SCAD + ETSY = LOVE

The Tax Man Cometh

2012-01-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

The holidays are done. If you're like me, you're looking around at your life trying to remember what it looked like before the holidays struck! What exactly do I buy at the grocery store when I have time to go there!? Why is the line at the post office so SHORT today?? What year is it!?? Truly, we all deserve to take a deep breath and celebrate our survival through the joyous, yet stressful, holiday season. This is especially true of we Etsians (of the SCAD variety) because, with any luck, each and every one of us was swamped with holiday orders.

Ah, the sweet smell of relaxation.... wait, what else am I forgetting? I feel like there's one more thing on the horizon... oh, no, it's TAXES!! Just when we thought we were safe, in walks the Tax Man.

To be honest, I must confess that I am a FREAK of nature. I ENJOY doing my taxes. Well, I should say I enjoy organizing my finances, figuring my earnings, working on financial strategies. It's like raking the yard or cleaning the bathroom or painting the kitchen. Not exactly fun, but rewarding and satisfying. Spending time with your financial reality is a very good idea, especially when you are operating on a shoe-string budget. I'm no expert- I'm trying to learn what I can as the need arises, and I thought I would try to share some of the things I learn with you.

This year I learned about Sales Tax. It's the first year I have ever collected it because I officially became a business this year. These are different than your income taxes, which are due in April. In California, where I live, you report your earnings and pay your sales taxes based on a schedule provided to you by the state Board of Equalization (http://www.boe.ca.gov/). For me this is yearly, and happens to be due in January, so I filed already and got a head start on my BIG tax day stuff.

I found a blog post from last year that covers the basics of sales tax and a little bit about how it applies to Etsy sellers. Take a look: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/tax-tips-everything-you-need-to-know-about-sales-tax/

Etsy has a great feature that makes adding sales tax to your items pretty simple, but they can't tell you what tax rate you should be using based on where you live, so you'll have to do some research on your own. Remember that each state is different! To set the tax options on your shop go to Shop Settings>Sales Tax Settings.

In CALIFORNIA, my BIGGEST TIP is to keep track of all your sales made within the state of California, and look up the COUNTY right away. Store this info with the record of your sale. You will have to report how much money was sent to you from each California county when you file (because of varying sales tax rates, I suppose) and it is a PAIN to look up each county when you have a huge list of sales in front of you (ok, it wasn't as huge as I would have liked).

The other great TIP, which they mention in the blog above, is try to be as accurate as you can in your tax collection because you cannot keep any extra money and if you come up short it will come out of your own pocket. No fair. Life (and taxes) are not fair.

I hope this will help to get you motivated about tax time. Now is a good time to at least begin organizing your books and figuring out what you will need to do to square things with Uncle Sam.
I'll try to post helpful things as I advance in my own tax adventures. Good luck everyone, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Laurel http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaurelBushman

Holidays are fast approaching- Are you ready?

2011-11-18T20:20:00.001-08:00

The Holidays are fast approaching and we want to show off all the goodies

The SCAD + Etsy = Love Team has to offer!

Keys for Holiday Success:
*Make sure you have "SCAD Team" listed as one of your tags so that you can be easily found as a teammate. This way when shoppers enter "SCAD Team" into the etsy search you will come up in the group.
*Team Members must copy and paste the following to their shop profile: "I am a proud member of TEAM SCAD + ETSY = LOVE. Please enter SCAD Team into the Etsy search to find my fellow team members."

If everyone does this it will make it very easy to find our fellow team members which will make treasures and promoting each other quicker and easier. Isn't it way better to find the perfect gifts for your friends and loved ones from some of your teammates rather than wasting your money on imported junk?!?

Treasuries are a great way to get involved with the team and to get each others shops promoted! Give a gift this holiday season of promoting your fellow Etsians. Let's bump up all the fun on the discussion board posting things like if people have any new products, sales to share amongst each other or events to check out.

Best Wishes and Happy Holidays!

-KC Cooper Sears
Make Shop Live

Team Updates

2011-08-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Team SCAD,

I'm so excited for MakeShopLive and their debut at the Austin Renegade Show. I hope it exceeded all your wildest expectations, KC!

