My Top Business Tips. How to sell more!

Hi all,
I just hit 200 sales for clothing in a year on etsy.com check my store out at www.Salts.etsy.com. I have had a etsy store since 2007 but just started using it in December last year. Boy do I regret not using it sooner! I am averaging about 15 sales a month, not thrilling but for me its been a huge bonus that allows me to spend more time at home with my baby and away from my brick and mortar store. It basically helps pay for the staff on hand at my brick store which is freeing me up to be creative! Yeah!

So I have had a clothing design biz for 5 years now and "actively" selling on etsy for 1 year. I want to pass on some of my top business tips for getting your biz started, selling online and selling in general. Please let me know any tips you have as well and we can all make our businesses more successful together!

1. Make Connections. You have all heard it. Its not what you know but who you know. That is the truest words ever spoken. I have gotten some of my greatest supply leads for chatting with other designers at markets who then became friends and eventually we shared our sources. You never know who someone knows or how someone can help you so always be open to a fun conversation and a new friend.

2. Be Seasonal. Plan your production in advance of the seasons and pre-sell your product wholesale as much as you can. This will lower your cost substantially and increase your profits. You will buy more fabric at once (lower prices), sell more at once (more people will see your stuff) and spend less time packing/shipping/selling because you will be shipping all your wholesale at the same seasonal time. Right now I am putting together my Fall 2010 catalog, my dream is to be almost a full year ahead by Spring 2011. That mean I am putting together the catalog in the spring of this year!

Worried about trends? You can get a good feel for whats going to be trendy by checking out trend forecasting magazines or checking out street styles online (try googling Japan or Europe street styles if your in North America). Or be a true artist and make your own trends!

3. Start your Day with Sales! Do your sales calls first thing in the morning. By sales calls I mean the things that will make you the sales (could be email, message return or sending your catalog requests out). Make a goal. My goal right now is to contact 3 people via phone or email every morning and try to sell them some clothing (in a discreet respectful way of course). Its could be a new store that you want to sell to or checking in on a store you already have. Go through your old sales and check in with old customers to see how they are liking what they bought and if they need anything right now. Make this your priority. The only thing that makes you money in Business is sales!

4. Talk your self up! I am just getting the knack of this. People want to be associated with positive, amazing people living their dream. People also largely believe what you tell them (insert tongue in cheek here). Tell them your are awesome, tell them your stuff is awesome (its true isn't it), tell them your life and friends are awesome. Tell them that you work really hard and love what you do. When your having a bad day stay home and be creative and don't talk to anyone (other than your good friends) about it. You customers need to be your fans don't taint that with negativity. Talk your self up (with out being obnoxious of course) and your customers will want to be a part of what your doing and support you. Its like magic!

5. OUTSOURCE! Once people start to hear about you and you have a bit of flow, you can start hiring folks to do all the "non-creative" things that suck away your time. Bookkeeping, shipping, cleaning...etc. Anything you can delegate. This is important to free your self up to look at the bigger picture and plan your next "awesome" attack. Why sit around doing books when you could be selling more? Why clean when you can hire a neighborhood kid to do and then you go out and sell more!? WARNING: this tip only works if you free up your time to sell more. It does not work if you free up your time to pick your nose and watch Oprah.

6. Little details are what make people come back. Add cute coupons to your orders for your customer to give to their friends. That way when your customer is asked, "Hey, I love that Be Cozy Wrap hoodie where did you get it?", instead of saying "oh it was a online shop, uh, S-something, maybe it was Smarts? Yeah Smarts Clothing thats it. I think." they will say, "ohhh its Salts Clothing, here's a discount card dear friend, now you can go get your own for a great price. They gave me these cute cards so I could remember their name when you asked because their stuff is so awesome."! Beauty. Now you just made another sale with very little effort.

