Judy's Corner of the World
Ceramics... Crafts ...Internet Marketing
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Resources,Links,Message Board Did I forget to mention I have a blog on ceramics and mold making? Judy's new e-book is out. "Winnie" is the love story between a 14 year old girl and the grand-daughter of Man O'War(the greatest race horse in U.S.history. A naustaglic read with dialog. Emotional highs and lows. Judy has finally put in down on paper. List of Articles written by Judy View Judy's past Restoration Works Sponsored links Make your PC more useful. Get the free Google Pack. Get Firefox with Google Toolbar My Gift to You. Gift cards to be printed out.
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Is It Spring Yet? Crafts Network Guild How it Works In each community, there
are groups of crafters all seeking ways to market their crafts. Most
organize and set up craft shows. For those seeking to work
with their
crafts, full time, and build it into a business they can depend on for
their only source of income, need more.
If each of us is a representative for all the other members within the guild, we each will have hundreds of sales reps out there, presenting and selling our goods. In turn, we as sales reps will also earn a commission of the sales. This is big time back scratching and it works. In the past several
years, many of us
have been pushed back by an international market. That international
market has stolen our designs and now sell to our own market, in our
own turf, for less than we can produce the product. For this reason,
the crafters of the United States, have one recourse and that's to
unite and work for each other. I say 'United States' because once we
begin shipping over seas, we will find that we have stepped into direct
competition with the international market, which has more resources
than the small business crafter, and able to ship for much cheaper. We
need to stay within our own borders, for this to work.
If you have ideas of your own, go ahead and tell us about it. We're
open for suggestions.Every hand crafted product has a market. The problem is, finding that market, as most likely it's not in our own neighborhood. So we must find ways to reach out through our friends and fellow guild members, to locate that market and make those sales. In each community, there
is a chapter
of the CNG. Each of those chapters have their own president and judging
board. The president is responsible for collecting membership dues and
regulating the products. In other words, some products will never make
it to market and we don't need to encourage that product but rather
help to guild into a product that will move and bring income to the
creator.
The CNG provides printed forms to be used in the sales exchanges, providing a means of professionalism for the crafter. Being a part of something larger than oneself, carries a weight of its own. This is much like a co-op, but with a larger market in mind. Each of us paying for our shelf space and each of us helping out in the sales. Those crafters wishing to
market, will
provide samples for the board members, and clear photos for the
portfolios. If the chapter does not have a means for
scanning and printing the photos into clear and organized catalog pages, the CNG will provide that service. The CNG also understands there are many who do not have the means for even those photos. We will gladly help out, if the product can be mailed in. A digital camera and printer costs only a few cents in electricity. So why not? The idea is to create highly pleasing sales pages with photos and prices, that can be copied and shared with sales reps across the country. Copies of these catalog pages, are then sent to each chapter where they may be copied and shared with its members, who are each a sales rep for all the other members. All sales are passed through the home office, in order that all orders may be monitored to make sure the crafter is filling their orders and getting paid, as well as reps receiving their commissions. Membership dues go into the printing of materials for the chapters, office help for processing orders and billing the customer, as well as educational materials to help the crafters succeed in their efforts. The CNG includes all hand crafted products: fabric, metals, clay and plaster, all hand crafts of 'shelf quality'. In addition to helping one another with sales and contacts, the CNG (from past experiences) plans to locate and make deals, as an organization, with the distributors and manufacturers of those materials we used in our crafts, in order to bring down those costs of production for the small business crafter. This business of paying retail prices for our materials, only to turn around and collect wholesale prices for our goods, is not the way to go. It is our plan to provide an in-house warehouse of materials that we buy collectively as a group, so that we might share in the savings. We will teach you how to reach the local markets, how to help the shop owner build their own business, how to read the market. Each community is unique and needs to be farmed by local reps. Believe it or not, the shop keeper needs our input and help for their own business to succeed. The Crafts Network Guild started out as a bi-monthly newsletter, attempting to grow in marketing. It was put to bed due to many complications, in the late 80's. Now ready to come at the market, in a whole new way, the CNG is being reborn. Since the CNG is just now reviving, it needs to build before actually going into action. It needs promised members on the list. Consider that the more members, the less is needed from each member as membership dues. So the faster we add members, the better for each of us. Every crafting organization, had to start somewhere. The difference between them and the CNG, is an organized means of sales, using the members themselves as the point of first contact. Get your name on the list today and when we have reached each state and begun to build the chapters, we will then go to the next step which will be signing up for membership and creating guidelines for each chapter. I'm sure you will all want to add your own brain storming, and this is the time. Fill in the form and send it. As soon as we have reached into each state, we will announce and begin operations. You have many friends who do not have access to the internet. Talk to them about this plan and becoming a part of the organization. You can add their names to the list, using your own email address. Let's build membership quickly and get this thing off the ground. We have talents, why not let them support us. |
Family
Conflict? Use Your Camera How
to Cut Down Your Competition When Selling Your Crafts There's a World of Ideas Inside You There is truly a bottomless pit of design, ideas and ability inside your head but you feel you don't have the talent to do anything with it.-more- Ceramic
Molds are made from the softest of plasters, Pottery Plaster. Ceramic Instruction Booklets Written and Illustrated by Judy Message Boards I think I like this bravenet message board better. I've been getting so much spam in the others. Let's try this one. |
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