For those of you on the west coast, the San Francisco Holiday Renegade show will be accepting applications soon. Check out an earlier post on our blog by KC for tips on applying to shows. And if you don't want to attend as a vender but are in the area, consider visiting to see what it's all about. I plan to see this one if I can.

http://www.renegadecraft.com/holiday-sf-apply?site=hosf

TEAM NEWS:
We are steadily growing! We now have 83 members. Helping us to grow should be something everyone works toward. Let your SCAD alumni friends know about us, and pointing out in your own promotional material that you are a member is great advertising for all of us! I'll bet we can make it to 100 members before Thanksgiving with a little nudge from everyone.

There's a lot of great new work from our more experienced members, as well as imaginative additions from our newer peeps. I've noticed some people are joining our group even before they have a completed shop on Etsy! I think this is a great step for a new shop, but don't forget to fill in your personal profile and put up an avatar pic even if you aren't making sales yet.

The Team Member Profiles will continue soon. The summer got away from me and I can hardly believe we're looking at the holidays again- oh, yes, I said holidays. I know I'm scrambling to get my Christmas Section organized. Remember that to maximize your Christmas sales, you want to have your holiday stuff up by Halloween at the latest!! Crazy, I know!!

AWESOMENESS on the DISCUSSION BOARD
Even in the absence of Member Profiles on this blog, our discussion board has been full of great ideas. I want to shout out to Brienna http://www.etsy.com/shop/brienna

at briennapruce.blogspot.com for hosting a virtual gallery of members this spring.

And thanks to everyone who keeps the discussion board lively. It's great to see what everyone is thinking about and anyway, isn't sharing fun?

Keep up the good work, Everyone. If there's anything wondrous and amazing or anything you are just TOO excited about, post a thread on our member discussion board or shoot an email me to get your ideas up on this blog. scadplusetsyequalslove@gmail.com

And of course, keep making your art. (:

Laurel

2011-05-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!!!

We super excited about the Renegade Craft Fair in Austin, TX next weekend that our company Make Shop Live will be in attendance. For us, it is big and exciting because it is our first trip out for a craft fair. Are there team members in Austin that are showing??? Please if you live in the area come out and say hi!

I am not sure what some of your summer plans may include, but I would kill to hear the inner workings of any and all craft/ independent design shows. Seriously, I want to hear the wide spectrum of "happenings" of anything from celebrity sightings to artists in competition feeling ripped-off. Come on- there is something. A customer gave you the most wonderfully stated compliment ever... this stuff is fantastic!

We have been regrouping from Unique LA which all ways keeps us busy! And has us full of ideas to include for next weekend.
Check out the show here or our post at http://makeshoplive.blogspot.com/2011/05/unique-la-highlights-and-pictures.html.

Our new cards really emphasize the SCAD+Etsy=Love Team, and we have geared more marketing towards Etsy in hopes that it brings customers into our Etsy shop & hopefully Everyone else too ;)

I have been behind on the blog posts for the team :( But I have kinda been searching for something I felt passionate about writing. I was hoping to do a wrap up of so show info/ marketing trends I see here and I think it would be really great if it could be so much more...

Now that we are getting bigger as a team, I am sure a ton of you all are out dealing with all types of sales and I want to know what everyone is up to??? Any tips you figured out? Did you nail a display that is so awesome you will burst at the seams to share with everyone??? I want to know, and I am sure so does everyone else! We are all up to amazing things these days I think we should have a call for entries. What ever you you have that you think can relate to this topic: please shoot an e-mail with details HERE by June 13th.

Maybe a campaign can be assessed for creating a bigger buzz for the team too- Just a pre-holidays thought... I know it seems soon but I am starting early!

Hope everyone is doing well and making some amazing things- and $$ too ;)
XO,
KC

Here are more details for people in Austin who want to attend the Renegade Craft Fair

If you come buy and say hi, we will share a 15% discount to fellow SCAD-sters :) Booth #162

2011-04-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I thought today I would pop in and send productive vibes everyone's way ;)

Hope everyone is selling and enjoying themselves!!!

Please drop in and say hi or talk about anything on the discussion board.

Etsy Apps To Check Out

2011-03-31T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is having an awesome start to Spring and that you are ready for April. This year is flying by so quickly!!! With life flying by I am always on the hunt for gadgets and tricks that cut time or organize things.

