I didn’t know it, but I’ve slowly become overwhelmed with Christmas orders! Recently a friend requested one, and I liked the design enough that I figured I would share it to my social media. That wave wasn’t too bad and I was able to get mostly through most of the orders.
Then last night I made a Twitter account for a friend to share my post to his followers and I’ve gotten a pretty decent line up from that! I went from making over 10 ornaments, to now having to make another 30 custom just from yesterday to today! Anyway, I’ll be much more prepared for next year, especially now that i know what I’m in for haha.
Who else is swamped with orders? I have a full time job that’s now getting in the way of my regular full time job!
I’ve had my machine for a year, and I’ve made some money with it, not as much as some others on here, but some. I’d say the best way that I started was by small stuff, then once I got more confident I started doing my own designs and selling them. This post is just the largest request I’ve gotten so far so I thought I would share!
Nice!! I can relate. I have a “day job” but fortunately, I have some time off coming up. I tweeted a few pictures of coasters, and a few other things I’m working on, and one thing led to another! Now I’m selling a bunch of stuff (I don’t even have an online shop yet) and trying to figure out how to get it all done. The funny thing is, I wasn’t even trying to sell anything, was just excited to show my work
Loving the and glad I am able to help others with Christmas gifts this year!
Well, congratulations! You’ll figure out a good balance between work and profitable ‘play’. I wouldn’t mind a windfall of orders, myself…but, I’m still working on that.
My manager at work just today basically told me I should quit and go do the laser full time haha. Crazy.
So what I’m having everyone do for the orders is use a Google form that I prefilled with questions. It was my wife’s idea (good thing I married her!), and it’s been so helpful to keep track of everything!
I honestly don’t know how I would have started other than my friends helping me out, but that’s obviously not the only way. I think your hand painted stuff is just so dang good that with the right people seeing it, you wouldn’t have a problem getting them sold!
Great idea on the Google form! I may have to try that. I don’t really want things to get too out of hand right now with Christmas around the corner. But I suppose it’s the best time of the year to be selling! Now I am trying to figure out how to ship things as cheaply as possible but still get it there in one piece. Luckily one of my coworkers has given me some good insight and tips on where he buys those bubble envelopes. I went to OfficeMax today and they were crazy expensive. Found a few cheaper ones at the local grocery supermarket store (Meijer) for a few things I need to get out tomorrow, but I think I will probably be buying them in bulk for future.
I just ordered these today from Amazon, they won’t be here for most of the orders, but they’ll be good to have in the future! Bubble Envelopes
They’re also kind of big for the smaller things I’m working on, but it seems like a reasonable price for 100 decorative envelopes of that size. What’s odd is the size I use more often, which is 4x7 is priced about the same. I need to check out the local spots to see if I can find better prices, but the convenience of ordering versus driving over an hour is better for me.
I did make up a form for people to order engraved pet tags (different colored anodized tags). I printed out about a dozen and took them down to our veterinarians office. They OK’d me leaving them there and I’ve gotten a couple orders from that…which is cool…but, not really my dream sale.
So far mine have just been from showing a few tweets online. Last night my daughter set up a twitter and Instagram account to help, she is definitely the social media expert. I wanted to have some kind of online presence because we are doing a Santa shop for my youngest daughters school this coming week, hoping that people locally will want to buy a few more things.
and glad I am able to help others with Christmas gifts this year!