So I'm sure we've all hit that snag in our business. You know the one, everything is going good, and them BAM you've suddenly sold a product you can't find or you bought some final sale materials that don't work like you thought.
I'm in the middle of one such moment right now. I had a sale of 4 pieces and the customer wanted an upgrade to matting around the art. I quoted her a price based on my last purchase of materials, she bought the listing, and when I went to buy I was surprised to learn that my materials have increased more than I expected, so I'm essentially doing a lot of extra work for no extra money. Live and learn.
And then as I was matting, I noticed that one of the pieces was somehow done on smaller sized paper so it doesn't match the rest of the collection. I can't send it to her like that. I had to contact the client and explain that I messed up and is there anything I can do?
I was feeling pretty crappy: this is a series of mistakes on my end that are costing me to fix. But then I took a look at my old sales and it made me feel so much better. I've come a LONG way! Both in my product itself and in the way I brand myself on etsy.
Look at one of my first sales:
https://www.etsy.com/transaction/31936594I cannot believe that anyone even BOUGHT that! But I'm grateful for it, because of those first few sales I was able to refine my style and grow. (current snafus notwithstanding)
So what about you? Let's go done memory lane and see how far we have come in our shops!
