I had this question in my Formspring a/c yesterday.
Think this is the first time a fellow blogshop owner asks me directly how I pull TFL up.
Yes, starting & maintaining a blogshop is not easy.
It's like going into a long-distance relationship.
The start was so exciting, the present feels shaky, the future...WHERE ON EARTH IS IT?? I CAN'T SEE YOU!!
You can't help but envy others who are having it all in their love lives (in this case, their blogshops).
You keep wondering if you should end it and why you put yourself through all these 'emo' moods.
Your friends & family are not supportive anyway.
But you want to think you make a right decision by starting the relationship.
After all the rain, you want to see the rainbow & grab that pot of gold.
You want to prove your detractors wrong.
And...you do love him (in this case, your own blogshop).
The rollercoaster of emotions can definitely get you insane.
Tammy of OhSoFickle wrote a post on Blog Shops in April.
It might be a useful reference for some of you out there, if you have not read it.
I typed fast & furiously to the question because I had yet to pack my luggage for the morning flight later.
Realised that when something is so close to your heart, expressing youself is only in a matter of 5 minutes.
When I saw the answer was that long, I thought of sharing with my readers (You! You! Yes, it's you!).
To the lady who asked this question, to all who are going through a rough patch in some area of your lives and to myself: 加油！
Formspring question no. 195:
hello xinyu! how did you manage to get TFL going up when the start was so bad? I have a blogshop too and it makes me demoralised ):
Hi there! I only wrote, say, 10% of what I went through and it already look that bad? =P
1) Cry when I've no $ to fund my own living. After crying, bite my teeth, fight on, refuse to listen to anyone who ask me to give up.
2) Learn from the best. Scour thru the archives of the successful blogshops & the blogs of the owners. Read abt their happy & not so happy times. Tell myself, "See! Others are also like that!" And then, learn how they eventually mk it big - what they sell, how they sell etc.
3) Still continue reading the blogshop owners blogs. Have to be constantly in touch with what others are doing. When they are improving, I must also improve TFL, so that TFL won't seem obsolete/irrelevant. 知己知彼。
4) Get more in tune with customers. Most BS owners hv blogs, so I started my own too, at the grand age of 31. -___- Realised that a personal blog is more engaging, let on to readers what go behind the scenes (reading blogs hv become a way of life for many) and ur readers, mostly customers, will open up to you in ways unimaginable, even if they are in their teens (that make them 10-15 yrs my junior, gasp!).
5) Non-stop advertising on famous bloggers' blogs. Shove my blogshop name into their readers' latent memories & pray hard that it stays stuck inside, when they think of buying bags.
6) What doesn't sell, slash price, throw into Sale section even at a loss. Swear to myself that I will never bring that lousy design again.
7) What sells, continue to bring variations in. Swear to myself that die die, also must have the money to bring the fantastic designs in.
8) Constantly improve TFL's site/layout/products quality & variety. NEVER think TFL is good enough. If people tell you your BS sucks, wholehearedly agree with them and harass them for constructive feedback whenever appropriate. =DD
9) Bring on the past 6 years of SQ training and apply it to TFL's customer service. Smile, smile, smile & smile, even if I get all heated up from a wrongful accusation. Never online fight with a customer. It's never worth it. Spend your time thinking about better sales & better products!
10) Pour out all my woes to my husband, and when finished, I feel recharged and ready to fight again. Never mind that he is playing his silly FB game all the while.
11) Pray hard, really very hard. Dedicate the merits of whatever sutra or mantra chanting/good deeds to the success of TFL, so that I have enough to feed myself.
12) Stick to upright business ethics. Don't take short cuts. Don't cheat customers. Don't bluff suppliers. Don't advertise with people who say they will review ur sponsored products yet tell others that they bought with their own money. Karma never forgets.
13) Don't get cocky when others start recognising your effort & tell you how much they love your products. I never think I'm good enough. I want to leave that bit of inadequacy in me, so that I will always want to better myself.
14) Don't just look at the best blogshops. Look at the ones who are not performing too. Get it inside your head that you will never do what they did.
15) And when all else fails (sometimes it takes a long time to see a teeny weeny bit of result), drown myself with Coca-cola in the middle of the night & mope over a large packet of potato chips.
Hey, I think I write long enough to cut & paste this as a blog entry! =D
I'm not having it good all the time. If you really want your BS to work, look at it inside out & thoroughly. Be your own BS worst critic. I'm sure you can sniff out ways to bring it up! Go, babe, go! =))
1) Cry when I've no $ to fund my own living. After crying, bite my teeth, fight on, refuse to listen to anyone who ask me to give up.
2) Learn from the best. Scour thru the archives of the successful blogshops & the blogs of the owners. Read abt their happy & not so happy times. Tell myself, "See! Others are also like that!" And then, learn how they eventually mk it big - what they sell, how they sell etc.
3) Still continue reading the blogshop owners blogs. Have to be constantly in touch with what others are doing. When they are improving, I must also improve TFL, so that TFL won't seem obsolete/irrelevant. 知己知彼。
4) Get more in tune with customers. Most BS owners hv blogs, so I started my own too, at the grand age of 31. -___- Realised that a personal blog is more engaging, let on to readers what go behind the scenes (reading blogs hv become a way of life for many) and ur readers, mostly customers, will open up to you in ways unimaginable, even if they are in their teens (that make them 10-15 yrs my junior, gasp!).
5) Non-stop advertising on famous bloggers' blogs. Shove my blogshop name into their readers' latent memories & pray hard that it stays stuck inside, when they think of buying bags.
6) What doesn't sell, slash price, throw into Sale section even at a loss. Swear to myself that I will never bring that lousy design again.
7) What sells, continue to bring variations in. Swear to myself that die die, also must have the money to bring the fantastic designs in.
8) Constantly improve TFL's site/layout/products quality & variety. NEVER think TFL is good enough. If people tell you your BS sucks, wholehearedly agree with them and harass them for constructive feedback whenever appropriate. =DD
9) Bring on the past 6 years of SQ training and apply it to TFL's customer service. Smile, smile, smile & smile, even if I get all heated up from a wrongful accusation. Never online fight with a customer. It's never worth it. Spend your time thinking about better sales & better products!
10) Pour out all my woes to my husband, and when finished, I feel recharged and ready to fight again. Never mind that he is playing his silly FB game all the while.
11) Pray hard, really very hard. Dedicate the merits of whatever sutra or mantra chanting/good deeds to the success of TFL, so that I have enough to feed myself.
12) Stick to upright business ethics. Don't take short cuts. Don't cheat customers. Don't bluff suppliers. Don't advertise with people who say they will review ur sponsored products yet tell others that they bought with their own money. Karma never forgets.
13) Don't get cocky when others start recognising your effort & tell you how much they love your products. I never think I'm good enough. I want to leave that bit of inadequacy in me, so that I will always want to better myself.
14) Don't just look at the best blogshops. Look at the ones who are not performing too. Get it inside your head that you will never do what they did.
15) And when all else fails (sometimes it takes a long time to see a teeny weeny bit of result), drown myself with Coca-cola in the middle of the night & mope over a large packet of potato chips.
Hey, I think I write long enough to cut & paste this as a blog entry! =D
I'm not having it good all the time. If you really want your BS to work, look at it inside out & thoroughly. Be your own BS worst critic. I'm sure you can sniff out ways to bring it up! Go, babe, go! =))
Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu
