You know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Are you using pictures to promote your sewing business? Forget using fancy business cards as promotion, they are used when people want to contact you after you have shown them your "stuff."
So how do you carry photos of your work with you? With today's high tech gadgets it is easy. Of course if you have a cell phone that is capable of holding and displaying photos then you have a very easy way to show off your work. Another way is to purchase a digital photo key chain where you can load it with photos and show them off.
If you want to show off videos of your work, and by the way that will sell your items faster than anything, you can get large digital photo frames for displaying at your table during craft fairs. People will stop just to watch the show you have put on.
Of course if you want to take orders and show off your stuff at the same time then you had better go one step farther and get yourself a PDA. I have one and it is invaluable. I can show videos, pictures, enter orders, email invoices and do almost anything a regular size computer can do and they cost less than a netbook.
Don't let your competition get a step ahead of you. Don't forget that when people see something with their own eyes they often buy it. Show them your photos.
March 22, 2010
March 15, 2010
Evaluating several embroidery software programs
Even though I have one embroidery digitizing program that I use I thought I would dig around on the internet and see if there are any new and great programs out since I got mine. I found out that many of the "newer" programs have been out for several years. Many of the big name makers like Wilco, Corel and Designer's Gallery all have flawed products.
Corel's only works with vector art and even then the vector art has to be in a file extension that the program recognizes. The embroidery program is more like an add-on to their Corel Draw program. If you want to edit any artwork before or during the embroidery creation process then you have to have Corel Draw installed on your PC.
Designer's Gallery is an over priced piece of s###. If you try to use any type of artwork, even vector art, the program tends to screw it up. It is good for just plain fonts, so if you just want some words on something then it will do that well enough. It is way over priced for what it has to offer.
Now Wilcom had the sense to join forces with Corel and Adobe to make am embroidery program that works with both of those art work programs. I want to get my hands on that set up and see how easy it is to use or not.
Most of my complaints are how the embroidery programs will mess up an artwork or will not work with bitmaps or JPEG files. Most clients email me logos that are in both of those forms but have no idea of how they have to be converted or even re-drawn in other programs before they can be even put into an embroidery program.
Of course my BIGGEST complaint towards all of the embroidery programs is their cost. I refuse to pay more than $100 for ANY software program much less programs that don't work that well. FYI - most of those software programs are over $800.
I have yet to see an easy to use program. All of them tend to be based on the old MircoSoft Paint style.
Corel's only works with vector art and even then the vector art has to be in a file extension that the program recognizes. The embroidery program is more like an add-on to their Corel Draw program. If you want to edit any artwork before or during the embroidery creation process then you have to have Corel Draw installed on your PC.
Designer's Gallery is an over priced piece of s###. If you try to use any type of artwork, even vector art, the program tends to screw it up. It is good for just plain fonts, so if you just want some words on something then it will do that well enough. It is way over priced for what it has to offer.
Now Wilcom had the sense to join forces with Corel and Adobe to make am embroidery program that works with both of those art work programs. I want to get my hands on that set up and see how easy it is to use or not.
Most of my complaints are how the embroidery programs will mess up an artwork or will not work with bitmaps or JPEG files. Most clients email me logos that are in both of those forms but have no idea of how they have to be converted or even re-drawn in other programs before they can be even put into an embroidery program.
Of course my BIGGEST complaint towards all of the embroidery programs is their cost. I refuse to pay more than $100 for ANY software program much less programs that don't work that well. FYI - most of those software programs are over $800.
I have yet to see an easy to use program. All of them tend to be based on the old MircoSoft Paint style.
March 3, 2010
Does the weather affect your business?
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of AccuWeather. All opinions are 100% mine.
In my area we have lots of indoor craft fairs but where I use to live craft fairs are held outdoors, year round. You were expected to bring your own shelter from either the sun or rain. Even attending one of those outdoor craft fairs as a buyer would get me iffy about going during the spring when you could either have great weather or a down pour. As a seller how do you keep track of the weather? Do you only attend indoor events or do you take a chance on rotten weather chasing your customers away?
If I was to pay for one of those outdoor events and AccuWeather showed that it was going to rain all day that day, I would probably just cancel out on the event. I cannot see getting any of my items ruined in the rain and having hardly any customers show up to buy.
Selling at an outdoor event is fine during the summer months in an area of the country where it does not rain during the summer but I like to not have to rely on the weather to make or break my sales day.
In my area we have lots of indoor craft fairs but where I use to live craft fairs are held outdoors, year round. You were expected to bring your own shelter from either the sun or rain. Even attending one of those outdoor craft fairs as a buyer would get me iffy about going during the spring when you could either have great weather or a down pour. As a seller how do you keep track of the weather? Do you only attend indoor events or do you take a chance on rotten weather chasing your customers away?
If I was to pay for one of those outdoor events and AccuWeather showed that it was going to rain all day that day, I would probably just cancel out on the event. I cannot see getting any of my items ruined in the rain and having hardly any customers show up to buy.
Selling at an outdoor event is fine during the summer months in an area of the country where it does not rain during the summer but I like to not have to rely on the weather to make or break my sales day.
March 1, 2010
Newsletter delay
My last newsletter was at the end of 2009 so if you thought you had missed an issue, you haven't. I am getting some really neat stuff together for the next one, with a spring theme. Links to Easter patterns and ideas for selling too. I might even throw in a St. Paddy's Day item too. It should be going out this weekend so if you haven't signed up for it you should.
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