Aug 24th 2010 04:59:29 pm

the blahs…

It has been rainy in Brooklyn ever since my (icky) race on Sunday and it is not helping my mood or my motivation. It is not a good sign when a few days of cloudy weather in August can sap my energy… how will I survive the winter?! Let’s not think about it. Let’s also not think about all of the work I didn’t complete today, or the angry emails I can’t bring myself to respond to, or the stacks of ironing I told myself I would get done. Instead, let’s draw silly rain clouds and drink diet coke! Yes!

6 Comments » Categories: Feeling Sad, New York, Work

Aug 10th 2010 11:37:28 am

I know, I know… you are most likely sick of hearing about the lady blogging conference. I apologize for being so single-minded lately, but I feel like I need to write down all of the good info I picked up at BlogHer before it slips out of my mind and is lost forever! Wow. That sounds dramatic! I better get to it.

Today, I have a list of all my favorite new websites that I learned about over the weekend. Hopefully, you will like some of them as well…

Crafty Blogs & Sites:

• Handmade Detroit – If you are in Michigan, this site is for you. And even if you’re not, the blog has lots of great crafty content.
• Tonya Staab – This and That – Tonya was on the Etsy blogging panel with me and she is fantastic. Her blog covers just about everything – including cupcakes!
• DIY Buiness Association – A new blog and organization from Amy Schroeder, Founder of Venus Zine and venuszine.com.
• Teen Angster – The personal blog of Allison, one of the authors of the amazing Etsy blog.
• The Creative Empire – You already know about Tara Gentile from ScoutieGirl and Megan Auman from Crafting an MBA because I link to their great sites all of the time. The Creative Empire is their new project – a community built to help web entrepreneurs.
• The Honey Pie Tree – A hand-crafted toy designer’s blog.
• The Studio Creations – A very pretty art blog by Thais, a Brazilian living in NY.
• Louise Gale – An artist who hosts the The Creative Color Challenge.
• Kipiboo – A blog of art and inspiration from a Brooklyn artist.
• Design Mom – Gabrielle is one of the founders of Kirtsy, a designer, and a mom of six.

Other Blogs:

• The Token Fat Girl – Lorrie writes about her weight loss adventures, plus lots of other stuff like fashion and recipes. I hung out with her a bit at the conference and she is really sweet and multi-talented.
• The Bloggess – This is a “famous” blog that I had read in the past, but somehow lost track of. It is super-funny.
• Pine Creek Cottage – Marcy’s sweet blog.
• Zipbag of Bones – Funny. And a little inappropriate. But mostly funny.
• Mama’s Keeper – A work at home caregiver’s journey.
• Just a Girl in the World – Adventures of a southern girl, sometimes traveling the world.
• One Bored Mommy – A mom of four blogs daily.
• Little Tech Girl – A tech geek blog written by a mom of two set of twins!
• You Can’t Call It “It” – A hip baby names blog.
• Things of Random Coolness – A blog of very cool design-y things.

Other Cool Websites:

• Indie Biz Chicks – I’ve already linked to this site a couple times, but Crissy’s website is an excellent resource for small business owners.
• Reware Vintage – a vintage clothing shop and blog.
• Food on the Table – A meal planning tool. Amanda, the rep, was super-sweet!
• Cake Lab – The most beautiful and delicious mini cupcakes. I had them at Etsy.
• Girlfriend Circles – A community that matches up online friends for real world get togethers.
• Graph Jam – A funny graph builder.

Whew! That is a long list of websites… and the thing is, I am sure I left off some good ones. Please add more of your favorite links from the conference (or just in general) in the comments…

10 Comments » Categories: Crafts, Friends, New York, Website, Work, design

Aug 9th 2010 11:04:19 am

Even after 48 hours, my brain is still filled with BlogHer thoughts. Here are my notes from the sessions I attended…

Gen Y Passionistas: Making Your Passion Work for You – Jenn and Jill from Pursuing Our Passion spoke about about having the courage to do what you love. Some of their ideas:

• Figure out what type of work brings you energy instead of leaving you feeling drained.
• Do what you love, but make sure you are solving a problem that people need solved.
• Show the readers of your blog that you are “listening” to them.
• Keep doing what you love and the opportunities will come, but also know that pursuing your passion does not necessarily mean quitting your day job.
• TGIMonday – enjoy seven days of your week, not just two.
• Check out the book, “Making a Living without a Job” by Barbara Winter
• Own your full name as a domain!

Mastering Intellectual Property Law – this sessions was hosted by two lawyers. It felt a bit dry and studious, but it included information that every small business owner needs to know to protect their work. A few tips from the session:

• Learn about your online rights on ChillingEffects.org.
• Register your logo, business name, and slogan as trademarks. Now.
• Protect your brand and act quickly on any trademark infringement you find.
• All public tweets are being archived by the Library of Congress.
• Make sure you have clear privacy policies and disclosures on your site.
• Basically, having a lawyer is a VERY good idea!

Good Blog Design: The Role of Layout in an Online Medium – this is the session I discussed yesterday that included Grace from Design*Sponge. They discussed general design principles and best practices when working with a designer. They did not delve into talking about code. Their design tips:

• Originality is very important because it translates into instant brand recognition.
• Never let design trump site function.
• Carry your design style across all of your online presences, like Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Don’t go overboard with texture – one or two 3D-style items are enough.
• Map out your past, present, and future content ideas before starting a re-design so that you will have room to grow within the new design.
• Use CSS Type Set to create CSS code for your site.
• The Bold Italic is an awesome website.

Creating (or Massively Altering) a WordPress Theme – This session had a few technical problems at the beginning, but it managed to delve deeply into the code-side of working with WordPress. I self-selected and placed myself in the more advanced group and the presentation was just slightly above my head, but it set me on the path to trying out some of the newer themes and options for WordPress 3.0. The main general tip that I picked up was that if you are comfortable working in the code, use a framework theme like Thematic that you can fully customize.

Closing Keynote: How to Use Your Voice, Your Platform, Your Power – I already talked a little bit about this inspirational keynote yesterday, but I wanted to share some of my more specific notes…

• We all need to use our blogging voices to have important conversations.
• Nobody has to do everything. All of us just have to do something. That is how we make progress.
• More women in politics will make better policy and diversity of opinion = better decisions. Ask your blog readers to talk about one woman that they would like to see run for public office.
• The more “deep” writing we all put out there, the more legitimacy blogging will have.

——————–

For more perspectives on the conference, here are some links to other descriptive blog posts about BlogHer:

• Jenny Cisney of ljcfyi shares tips she picked up at her sessions.
• Megan of Crafting an MBA asks where all the crafters were.
• Tara of ScoutieGirl thought is was a little weird.
• Marcy of Pine Creek Cottage had a great experience.
• A full wrap-up of the entire weekend on IndieBizChicks.com.
• Nichelle Stephens has a quick, but telling post about her BlogHer experience.

I am still digesting my experience. For me, the conference was a very positive two days, but I probably will not make the investment in traveling to next year’s BlogHer conference in San Diego. I had a lot of fun (I mean, where else do you get to eat a unicorn cake?!) and took home some good info, but I think the sessions were mostly geared toward beginning bloggers. I certainly know that we can all learn from each other no matter what, but as someone who has been blogging for nearly seven years and running my own small business for five, I may not have been the target attendee. I also got a little bummed out when I learned a bit about how much the corporate sponsors paid to be there (think hundreds of thousands of dollars) and how much profit the BlogHer organization took home. I definitely think the conference should be profitable, but I felt a bit naive when I truly realized that the conference was mainly a money-making venture and not necessarily only about empowering women… hmmmm… we DO all need to make money, though.

Were you at BlogHer? Have you attended in the past? What are your thoughts?