The Favoritizer by ericj on Etsy is one of the best ways to keep my favorite shops and items organized. Now that the group is getting bigger this app is super helpful because you can make a SCAD + Etsy = LOVE folder to keep track of all the team members. From there you can group/ access team members shops easy! Once you set up all the folders for however you want to organize your favorites it is way easier to go threw all the items easier than scrolling across your list.

Check it out and see how easy it is to organize your favorite Etsy Shops and Items ;)

Best,

Moo to the Rescue

2011-03-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

We had a discussion on Team Board a little while back about a promo Moo was running, and I thought I would share how we've found this product to be a wonderful way to highlight your brands.

Click this link to score 50 Business Cards for FREE all you have to do is pay shipping.

I almost like the free ones with the visit my shop on Etsy and Moo watermark on the bottom better than the full price version! The banner on the bottom automatically sparks a conversation about our shop every time we pull out these cards. We made an assortment but focused a bunch of these with our picture to give to friends and family. These cards are a great way to highlight your merchandise or illustrations but don't forget sometimes people like to see pictures of you too ;)

One of my favorite products they have are their sticker books. We made some assorted stickers that help put that finishing touch on all of our Etsy orders :) The stickers are 1" and make perfect closures to products and gifts to highlight your logo or message.

We have been thinking of purchasing some of the new post cards now that you can make them with double-sided prints... They were originally only available with one image and a selection of pre-made backs to chose from. Their print quality and the weight of their cards are so nice I am sure the post cards are awesome. I'll have to let you know when we place our next order and try them out. If you want to get either the postcards or the stickers they are running a free shipping promotion with the code YAYSTICKIT

Member Profile: Blake Roberts

2011-03-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings! My name is Blake Roberts. I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and earned my Bachelor of Arts in Illustration at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia. Since graduating, I've worked on both the east and west coast creating custom works that have sold nationally and internationally. Since 2009, I've been selling prints and greeting cards through my store, The Painted Peep Show. Recently, I was accepted into the Society of Illustrators in NY. I'm currently living in Brooklyn, New York and work out of my kitchen/studio.

The Painted Peep Show began through a series of sketches, which upon first glance appear sweet enough to be featured in a children's book, but have a humor dark enough for the older crowd to enjoy. I enjoy creating images for children of all ages.

The Painted Peep Show is a proud member of the Etsy Greetings (etsygreetingsteam) and Men of Etsy (MoE) teams.

SCAD+ ETSY=LOVE Thursday Finds

2011-03-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

Howdy Y'all! Hope this week is panning out nice for everyone. The weather is finally nice here and it is making me want to run from my studio and soak up some vitamin D.

Incase you may have missed some team updates here are some important things to check out:

SCAD on Etsy- Shout out in the District

Team Tags need to be changed from "SCAD" to "SCAD Team"

(please also change: "I am a proud member of TEAM SCAD + ETSY = LOVE. Please enter SCAD Team into the etsy search to find my fellow team members.")

There are good discussions happening on our discussion board... Please check them out and add your input here.

New Treasury Picks Below-

Happy Crafting!

XOXO,

Tips for Etsy: Avatars and Shop Banners

2011-03-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

We have been so happy to see the SCAD + ETSY = LOVE Team applications flooding in! I wanted to say a quick hello from Laurel and I to all our new members :)

The beauty of being in a team is having helpful incites from your fellow team members to constantly evolve and tweak your shop so that not only you will increase business, but also to bring other team members exposure on Etsy as well. Now more than ever there are so many things to shift threw online that it can be a very exhausting process seeing everything. While we want our team to not be too labor intensive for those of you on a busy schedule, I do want to point out that for some of your fellow teammates their shop may already be the prime focus for showcasing their business. By having some shops empty or without an avatar/ shop banner it lowers the standards for the overall group. Here are some helpful (and quick) tips to get your shop appearance set and up and ready for business:

Standard Info for Banners and Avatars

For your Avatar/ Profile Picture:

You can use image editing software (for example: Adobe Photoshop or GIMP) to tweak a photo you've taken.
You will need to crop or re size your image to be a small square, 75 x 75 pixels in size at 72 dpi resolution. The file should be one of these formats: .jpg, .gif or .png.

For your Banner graphic at the top of your Shop:
Make sure you have your properly sized image saved on your computer. Your banner should be 760 x 100 pixels at 72 dpi. Banner images must be .jpg, .png or .gif file format.

