lessons learned in online selling
etsy, funky box studio, funky print studio story, tips and tricks

Lessons learned in online selling after 2 and a half years

Several days ago i read a very compelling article on Cristina’s blog about lessons learned after several years of freelancing (a lot more than my 2 and a half years of online selling!). I thought it would be interesting to write down my own most important lessons learned in online selling as an answer to Cristina’s post.

lessons learned in online selling

At the beginning of 2013 we bought our first piece of machinery: our die cutting machine! She looked like one of those ancient buried treasures; she needed a whole lot of love to get back to a functional state… A whole lot! Now we pretty much have our own fully equipped printing house: letterpress printing machines, paper guillotine, polymer plate making machine, paper drilling machine, paper folding machine… Am i forgetting anything? Well, the point is, we’ve managed to grow. I honestly have no idea if growing this much is enough, not enough or a lot. However, the journey so far did teach us a lot.

1. Success will never happen overnight

Cristina’s first lesson also deals with time frames. I believe this is by far the most important lesson i’ve learned about online selling, but i think it basically applies to any new business. It will not get successful and profitable overnight. When we opened FBS i kept reading forums where people shared their selling experiences; a lot of them stated that it took an average of at least 3 months to get their first sale. So from that point on it’s just a constantly increasing battle to sell more.

In our case it’s an even bigger struggle since we both have day jobs as well. So growing our studio while keeping full time jobs is a lot of work. But we’re slowly and steadily getting there.

2. Communication is the most important detail of online selling

Good communication is the key to online selling. Saying “thank you” and “sorry” is extremely important. Explaining each detail as well as possible is also just as important. People can only see photos of what they’re going to buy, so naturally there could be a bunch of questions. Communication could help close a lot of deals with potential clients, but it can also be your downfall if not done right.

3. Photography skills are needed

As mentioned above, people can only see photos of what they’re buying from you. That means your photography skills will have to be constantly polished so that the quality of your item’s photos will keep on increasing. For me, this is my all time nemesis. You can always call in a professional product photographer if you can. Good photos are bound to increase sales. The lessons learned in online selling will always include a whole chapter for photography.

4. Promote constantly

As the saying goes: “Seldom seen, soon forgotten.” You will need to promote your shop / business / items as often as you can, and yet not so much that it gets aggressive. There’s a limit to everything and it might actually backfire! Use social media well. Figure out which ones work best for your niche and promote there constantly.

5. Remember to breathe!

I agree with Cristina on this one also. Overworking yourself is not ok in any way. It affects your mental and physical health, your family and your family life. Take breaks, go on vacations, one day trips, take a walk in the park, walk barefoot on grass, get a drink with friends, play some badminton, cook with your kids, breathe! Take a chance to unwind from time to time.

Well this is it; these are my most valuable lessons learned in online selling.

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

an2

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card stock boxes
etsy, funky box studio, inspiration, letterpress

Funky Box Studio’s card stock boxes transformed!

The title of this post is a bit dramatic, but not so far from the truth actually. I’ll show you how our card stock boxes get transformed once they reach our clients.

When i introduced the new small jewelry boxes with lid, i also showed you several photos of them being used by some of our clients. These photos can actually also serve as packaging inspiration, so i thought i’d post more of these.

A few months after we opened Funky Box Studio, a client bought a bunch of our medium size gift boxes and at the time she had told me she intended to transform them into mini suitcases. I would have never imagined such a cool result!

card stock boxes

Another cool project our square card stock boxes were a part of is them being used as personalized packaging for some cute cork coasters. The gift boxes were hand printed by our client and we were absolutely in love with how they turned out! You can check our crafty client’s website over here.

card stock boxes card stock boxes

The final “packaging project” i’m presenting today is one that i’m very fond of! Here’s Saloukee Jewellery‘s versions of our card stock boxes and gift bags!

card stock boxes card stock boxes 4

I hope these inspiration photos are useful and there will be more in the future! If you’re also one of FBS’s clients and you’d like to share your updated versions of our boxes, please send us a mail at office@funkyprintstudio.com.

In the mean time, don’t forget about our Christmas in July letterpress promotion! Time is running out and i must say, we’re already working on a bunch of custom letterpress tags and 2 different custom letterpress business cards orders thanks to this promotion of ours. Free shipping for a whole month! It doesn’t matter where you are, if you’re looking o get letterpress printed wedding invitations, RSVP’s, save the date cards, business cards, calling cards, tags, coasters or whatever other piece of letterpress printed stationery, don’t hesitate and ask away! You can send us a mail at office@funkyprintstudio.com or through our etsy shop at www.FunkyPrintStudio.etsy.com.

