I remembered…I DO have a space like that.  I just need to appreciate it!

Ok. So the jewelry making part.  One thing I really enjoyed about the tutorials (beside the pictures and simplicty of instruction) is the fact that the projects span multiple techniques.  Techniques that will teach you how to make all of those jewelry pieces that you see when you go shopping but couldn’t fathom how you would make them yourself.

In this book you will learn about basic wire-working, epoxy resin, image transfers, silicone molds, metal clay, patinas, tying knots, paper mache paper clay, polymer clay, shrink art. and the list goes on.  I love reading Sherri’s inspiration for each project too.  It reminds me that everything can serve as inspiration if we just open that door and let ourselves see it.

Overall, as you can tell, Sherri Haab’s JEWELRY inspirations:  Techniques and Designs from the Artist’s Studio received two thumbs up from this jewelry-making-phobic-turned-inspired-to-just-do-it. That is, get this book…you won’t be sorry! Especially at the price os only $20!

How long have you been making beads and how  did you get started?

I took  my first beadmaking class in 2003 but really didn’t get fully into making only  lampwork beads until 2004, so 6yrs or so.

What does your day look like?

I have to laugh LOL! It’s embarassing to share my day. I get up early  (7am) make sure my daughter is up for school. I do a bit of housework, then head over to my studio to check for emails and orders. I answer emails,  quickly check online for messages, go through the forum/facebook to see what’s  happening. I try to not spend too much time online.

I then empty my kiln, remove my beads from their mandrels and clean my  beads while I watch the morning news and have some breakfast. If I get up  early enough I’ll try and fit my workout in.

I then usually do a photo shoot of my beads, upload them to the computer, edit, get layouts ready for Etsy & eBay. Meanwhile I’ve turned on my kiln which, by the time I have all my layouts done, my kiln is ready.

I then sit down and make beads. My time at the torch is always  inturrupted by having to take the dog for a walk or his pee break, a lunch break for me, or going and emptying the laundry or unloading the  dishwasher.

Basically there is always something to do. I also inturrupt my time at  the torch to get any orders ready to ship and I make a run down to the post  office, drive my daughter to work, come back and list my beads, then back to  making beads.

It always seems that I barely get a nice batch of beads made and it’s time to go in and make dinner. I clean up after dinner, spend a bit of time with my husband (who falls asleep within 15 minutes of watching tv as he works at 3am) once he’s asleep I head back out to my studio and take whatever energy I have left over to make more beads, fill orders and answer any other emails  or messages.

You started the Beads for a Cure site.  Tell us  a little bit about your experience with that.

Whew! That’s a long story.

Well I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and went through chemo and radiation treatments, shortly after I went through multiple surgeries to save my life. Propholactic surgeries and breast reconstruction. A few years after recovering and recouperating I decided to get involved in fundraising for breast cancer.

I had never been interested in jewelry before, nor did I have a clue how to make it. But the local jewelry store gave me a few tips on how to get started. I bought your basic imported beads of glass to make my bracelets. I sold my bracelets at a local breast cancer event and they  sold like hot cakes. All of the money going back to breast cancer except for my cost of the beads. I had so many requests for more that I decided to start a website and sell them online.

It took a lot of time educating myself about online sales, running a website, uploading photos, making changes, optimization of my website etc. It also took a lot of money to have a website created, and buy all the tools to get started with stock, making jewelry. I played it safe and only invested money that I made back into my business. As far as my website, it helped that I had a nephew that creates websites, and had two computer nerd sons, to help me with any questions or problems I would run  into.

Shortly after starting my website, I was invited to take part in a bead making class. At that point I didn’t even know that you could make your own beads, nor had I even thought about how they were made. I just assumed they were manufactured, but not made by hand. I really enjoyed the class and quickly purchased the basic tools to make beads. I have never had any other “hobby” so I didn’t mind the investment and I kept my investment minimal in case I decided I didn’t like it after a few months.

But as we all know, once you start you can’t  stop. As my skills improved and my sales improved, I invested my sales into buying more tools and upgrading from a hot head to a minor torch and from a crock pot to a kiln as I wanted to make sure my customers were getting bracelets made with quality beads. Gradually I stopped buying beads and all my  jewelry was made out of my own handmade beads.