To upload your banner image to your Etsy shop, go to Your Account > Info & Appearance. Click the Browse button to locate the file on your computer, then click the Save button at the bottom of the page. Your new banner will show up in your shop momentarily.

Make a Quick Banner HERE on Etsy's Banner Generator

Etsy Resources- Pre-made Badges

Etsy Resources- Pre-made Banners and Avatars

Here is a post from Etsy on Making a personalized shop banner in Photoshop

Wanna get a graphic designer to make a super sweet one for you?!?

For Under $10 You can get a custom made avatar and shop banner from a fellow Etsian-

Modern/ Fashion

Simple/ Modern

A little bit pricier, but includes everything you would ever need-

Full Packages with Vacation, Sale, even a custom reserved listing place holder!

I have created a fun picture for an Avatar you can click and download here:

Feel Free to promote your shop and our Team using this

"Solid Gold" avatar or Etsy Flag picture ©Make Shop Live-

Team Treasury, Wrapping up February

2011-02-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

SO EXCITED WE HAVE 50 MEMBERS NOW! Yay!!! As we grow as a team and strengthen our online community, I truly believe we are all going to do awesome things together! How exciting to work with each other while building and defining all of our creative endeavors- Thanks to SCAD for all of these talented artists to work with :)

I can't believe we are wrapping up February already! FYI: I am not sure the details about business taxes in other states, but in CA business taxes are due by MONDAY. Please double check over the weekend and make sure you have your ducks in a row.

Here are some new Team Treasuries highlighting some of the talented folks from SCAD on our Etsy Team. You can see all of our new members listed here on Etsy to shop from or you can enter "SCAD" into the search field to find a collection from all of our members.

My Treasury Picks for the week-

Best of luck for everyone this weekend!
XOXO,
KC

Member Profile: Erica Regelin

2011-02-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

My main focus is paintings and drawings (usually made into cards, gift tags, bookmarks, etc) and wallets and checkbook covers made from recycled magazines, newspapers, tissue paper, etc. I spend a lot of time working on my watercolor paintings, it can take me twenty hours to finish a painting! But I enjoy every moment (well, for the most part) and think it's worth it. Once they're finished I scan the painting and print it as a card, tag, or whatever else I'm in the mood for. The wallets and checkbook covers are made by spending countless hours looking through magazines (usually with a helper) to find images we think could work as either. Then theyre all cut out, poked and prodded, smushed and pressed, and then sewn into a final piece. Each wallet and checkbook cover have two pockets, stretch a bit to hold more things and can be made so theyre security safe (as in, no one can read your credit cards with a machine through the wallet). I'm also hoping to branch off into other things, as inspiration hits, like handmade books!

Right now a theme of mine is 'Horse Butts' so if you see a painting on a card or other object and you're not sure what it is, that's probably what it is! As many of us know, owning a pet can be life's greatest joys and well, honestly, you'll do a lot of things for an animal you wouldn't even consider doing for a human. As a pet owner (or guardian or friend or mommy/daddy) we love EVERY part of our pet/daughter/son/friend, including their butts. Who doesn't like a cute little animal butt? The only difference is.. horse butts are pretty big! But still super cute!! So I took the shape of a horse butt and made it into a heart thus showing my horse butt love. (I really hope you're still with me here and that I didn't scare off too many of you.. we all love our pets, some just aren't as vocal about it as me!)

Another theme is cupcakes, cakes, or desserts of any kind. I LOVE baking, I cannot even express this to you enough. I hate cooking but if it has sugar or tastes super dessert-delicious.. I'm up for it. I'll spend hours working on it, making my kitchen dirty, myself dirty and maybe even crying a little just for that moment of simple pleasure of eating a dessert. (Thankfully my boyfriend is a good guy who loves to eat dessert too!) But uh, back on topic, so why not paint what I love to make? I took a course in school all about painting food and it changed my life forever, in a way of putting it I 'saw the light!' I'm slowly building up my collection of food related paintings, I take great pleasure and pains to make sure each one is beautiful when it's done since its such a huge passion of mine so not as many of those are ready for the site yet, but soon!

I'm also up to doing custom work! Wallets and checkbook covers can be made with your logo or other personal images (some I cannot use because of copyright infringement, if you're unsure whether your image is copyright infringement please don't hesitate to contact me and we can discuss if it is and what other options you have!) cards can be made with personal tag lines or insides, and countless other things I'm sure I'm just not thinking of. Contact me if you have any ideas (even if they don't fit into what I've written here, I'm always up for a challenge, especially artistically!).

