My Preparations for the Holidays Continued

So my original get prepped for the holidays plan didn't quite work out. Not surprising with two little ones but now that my oldest is in kindergarten and my youngest sometimes still naps I'm making a bit of progress.

I'm back up to 170 listings in my Etsy shop AND almost all of those are already made and packaged. I'm now working on multiples of my most popular items. While I love the look of my new packaging it is much more time consuming so I'm trying  to get extras made in advance. I also have pre-return addressed a bunch of envelopes and customs forms. Last but not least I've been trying to stock my freezer so that I don't need to worry about cooking dinner (for the most part). I've detailed a bit of those endeavours on my other blog Kawartha Bargains.   No sense in wasting those hard earned dollars on tons of takeout because I'm too busy to feed everyone!

I've been asked by a couple of readers what they should expect for the next couple of months. The answer to that is that I have no real answer. If you are already selling steadily on Etsy then be prepared to continue with that trend and I suggest having a couple of your most popular items ready to ship quickly. If you are not experiencing frequent sales then take this time to review your tags and photos. Also don't forget to tap into your local market via Facebook, craft fairs, etc. AND as always seek fun ways to promote your shop at the prime shopping time of the year. REMINDER: I am happy to feature fellow handmade artisans on my blog so feel free to let me know if you are interested!

My preparations for the holiday shopping season: Week 1

I can hardly believe it but I have already begun holiday preparations for the upcoming season! Over the next four weeks I'm hoping to have my wheels in motion and be prepared for a stress free and hopefully busy season. Week One: Order supplies...alot of supplies! I just finished a big charm order, am getting stocked up on chain and findings and other creating goodies as well as bags for packaging. This week I also hope to order another case of envelopes and get some new colours of cardstock for making product cards. With everything on its way I guess I'd better make Week Two organize my studio/office space! Stay tuned to see how that works out!

How are you getting your handmade business ready for the holiday season? What do you expect this year to bring?