Eventually I heard about eBay and decided to give  it a try. So I started selling my beads on eBay, I think it was in early  2007. My sales started out as 60% website (Beads For A Cure) and 40% eBay and over time that switched around. Especially with the economy taking a dive last  year, my website sales really took a drop. Not only because of the economy but  also because I was so busy making beads for eBay and Etsy that I was  neglecting my website.

Eventually at the end of 2009 I decided to shut the website down and leave that part of my journey, my cancer journey, behind  me. It was a hard and emotional decision but it was one I had to make in order to grow creatively.

I have a review of your Arrowhead Tutorial on my other  blog.  Any words about what it takes to write a pdf tutorial and sell it  online?

It takes a lot of work to put together a tutorial. First you have to plan out in your head the steps and make sure that you get photos of each step that you want the reader to see. They have to be important steps. When my  daughter takes the photos, I will talk as if I am giving a class and then I’m not missing any steps. I will instruct her when to take a shot. She usually takes 100′s of shots. Once the photo shoot is done, I have to go through those  hundreds of photos and pick the important ones, the good ones and crop and edit them so they are pleasing to look at. Then I have to sit down and do a layout. As I do the layout I write instructions next to each photo.

When writing a tutorial I always try to keep in mind that some artists reading the tutorial do not speak english or have little english. So I try to keep the instructions simple so that if the reader wants to translate the tutorial they can, without any confusion. For example if you use slang words that are easily distinguishable to us, they may not be to someone who doesn’t speak english and they may not be easily translated. So it is important to use proper english.  A lot of editing is done after the initial layout is finished. I usually try to get a few people to read over the  tutorial for me to look for errors, to make sure the steps are easily understood and to make sure I’m using proper english.

It’s never perfect, but I try to do a better job with each tutorial. That includes my writing and my photos.

I searched around and  didn’t find a web site for you other than group web sites, ebay or etsy.   Other than the Beads for a Cure site, have you ever had a web site  solely for your glass bead business?  How has that worked for you?   (note:  forgive me if I just couldn’t’ find it!)

No I have never had a seperate site for my beads.  I do have a neglected blog which I hope to find time to pay attention to and may start a bead website once the economy and sales pick up. I find that there really isn’t a need for one at this point as I don’t sell at shows or venues anywhere except eBay and Etsy.

How do you  market your work and what have you learned over the years?

Oh my gosh. This year I haven’t really done a lot of marketing. I use to  promote my work on LE [Lampwork Etc.] in the self promotion section but I don’t even do that anymore. I haven’t had the time. So the only marketing I do really is, showing  my work in the gallery on LE, and posting photos of my beads on my facebook page. Other than that, I guess they sell themselves.

What have I learned over the years?   There is a fine  line as to promoting your work and shoving it in someone’s face. For example, spamming people with emails about your work (unless they’ve subscribed to a letter), constantly asking people to join your fan club on facebook etc. Do it  in ways that you are promoting without the customer knowing that you are  promoting.

There are many tips to marketing that I could  write a book about, but I’ll try and share a few. If you do sell locally it’s easy to get free advertising by talking to a local columnist in your local paper and asking them if they are interested in writing a story about your business in the local paper. It’s free and you get a lot of readers. Word of  mouth is great. Wearing your work is great for promoting yourself. Putting up flyers in changerooms at the fitness centres. Having a family member or friend  have a home party for you (like tupperware) selling at local farmers markets.  Passing out your business cards with your website address on it. There are so  many ways of promoting yourself, your work or your website. Think outside the box, maybe even invest in having your logo and website address on your car.  You wouldn’t believe how many see it. I spoke with someone who had spent many  years in marketing and he said that your return is only as good as your investment.

So basically the effort or the time and money that you put into promoting or marketing yourself will come back to you in  sales. Spend nothing, get nothing.

I think I remember  you posting in the Lampwork Etc. form, daily posts about wellness.  It  sounds/sounded like you have a passion for that as well.  Would you like  to say anything about that?

Having gone through cancer I do have a strong belief in living a healthy lifestyle. I use to post about wellness a lot on LE but thought that maybe I was getting to be too annoying to others. I don’t believe in shoving things down anyones throats. Whether it’s health or my beads. LOL! Plus I just  didn’t have the time to keep it up. I constantly struggle with health issues that keep me from being consistent with my working out, but I keep trying and dont’ give up. As far as my eating habits go, we try and live a healthy  lifestyle. We rarely eat out and when we do it is usally a healthy meal.  We rarely buy any processed groceries, and rarely eat fast food. We don’t smoke, drink very little alchohol and make a point of keeping stress and negativity out of our lives.

