I belong to the group Etsybloggers Street Team, and as a part of the group, we write posts about questions that have been set up as part of a Blog Carnival.
This one is – Now that 2010 is here, what do you have planned/look forward to/hope to accomplish this year?
I have had my business Sandi’s T’s for a number of years, and have progressed from a craft type business where I attended craft shows on a regular basis, to an online business with very little exposure, to a professional website, selling a variety of quality items that appeal to a number of customer groups.
Over the years, I have learned a lot about what people are looking for, as well as the fact that the quality of what they buy is as important as what the item is. And quality has been my byword.
As I work towards adding additional items to my website, foremost in my mind is what I want to accomplish this year, that’s different from other years. And that is to be able to provide a good income for my husband and myself.
We are both retired, my husband from the military as well as civil service, myself from civil service. Most of the income that we have is from my husband’s military retirement. And the only reason we were able to retire was that we paid off our home. Otherwise we would still be working for someone else.
As we both came into civil service under a new employment/retirement plan, the retirement funds relied on being able to save money. And when I joined civil service, I was a single mom with 2 children to raise and a mortgage to pay. So saving money was not in the cards for a long time. Needless to say, what I was able to save would not last very long – if I needed it to live on.
Thus the need to have another income. That’s where my business comes in. So far, it’s been a hobby, and the income has been negligible. And I definitely do not want to work for someone else again!
I have hired a writer – actually a dear friend of mine – to create meaningful content for my web pages – as a way of becoming more visible on the internet. I also use a company who is working to promote my site through search engines. Between the two, as well as representing a limited number of high quality companies, whose products I provide to my customers, I have seen an increase in visitors as well sales.
My goal for this year, is to at last begin to see a profit, that can help my husband and I continue to live in our home.
I am not leaving anything to chance. I work on my website every day, I promote sales and contests through Twitter. I write about my biz on Facebook. It’s a lot of work – but I love the hands on approach – I would not want to turn over the management of my biz to someone else. I want to make sure that things are done right!
Having a solid presence on the internet is something that I will continue to strive for…
Sandi