Hope to hear from you soon! (Especially if you're buying!)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/redbowillustration

Tips for Etsy: Treasury Widgets

2011-02-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Team Members!

Laurel and I have been having so much fun working on the Team and I am so happy to see the growth in membership!!! We have created this blog to promote and help our team members with their Etsy business and I am going to help with a section featuring tips and tricks to maximize your time on Etsy and within the team.

Some useful sites to bookmark are:

CRAFTOPOLIS: http://www.craftopolis.com/

This site is sooooo helpful and you would be a fool not to bookmark it! It sets up a calender that shows on each day how many people visit your shop, if you receive a heart(s), and how much money you made daily/ monthly!

The best feature here for saving time when updating your shop is "Edit Express" where you can edit price, title, description, and quantity on items in minutes.

Etsy On Sale: http://www.etsyonsale.com/sellers

This site is useful to batch organize your items for sales and it very easy to even set up sales in advance. You can even use it to change the tags on your items if you haven't tagged SCAD yet ;)

My absolutely favorite site for Etsy users is Craft Cult! http://www.craftcult.com/heartomatic.php

You can see who hearts your items and shows helpful charts that you can use along with your analytics to maximize and analyze your sales. If you haven't set up analytics in any of your sites- No worries! This helpful site gives you all the information you need :)

Here is my latest Treasury Selection for the Team. If you haven't tagged your items with "SCAD" you are missing out on an opportunity to get exposure in our treasuries and features, Please make sure you tag your items as well as put the following text in your shop profile: "I am a proud member of TEAM SCAD + ETSY = LOVE.

The above treasury widget can be created on Craft Cult as well and it is super easy to create!

http://www.craftcult.com/treasury_widget.php?userid=

These widgets are perfect for including on your blog or site promoting your Treasuries and Team.

You can also make a super awesome Shop Widget here too, and we are hoping for a similar one on this blog each month featuring one of our Team Member's Shop :)

Hope this can help!
XOXO,
KC Cooper Sears

Member Profile: Laine Benthall

2011-02-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

Even as a youngster in Indiana, Laine Benthall enjoyed making jewelry for herself and for her Mom. With the help of a scholarship to swim, she graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts for Metals and Jewelry. Shortly after graduation, Laine moved to Honolulu, Hawaii and worked as a bench jeweler whenever she wasn’t surfing! After 18 months in paradise, she decided to start her own business as an artist. Laine is now a designer and goldsmith who lives in Evansville, Indiana. Her work can be described as contemporary and classy. She primarily uses sterling silver or 14K and accentuates her work with pearls, precious and semi-precious stones.

“The patterns and shapes created by the natural universe is what inspires me. I believe nature’s beauty is pure and immaculate. I aim to intensify this universal beauty as a way for me to indulge in extravagant visual bliss, and to show appreciation for nature’s unparalleled delicacy.”

See Laine's shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaineBenthalldesigns

Etsy Success Symposium Feb. 8th, 2011

2011-02-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Etsy held their 1st online Symposium today in Brooklyn, NY. The Symposium culminates and helps finalize their 2011 Shop Makeover series. If you weren't able to attend in person they featured most of the sessions streaming online too. I missed a few of the talks so watching the archived videos is going to keep me busy the rest of the week! While watching I kept notes and here are some links to reference in case you missed the live feed.

Here is the link with all the amazing and inspiring guests featured
Here is the list of times and overviews of the Symposium

I caught the tail end of the day and here are the sections I was able to virtually attend:

Generating Creative Energy
Speaker: Noah Scalin

You may know Noah from the award-winning daily art project Skull-a-Day or his 365: A Daily Creativity Journal that was spawned from his daily skull projects. He of course spoke a lot of the benefits from having a daily project or added rules to your current projects.

"Think Big- Work Small" & Perfection is Overrated was one of the main themes of his talk. The note he made was that you can always come back to things- just put it out there!

Set your Goals & Remember limits are good- If you focus just a day at a time you don't get overwhelmed. These goals aren't set in stone. Let them transition and change because inspiration is everywhere!