7. Give cards to your friends in other industries so that when they talk about you and someone is interested, they can say, oh yeah, I have her card in my wallet, let me get it for you. My best friend works on movie sets in Vancouver. Even though shes been doing it for awhile now it just dawned on us last night that I should give her some cards to have on hand. Duh?! Sometimes you just overlook these things. In the meantime shes worked with Halle Berry, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Eddie Vedder and countless others....she could have passed my card over every time if we had thought of it....she talks about my clothing, but that's not enough. No one is going to remember a company when they hear about it the first time. It takes 3-5 times hearing about something until it occurs to them to check it out (if its something that they are into). So give your lawyer, doctor, esthetician, hair dresser, babysitter...etc some of your cards so that if you ever come up in conversation they can pass your card on.

Hope you have enjoyed my tips! Please let me know yours!

Also you can join my facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Salts-Organic-Clothing-and-Studio-Boutique/7933958494?v=info

Please follow my blog for more riveting tips at:
http://salts-organic.blogspot.com/

Twitter:
www.twitter.com/SaltsClothing

Sign up for the Newsletter at www.SaltsOrganic.com

Looking forward to your feedback!!

Love,
Jenny

Eco Friendly Non Toxic Christmas Tree Decorations!

I have been searching for some ways to decorate the tree with Eco Friendly natural alternatives and came across this recipe for Christmas Ornament Dough. You can add food coloring or have kids paint them. Very fun. I love the look of natural ornaments!

Another great idea I found while googling was to get everyone in your family to write wishes for the coming year on ribbons and tie them to the tree. Save them from year to so you can see how many of your Christmas dreams came true!

Here's the recipe for Baked Eco Friendly Christmas Tree Ornaments:

Baked Dough for Christmas Ornaments

Materials - flour, salt, vegetable oil, water, paint

Instructions:

1. Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 2 tbsp vegetable oil.
2. Slowly add 3/4 to 1 cup of water and stir until you get a nice clay consistency.

Once completely mixed, make into the desired shapes for different Christmas themes. You can mold shapes, or roll the dough out and use Christmas cookie cutters to shape.

Bake your Christmas ornaments in a 250 degree oven for approximately 1 hour. This will vary depending on how thick you creations are. Paint your finished ornaments.

Hint: Do not make the Christmas ornaments too thick or they will crack with baking.

Warning: Kids should to have an adult to supervise when using an oven.

If you are looking for more dough recipes, please check the playdough recipes. There are a variety of cooked and uncooked doughs there.

Happy Eco Friendly Decorating!

Jenny

Hot Fall 2009 Eco Fashion Trends.

Be trendy the eco Fashion way with the hot trends from Salts Clothing.

Trend Numero Uno.
Hats. Hats are hot this winter. We are taking a cue from Jill Stuart hats and adding a Salts twist. Try the fresh Livity hemp hats for Fall 2009. Take em plain or with Haida Gwaii art embroidery. Nothing increases MoJo like a good hat.

Here's how it looks on the runway.






















Here's how we do it Eco Fashion Style at Salts.






















Grab em' online or in Store in Sooke, BC on Vancouver Island.

Happy Trending.
Jenny

Healthy Banana Cookies

Hello everyone;
Here is a super simple recipe I found for some delicious (and healthy!) banana cookies. I found it on http://www.familyoven.com/, so if you enjoyed this one, check some more out!

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Stir in oats, dates, oil, and vanilla. Mix well, and allow to sit

3. for 15 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown.

Why Shop Local? Whats in it for you?

With the holiday season looming in your will hear chatter of "shopping local" on the streets. What does it mean and why should you care? Does shopping local really make a difference to anyone? Lets take a minute and learn a few things about shopping local. Then you can decide for yourself if shopping local is important to you.

1. Better Service and Friendly People.

When you walk into a local shop you are often greeted by the shop owner, they can tell you all about what they sell with great passion. Often they are a million times more helpful and friendlier then the help you might find in a big box store.

2. Local Economic Stimulus.

Ah yes, something everyone is worried about these days. When you shop at a locally owned business rather than a national chain more money is kept in the community. This helps grow the other businesses around and the local tax base.

3. New Jobs in the Community.

Sick of your commute? Local businesses are the most likely to offer new jobs to the marketplace in a community. They also offer great opportunities for youth to gain work experience.

