Updates And News This Week

- I have just joined Pagan Place (click on the pic above to be taken to the site), so if you are a member too, you can add me as a friend; if you aren’t a member, maybe you should consider joining! Note – this is not a place for self-promotion!

- Our old Facebook page is about to be closed since, for reasons beyond my understanding, Facebook does not allow pages to changes names. We have a new one (again, click on the banner above) – your “Likes” are very appreciated!

- Do you know of Project Wonderful? If you have an online business, you should! Project Wonderful is a very affordable advertising system for websites, based on bids, where you choose where to advertise your business. While WordPress.com blogs do not support their codes, other platforms like Blogger, and of course your own website, can be used to offer ad space with them. Very soon we will have ad space available at our own website! Click on the banner above to find out more.

 

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Etsy Polemics

I think this post is of interest for all our readers, but if you are also an Etsy seller, please don’t miss it, you should know about this!

We have been members of Etsy for about five years, both as buyers and sellers – though I’m not so romantic to believe that “community” ideals that Etsy sells, we have been very comfortable there and have never had an issue with any other member that could not be solved, or that made us feel that we were being treated unfairly. We knew well that, since we are not the “Etsy type” of seller, we would never make the front page or any other of the fancy Etsy features because, no matter how many metaphysical shops are there (quite a bit actually), we don’t sell owls, or rusty vintage, or bears, or deer horns, or any of those indie icons that Etsy seems so attached to.

Not a problem. For us, Etsy has always been a very expensive hosting service for selling our wares, and never felt it was their work to bring customers in, despite the abundant traffic. But last week, an announcement was made in the forums, explaining that they are going to start sending a post-transaction email to all first-time buyers, suggesting them items to purchase from other shops. Of course, many sellers are angry about this and a forum thread was started immediately – I would like to say that the thread has, as I’m writing this, 5781 replies and 579 pages, and Etsy administration has said next to nothing about it, making it very clear that they plan to continue with this email campaign no matter what sellers think about it.

To keep you from reading 500 pages of complaints, I will make a short resume here; Etsy’s intention is to start spamming OUR customers with unsolicited mail, which is obviously spam, using a transaction that WE have paid for, without giving us sellers the option of opting out of this “service”. On that email, there will be purchase suggestions that advertise OTHER sellers – right now they will choose those sellers (so expect more owls, bears and such), but we suspect that later those advertising spots will be for sale, making Etsy profit for a customer that WE brought into Etsy.

Since we live in the middle of nowhere, we purchase online a lot, mostly books and supplies. I don’t know about you, but I hate those “things you may like” emails from Ebay and other places, and I never, ever open them. I am not an impulse buyer, so when I want to purchase something, I do the search and purchase myself. Thanks Online-Shopping-Service, but I don’t need your help.

We are the type of shops that brings lots of customers from outside Etsy. Many of our regular customers started buying at Etsy thanks to being our customers first – right now, we are wondering if we should leave Etsy definitely behind. I am very glad we made the decision of moving our shop to Zibbet, because there is going to be a huge exile of sellers out of Etsy, and Etsy is becoming a predator for customers and not a shop hosting service, which is what it should be in our opinion. For now, we will continue to list new items only on Zibbet, and since we planned to stay there at least until Christmas, we probably will, and of course we will promote our website only, because we don’t feel like promoting a site that starts spamming people without their consent. We started from zero once, and we will do it again – even better this time.

Also, there is the question of copycats and resellers, which is a topic that sellers have repeatedly brought up on the forum thread. I don’t know a successful Etsy seller that doesn’t have a few copycat shops at least, specially those on the jewelry category – what will happen when after the transaction, a buyer is offered a “similar” item made by a reseller/copycat, probably at a cheaper price? I personally think this is the most offensive part of it all, because it encourages a price war that only makes our work more difficult – trying to make customers understand that it is not possible that we are paid the same than a child slave on a sweatshop, and that when they buy from said reseller/copycat, they’re damaging a whole community of true artisans working very hard to make ends meet.

