So Suzy Podcast

Three years ago a stamping product was released to the people who followed My Sweet Petunia on Facebook, shortly thereafter, this incredible tool would impact the stamping world like no other. The MISTI has changed lives, built friendships and revitalized the stamping community. To celebrate her 3rd birthday, we have a special podcast to talk about some amazing ways you can use your MISTI along with a special from My Sweet Petunia for our listeners!

Show Notes Where to Find the MISTI

My Sweet Petunia - 20% Off the Original MISTI, Grid Pads and Mouse Pads from today through July 23rd for So Suzy Podcast listeners - no coupon required

Links Referenced

So Suzy Stamps - Mirror Image Stamp

Concord & 9th - Turnabout Stamp

The Ton Stamps - Thanks Stamp Set

Iliana's MIHM Podcast Interview

Lavinia Stamps

Videos Referenced

Justine Hovey

Gina K Designs

Ken's Creations

Uses for the MISTI

• Basic stamping
• Accurate stamping
• Solid and silhouette stamps
• Aligning and test stamping
• Embossing after you have stamped
• Die cut placement
• Stamping on texture paper
• Layering stamps
• Mass production
• Do It Yourself Backgrounds
• Gradient or Ombre stamping
• Masking
• Repeat stamping
• Stamping the inside and outside of your cards
• Using acetate
• Mirror Image Stamping
• Turnabout Stamps from Concord & 9th

Listener Tip

Today's tip comes from Karen Hightower

Finish the inside of your card and always sign the back of the card. You have put time and effort into creating it, so sign your creation. - Karen Hightower

We are continuing with our July eCommerce Series and when we were putting the series together, I knew there was one person I just had to have on the show so she could share her words of wisdom. Chloë Thomas, from eCommerce MasterPlan is an author, podcast host, mentor and consultant in the eCommerce world and I had the extreme pleasure of working with her when I owned So Suzy Stamps.

Chloë was instrumental in helping us grow our "bricks and clicks" business. She offered guidance on how to manage our inventory both in the shop and online, gave us amazing advice for how to handle promotions and helped us build a fabulous marketing plan to kick off the new year. Which, was our most profitable quarter in the past 3 years.

Chloë understands that not all industries are alike and not all needs are the same, however, she was able to guide me in the direction MY business needed to go and create my unique eCommerce MasterPlan.

SHOW NOTES

In Chloë's book, Your 3 Steps to Successful Online Selling, she talks about the 3 most important things you can do to customize your own eCommerce MasterPlan

1. Identify what sort of eCommerce business you are
2. Establish your core foundation
3. Marketing

Biggest challenge and benefit for having a "bricks and clicks" business

• Challenge: Stock and time
• Benefits: Online=Convenience; In Store=Experience

#1 Online Promotion You Can Do

• Free Shipping or Free P&P (Postage and Packaging)

It has to get the customer to do what you want as cheaply as possible. -Chloë Thomas

Top Advice For Those of You Just Starting Out

Find a product that you are interested in along with enough people who are too. - Chloë Thomas

Chloë's Favorites

Favorite part of what she does for her business - Writing

Favorite eCommerce Marketing Method: eMail Marketing

Favorite App: Sumo Me

Where To Find Chloë

eCommerce MasterPlan

Special Offer

Special Offer For YOU!

USE COUPON CODE SUZY when checking out

I had to have one last guest on the show to go with our Planner Series to talk about Traveler's Notebooks and working with leather products. Chris Barrett from the AltGuild creates these stunning leather Traveler's Notebooks that I am absolutely IN LOVE with! Today, we talk about the reasons behind a Traveler's Notebook, working with leather and what goes into the creation of one.

SHOW NOTES

Custom orders are on hold...he said forever, but does that really mean FOR-EV-ER?

Chris's Favorites

Favorite Custom Order: Alice in Wonderland cover

Favorite Size TN: Tachikoma

Favorite Part of Owning a Business:

"Planting a seed and watching it grow." - Chris Barrett, AltGuild

Where to Find Chris

Website (Etsy)

Facebook

Instagram

My Traveler's Notebook

My Old Soul in the A5 size

Dragon Scales Josefine and I May Come to Blows Over

The Cover That Started It All

I APOLOGIZE FOR THE UPDATE AND ERROR WITH OUR ORIGINAL RECORDING, WE SHOULD BE GOOD TO GO FOR THE FULL EPISODE WITH TRACEY WALLACE FROM BIG COMMERCE.

