It seems an obvious statement, really: do what you love - especially for those of us running businesses around what we love doing (handmade, painting, sewing, crochet, ceramics, whatever…) but if it’s you running that business, you’ll know it’s not that simple.

making children's art hangers

The designing, planning and even making is only a small part of the picture.  You need to sell the stuff too if you’re going to get anywhere near even having a business!

That’s where the advice on this blog post from Build a Biz comes in: do what you love. Tweeting, facebooking, online forums, blogging, selling at fairs, developing your web presence, selling to shops or through galleries, building your own website, you name it: do what you love is excellent advice.

No one person could actually do it all successfully, so we need to stop beating ourselves up for our “failures”.   Doing just some of it, but doing it well, will probably work much better than trying to do it all anyway.

As for me, I absolutely love blogging, so you won’t get rid of me easily

It’s fair to say I haven’t always seen eye to eye with Facebook.  It confused me with its combined log-in for personal and business pages, with its multiple Farmville requests and odd food-flinging challenges.  I tried to join in, but it just wasn’t working for me.

facebook

So I joined Twitter and loved it.  I loved the connections, the ability to chat aimlessly with people I’ve met or not met – it didn’t matter.  I loved its casualness, and the way I could throw in a business tweet alongside a bit of chatter and the way it got picked up and acted upon – or ignored – depending on who was online at the time. 

 Twitter is very me, and I love it.

loving the twitter bird

But Twitter now has a rival for my affections, it seems.  So many people have told me I should be on Facebook, I began to believe them.  So, I started tentatively listing a few photos.  Nothing happened, of course.  I needed some people to like my page.

To get the likers thing kick-started, I did the shameless begging thing: I wrote a post on UK Crafts Forum, and I tweeted.  On Facebook, I was directed to Send in the Troops.  Asking people to like you does make you feel a bit like the kid who stands friendless in the corner of the playground.  There is a touch of lonely sadness about it!

No matter. 

Lots of likes and some lovely messages and links appeared from people I know, online and off, as well as from people I’d never heard of.  I’m liking the way I can chat on there too (just like Twitter, but slightly more structured and mildly more confusing) with people who have common interests.  I even got a couple of business enquiries!  I think perhaps I could maybe even grow to love it!

I think it may also be another avenue for customers to leave feedback, so I’ve popped a link onto my email signature.

So. . .  if you’d like to like me (on Facebook) feel free to click here to find me on Facebook.  I’ll be sure to like you back! 

On Thursday evening I found my way across town to the lovely home and studio of Maeri, founder of The Make and Do Studio.  The house is in a beautiful setting overlooking the picturesque Bridgewater Canal.  The studio, at the back, was plenty big enough to accommodate the 20 or so people who attended the event Maeri had so kindly hosted: the Creative Co-operative.

It was so lovely to meet other people running creative businesses and learning a little bit about how their businesses operate.  It was also great to hear first hand from Mike, the speaker, an online marketing executive for a large business – and reassuring that the things he recommends are things I’m already doing – oh, all right then . . .  mostly already doing.  It’s not really all that new any more and it’s not rocket science, but Twitter, Facebook, blogging and other social media are all really helpful in promoting your website and engaging with customers.  

When these things are brought up, people always say the same things: where do you find the time? 

finding time

Time is precious for all of us and small business owners in particular can have a hard time prioritising. 

For me, the time I spend on my blog is a priority because it’s so important in keeping Mr Google popping back for updates – as well as customers and friends.  Twitter is great for people like me who work at home and use it for keeping in touch with friends and other independent designer/makers – as well as the odd little promotional tweet (yes, it really does work, as long as it isn’t overdone). I love that it’s easy to dip in and out of if you’ve only got a couple of minutes to spare. 

 And Facebook?  Hmmm…OK, this is where I fall down a little bit.  I know I can integrate it with Twitter and maybe that’s got to be next on my to-do list!

The other thing I found interesting is hearing about people’s experiences with email newsletters.  I think I may need to consider sending one out.  I always assume it might be an intrusion or annoyance for the customer, but I do need to remember that some people may actually be interested in what I have to say!   I may have to work on that one!

For now, the website sales are steadily increasing, the blog is well-visited, scoring well in Google and other search engines, and I tweet far too much for my own good. It all knits together pretty well and I’m finding it all definitely helps.

So . . . Facebook and Newsletters here I come.  Ha! Don’t hold your breath, will you?

In the meantime, if you have any recommendations for me regarding Facebook and newsletters, please do leave me a comment

We all hear a fair bit about the power of social networking these days.  Twitter is one such site, and today I definitely witnessed its power!

Theo's retweet

Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis (and yes, he’s my favourite dragon, and not just since this morning!!) has a regular Twitter feature, where he invites small businesses to send him a tweet (a short message) on a Sunday evening, tagged with #sbs (Small Business Sunday).  He then chooses six winners, whose message he then retweets to his followers on the following Monday morning.

Sounds simple? Like all good ideas, it is. But heck, if you get chosen, it’s effective!

This morning, I was one of the lucky ones.  My inbox has gone mad with new Twitter followers, my visitor stats on both website and blog are way up, and I’ve had endless (but lovely) Twitter messages of congratulations.  Wow!

The screen capture above was kindly saved by Shelly of www.shellybobbins.blogspot.com – thank you Shelly, it was really good of you to do that!