11 Comments » Categories: New York, Thinking, Website, Work

Aug 8th 2010 07:16:57 pm

I am sure you are already aware (especially if you follow my Twitter account – hello, too many tweets!), but I attended my first BlogHer conference this weekend. Since it was held in NYC this year and I didn’t need to buy plane tickets, I thought I should give it a try. Man, was it a packed two days of sensory overload! I am still processing the experience and am really not prepared to write a comprehensive post with all of the links and blogging info that I picked up, but I wanted to get down some of my preliminary impressions on my favorite experiences from the weekend…

Unfortunately, I neglected to take any great photos, so I am stuck sharing the few iffy ones I did snap. Above is a photo of the final keynote on Saturday, which was one of the most inspiring parts of the entire conference. It consisted of four amazing women (“Need to Know PBS anchor Alison Stewart moderates a powerhouse panel: Marie Wilson, Founder and President of The White House Project and creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, author and activist Gloria Feldt from Heartfeldt Politics and P. Simran Sethi, Emmy Award-winning journalist, blogger and environmentalist.”) pretty much just having a conversation about how women can use their blogging voice to make change in the world. They inspired me to take myself more seriously and make a commitment to talking about more “important’ issues, both online and in real life.

I went to four different “sessions” or classes over the course of the two days: one on using your passion, one on intellectual property law, one on WordPress theme creation, and one on good blog design. The blurry photo above is from the design session, and you can see Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge on the far left of the three-woman panel. I was excited to hear her speak and she did an excellent job. She showed us a lot of examples of great blog design and even shared a sneak peek of the new re-design of her own site that will be released soon. All three panelists were very informative and realistic about what it takes to create a well-designed blog. They stressed the importance of being extremely descriptive and clear when working with a designer, and that it can cost many $1,000s of dollars for a truly professionally designed site.

What was my favorite part of the whole conference? Definitely the Etsy Crafty Blogging panel that I participated in on Thursday. I guess technically it wasn’t a part of BlogHer, but it was hosted to line up with the conference. I am so excited that Crissy from IndieBizChicks.com invited me to participate. I immensely enjoyed meeting her and the other speakers (Tonya Staab, Amy Schroeder – creator of Venus Zine, and the Handmade Detroit girls, Lish Dorset and Bethany Nixon). We had great questions from the audience and I think/hope we all gave some good suggestions and tips. Danielle and all of Etsy were such great hosts. They provided awesome snacks and drinks, and there was even a DJ! I had so much fun with the other panelists that I basically forced myself upon them and hung out with them throughout the conference. Above is a photo of me and Lish late last night… Thanks for adopting me, Michigan girls!

To end out the conference last night, I attended the Sparklecorn party hosted by MamaPop. I had no idea what to expect from an “official” BlogHer party, but I was blown away by the craziness that was Sparklecorn! My original twitter description: “So great. It’s like a mom rave with a unicorn cake and poprocks.” Exactly. There were glow sticks and lollipops and giant pretzels and Chex Mix and random movie posters from the 80s and the amazing unicorn cake. It was all extremely silly, but totally cool. I only stayed for a short time and did NOT hit the dance floor, but if I ever host a massive party, I hope that it is exactly like Sparklecorn.

So… overall, BlogHer was a pretty awesome experience. …and I haven’t even given you any of the good blogging info I picked up or talked about the MOUNDS of swag that I took home. I’ll have to get to that tomorrow. Two days of lady blogging hoopla wiped me out! Gotta go watch some tv and veg out…

3 Comments » Categories: Friends, New York, Website, Work

Aug 6th 2010 11:14:07 pm

Just wanted to quickly check in to say how much I enjoyed the BlogHer conference today. I’ve met many great women and learned a lot already. I’ll be sharing many, many links in the days to come, I promise! For now, you can check out my Twitter page for the latest BlogHer updates (probably more than you really need).