When it comes to starting an online business, selecting the right platform is critical to your business, customers and growth. Selecting the wrong platform can cause you undue stress, crashed servers and additional costs that are unnecessary. Today, we talk with Tracey Wallace, Editor in Chief, at BigCommerce to get her insight into what features you should look for in an eCommerce platform, the benefits of moving to a platform outside of Etsy and some of her favorite features.

SHOW NOTES

First Steps When Selecting an eCommerce Platform

Put together a list of everything that you need it to do now and where you want to be in the future:

• Payment Gateways
• Inventory
• Shipping
• Wholesale Accounts
• Customer Groups for VIP's
• Robust Servers for High Traffic
• Syncing with Brick and Mortar shop
• Physical, Downloadable Products and Services
• Will It Sync to Infusionsoft, MailChimp, Constant Contact

3 Most Important Features a Business Should Look For

• Payment Gateways and Fees
• SEO Included
• Inventory Management

Benefits of an eCommerce Site vs Etsy

• Branded to you
• Retain your customer information so you can build a relationship
• Total control of your site, services, products and customer communication
• Not charged by how many items you list on your site

What Sets BigCommerce Apart From the Competition?

• Can handle large growth eCommerce businesses like ManCrates
• 60% of all apps needed to run and grow your business are built-in saving you anywhere from $300 - $5000 yearly
• API is faster, which helps data sync faster
• Customer Service is TOP NOTCH - available 24/7 for phone support
• (Personally, I LOVE THEM!)

Why Is It Important to Have an eCommerce Platform That Specializes in High Volume Sales?

• No need to worry about servers crashing during a release
• It will have the ability to grow WITH you
• Allows you to expand your business through wholesale (B2B), custom customer groups (B2C) and you can manage affiliates through an app on your site no high cost services

Switching to BigCommerce

• In-house migration team that will walk you through switching your products over to BigCommerce

Most Important App or Feature to Include on Website to Maximize Sales

• Email provider to communicate with customers
• • Thank You for your orders
  • Abandon Carts
  • Review of Products
• InStock Alerts to let them know when products are back in stock

Tracey's Favorite New Features

• New Analytics and Insights
• Buy Buttons

^^^^^^ How Spiffy Cool is THAT?! You should totally test it out...just sayin!

Where to Find More Information on BigCommerce

Website

Blog

Features

Welcome to Made It Happen Monday, where we bring you the stories of the people in the creative industry who have built a business and Made It Happen! Today, we have Missy Luukkonen from The Little Green Bean. Missy is one of these amazing women who can take a piece of scrap fabric and turn it into the cutest, most unique items for your home. Plus, her sewing room is to die for!

SHOW NOTES

Missy's tips for finding balance between maintaining a craft business and having a personal life:

• Find your rhythm
• Build a schedule and stick to it
• Take a lunch and two 15 minute breaks
• Remove cell phone from your craft area
• Use a planner to plan out your day
• Take the weekend off

Missy and her amazing craft room

Fun Facts

Favorite Product - whatever she is working on at the moment

Favorite Part of Owning a Business - having days to do what you want

Favorite Business Craft Tool - her giant ironing board

Favorite Holiday That Inspires Her Cute Birds - Christmas

My Favorite Birds!

Where To Find The Little Green Bean

Website

Instagram

Etsy Shop

Regardless if you're on a design team, make cards for fun or sell them throughout the year, having a craft room or craft space set up properly can not only have you time, but can help you find success. In today's episode, we are going to talk about the 10 ways you can set your craft room up for success.

SHOW NOTES 10 Ways to Set Your Craft Room Up for Success

1. Try pre-cutting your card bases
2. Pre-cut your white and ivory 1st and 2nd layers
3. Use your MISTI
4. Keep your most used supplies at your finger tips
5. Pre-make Nuvo Crystal Drops
6. Pre-stamp the images you want to color
7. Invest in a Scan N Cut
8. Keep a card journal
9. Tidy up your work space after every use
10. Organize your supplies

Friday Tip of the Week

"Be patient! Never give up. The trash can is your last resort. Keep at a project-it usually turns out differently then you expect and you may even like it more. And above all, have fun!"

- Victoria Moore-Beall

Sponsor

My Sweet Petunia and the amazing MISTI

We have Sallyann Ralph from Little Sweet Designs on today's show to talk about the importance of branding for your blog, why she helps small businesses with pre-made templates and shows you how to use programs like InDesign, Photoshop, Canva and more. Her Brand Bar is a one stop resource to help creativepreneurs stay ahead of the game.

