I should call Part 3 Trying to Teach An Old Dog New Tricks as I can safely say up until now this part of my journey has been the most difficult and the most frustrating to accomplish. I am still not there but I have climbed the steepest learning curve and had to learn many new skills.
So after launching Momma parker on Facebook and getting my head around it all, targeting audiences and publishing posts I had also started creating some beautiful products in the background....so now I needed a website..an online shop to sell my hand crafted products.
On my son's suggestion we decided to go for shopify and although they charge a monthly fee they do so much work for you in the background and only take a really small percentage from your sales. It seemed so much better value than Ebay or Etsy and I was in control of the whole look, feel and branding.
My son selected a template and started to build the basics whilst I focused on getting products ready to upload and carry on with the Momma Parker Facebook page.
The kitchen now had become Momma Parker's HQ and the table full of boxes, tools, candles, oils you name it anything crafty was piled high and plate space was limited. ( This did not do my OCD any good but I knew it would be worth it)
So I began to nurture the business and start really living the dream of escaping the rat race and the corporate existence. We started a production line..well two of us myself and hubby sat on an evening, wood burning, creating, waxing, writing affirmations and assembling my reiki charged boxes ready for uploading to the shop being built in the background.
The second breakfast bagel business meeting was scheduled with my son when he would start to show this old dog how to manage the online shop. So I got up bright and early on a Sunday morning, usually my lie in treat day, and trotted off to Morrisons for the bagels....I picked some lovely onion ones and some garlic cheese went to the checkout to be told the tills aren't open till ten Sunday trading laws!!!!
Disgruntled I put them back and drove to my son's flat...the one stop shop was open...guess silly Sunday laws don't apply here so grabbed some bagels and went up to his flat.
And so my frustrations began....He showed me what he had already done, clicking with ease as per usual from one thing to another before handing me the reigns. I was left alone to load pictures that I had proudly taken of our newly created products, lovingly staged on the stone seat in the garden that hubby had built surrounded with pine cones and leaves.
I couldn't even create one product or load an image...after half an hour without any success my son had to show me again.....after another half an hour I had managed one product loaded and one image that was it. I had not created a collection for it to be part of, written a description or properly catalogued it...all the secret wizardry that happens back end of a website. It suddenly dawned on me this was going to take longer than expected..BUT I was not going to give up after all you only get out what you put in.
But when considering it Shopify is really easy to use once you get your head round it and if you have a dream to sell online I would really recommend it to you all. You create your products individually and then create a collection that your individual products become a part of.
So I had got this bit now and after creating three box products and a collection I was feeling more confident. I was quite proud although I couldn't get the collection image to line up with the description text but these were minor tweaks that my son could help with.
I saved all my hard work and viewed the website from the front...the bit you and my customers see...it looked pants!!!!! It looked cheap and rubbish and I was not impressed...I became once more frustrated.
My son took a look and gave me some much needed advice. Although the photos looked good we decided that they should be limited to facebook and I needed to think about a more professional look for the website. He suggested just on a white background all of the same size and the same number for each product for consistency.
It dawned on me that this was going to be yet another learning curve on how to take good photos and cut out the background...I knew just the person to help.....my graphic designer friend...I could feel a painful photoshop lesson coming on.....watch out for the next part of my journey
Love Momma P xxx