Also, I wanted to add that the “crafty blogging” panel at Etsy on Thursday was fantastic. You can read a little bit about it on the Handmade Detroit blog. And you can see some photos from the event over on Lish Dorset’s Flickr page. We basically chatted with the audience about making great blogs, and I hope we gave some helpful tips. I had fun!

I have another day of bloggy goodness tomorrow! I better get my rest…

1 Comment » Categories: Crafts, New York, Website, Work

Aug 3rd 2010 05:10:44 pm

There has been a lot of blogging going on around here lately… and there is more to come! On Thursday night, I am participating in an Etsy.com panel about Crafty Blogging. It should be a fun evening of helpful blogging info. If you are in NY, you can attend the event in person at the Etsy HQ in Brooklyn. You need a ticket, but they are free – get them here. If you aren’t in NY, you can still attend the event via the Etsy Virtual Labs. The panel was organized by Crissy from Indie Biz Chicks – a fabulous blog with helpful info for running your own business. I am excited to meet her and the other panelists. There are some amazing female web entrepreneurs out there!

Speaking of which…

The Etsy blogging panel was organized to align with the BlogHer10 conference happening in NY on Friday and Saturday. I am attending BlogHer for the first time this year and am really looking forward to learning new things and meeting new friends! You already know that I will be blogging all about the experience right here…

1 Comment » Categories: New York, Swap-bot, Website, Work

Apr 23rd 2010 03:53:49 pm

I have been reading a lot of websites and resources about independent and small businesses lately. I am searching for ideas on how I can transform my online life into a successful business I can be proud of. Travis and I have been running Swap-bot.com for over four years, but for most of that time it was only a hobby that supported itself with advertising while we continued our full-time jobs. Ever since moving to New York, I have been devoting myself to Swap-bot and freelance design full-time. In monetary terms, I don’t think anyone would say I am a huge success, but I love doing what I want to each day while meeting tons of cool, online peeps along the way.

Tara, the owner of one of my new favorite blogs, recently started “the kick your door down project” and encouraged others to share their own stories of embracing an adventure or making a big step. I want to add my own story to the project, but it is hard to distill my independent career experience into one defining moment. I think my “kick the door down” moments happen quietly everyday when I make the decision to keep trying to make something out of Swap-bot and myself. Certainly, Travis and I were courageous and bold when we launched Swap-bot, but we were so naive that it didn’t feel like kicking down the door. Now, years later, after all of the site glitches, troll shenanigans, server costs, advertising issues, etc, it feels more like an act of will and defiance to simply carry on.

Gosh, I sound negative, but it isn’t my intent. Running a complicated community website – or any small, independent business, for that matter- is difficult, but it is the ONLY thing I want to do with my work life. The good news is that I think I am getting better at it. Through my experience (and obsessive reading of business blogs), I have compiled a list of ideas/tips for running a web-based business. They are mostly just reminders for myself (I have them written out and flagged in my notebook so that I can read them each day), but I thought others might find them helpful. They aren’t get-rich-quick tips, only simple ideas to keep in mind when you start feeling overwhelmed or discouraged.

My thoughts:

• Quality, Hard Work & Kindness – This is like the “eat less, move more” diet advice. So darn simple and obvious, but so darn difficult to achieve. Despite that, I still remind myself daily that my ultimate goal is to create something of quality that will help and bring enjoyment to others. Quality and Kindness are on my to do list every day!
• Embrace Chaos – Another simple statement, but this is one I have really learned to take to heart. The internet is a wild place and there is no way to control it all of the time. Trying to control everything that is said in a forum or everything that is said about your brand will suck up all of your time. I’ve learned to trust others and just let things flow on Swap-bot most of the time and it usually turns out so much better than if I had tried to plan out everything or control every situation.
• Never Be Negative – I may have already broken this “rule” in this post, but positivity really is the best way to handle nearly every situation. Always present yourself and your brand in a positive light. (Tara, who I described above, just recently posted video on this theme here.) Others may say negative things about you, but the only true way to fight it is to out-shine the few negative snippets out there with tons and tons of awesome, positive content. That sounds so Polyanna-ish, but really it is about showing the best sides of yourself and your business without being fake or cheesy… which brings us to the next idea…
• Sincerity & Authenticity – I read somewhere (I wish I could find the link…) that authenticity is going to be the next “currency” on the internet because it is so hard to find. I agree. Well, I agree with the idea that authenticity has value. Your personality and your uniqueness are your most important assets when trying to make your brand stand out in the vast sea of the internet.
• Don’t Take It Personally – So, I just told you to be sincere and authentic, and now I say not to take things personally… it seems a bit contradictory, but this idea is more of a warning: The internet can be ROUGH. There are some weird, hurtful, wild, and crazy individuals out there and sometimes they will hurt your feelings or even do things to hurt your business. Never stoop to their behavior and never respond in anger or emotion. Much, much easier said than done, but trust me on this one. Staying kind and professional will make you feel better in the morning!
• Set Priorities – This has been the hardest thing for me to tackle. I want to do everything! Answer every email, read every forum post, write every blog post, make every craft, go to every craft show, design all of my own websites, sell each individual advertisement, send each Tweet, and on and on and on… But one person can only do so much. I have been working hard to bring more structure to my days and focus on the tasks that have the highest “return on investment,” to use a business term. Setting goals sometimes sounds cheesy to me (I mean, they have been telling us that since elementary school), but it is vital to understanding which tasks help you reach your goals and which things are just taking up time.

Whew! It feels good to get those ideas written out. They are all very simple concepts, but they are the core “rules” that shape my work. If you want to read more business-related stuff, check out a few of my current favorite resources: Crafting an MBA, Make & Meaning, and of course, Tara Gentile.

Do you run an independent business? What are some of the lessons you’ve learned or ideas that you carry with you to help you stay motivated? Is money the main goal or are we working for something more satisfying?

2 Comments » Categories: Swap-bot, Thinking, Work

Apr 11th 2010 06:31:17 pm

This is some of our new Swap-bot swag. We are sponsoring the Spring Handmade Cavalcade here in Brooklyn in a few weeks and I wanted to have some fun stuff to hand out at our booth. I really like my new striped business cards and the little, square Swap-bot stickers. I had fun designing them!

Unfortunately, the general operations and administration of Swap-bot has not been fun or easy lately. I am feeling discouraged. As just one example of the crud that has been sucking up all of my time lately, we recently had a user pretend to have their account hacked in order to get out of sending a bunch of swaps that they owe. I wish I could say that it is the first time someone attempted the bogus hacker excuse, but it has actually happened many times. It is especially awful because anytime the word “hacker” is even mentioned other users of the site get upset and frightened that Swap-bot isn’t safe… even though every supposed “hacker” has been completely made up by a user who doesn’t want to fulfill their own commitments. I am continuously baffled by how dishonest and cruel some people can be… and over something as seemingly fun and innocent and trading crafts through the postal mail. I think I have mentioned this before, but we have had people fake their own deaths in order to get out of swaps! So wild!

My only plan in regard to Swap-bot at the moment is to keep on keeping on. I try hard to stay positive and to continue to provide a place where people can share their creativity… We’ll see what comes of it…

14 Comments » Categories: Swap-bot, Work

Apr 3rd 2010 05:15:15 pm

On Thursday night, I traveled to Chelsea to attend Martha Stewart’s “Stitchfest,” a party celebrating the launch of her new Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts. I met my friend, Lisa, at the Chelsea Market beforehand for dinner at The Green Table, a local and organic restaurant in the Market. (I ordered a chicken Pot Pie, which was tasty, but it ended up having a big bone in it. boo.) I will need to check out the Chelsea Market again sometime soon, because it is lovely and we only got to browse a bit of it.

