Asking for help

Over at Yesterday's Glitter Kelly has a great post about irony and compassion.

It set me to thinking about how hard it is to "make it" in business out here on the world wide web --

yes, the internet is in some ways a great equalizer -- the individual in the basement in her pjs loading up stuff to sell can look like a much bigger company

but it also means that the whole world is your competition

I realized after reading Kelly's post that she is correct when she says "All too often when people complain over something it's a cry for help that they don't know how to ask for."

Those of you that have read this blog for a while know that this is the place where I sometimes complain. (Ok, I try to complain only here, not on the studio blog)

But I realize that what I'm really doing when I complain here is hope that because it is out there on the world wide web that someone will see what I've said and offer some suggestion that will help me solve whatever I've complained about

I also think that Kelly is right about not being in the right niche at the right time. As my mother has said from time to time "when my ship comes in I'll probably be at the airport".

I know at least two bear artists (neither of which has been making bears as long as I have), that on a regular basis will make a bear, list it on their web site, and sell it within a week -- one of them regularly sells her pieces for $500 and up.

A while back, when I was feeling particularly discouraged about the whole thing, I sent an email to one of them asking for some help.

I wanted to know how she managed this feat.

Was it that my pictures weren't good enough (though I've been told they're good)?

Was it that I didn't write up the descriptions well?

Was it that the product just wasn't good enough?

I guess she didn't feel like she wanted to share her success -- since she never replied

Recently I was reading an article about the "new crafters", and I'm beginning to wonder if it's just that the whole trend of what is selling now has passed me by

I think I'm pretty tech savvy for an old broad -- I do blog after all, but I don't do Face Book or Twitter or Flickr or any of those other things -- I like doing my art, and the more time I spend on the computer, the less time I have to do art.

How do you manage to balance all of that?

And most important of all is still that question -- is it the presentation (whatever form it takes) or is the work just not good enough?

Sure would be nice to know