It is my feeling that stress does a lot of damage to our bodies and is what brought on my cancer, even though my breast cancer was genetic. So I only work when I feel like working. I never pressure myself to make money, nor does my husband pressure me. We don’t depend on my bead income to get by, so in that regard I am lucky. If I want to take a month off , I do. So it makes it easy for me, if I have lost my muse, I just take time off. So no stress. For me, making beads has really never been about making money. It started out as wanting to help out a little with the family income if I can and it has stayed that way. If I help out I help out, if I don’t I don’t. I try to keep my life simple, positive and stress free. I found after what I went through in the past with cancer, that life just is not worth it if you’re constantly stressed about your work and dealing with negative people.

What advice would you give to beadmakers who are  just starting out and selling their work?

My advice would be to not spend more then you need to or can afford to on glass or tools. Then practice, practice, practice. When I first started making beads I sold them, even though they were nowhere near the quality that they are now. I was criticized for it and at times now am embarassed at how bad they are, if I run into someone still wearing a bracelet I made for them.  But it’s all part of the learning curve and in order to upgrade I had to sell my beads, because I was not about to dip into the family budget to feed my bead business. So I never listened to what anyone said and sold my beads even if the dots had undercuts, the edges weren’t clean or they were  ugly.

My best advice is to grow slowly if you’re going to make a business out of it. If it’s a hobby then don’t spend more then you need to if you’re just making bracelets for family or friends. But if you are  going to make the step to sell online then you should invest in a kiln. If you  can’t afford it then you shouldn’t be starting a business or selling online.  As far as your skills go, practice, read books or forums, watch videos on you tube, buy tutorials, have play dates with other artist and share your  knowledge, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. The worst thing that could happen is they don’t answer you.

Is there anything else that you tell us so that we know you better?

I am a pretty care free person. I don’t like confrontation or negativity, I’ll walk away from it and avoid it at all costs.  I’m quiet and unassuming. I’m quite happy with my business where it is now. I  don’t have a desire to be big or make huge sales or go to big shows. I like to work at my own pace and in my own time. Even though I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself, my husband says that I’m very friendly and outgoing when I am around people. However I’m not good in big crowds. I consider myself  pretty giving and caring of others. I try to accept people for who they are.  I’m just as excited when another artist does well with their work as I would  be for myself. I love seeing others succeed and I like to help others starting out as much as I can.  I’ve been married to my childhood sweetheart for  30yrs, and have three children. Two boys who are now adults and a teenage daughter. I enjoy photography. I don’t have any other activities. I spend most  of my days and time in my studio. Not sure how intersting any of that is.  LOL

So that’s me in a nutshell. A big nutshell at  that.

Thank you  Shari!  What a great glimpse into you and your business!  If you are interested in seeing more of Shari’s current work or purchasing one of her eTutorials, visit her etsy store or items on ebay.

And, if you’d like to win one of Shari’s eTutorials, read the review at the Lori Greenberg blog and enter to win.

First: Contrary to popular belief, multi-tasking is NOT more efficient than just sitting down and focusing on one task at a time. Don’t fool yourself.

Name your priorities.
We think that we know what is important and what we need to get done, however this doesn’t stop distractions that keep us from those priorities. By writing them down clearly it helps us to remember and focus.  Write down your top five priorities in your life, in order.  Priorities are different than goals.  They are less specific and don’t include specific tasks.  Things like:

1.  Production work accounts
2.  Web site sales
3.  Writing my novel
4.  Healthy living
5.  Shows

Post them prominently.
Tape up a copy of these priorities in the places that you spend most of your time.  Posting them prominently will help them to seep into your daily thinking.

Observer for a day.
With your priorities on your mind, watch yourself throughout your day.  What distracts you from them? When you do something, ask yourself:  Does this work towards or against my priorities?  As you implement the tips below, continue to ask yourself throughout the day, “Does this action work towards my priorities, or against them” and then make your decision as to if you want to continue.

Manage your distractions.
Once you recognize what your biggest distractors are (you probably already knew), manage them.  Is the telephone always interrupting you?  Do you get sucked into social networking?  Does one blog post lead to another?  Are you getting up to do a load of laundry, which leads to emptying the trash,which leads to doing the dishes?  etc.  Resist the temptation and schedule a time when you will do those things.  Try thinking in rewards.  ”If I work straight for two hours on one of my priorities, I will spend 15 minutes on facebook.”  Stick to the time you give yourself for your reward.