Dear Etsy – we sellers are YOUR customers. Buyers are OUR customers. We don’t spam our customers, so you don’t get to do that either. And of course, you don’t get to promote your favourite sellers using a transaction I have paid for twice (listing fee + selling fee). Help your sellers, and you will have happy and supportive promoters for your cause; abuse your sellers, and you will be digging your own grave. I am not scared one bit by the fact of having to promote our new shop from the ground, because the business is ours, not yours; it’s you, Etsy, who should be worried.

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20 Useful Things To Do When Uninspired

Our latest promo.

Creation has its unique flows – sometimes you are burning with ideas and wishing the day was 100 hours long so you keep making and making… and sometimes, well, you’re a blank space. When the tide of creativity goes low, I see a lot of artists that get really frustrated – this is actually the worst attitude you can have on this situation. First of all, because it is natural to flow that way; second, because it is really unproductive. There is nothing wrong in being uninspired: every artist needs to reset and refresh ideas regularly, and that is just mental hygiene. The first thing to do when uninspired is to avoid insisting against the flow, and to accept that moment as something necessary and even desirable. But, how to make the most of that time?

I have heard artists complain a lot of times that they do not have time to do the business side of creation; well, this is exactly the right time! Here’s a list of 20 things that you can do during that uninspired times that will keep your business permanently updated:

1: Clean your studio and redecorate it – paint the walls, throw away/give away stuff, create inspiring vignettes;
2: Create a new business card/a new banner/a new avatar/new price tags;
3: Revise all your profiles on your shop, blog, website and social networking sites;
4: Revise your blog, updating broken links and removing useless posts;
5: Join a new group/social network;
6: Make inventory of your shop items and revise each item;
7: Read a few business/marketing articles and note down every idea that can be applied to your business;
8: Create a brochure, make a few photocopies and hand them down or add them to your shop orders;
9: Make promos for your business;
10: Make samples of your products to be added to your shop orders;
11: Start a business journal;
12: Make 10 new friends in your social networks;
13: Start an ezine, or submit work to an existing one;
14: Write a few blog posts and schedule them;
15: Revise your shop listings and update tags, pictures and descriptions;
16: Make products for a holiday months in advance;
17: Send discount cards to your ten best customers;
18: Write a business plan;
19: Make a special sale and advertise it;
20: Start a blog contest, a giveaway or any kind of community activity.

This ideas are not written in any particular order, and of course you shouldn’t choose more than one per day, but I’m sure there is at least one thing you can do today to make your business better. Good luck!!!

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First Issue Of Our Free Newsletter Available!!!

I am very happy to announce the release of our new FREE Newsletter – named Gris-Gris, it will be a non-scheduled publication on the topics of Witchcraft, Self-sustainability, Herbalism, Divination,Devotional and Inspirational Art, Shamanism,Body Art, Tribalism and anything that it is of interest for us and/or for our customers, readers, friends and followers worldwide. We have created a blog just for hosting the issues so it’s easily accessible – please click on the link below to view and save it!

For the first issue, the table of contents is:
- Body Art: full article on the use and preparation of Henna, henna paste how-to and a page with three free designs;
- The History Of Witchcraft: on this issue, three beautiful spells from antique Witchcraft books;
- Two pages with inspirational occult images from my own collection of rare and out-of-print Witchcraft books, for you collaging, mixed media, etc.;
- The History Of Witchcraft II: on this issue, Medieval Talismans – the Abracadabra, the Pentacle and the Tetragammaton;
- Recipes: Herbal Cookies and Anti-Stress Tea;
- Spellwork: six easy Santeria spells that practitioners of all levels can make.
- For Spiritual Workers: on this issue, a deep 4-page excerpt from my ebook Psychology 101 For Tarot Readers, teaching how to make the best of Tarot readings depending on their Zodiac sign. Never published before!
- Two free Book Of Shadows pages, one for Herbs and one for Spells.

Please click here to go to the new blog and download your free issue!

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Don’t Wiccanize Hoodoo, Please

When we opened our shop about a year ago, making a search for “hoodoo” on Etsy would not bring more than a few results, and most of them were unrelated to any form of Witchcraft – I just made the same search five minutes ago and it brought up 827 results. Only about 150 -170 are from our own shop.