4. Local Businesses Give Back where YOU need it.

Did your baseball team or organization have a raffle this year? Chances are that locally owned businesses donated the prizes for your event. Local business are owned by the people that rally to raise money when there is a family with a sick child or donate when the schools are having a fundraiser. Does your favorite big box store do that for you?

5. Unique businesses create a Unique and Prosperous town.

The Businesses that are in a town largely determine the character of the town. This adds to the overall satisfaction that you feel living there and also the value of your property and home.

6. Local Decision Making.

Local ownership means that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.

7. Ensuring Choice and Diversity.

Retailers sift through competing goods and services to find those that appeal to their customers. Even though a single local shop may have a smaller selection than a big chain outlet, a multiplicity of independent retailers creates great diversity.

8. Shopping Local is something fun to do on a Rainy Day.

Got the rainy day blues? Go browse your local shops for unique items and for fun. You could spend a whole afternoon trying things on and checking things out. Chat with the owners and learn more about your local neighborhood.

9. Its More Environmentally Friendly to Shop local.

Walking around town shopping is easier on the environment then driving to the big box stores. Small little shops in a towns core cause less environmental impact then large sprawling malls, resulting in less habitat loss, energy use and waste.

10. Vote with your Wallet.

Your values and opinions are much more important to a small local shop then a large chain store. You can influence what products they carry and convince them to cater to YOUR needs. They will value so much more and take note of what you like!

So there you have it, 10 amazing reasons to stimulate your local economy today. When you spend $100 at a local business $73 off that will stay in your local economy. With the same $100 spent at a national chain only $43 will stay in your local economy. The rest of the money will be hard at work providing jobs for people far, far away.

Salts!

Swine flu Immunity Super Boost Juice.

Jump start your immune system with a juicy drink packed full of antioxidants and all the building blocks for super natural immunity against Swine flu and other winter time infections. All you need is a juicer and piles of organic veggies. I have found great working juicers at Thrift and secound hand stores for less than $10. You can grab a new juicer at most appliance or health food stores. If you are going to buy new then please consult an expert on juicers before you shell out big bucks. The expert I most trust is Natalia Rose, check her out at www.Detoxtheworld.com, you can also buy juicers there.

So without further ado, here is my immunity boost juice recipe.

2 organic apples
1 organic lemon
a few leaves of romaine (3-5)
handful of parsley sprigs
big ol chunk of ginger (more you can handle the better, it gives you a nice buzz)
1 stalk celery
add 20 drops of echinacea if your going to be around a lot of sneeze y swine people (ie Christmas time mall or school gathering)

you may want to add garlic, I love the taste without so I rarely do. I would add garlic if I definitely felt something coming on....

Tip: If you can't buy all organic produce, make sure that your leafy greens are your priorty to get organic. They get the most spray, root veggies get less spray on the edible part. Non organic lemons can be peeled before juicing. Juicing is definitly the time you want to go organic if you can though.

Enjoy a happy healthy winter! Be sure to check out Natalia's site and books.

With Love,
Jenny

The Endless Benefits of Green Tea

I am sure that you have all read countless articles and blogs on this subject, so I apologize in advance for any dull repetitions! Personally, I can't learn enough about this amazing drink...it's truly miraculous, and I wanted to share some facts that I've recently read.

1. Studies show that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years.

2. Research [at University of Purdue] has shown that green tea contains a compound which inhibits the growth of cancer cells, without harming healthy tissue!

3. It is very high in catechin polyphenols, namely epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) which is a powerful anti-oxidant.

4. It has proven effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.

5. Green, oolong, and black tea are from the same plant, called Camellia Sinensis. Green tea is different due to it's processing, which consists of boiling the leaves, instead of fermenting them. The boiling process allows the EGCG to oxidize, whereas the fermenting process converts the EGCG into other compounds which have proven considerably less useful.

6. The only harmful side effect is possible insomnia due to caffeine levels. However, green tea contains contains 20mg of caffeine (per 8 oz), whereas coffee contains 60-120 mg.