Group Tasks.
Check emails only a few times a day, not every time you get a  pop-up notification.  Same with phone calls.

Eliminate small tasks quickly.
If you have emails or phone calls that can be done quickly, do them!  It takes more energy to have them hanging over your head than it does to just do them.

Make lists and schedule tasks.
I’m not talking about lists of what you need to do, I’m talking about lists of things that keep running through your head.  Again, tasks hanging over your head take up brain room and weigh you down.  If you’re working and can’t get the fact that you need to get Susie new tap shoes out of your head, put it on your list.  Schedule time into your day for these kinds of things…maybe after your work day or on a lunch break?

Everything has a home.
I learned this one from my sister, whose house is always tidy, and I’m still working on it myself.  You will get more done if your workspace is organized. Scissors go into the pencil cup, the phone goes on the cradle, papers go into their files, even if just to keep them for later action.  Create standing files nearby for “data entry” for receipts that need to be entered, “filing” for items that need to be filed, “to do” for items needing attention, etc.  This way, everything is together when it’s time to work on those tasks (and clutter is minimized before that time).

So, those are some things that I recognized and have implemented.  It’s the easiest time management ‘system’ I’ve used to date.  There is something about these simple steps and looking honestly at the way we do things that will make you want to change your habits.  Good Luck!

So, today, I challenge you to try something new. With the economy and sales the way they are you might have already realized that you might not have much to lose to go out on a limb.  Try something you’ve been meaning to try but haven’t felt ready to take the risk.  Here is what prompted me to encourage you in this direction today:

Create your own bead pen and letter opener.  As you know, people love to touch beads, and when they can touch, they are more likely to buy.  People also like to feel like they’re getting something special, or custom.  How many times do you get asked, “Do you have this in blue?”  This gives them the perfect opportunity to create their own.  This was a hit last weekend at my studio show.

Tips and Tricks for Interactive Sales:

1.  Make it affordable.  Customers are doing the work of building the piece, you just need to supply the components.   Make it worth their while.  In my pen display the blank pens and letter openers are $10 and beads are $2 each.  A pen averages $26-$32.  Not bad for a handmade gift that you had a part in creating.

2.  Variety. Make sure you have enough options but not so many that it is overwhelming.  Blue and black are popular so I have more of those out but only one of every other color.  When they sell, I replace them.  If there is too much out it is overwhelming to the eye.  Also, if you have say, ten of each color pen blank out it doesn’t look as ‘exclusive’.  They look a dime a dozen which cheapens the perception.

3.  Examples. Be sure to have finished examples to show customers what is possible.  You may also sell them as is, which is always fun because then you get to make more!

4.  Workspace. Make sure there is enough room so that your interactive station is not interfering with the rest of your show.

There are still people who want just the finished product.  Give them plenty of room to shop where they won’t be crowded by those who want to stand around taking their time creating a work of art.

5.  Packaging. Be sure to have gift boxes.  These are the types of items that should be affordable enough for gifts.  Hang tags telling a bit about you as the artist or the process is a nice touch for gift items too.  Make sure they have your contact information on them.

6.  Suggest uses. Since they’re affordable for gifts, help them see who would like them.  I know, I know, artists don’t like to hard sell or upsell.  But this is a perfect opportunity.  I like to point out that letter openers are great gifts for men, who you can’t always buy jewelry for.  Or, at this price, they’re a great teachers gift.  Or, for that person that has everything.

7.  Try it out. In this instance especially, these pens are so nice, give them an opportunity to see how smooth they write.  They’ll want one.

8.  Versatility. Explain how this isn’t a one-time gift.  You can change out the beads depending on mood or season.

9.  Encourage kids. Yes, I said it.  Encourage kids to touch and create.  Who can say no to a kid who has come up with something special for that special someone?  You might be surprised at how well kids do with this.

So, there are some of the reasons behind the interactive station I had at my show this year and why I think you might benefit.  This idea can be adapted to many things in the jewelry/bead world.  What about your medium?  How can you include the customer in the process?  Trust me.  It will draw them in, others will see the crowd gathered and wonder what is going on and people will talk.  If they love it, they’ll do the selling for you!

p.s.  If you want to have your own bead pen display, I get mine from Mark at the Bead Pen Group.  He is the creator and patent holder and has some other great beadable items you might want to incorporate into YOUR display.  (I don’t get anything for this endorsement, I just love the product).

