A Truly Free Scrapbooking Event. Really.

I know, it sounds like one of those titles that over promises just to get you to read it, but this is the real deal. Remember my last post about Lain's scrapbooking business soon to break six figures? Well Lain just notified me that she is offering a free, live online event on October 2nd. It's called October's scrapinar and Lain says:

"We are welcoming Jennifer Woodbury, a creative team member for Becky Higgins' Project Life, as she shares "Project Life Step-by-Step." Whether you're a dedicated Project Life participant, a newcomer to the concept, or a complete "I have no idea what you're talking about" neophyte, this f-r-e-e event will whet your appetite for scrapbooking and help you figure out how to fit Project Life in your schedule.

The event is scheduled for October 2, 2012. If you can't join live, as always, they will be having a replay event -- but you MUST pre-register!

If you've been curious about how the True Scrap event works in October,(that's the one I spoke about in the previous blog), then this is a perfect time to check out the webroom risk-free! Join them on Oct. 2 2012 -- and invite a friend!"

Go there now, it really is free! Here is the link:

Click here to view more details


You can also go to my website at Creative Cards 4U and see more information on our scrapbooking page.

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This is an awesome opportunity to learn not only a lot about scrapbooking, but to also pay attention to good methods for developing and driving your own business. It is just another idea that someone is putting into practice to make extra income with their passion for handmade crafts. Go there and take some action of your own. If you missed the link, here it is again:

Click here to view more details



Best Wishes,

Bette

Six Figure Scrapbooking?

Scrap booking has been joked about by the "make money online" community for a long time. I am here to tell you about Lain, who's scrapbook "hobby" is about to break six figures for her. To me there is a lot of fun in turning your arts, crafts and any other creative abilities into a successful money making business, but I assure you it is no joke. I will include a link to Lain's business at the end of this article, I am proud to affiliate with such a wonderful, creative person.


Lain is a success story, smart and hard working. She was a freelance journalist focusing in the high tech marketing industry, but had a passion for scrap booking inspired by her kids. With the dot com bubble burst in 2000, that work started to become slow. She took her writing skills and coupled with her love of scrapbooking started writing for a scrapbooking magazine. She was doing well again and building a following when suddenly our next economic disaster occurred and the magazine she worked for folded.


Lain then decided to start doing what she did for the scrapbooking magazine, but for herself instead. She had a blog and built a community through sharing ideas and encouragement. She read and took business courses and developed strategies to build her hobby into a business. She came up with an idea that no one else is doing in the scrapbooking world that I know of. It's a live online 2 day interactive classroom with 15 experts sharing ideas,tips and inspiration. You experience a community atmosphere and the feeling of being part of something bigger. It' a wonderful event that gives so much.


Here is the link to her business:

Click here to view more details


With Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas on the way this scrapbooking resource will certainly elevate your creative application of all those great family photos you will be taking this season. I highly recommend participation in this event as it will flood your mind with creative ideas for your personal life and for your business development. It's October 19-20th 2012, with a special savings for those who register by September 30th. Hope to see you there!


I want to give a special thanks and credit to Pat Flynn of smartpassiveincome.com as the source for my discovery of Lain and her story. His podcast is well worth listening to if you want honest, transparent information on business development.
Thanks Pat!

Make Money with Handmade Wedding Invitations

A great way to expand your handmade greeting card business is to offer handmade wedding invitations. According to google trends, handmade cards are trending way up as regular mass produced cards are trending steadily downward. Now is the time to begin marketing your talents towards more lucrative areas. Many people become engaged during the Holiday season from Christmas, New Year's and through Valentine's Day. They often set their date for the following year's Spring/Summer season. Begin speaking with everyone you know and putting the word out about your cards. This gives you ample time to study and learn all the necessary details and to be prepared for your new business. The great part is you will soon be receiving orders for 100-350 cards at a time insted of 1-3 cards. This will dramatically change your business, so plan for temporary hiring and other space expansions to accomodate the manufacturing. This does not have to be a permanent space as you are probably working from home, so don't worry about taking over the den or living room temporarily, it will be well worth it!
All the Best!
Bette

Handmade Greeting Cards, Give to Get

Oops, I accidentally moved this post to my drafts. It is one of my most popular with over 1,400 views so I wanted to be sure and get it back on the blog again.