The increase of Hoodoo products on Etsy, as you can see, is quite impressive. Where were all those Hoodooists a year ago when we opened the shop? You may think they had not opened shops yet, and in some cases it is true, but to be honest most of them were simple Pagan/Wicca/White Magic shops. In the blink of an eye, those who were reading runes and talking about The Great Goddess are now working with Saint Expedite and making red brick powders. How can that happen?

There is a general idea in the Pagan Blogosphere that Hoodoo is an invent-on-the-go form of Magick that can be incorporated to any other form of the Craft people are already practising. This is so wrong in my opinion. Though I agree Hoodoo is one of the most flexible and eclectic practises for a Witch, since it is not a religion, believe me, it is not Wicca – first of all, because Wicca IS a religion. More and more, I see New Age/ Wicca/ Low-Class Paganism ideas being merged into Hoodoo that do not make sense at all with the real beliefs behind Hoodooism.

For example, we Hoodooists do not believe in the three-fold law. We believe we are mature enough to tell right from wrong and a big part of the Hoodoo practise consists in dominion, binding and revenge spells. Products that are so popular among metaphysical Etsy sellers right now like War Water and Black Salts, have been very recently considered Black Magick items – but now, adding the “hoodoo” tag to something magickally cleans it of all its previous meaning into a one-size-fits-all concept of Magick.

Of course, I admit that our shop may be partly guilty – but not because we have wiccanized Hoodoo (because we have never been Wicca practitioners), but simply because we have made over 600 sales in a year. Hoodoo is the trendy thing to sell right now, and all around Etsy copycats are always looking for the best selling formula to try and steal clients to their shops. Sadly, that happens to every single successful Etsy shop, in every single category. But this is not stealing a jewelry design – this is working with Spirits and sacred items, and it has way more consequences.

Hoodoo is magick, NOT white magick or black magick – it contains both the healing and the cursing, the freeing and the binding. Hoodoo products are effective and quick to work, but are not harmless in all cases. You cannot wash Hoodoo’s face to turn it into a “fluffy bunny” form of Magick – you have to accept it as it is, or look for a practise that is more alike to your beliefs. Wiccanizing Hoodoo will not turn it into what you want – I have seen many people suffering the consequences of taking Hoodoo too lightly, and they are not pretty. If Hoodoo is more powerful and quicker than other forms of magick it is because the Spirit work mostly – and those Spirits will ask their proper payment. Are all those sellers ready to pay the price?

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Psychology 101 For Tarot Readers Published!

This ebook is for those starting Tarot readers that are seriously considering turning what may have started as a hobby into a real profession. You have no idea of where to start, how to find customers and how to make them come back again and again and spread the word about your work, so you can concentrate on your work for more time and let people be your “spiritual sponsor”.

Along the reading of this book, you’ll learn strategies to make the best of your abilities as you discover that there are no magick tricks in this business… or in any business. My advice comes from a long and fruitful experience and from the study of the laws of human interaction – they are simple, easy to adjust to your specific situation and go straight to real situations you will have to face with the growth of your career.

It does not matter which path you follow as a Witch – the laws of human psychology applies to us all. And this laws do NOT imply lying, hiding the flaws of your work of pushing your consultants/customers into things they don’t need. This is not cold, hard marketing from the 80′s. Fortunately the trends in marketing are revitalizing into a honest, built on trust relationship between business and customer – and that is something Witches need as much as any professional.

In this book you WON’T be told how to read your cards (or any other oracles), how to perform your art or how much to ask for your work. That is completely up to you and none of my business. But in my career I have met witches and wizards of dozens of different kinds of paths and they all made the same mistakes – and the successful ones used all this strategies I’m presenting you. The learning of psychology, marketing and business put me from one side to the other – from a complete disaster to a professional career where not only I get a financial benefit, but also great learning opportunities, respect from colleagues and now, thanks to Internet, friends around the whole planet.