I love Beads Galore.  It’s huge, it’s local, and they have great prices.  So, it won’t surprise you that, when I was alerted to this sale I was really excited.

Now YOU can experience them at 35% off, online, through the end of November.

And, did I mention that they have free shipping through the holidays to customers in the U.S.?  $1 to Canada and reduced shipping Internationally.

Check it out:

But anyway, today’s post is not about where I’ve been, but where I’m going and something that I think is going to be one of my most key instruments in keeping things streamlined.

In this day and age we are inundated with paper.  Credit card companies, utility companies and even our banks encourage going paperless and receiving statements by email.  That is a scary thing for most of us (possibly excluding newer generations coming up).  Piles of paper, even if they’ve already been processed, can be stressful for many business owners and individuals alike.  I know I get overwhelmed thinking about my filing and what DO I do with all of those cash register receipts?  ARRRRGH.  I feel a little anxious just typing about it.

But not anymore.  Enter NeatReceipts Digital Filing System.

Say goodbye to piles of paper that you keep “just in case you get audited” and really, you never look at it again.  Goodbye to bankers boxes of old statements that you think you need to hold onto for five years.  More space, less stress, I can already feel it.

I just got the small version for Mac and I can tell you that I already feel lighter and better.  It took a little figuring out to get it to recognize the drivers but I suspect that is because my version is for Mac.  The process involves inserting your paper into the streamline scanner, pressing scan, letting it do it’s magic and you are rewarded with a digital image stored on your computer (via the NeatReceipts software) in pdf form as well as key information being picked up and sorted/catalogued into a database that is easy to search and shuffle.

If you are inundated with paper and filing, you might want to consider this gadget.  I don’t get anything for this review, I’m just very happy and wanted to share it with you.

I originally found the link to this list at Rena Klingenberg’s blog.  Thanks Rena!

I started making beads in July, 2002 – so that would be 7 years now.

2.Did you start selling right away?

Not right away, but it wasn’t as long as I probably should have waited. After taking my first class, I started by apprenticing with Paulette Insall (who has moved on to painting), and after a couple of months I set up my own studio. I started selling early on in 2003.

3.Is there anything you can share about when you started to sell your beads?

Like many other newbie beadmakers, I took up selling really too early. It was partly due to necessity – we often have to sell in order to make the money needed to keep buying glass and such. But I admit to getting caught up in the idea that I was good enough to sell my work – a lot of people were asking me to. If I had to do it over I would wait a year or so before selling my beads – giving me time to perfect the basic techniques and find my artistic voice.

4. I have often linked to your article about selling on eBay. Thank you! Do you still sell on eBay?

Thanks for linking the article – I am glad you enjoy it!
I do sell on ebay still – but it’s not on a regular basis. I sell larger sets there when I want to kind of let everyone know I am still alive. Ebay is a great venue for getting your name out there, but it is not the ebay we once knew. The market has really changed over the years, and ebay is no longer the main place for beadmakers to sell. There are so many venues out there that are more geared toward the self-representing artists. Ebay gets the most traffic, though, so I keep a presence there.

5. What are your selling venues of choice? How has that changed over the years?

These days I prefer to sell beads on my website Lampwork.net, with the occasional ebay auction for larger sets. I sell tutorials on my other website, Coloraddiction.com, and also on Etsy.

Over the years, I have tried many different venues. Third party venues like Etsy, Artfire, Justbeads, Ebay and such are good for people who haven’t done a lot of online selling or are just starting out, because they help get one’s name out there and are not as much work as having one’s own website. Once I became a little more well-known, my website sales went up and I was able to concentrate on that as opposed to being on several other venues. I find that if I spread myself too thin I can’t keep up with more than just a couple of places.

I really like selling on my website because it eliminates the venue fees and I have more control. I’m kind of a control freak that way. LOL I do all of my own website creation and maintenance, and all of my own online marketing. It’s a lot of hard work, but really worth it.

6. Do you sell anywhere else?

Other than online sales, I have done a few shows here and there. I’d really love to do more shows though – we’ll have to see! I will probably wind up doing local shows to supplement my online sales. I did do the ISGB Gathering in 2008 and that was a blast – I highly recommend it.

7. Your colors are beautiful! How do you come up with such great combinations? Do you experiment a lot or is it natural for you now?

