5 mistakes i’ve made (that you can learn from.)

by sara selepouchin

originally published on October 6, 2008 here at girlscantell.typepad.com (used by permission)

girlscantell's towels for seamstress

this week already feels productive, and it’s only monday, so, yay! yesterday afternoon, i picked my mom’s brain and we designed a new banner for booths at my upcoming shows. now i’m totally anxious to have some time to starting cutting, appliqueing and working on that.

lately, i’ve been giving some thought to the whole trial and error process so far in running my little side-project of girlscantell. i feel like i’m finally in a good place with my work and have a lot of my processes down. i have a ton of printing to do before i’ll feel ready for the holidays, but other than that, i feel really great about the upcoming months for selling my wares. below are a couple of the most important things i’ve discovered so far.

1. the inbox zero system has really made my system of packing, shipping and just generally staying organized really simple. i love gmail’s seemingly bottomless storage ability, but having a clean inbox is so much easier than constantly having to hunt and peck and search for what i need. i haven’t had more than 10 emails in there at a time since i started, and it makes it so easy to see what needs to be done this way. amazing. i guess my point is, you need to have a system. and then you need to improve your system.
2. better branding! lately, i’ve been investing bits and pieces into things to get my name on more things – this season i’ll have bags with the girlscantell logo for customers buying things at shows i’m selling at (a girlscantell first!), coupon cards, stamps with my logo for outgoing packages, and just other things i’ve always kind of wanted to have for girlscantell, but never sat down to actually do. i made a giant wish list of all the things i wanted this season, then i prioritized them in terms of how useful they’ll be vs. their cost and have been checking them off each time i have some extra cash that i can spend on these little investments. (lists are good.)
3. another aspect of better branding is consistency. i’ve been terrible about this in the past (well, maybe not terrible, but i definitely didn’t really have my shit together, i guess). things are falling into place more and more lately, as i’ve come up with some designs i like for my logo and have been sticking with them. this is, of course, easier said that done, since making decisions on something with limitless possibilities is hard! and, on top of that, you really have to decide what you’re all about to make these decisions.
4. don’t sell what you haven’t made. selling online, it’s totally easy to relist items you can make again before you actually make them. which means, when someone buys these items, you have to go ahead and actually make them. which, if you’re a busy person (aren’t we all busy people?), means it might potentially take a few days between when the order is placed, when you have a chance to make the items, and when you get to the post office. this is no good!
5. having dedicated space has been the ultimate luxury in running girlscantell. while i understand that not everyone has as much room as i’ve dedicated to this project (or lives by themselves, so therefore has no one to complain about taking over lots of space – it’s a little ridiculous the percentage of my house i use for making, storing and packing things), dedicated space is key. keeping materials, packing materials, finished items and everything in their own spots and organized makes life about 500 times easier. this totally goes along with having a system (above!), and they should really compliment each other and make it simple for you to get things done efficiently.

so, those are a few of my tricks. this season is going to be awesome. i can’t wait to share the new types of goodies i’ve been working on with you!

Based in South Philadelphia, girlscantell is a the brainchild of Sara Selepouchin. You can find her line of original, handprinted diagrams on useful everyday objects in boutiques and galleries in Philly, as well as online at Etsy (http://girlscantell.etsy.com) and 1,000 Markets (http://girlscantell.1000markets.com). For more how-to’s, new designs, advice and rambliness, visit her blog (http://girlscantell.typepad.com).