Get out of your comfort zone/ environment and don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself. Most times when you take a risk- Good things happen! Also, work with the unexpected because sometimes that reaps added benefits you couldn't anticipate. Some of the benefits to a daily themed project is adding skills to your "tool box" and learning things outside of your comfort zone that can be a skill-set or an important tool later.

Group Activity During Presentation- Take 1 image you are comfortable with and in a 20min time frame make 10 different variations of that image. Photo once done and move on-

While working: Make sure you do it quickly and don't make things "Precious" which is the secret to this style.

Attract Your Target Market: You’re Not Walmart
Speaker: April Bowles of Blacksburg Belle
Ideal Customer Characteristics Worksheet
Target Market Workshop Worksheet
April's workshop was on matching your product to your perfect buyer and finding your target market. One of my favorite statements she made was- It is okay to eliminate a group of people to make your group more focused to your fan base. Make your own story to describe your "Ideal Customer Profile" which should be specific. Attract your Target Market- You're not Wal-Mart you don't have to appeal to everyone.

Remember to market to people the way you would want to be marketed to. This can be done by adding text to your descriptions that answer questions and concerns you would have with your product while shopping. Tips/ examples are adding "Splurge on yourself" for high priced items.
Other helpful tips: Add product placement, life-styled, or finished packaging pictures as an option in your listing photos. When addressing a product that would be bought as a gift your target is still the purchaser not the receiver. And, consider sharing a longer story for each of your products on your blog that links you to your shop.

Ascertaining Your Awesomeness & Articulating It Without Sounding Like an Ass
Speaker: Michelle Ward of When I Grow Up Coach
Her presentation was all about creative bragging and explaining your powers for good :)

Here is the whole presentation on PDF that she used in her presentation.
Here is a link to her worksheets that I didn't notice in the presentation but are super helpful-
Creating Mission Statements
Here is one on How do you find your uniquity? (She likes to make up expressive words btw)
What makes you unique? This should be used to make the blueprint for your business. When you are answering this don't be shy or humble. If you need help starting your list here are the questions she posed in the workshop:
#1 Why do you rock people's socks?
#2 Why are you doing what you do in terms of your business?
#3 Why do you think you can succeed in this business?
#4 What do you want to be known for in your business?
#5 Why do you care about your field?
#6 What difference do you want to make in this field?
Your answers can be similar, or all different- as long as your honest with your answers.
Go back and use one sentence for each answer which can be used as the basic building block for "your pitch". This pitch is helpful as a description for your shop or an easy answer to the question "So, what do you do?".
Homework was finalizing your Elevator Pitch.
When you finish your homework post in the Etsy Business Topic Discussion Here
Along with the homework you should go to her other site The Declaration of You which is a 1 month online course- next one runs Feb. 21st- March 21st.

Reaching Your Creative Dreams: One Goal at a Time
Speaker: April Bowles
(She referenced her worksheet from her first talk on Target Market Workshop Worksheet)
April is an amazing speaker and I am so glad she did a second section on Taking Action & Not Using "Crap Excuses". Crap Excuses are what you say to yourself to get out of doing work and by figuring out what they are you can stop sabotaging yourself by using them.

"SMART" Goals- The best goals are ones that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

Think of your end goal and what that emotion would feel like. By focusing on the feeling that is attached you can work towards making a life change. When making a big change- Change habits.
Ex: Rider- logical, Elephant- Emotional and the 2 must work together to be successful. Shrink the change so you don't spook your elephant.

By adding things on slowly and focusing on high leverage tasks you can feel the rewards quickly and they will help motivate you to continue making the changes.

One point that she made in the beginning of her speech was that too many options can inflict "Decision Paralysis". She gave a great example of winning a free trip and half the group having a set prize and half that could chose their destination and how the group with the choice isn't as satisfied. This theme of decision paralysis coincided very well with her end point of the speech dealing with a daily to-do list. With every decision you have to make your will power goes down making taking action and focusing on high leverage tasks a must.

There is nothing wrong with not doing the crap that doesn't work! Get rid of your crap excuses and focus on tasks you can utilize the pockets of time in your day to the best of your ability. Crazy point of interest- April has ~6 items on her to-do list! Long to-do lists work against you. Prioritize your daily activities the night before or have a weekly schedule where you have certain activities for each day and lay out your daily high leverage tasks the night before.
Homework is make daily, weekly, monthly and yearly $$$ goals for what you'd like to be making. If you don't spell these goals out for yourself you may not be focusing your time and effort in the right direction to achieve these goals. By going over these goals you know if it is realistic and what you need to work towards. An Example is: Maybe hand-knitting everything may not make you enough money to achieve your goals, but selling PDF patterns or online classes in addition to your knitting will give you the profit you desire .

