We all have seen the boom in the handmade marketplaces, people all over the world our jumping on the band wagon of entrepreneurship and I think it is going to be what saves our economy. I may be jumping to conclusions but with the decline of college grads snagging careers in there chosen fields this is something that lets anyone who has the dream to jump aboard. Now I think people think this may be something that is fairly easy to do and I would say no, not easy but it can be incredibly fun and rewarding with a little attitude adjustment anyone can be a success.
What do you need to start your business???
First and foremost you must have the desire to want to start a business, with out this you are dead in the water with no fuel for your boat. Your desire is what drives you and keeps you going. Do you know why most businesses fail??? They give up to quickly. Yes there are trouble and there will be things that you do not like, but if you can't overcome these things you will never learn and grow into the business you want to be. I have been open about a year and half and I have made plenty of mistakes and with in those mistakes I have learned sooooo much and that will make me that much more confident the next time a problem comes up, or will prevent a problem from happening all together. If you want to do something bad enough then you will take the ups and the downs and go on. Do you know how many times Edison failed before he invented the light bulb? 1000 times! 
That is the same with most successful inventors they didn't have an idea do it once and succeed, no they failed a lot but the difference is they kept going. So if you want to do this you must keep going!



Next you need to find something that you are really good at, everyone has something they are good at and you do to. We all do, we all do something better than someone else you just have to find that thing. Whether you are crafty or are great at giving advice , if you have a skill there is a need for that skill.Pick the skill, develop the skill as much as you can, this creates confidence in your work and someone who is confident in there work WILL sell it.

Where do you sell?? Well there are so many places and opportunities online to sell these days, you  don't even have to have any real capitol to start. I started my business with nothing, yep that is right nothing! I had just moved and I was pretty down and out, this was last hope to do something amazing and I decided it was all or nothing. I started on Etsy and grew to my own site and now I put my stuff everywhere I can because, it means more exposure and it works you may not see the effects right off the bat, or maybe you will be it all that effort does come back around.Any effort put out will definitely come back to you in a good way. Online it is so easy to go viral all it takes is a video or a good picture or an article and your stuff can be spread like wild fire through the internet.

Becoming successful is a state of mind and being pessimistic will not get you where you are going, you must believe in what you are doing! You must also be ALL in! What do I mean by this?? It means you are willing to make up your mind and decide that you will do what it takes to make this succeed. Now that may sounds a little scary, you know there will be obstacles but most of them come an go and disappear with out much effort.

Ok here are some down right good info to making your business GROW....

First where ever you decide to sell here a few options that I have tried and liked:





 www.Etsy.com ( starting out this is the whiz-bang! This is the best for immediate traffic and you could be selling as soon as you open your new shop, if you have the right keywords in place, I will talk more about that below)



www.bigcartel.com ( I loved this place it was least expensive and I got a lot of views but I didn't sell as much here, but that does not mean you won't. I did a girls blog who sold on here and had many sales daily)



www.sqaurespace.com ( I love this one also and I got great views, there wasn't any paypal for payment which some of you may like and design was a snap)
www.shopify.com( This is my current home and  I love the ease of everything, they have a lot of apps to help make your store appear very professional, my views where not right off the bat great but I changed up some keywords and with average views I make A LOT  of sales! )








www.Storenvy.com ( I love this one also it is completely free and I get a lot of views but have not sold anything, there are folks who sell lots of stuff on here, it all comes down to research who is shopping here)


The proof is in the pudding!
Do research with other similar products/services this is going to give you a real life example of what you can do and the best place to do it at. This also gives you something to expect in your own business if you service/products our comparable then you to can be sitting in the same boat. Don't let competition discourage you,let it inspire you knowing that you will just as great! Plus there are A LOT of folks in the world and more each day, you will never lack an abundance of customers you just have to see it that way:)



Keywords
I am not a keyword or SEO guru I have done my research and found what works for me.
I find that 5-7 good keywords per listing/page is all you need for fantastic search results
If you have no clue what I am talking about you here are some good tools for quick and 
easy research, because I must stress this is important.
www.wordtracker.com  This is a week free trial and it is all you really need to the research. I used it and it helped my site SO much. They explain what you are looking for and make it easy to quickly pick tons of great keywords for your site. 
 Keywords don't work immediately for traffic give them about 2 weeks to work there magic and you will be seeing an influx in traffic if you have done your research correctly.


Social media
Social media is your friend and you can use it to make your products and service go viral...use these avenues and you will see some amazing results!
www.facebook.com ( create a page invite some friends, encourage your friends to share your page. Kick backs are always good incentives if you can offer something free people will love you and be happy to share!
www.pinterest.com ( people love a pretty picture, make sure you are taking good pictures and you can post, post, post and people will repin, repin, repin fanstastic source for traffic)
www.blogger.com ( I love blogging, create blog and share your day to day life with your business post product ideas and support others, good info is worth a lot)
www.opensky.com( something I just discovered it is a like a store on social media and it is CRAZY awesome I have got a ton of traffic posting my items on her. I always link back to my main store though for more traffic.

There are many more social media sites out there and each one that you put your stuff on is another chance of a sale! Do not think that what you are doing is not bringing you any return because one day soon you will find people flocking from all these sites.


Ok so that is my adivce for all you new entrepreneurs, I hope to hear that you are all successes!
If you have any questions or need any help please contact me I would love to help you grow or start your business. I am full of ideas and advice for all and truly believe that we can all win and suceed if we all help each other!
NEVER, NEVER give-up! 
Did you know that all of our inventions and conveniences have been made from about 3% of the worlds population of all time??? That means do not listen to the majority because they are not what created what we all enjoy listen to your desire and know you are a success! 

 ~I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas A. Edison

~Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”
Mark Twain


HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
XOXO ~Shana