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

an2

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gold letterpress business cards
etsy, funky box studio, funky print studio story, letterpress, letterpress business cards, letterpress cards, letterpress save the dates cards, letterpress stationery, letterpress tags, letterpress wedding invitations, rant

What has FPS been doing? Custom letterpress business cards, wedding sets, custom designs, new boxes and ranting

FPS has been quite busy, even though lately you can tell people are finally starting their summer holidays. We’ve been working on several custom letterpress business cards, new templates for business cards (which i’m quite anxious to have up in the shop), new templates for save the date cards and also our very first letterpress wedding invitations and reception cards!

We played with ink colors again as we took on a custom letterpress business cards order that had to be printed in navy blue (i must admit, i can’t wait for the client to receive her package as these cards are definitely my favorite project so far! They turned out wonderful! Will have to wait for a confirmation before showing any photos though.). Continuing with ink colors playing, we re-printed our business cards using a sort of metallic copper-gold-brownish ink. Now that’s a color description! But seriously, it’s exactly that! It is a sparkling copper in the sunlight, but it turns brown when inside… The photos can’t really show these subtle changes, but in reality this ink color is quite amazing!

gold custom letterpress business cards

gold custom letterpress business cards

gold custom letterpress business cards

Our first custom wedding stationery set is also something i’m very proud of. I really enjoyed working on the design and we’re actually close to completion. We printed this wedding set in navy blue as well and we also made custom envelopes with blind printing on them. I’m guessing the actual Pantone color for the year is not really Marsala, but Navy Blue…

Our packaging shop will also be updated with new boxes quite soon. We have a bunch of them not listed yet, but alas, my all time nemesis, photography, gets in the way!

The letterpress shop is also in full-mode Christmas in July party! We have a special offer for Christmas in July: free shipping!! I’ll be doing a separate post about this too, but i thought i should mention it here too. So all of you business owners in search for impressive business cards or tags, all of you love-birds searching for beautiful wedding stationery that your guests won’t be able to throw away, all of you people around the world in search of custom letterpress printing, now it’s your chance! We’ll be handling the shipping for you, so there are no boundaries!

I really felt like ranting today, so i’ve done it! It’s also because i should have blogged sooner, but i must admit i’m also thinking of my summer holiday a lot lately…

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

an2

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small boxes with lid
etsy, funky box studio, presentation boxes

New small boxes with lid available! Presentation boxes, square favor boxes, jewelry boxes

The small boxes with lid that we already had listed on our etsy shop are definitely our best selling boxes. They are actually usually bought by handmade jewelry crafters and artists, so we’re really excited to have these presentation boxes available in yet another size.

The small boxes with lid have been requested by a lot of people, so we have high hopes for these new ones to achieve the same popularity as their sisters (?).

small boxes with lid

Here are the technical details for these cute jewelry boxes:

– small boxes with lid, square jewelry boxes, presentation boxes, favor boxes, small gift boxes, party favors or wedding favors. Tip: you can have some traditional white candies wrapped in organza or tulle and then placed inside the boxes, if you’re looking for wedding favors; if you’re looking for baby shower favors, you can have small ceramic figurines wrapped inside that organza or tulle.

– size: 2.95 x 2.95 x 1.18 ” (inches) = 7.5 x 7.5 x 3 cm

– card stock: extra white, grey (white on the inside) or natural brown kraft (white on the inside)

– they come in sets of 20

– these small boxes with lid don’t require any double adhesive tape; you just fold and assemble! The easiest way to assemble a box.

– find them in our shop over here.

small boxes with lid

We’ve just listed these small boxes with lid on our etsy shop today, but i feel like they’ll be well received, just like it happened with the other two lidded boxes we have. You can find those here and here.

I keep talking about how well liked the other boxes with lid are and here’s why:

small boxes with lid
Our lidded boxes used by Jasmin Blanc Boutique
small boxes with lid
Our lidded boxes used by Eniko Fenyvesi
small boxes with lid
Our lidded boxes used by Nicoleta Rossi
small boxes with lid
Our lidded boxes used by Sylph Designs

Jasmin Blanc Boutique, Eniko Fenyvesi, Sylph Designs.

If you’re also among our clients and you’d like to share your items in our packaging supplies, please contact us at office@funkyprintstudio.com.

The Funky Studio team wishes you, as always, a colorful day!

an2

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