MARKETING RESOURCES, TECH TRAINING & 'DONE-FOR-YOU' TEMPLATES FOR EVERY GIRL BOSS!

The Brand Bar is a design-based membership site that meets you exactly where you are in business. We help you design, create and build a brand, PLUS all the marketing graphics that go along with it, so, it feels more like you!

SHOW NOTES

Branding is you. Your face. Your Clothes. -Sallyann Ralph

FUN FACTS

Favorite Template: eBooks

Favorite eCourse: InDesign

Favorite New Service: Shhh, it's a secret, she has 2 new designers coming on board

Where to Find Sallyann

Little Sweet Designs Website

Facebook

Instagram

Etsy

Free Resources and Templates

Sallyann Ralph Website

We are doing something a bit different for today's podcast. We just got back from Junkie Fest in Greendale, WI and I fell so in love with this little village that I had to share a bit of back story and history. I hope you enjoy the excerpt from the book, Greendale - The Little Village That Could and Did before we talk about our recap from Junkie Fest.

Links Referenced

Village Paper and Ink

Hampton Inn - Franklin, WI

Greendale, WI

Gina K Designs

Stamp Junkies

Sponsored By

My Sweet Petunia

Welcome to our final week of the Planner Series. I hope you have enjoyed the last several weeks and the guests we have had on the show. If you missed out on any of the podcasts, you can find them all here. Also, if you would like to be eligible to win one of the NINE fabulous prizes, please leave us a comment in the show notes by July 6th. We will be announcing the winners on July 7th!

Today, we have Laurie Huff from Quo Vadis talking about traditional planners, why paper planners are making such a huge come back and how to best utilize the planner that works best for you.

SHOW NOTES

What makes the Quo Vadis Planner so special?

• Clairefontaine paper
• Numerous styles, sizes, layouts and colors
• Refillable with add on inserts

For those of us in the Creative industry or who have a lot going on, do you recommend using one or multiple planners?

• Have a main planner that has all of your deadlines, if it has a date, it goes in your planner
• Save your creativity on output not on planning

What advice would you give to someone who is looking for the perfect planner?

• Stop looking online
• Write down what you need it to do for you
• • Keep your schedule; personal and work
  • Keep your families schedule
  • Tasks
  • Goals
  • Record to refer back to
• Try a layout before you buy it and see if it works for you

Don't try to do too much. You'll feel overwhelmed and underwater. - Laurie Huff

Why do you think paper planners are so popular?

• Luxurious experience
• History of your life

Paper planners are an experience technology cannot replicate. - Laurie Huff FUN FACTS

Favorite Quo Vadis Planner Style

• Septanote
• Trinote

Favorite Planner Cover and color

• Violet Texas Cover

Favorite pen to use

• Uni-Ball Jetstream 4 & 1

WHERE TO FIND QUO VADIS Website Blog Instagram Facebook Shopping for Covers Shopping for Inserts Laurie's Favorite Clairfontaine Stapled Notebooks LINKS REFERENCED Origin of the Planner Time Management Monday Writing Wednesday - Journaling Page Per Day Challenge Textagenda - Laurie used in the Peace Corps Space24 - Light Green Tint: Great for lists and lots of busy-ness!

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors! Quo Vadis

Paper Clip Planet

Welcome to Made It Happen Monday with Marcia Francois the Organising Queen! Today we talk to Marcia about living life intentionally, how to find time to do the things you love and her advice for finding the perfect planner for your lifestyle.

SHOW NOTES

Marcia's Main Purpose or Focus - "Inspire people to take action."

Why Marcia thinks people sabotage themselves when it comes to finding time to do things they love - "It's a badge of honor to be busy"

"I have enough time for everything that is important to me." - Marcia Francois

Advice for people who are struggling with finding the perfect planner:

"Go with simplicity and you need to know yourself"

Marcia's piece of advice for those of us who are crafters

"Know in advance what you want to do and set up your environment for success." -Marcia Francois

Marcia's Favorites

Favorite organizing or time management system - Meal Planning

Favorite service she offers - Coaching

Favorite Pen(s)

• Pilot G2 .7mm
• Pentel EnerGel .7mm

About Marcia

Blog

eBooks - 31 Days of Enough Time

Instagram

Facebook

Don't forget to use coupon code WELCOME when purchasing any of her eBooks for 20% off!

Marcia and I in Stirling

First night in town and she talked me into eating Indian food!

You will need to follow us on Instagram to see pictures of my nightmare and my progress thus far!