Bringing help and light into the world is so much more than just financing yourself. It is spreading a wave of good karma into the world and sharing it without bounds. When my consultants feel support, understanding, trust and relief in my advice, they make better choices and learn to love more and better. It is a HONOUR to be the origin of that emotions.

This book has been written to help YOU succeed. Let me share my abundance with you, as I firmly believe that there is more than enough for everyone.

You can find this ebook at The Hoodoo Shop at Etsy.

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Reflections On The Year’s End – Part II

The further we go into this life, the clearer we see which adjustments need to be made to make 2010 even better – some of those changes will affect (positively I think) the Hoodoo Shop, as we are broadening the range of products we will be able to offer. We have thought of opening a second shop for our artwork and leave THS only for Witchcraft items; I have talked to some friends who are also Etsy sellers and have found they have the same pros and cons that we have about opening a second shop. It is less “messy” but it’s not easy to keep both shops equally promoted; it’s easier for customers to find things on a less crowded shop, but it is also worse for the customer who wants to buy things from both shops. Also, there are many items that could be sold on both shops. Aaah, the dilemmas of an online seller…

Actually my main “con” is that the concept of specialized shop sounds too much like the type of life we do NOT want to follow. We do not want to be specialized, tagged, confined to a definition. For us, being Brujos is not only casting spells, it’s our whole life. What is called The Slow Lifestyle is Witchcraft for us; a Shaman (and an anarchist, which is pretty much the same in our world) has to be ecological, self-sufficient, skillful – AWARE. So, if all we do is Witchcraft, all we do should fit in one shop. If you have been reading the blog for a while, you must have seen already that the products we have been adding to the shop usually follow our own necessities (like, for example, the handmade crochet hooks) or from our own interest in learning (like, for example, kyphi incense). We don’t choose our products looking for “what to sell” to our customers, but sharing our life – and here we’re breaking nº 1 rule of marketing, but keeping our dignity intact. We want to make the shop an extension of our life and our world, NOT a job.

Our decisions right now fall on redesigning the iconography (banner, slogans, shop categories) to fit a broader shop concept – but honestly all that is waiting for a struck of inspiration, and for a little more time, so probably there won’t be any changes in this matter until the new year. Also, we will be having friends staying at home this Christmas, so a little less listing and a little more partying is expected during that days ;). We won’t put the shop on vacation though, as we have several gorgeous listings in the making for the next weeks, and mostly since we won’t be going anywhere LOL… all ideas will be more than welcome!

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Promotion For Our Lovely Customers :)

The next twelve customers to purchase at The Hoodoo Shop (digital downloads not included), will receive TWO sample bags from this lot, each one carrying a gemstone charm and a small envelope with a sample of our new incense, Spirit Dancer. One of the samples is for you, the other to give away – we want to give you a gift, and we need you to help us spread the word about our work!


I would also like to congratulate Magaly from Pagan Culture for winning our giveaway at Mrs.B’s 31 Days Of Halloween! Magaly, just send me your email address so I can send you the download link for your BOS set!

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Presents And Samples: Gratitude

First of all I would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who left messages for Baba’s recovery -she’s doing wonderfully and the wound healed quite quick, so she’s back to her frolicking, cat-chasing and being-cute-for-food routine :D .

This morning, I was surprised with an unexpected gift box on the mail from my much loved Amanda from Pandora’s Button Box – ooooh this woman knows how to melt a Witch’s heart! Thanks so much my dearest, I love-love-love every detail – you know me so well! Amanda was my first friend online, three years ago! – we met because I found her skelly dollies and after I commented how much I loved her work, she graciously offered to make a swap as I didn’t have a credit card to buy her one. This is her latest doll, Mariposa Calavera – isn’t she gorgeous???:

Can you believe it’s been three years, my dear Amanda? Everyday I bless the day we met – you have always been the best of friends, and I will never thank you enough for that, no matter how much “mail love” I can send to you!