After dinner we headed over to the MSLO building! I was so excited for Stitchfest. I had bought my tickets weeks earlier after Lisa pointed me to the event announcement. I do not know why I continue to be so crazy about Martha Stewart, but I do. Lisa and I posed with her photo at the entrance to the event…. don’t worry, we weren’t the only ones doing it! Supposedly, Martha was there for a short time, but we missed her.

I am not sure what I was expecting at the event, but it turned out to be a nice, if very tame, evening. There were crafts to do, but we didn’t get in line in time. We did manage to get in line for the free embroidered tea towel from the Pfaff sewing machine booth. That was fun. The reps for the machine were really nice. We also entered a lot of drawings, saw lots of lovely sewing projects examples (like the quilting seen above), and munched on a few hors d’oeuvres. I think I expected there to be more of a chance for chatting or networking, but I didn’t really make an effort, either.

The best part of the night was the goodie bag! The Stitchfest ticket price got you a copy of the Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, which I am really excited to study and find a few projects to make. I need help with my sewing skills, so I am happy to have this resource. It is nearly 400 pages of projects, glossaries, and sewing technique instructions, all with tons of pretty, full-color photography. Many of the projects are from previous issues of Martha Stewart Living, but it is nice to have them all in one place. Also, in our goodie bags were the current issues of all of MSLO’s magazines. I am most excited for the Weddings issue – it used to be my favorite! We also received thread, dye, and needle samples, plus a brad new pair of Martha Stewart Crafts Precision Scissors. I actually needed a pair of those! I don’t have any type of sewing or embroidery scissors and I have been doing a lot of hand-stitching lately…

Anyhoo, the goodie bags were exciting and they were a great way to end the night. I am not sure if I would attend another MSLO event like Stitchfest in the future, but I am glad I checked this one out.

2 Comments » Categories: Crafts, New York, Swap-bot, Work

Mar 26th 2010 06:09:35 pm

Whew! I have been adding things to my calendar left and right and I am so excited about all of the upcoming events. I wanted to share some of the major things that I will be attending in the next couple of months, just in case you will be there. I would love to meet up!

Next week, I am going to Stitch Fest – an event hosted by Martha Stewart (well, her company) in honor of the release of her new book, Encyclopedia Of Sewing and Fabric Crafts. I am really pumped about the event because we are meeting at the MSLO building and each attendee gets a copy of the book included in the price of the ticket! We also get to mingle with Martha Stewart staff crafters, which sounds thrilling! ha! I am disproportionally star struck when it comes to anything Martha Stewart… I am lame.

Also coming up in a little over a week is Cocktails & Creatives: A New York screening of Handmade Nation hosted by The Maximalists. I am really looking forward to finally viewing Handmade Nation. It is a documentary all about the contemporary handmade movement and it has been making the rounds for over a year. I do not know how I have missed it for so long!

This is exciting: I am really happy to announce that Swap-bot is an official sponsor of the Spring Handmade Cavalcade craft fair happening at the end of April, here, in Brooklyn. That means we will have a table at the event where we will be handing out lots of Swap-bot swag and spreading the good word about the ‘bot! The Handmade Cavalcade events are hosted by The New New Etsy Team and they always showcase an amazing variety of local crafters. I can’t wait! Hope to see you there!

I will be attending BlogHer 2010 in August. I am actually not entirely sure how I feel about this conference – I am not all that into things that are explicitly and specifically for women – but I have always been intrigued. Since the conference is taking place in NYC this year, I thought it was the right time to try it out. I am sure I will learn a lot of helpful stuff and find out about more fun blogs than I could ever hope to keep up with! I am looking forward to the networking!

Last, but certainly not least, I will be attending CraftyCon in October and I think you should, too! CraftyCon is a conference for people who are working to make a career within some area of the craft world. It will be held in Chicago and I can’t wait to meet all of the crafty peeps who will be attending! (I am pretty enamored with this event because I have been helping the CraftyCon organizers with all of their web graphics – look at that sweet website! ooh la la!)

2 Comments » Categories: Crafts, Feeling Happy, New York, Swap-bot, Work