When marketing your handmade greeting cards or arts and crafts, remember 'Give to Get'.  Giving away your cards is a wonderful way to get exposure and create good will.  When we first started our business I met a man who was a fund raising events promoter.  It came up in conversation that he was having a private party in a Manhattan hotel for about 15 people.  I offered to make his invitations for him at no charge, he was thrilled.  Upon receiving the invitations, he was very pleased and he invited me to display as many cards as I liked around the hotel suite for his guest to view during the party.  To our pleasure, Kathy Hilton ended up being the receipient of one of our cards and the party led to quite a wonderful response.

Your product is your best advertisement so never think of giving them away as an expense you can't afford.  Believe in your Art and your talent and give without the expectation of anything in return .  Remeber most mass produced items are discarded relatively quickly, anything handmade usually stays around for quite some time.  The products you have given out are likely to be 'out there' working on your behalf for a long time.


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Best Wishes,

Bette

PS Visit my handmade card website right here.

Start your handmade greeting card business now.

Why should you start your handmade greeting card small business now?  One look at Google trends.com under the keyword, 'handmade greeting cards' and you'll see some amazing reasons.  As of 2009 there has been a huge spike in the number of online searches for handmade greeting cards.  Interestingly the searches for 'greeting cards' has been trending steadily downward,  indicating a consumer driven interest in handmade art.  We have been online with our handmade greeting cards since 2000 and have subsequently secured a consistent top 10 ranking on google under that search term as well as few others.  Now more than ever and I don't know the reason, I can only acknowledge the statistics, people are becoming more interested in this niche.  So get yourself going and expose yourArt to the world.  You can also utilize google trends.com to investigate your other small business ideas and see where they are heading.  Best of Luck!

We recommend that you get started building your own website as soon as possible. Here is a link to a free, powerful website builder that you can use as long as you like. 
Free Website Builder - You will love it!

You can visit one of our handmade greeting card websites at http://www.creativecards4u.com/

Small Business Exposure

Here are some tips for getting your small business more exposure. This is the first post on our new series of Small Business Exposure for your Handmade Greeting Cards or any other product/service.

Almost every town has a local paper and we mean local, not a mainstream publication yet. Get your local town/village paper and find out who the writers are and for what sections. Make contact, you must self-promote. This may seem uncomfortable, but look at the bigger picture of getting your artwork or small business idea exposure. Tell the writer who you are, how long you have lived in town, what you do and why it is a great local story. Send them a card or sample of your small business product. Offer some incentive, free writing/shipping etc. Keep in mind they may turn you down, however maintain and build the relationship. Be sure to make contact again several weeks before any Holiday, it could be the perfect time for your story/business. Relationships are everything, maintain them.

Lots more to come on our small business exposure series. Stay Tuned.

Greeting Card Small Business Tips

This weeks small business tips for your handmade greeting cards are regarding paper.

When building a small business it is important that your products are as professionally looking as possible. To give your cards a really professional look we recommend that you bring your card stock to your local printer and have all your paper professionally scored. Scoring your cards by hand can look a little sloppy and also unnecessarily waste good paper. We also suggest getting a cutting board to make clean,straight cuts. The detail cuts can always be done with scissors later. Don't worry, your cards will still have that handmade look and feel because all of your artwork is applied by hand. We hope you will appreciate the time saved and the added professionalism these tips will provide for your small business.

As far as what type of paper to use, that all depends on your individual artistic needs and whatever message you are trying to send. Contact as many companies as you can and often times they will send you free samples, which are a great boost to any small business.

You can visit one of our handmade greeting card websites at www.creativecards4u.com
and we recommend that you get started building your own website as soon as possible. Here is a link to a free, powerful website builder that you can use as long as you like.
http://www.vodahost.com/partner/idevaffiliate.php?id=14940

All the Best,

Bette