Thursday, February 5, 2015

Blog #14: Independent Component 1


LITERAL

(a) I, Isabella Grello, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 32 hours of work.


(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component:



The book Handmade to Sell by Kelly Rand has really helped me so much with this project. It is specifically about selling the kinds of crafts that I have been making, so it was very relevant and very helpful.

Rand, Kelly, Christine Ernest, and Jaime Zollars. Handmade to Sell: Hello Craft's Guide to Owning, Running, and Growing Your Crafty Biz. New York: Potter Craft, 2012. Print.

(d) Explain what you completed: 

I started an Etsy shop to sell my handmade crafts. This was my way of starting a small business. I started from the bottom with making a business plan and thinking of ideas for items to sell. From there, I executed those ideas and spent a lot of time crafting the products that eventually went up. The second part of my independent component was focused on the marketing side of things. I explored online marketing by using Pinterest and updating my Etsy about page, etc to reach more people.


INTERPRETIVE 

Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.  Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.:

Most of my time went into actually making products for my shop. I realized that this took more effort than expected. It was definitely a lot of trial and error. When selling something, you really want to avoid any imperfections, so I spent a lot of time trying to perfect the details. This took away some of the time that I had planned on using for marketing. However, I still accomplished what I initially wanted to accomplish. This whole process was helpful to my project, especially since my business is 100% online. Opposed to a small business with an in store location, an online business relies solely on online marketing to advertise itself. Therefore, I believe having this Etsy shop gave me an idea of how important it is to use a variety of websites to expand your reach.

My shop

My 1st listing

Banner supplies
Pinterest

Sewing a zip pouch
Etsy About Page


APPLIED

How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 

By creating my own business, I learned first hand how much work goes into the process. Though my essential question focuses in on marketing, I realized that to have a good foundation for a business is extremely important. Before you can dive into advertising yourself, you need to have something to show. This seems like an obvious fact, but as I started with nothing to market, I realized how much work I had to complete. For instance, in the early weeks of this project, I wanted to jump right on the marketing aspect of it. However, with no items in my shop and no foundation to work off of, I couldn't take that next step without establishing my business first.

Once I did so, I was able to explore marketing more. With so many sellers online, I have come to understand that simple visibility is essential. It can be really tricky to just get people to see what you are creating, so it takes a level of persistence and dedication to really spread your message.

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