Mother Hen

When I started my shop of one of a kind wearable art knitwear, I thought selling would be easy. I imagined my unique colourful pieces handknitted with natural fibre would fly off the shelf and I just could design and knit happily ever after…

WRONG!

I soon learnt that selling is a hard slog and that there is so much more to it than just putting my pieces up on Etsy, or standing behind a stall for a few hours. It’s all about presentation, good photos, having a certain kind of image, networking, networking, promoting, branding, good props, looking the part, promoting, marketing, constantly blogging, tweeting, facebooking…things I never thought about before.
I suppose I always knew that I wasn’t a natural-born salesperson, but what I realised only today was, that I am also really precious about my pieces. Do I really want to give them out of my quivering hands, those hands that worked at them lovingly and for hours and hours on end?

Well, they are no good to anybody cooped up in my various hat boxes and suitcases, are they? They should be worn, flaunted, shown off, felt, matched with lots and lots of different outfits…

So I’ve taken the plunge and gave some of my pieces to a friend of mine who may be able to sell them at her stall. I am also sending a few more to the Etsy Ireland team pop-up shop in Limerick. However, when I selected the pieces both for my friend and for Etsy Ireland, I was like a mother hen, flapping my arms and looking at them protectively, hoping they will go to good homes – and not get lost in the post.
Yes, I know I am supposed to run a business and sell these pieces. Alas…these are my creations…my precious…erm…yes, my own…!
So let’s hope other people will do a better job selling my pieces – it might help if I am not clucking around the knitwear…