Today I’m working on some samples for our future customers – gemstone charms and little envelopes to be filled with a herbal incense I will be making tonight. The envelopes are the printing test of the Sabbats And Esbats II Set – aren’t they lovely?
Making samples is something I really enjoy -I love the challenge of making something that has to be small, light to ship, and not too expensive BUT STILL be a beautiful, thoughtful gift. Pics of the finished packaging tomorrow morning :). Here’s an article I wrote about a year ago about making samples that you might enjoy:
Making Samples – The Importance Of Giving For Your Business

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Business Tips For Metaphysical Etsy Sellers

This morning I had an email from a friend asking for advice on opening an Etsy shop. I get this kind of email regularly, so I thought it would be useful for more readers if I made a post about it. So, here you have, in no particular order, several points that I think are essential for making your Etsy shop a successful one:

1. Your Product
- The first and most important thing is that you understand that the product you sell must be original and must fill a need – and this is, in my opinion, what takes more time to accomplish. I have seen too many online sellers copying what seems to be another seller’s formula – and of course close their shops a few months later. You simply cannot steal another seller’s market niche – once buyers are satisfied with a seller, they won’t go somewhere else.

2. Time Management
- This IS a business, so get ready to sacrifice time and home space, and make your family understand that you won’t be interrupted during work hours. This is not easy with children, but there are many Etsy sellers who are stay-at-home-mamas and that have successful businesses, so it is NOT impossible.

3. Customer Service
- Listen to your customers – and give them what they ask! You are not there to make everyone fit into your vision, but to offer a service.
- Keep your products well packaged and presented and be ultra careful with your shipping – your customers will speak of your extra care!
- Answer convos quickly and keep your customers updated of shipping dates right on time. Do not leave unanswered emails for tomorrow! Keep a daily time for that matters – customers really appreciate the time you take and will come back and recommend your shop.
- Understand customer psychology and place yourself in the customer’s position; what do you expect from a shop and its owner?

4. Business And Marketing Learning
- The fact that you business is home based is not an excuse to be sloppy – you need business cards, sales filing, inventories, costumer lists, etc.
- Learn the basics of business and promotion, as they work for all kinds of businesses, metaphysical included. You need a business plan with short, medium and long term goals, so you keep focused on your business’ direction. There are many sites on the topic, just google it!

5. Blogging And Online Promotion
- You can promote on all social networks: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Stumble It, Squidoo, LiveJournal, …. too many to mention! Choose a few at a time and see if they bring clients or not – work only with those that works for your business, and experiment and focus on those that bring sales.
- A good blog must be informative, personal and professional in equal parts. Not an easy task that requires time and learning.
- Interact with other bloggers and shop owners, make givaways or participate in contests. Getting your link out there brings targeted traffic, which is exactly what you need.
- Do NOT Spam people with invites, updates and newsletters. There’s nothing more irritating than that.

6. Knowing Etsy
- Read all Etsy guides and note down all the interesting ideas you find – try them and select those who work best for you.
- Learn to make good photographs and good descriptions – Etsy has high quality standards!
- Join an Etsy Team and participate on its activities. I am member of Pagans Of Etsy.

My Personal Insight And Experience

I don’t know specific statistics, but with over 100.000 sellers on Etsy, there are many chances that your shop won’t make it unless your commitment and preparation are very high. Learning about marketing sounds like a boring task, but I have actually found it fascinating, and have spent many hours researching and enjoying articles on the topic. When shops fail, it is mostly caused by a) products are not good enough; b) marketing is poor and not enough time is devoted to keep the shop going.

Not all social networking sites are useful for your business – do not try to be everywhere, but be consistent on two or three sites that bring sales and good contacts to you.

From a customer’s view, I personally do not like blogs that speak too much about a shop owner’s personal life. Customers want to know if you’re an expert in your market niche, not what you had for dinner. Pics of cats, kids and food are cool, but focus on being informative and entertaining. The same happens to Facebook – too much information could be bad press for you.

Always be polite to your customers and take your time to be of help to them – despite the fact that we are business owners, we are Witches first! Share some of your knowledge, give advice and do things for free.

And, saving the best for last: be good at what you do, and when you’re good, try for better, and when you’re better, try for the best :) .

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