Visit Part 1 here
Still answering your questions from my "ask my anything" post! Some questions are longer to answer than others, don't worry I'll get to all of them soon enough! <3
what do you know now that you wish you knew when starting out with your shop?
I wish I had known how many hats I would have to wear being a business owner. When I had opened up Yellow Heart Art I was all like "This is amazing I get to make pretty stuff all day and people want to buy my pretty stuff and its this awesome magical cycle of pretty stuff being made and pretty stuff being sold"
Which is fine and dandy, but it's not just about "making pretty things" it's about being able to be versatile. You are also:
• the marketing team
• the shipping department
• a customer service representative
• social media representative
• inventory control
• the art department
• the art director
• product copy writer
• a publicist
• an accountant
• damage control
• a product photographer
• a saleswoman
• the production department
• the purchasing department
are you tired yet? I really had no clue how much went into running a shop. But ya know what? I love it enough that I don't mind all the baby daddy mama drama that comes with it sometimes. Also, I wish I had watermarked my photos better in the beginning. When I first opened shop I didn't think anyone out there would copy my art or put it on their websites with out sourcing it back to me. A lot of my artwork that has been copied by other people is my earlier art that wasn't watermarked. Even if you don't make artwork and you create something like jewelry or purses make sure to put your website on EVERY photo. If someone happens to steal a photo and post it somewhere with out linking it back to your blog or shop at least when someone else sees it they can manually type in the web address on the photo if they are interested in you product.
I also wish I had taken social media more seriously when I first started my business. I put off joining for twitter for so long because it weirded me out. I didn't understand why I should be talking to all these strangers. When I first joined I was petrified to talk to people. People were tweeting to me that they loved my art and I had no clue how to respond back. Now I can honestly say most of the friendships I have made with other shop owners is because of twitter. Also a lot of my best referrals to my shop have come from twitter as well. It's a great place to get your stuff out there for so many people to see, it just takes the right person to "re tweet" something you posted for it to be seen by someone who can change your career.
Basically, watermark your photos and execute the heck out of social media. It is FREE advertising and networking, the best way to get yourself out there.