Thank you! Color is my main motivation and inspiration. The way glass transmits light is what drives me as a beadmaker. I have always loved color – it’s a blissful experience for me. It’s color rather than shape or design that gets me excited when making a set of beads.

Color combinations come to me in a variety of ways. Usually though it just comes when I happen to see color scheme in a magazine, in a store, in nature, on TV, in someone’s clothing – anywhere really. I am always thinking to myself, “okay, which glass color would that be and how can I get that combination?”. I even look at the colors of cars going down the street and automatically try to come up with the glass color that matches.

I also tend to spend a lot of time in the studio placing glass rods next to eachother to see what kind of emotional response they give me. I get a lot of ideas that way – spreading five or six rods out and trying to imagine them as a set.

By far the best place for color inspiration for me is a fabric, craft or yarn store. I could spend hours putting colors together in the local yarn store. I fall in love with color combinations every single day of my existence.

8. What advice would you give to someone new, wanting to create an online business?

I tell people all the time that making your art into an online business is very, difficult. It can be really rewarding, but it’s much more of a challenge than I ever thought it would be. You have to seperate your artistic self-worth and the monetary value of your art, otherwise it can be tough on your soul as an artist.

I also tell people that in order to succeed in a business, you have to love what you do. You have to give yourself time to fall in love with it and time for that love to come through in your art. That means giving yourself time to really learn the basic techniques so that your artisic voice is free to come out. Once that happens, your beads will sing with your voice, and more people will see value in that and will buy your work.

If you don’t love what you do, and you’re just in it for the monetary gain, you are less likely to succeed – because your beads will just have no soul. People really want beads that speak to them.

Once you reach that place where you are happy with your work, be prepared to really put a lot of effort into selling. Especially in these economic times – people are less likely to spend a lot on what might be thought of as an “extra”. You will need to go that extra mile in order to stand out in the competition. But don’t give up if it’s what you really love!

9. I know that you have experienced having your beads knocked off and designs sent over seas, as well as having your images stolen and used without permission. How have you dealt with that and what advice can you give to someone who might experience this in the future, or how to prevent it, if possible?

I still struggle with dealing with this. The toughest part is the emotional side – because when you love your art as much as I do, it’s part of your soul. And when people steal it to profit from it, it hurts. However, if you can somehow come to terms with the fact that in this industry it cannot be avoided, you’ll be okay. I’ve had to learn to just let some things go.

The best defense with this kind of thing is just to educate people about it. There will always be unethical companies and people out there, and the more we talk about it the better. Unfortunately these days there’s not a lot that can be done to prevent image theft or design theft. I have tried many many things – even contacting authorities and watermarking my images. There eventually comes a point where the benefits do not outweigh the effort made to try and stop these things, so you have to decide what to do when that happens.

I can’t tell others to not let it get them down, because I myself get down about it all the time. But what I can say is that no matter what, no one can take away your artistic voice.

10. I will be doing a review and holding a contest for your Simple Raised Flower Bead eTutorial on my Lori Greenberg blog…can you tell us a little about the process of writing a tutorial?

Tutorials are fun! Personally, I do my writing last. The first thing I do (well, after deciding which design I am going to turn into a tutorial) is make the bead I am writing about a few times while taking notes about each and every step. I then have my husband photograph each step while I am making the bead. He’s really good at it! I then edit the photos – and this takes the most time out of the whole process.

Lastly I write the tutorial from my notes and do the layout of the tutorial in my publishing program. The whole thing takes a couple of weeks because I tend to work on it intermittently while keeping up with other beadmaking and website sales.

11. Thank you Kandice!  Is there anything else you’d like to leave our readers with?

Mainly what I would like to say to people just starting out is this – There is now a lot of competition out there. Beadmaking is becoming more mainstream, so we all have to work even harder to stand out in the crowd. But if you put a lot of love in your work, have a little talent, and are willing to pound the pavement and learn about marketing and business, you can be successful.

Learn how to market online – there are a lot of free resources out there just by Googling. Learn to balance what you love with what potential customers are looking for.

Above all – be patient! Sales will come, but it does take some time.

You can find Kandice’s web site at www.lampwork.net, her tutorial site with fellow glass bead artist Kimberly Affleck at www.coloraddiction.com and her blog at www.coloraddictionblog.blogspot.com where she writes about glass colors, testing and color in general.  Make sure to see what she’s up to!