Hope that this post is helpful for anyone who missed the live feed today!

This post is written by KC of Make Shop Live. You can find their Blog Here & Etsy Shop Here

Member Profile: Allison Thomas

2011-02-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

Hello all! My name is Allison Thomas. I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to work from home doing what I love so that I don't miss any of the precious moments with my 2 year old daughter, London. I graduated in 2004 with a BA in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and in 2009 I earned my MA in Illustration Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I love to create, be it drawing, painting, collage work, or my newest endeavor...sculpting with paperclay! Hope you enjoy my shop!
Check out Allison's website at www.allisonweeksthomas.com or you can visit Allison's facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Allison-Weeks-Thomas-Illustrator/173210946029502

Team Treasury, Vol. III

2011-01-31T13:05:00.000-08:00

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d47222b74956d91a49a5daf/scad-plus-etsy-equals-love-vol-iii

Member profile: KC & Kevin Sears @ Make Shop Live

2011-01-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

Kevin and KC Sears met while studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design. They both have an obsession for design, pop-culture, film and current trends. More importantly however, is their passion for the environment and ways to help start an Eco-revolution with their friends and family.

Earth and our future on it are a very important part of the process- Materials are recycled, upcycled and re purposed. The challenge of rethinking a material into many different uses is the best part in creating functional and useful objects.

Along with Etsy Exclusives, we feature a steady section of products that are all one-of-a-kind made in small run batches. We love custom orders and using feedback from our etsy.com shop to make made to order items.

Check out the shop at (http://www.etsy.com/shop/makeshoplive)

We MAKE things we love!!! It just so happens that they are environmentally friendly :) Our SHOP can provide guilt-free consumption so that you can LIVE the lifestyle you believe in.

**Re purposed, Upcycled and Recycled is the name of the Game**

http://www.makeshoplive.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/makeshoplive.com

KC was born and raised in Raleigh, NC and Kevin is from Garland, TX. They now preside in Los Angeles where they spend their time divided between watching movies and making things. You can follow the fun on their blog http://makeshoplive.blogspot.com/

Team Treasury, Vol. II

2011-01-29T22:51:00.000-08:00

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d45084b82798eef4fa36b32/scad-plus-etsy-equals-love-vol-ii

Member profile: Laurel Bushman

2011-01-29T22:12:00.000-08:00

I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design, but lately have become fascinated by mechanized production and the homogenization of nearly every aspect of American life. This interest has led me to snack cookies, naturally.

The repetition, patterns, molds, and mass production of processed foods inform my crafts, but contrast with the hand-made and individualized nature of each item in my etsy.com shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaurelBushman

Every cookie tells a story, whether of nostalgic childhood memories of animal cookies with sprinkles, sunny days picnicking in the park with packs of teddy grahams, or your toddler munching on gold fish. My little charms are lovingly detailed reproductions of icons intrinsic to American culture.

I grew up in rural Colorado and learned to love traveling from my mom. Each summer from the time I was 8 until I turned 15 my mom my brother and I spent 4 or 5 weeks of every summer traversing North America. We rode trains from Colorado across the Midwest and down the East Coast, as well as up and down the West Coast. We saw countless miles of Canada, visited most of the major cities in the USA, and cruised the Alaskan Islands by boat. When I was older, I traveled to Germany and Austria, and then studied for a quarter in Lacoste, France with the SCAD program, after which I traveled in Spain and Portugal, and most recently visited Ireland. Throughout my travels I have frequented museums, art galleries, markets and gathering places. I love to watch people and to experience another point of view.

Traveling has taught me to be adaptable and to soak in knowledge. My new home in Santa Cruz, California has proved to be a new adventure of its own, and is one I wouldn't miss for the world.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaurelBushman

SCAD Alumni take the web by storm

2011-01-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

What is possible when talented, motivated art students team up together? Anything! Alumni and current students of the Savannah College of Art and Design are working together to promote our artwork, crafts and creativity on etsy.com.