Marketing and Networking for your Home Based Business

I thought I could be spared.

I'd be able to hop and fly like the grasshopper or the butterfly or any other bug in my garden and would not be caught in the web.

I was mistaken. I just wanted to make jewelry and be happy with that. But I soon learned that in order to sustain that, I need to sell them.

My friends were generous and supportive. They volunteered to be buyers and I could make just enough to cover my credit card bills for the materials. My idea of working at home started to sprout.

One well wisher, seeing my glee, drew me aside and whispered in my ear - "This clientele of yours is soon going to dry up. You need to have a web site."

Web site? How do people do that? My exposure to the web at this point is limited to e mailing friends and yes, I knew how to enter a search word in Google. But web sites, blogs, my space those are for kids, not folks like me who have just started getting AARP magazines in the mail!

Soon I learned about Etsy and now I have a web site there: alankarshilpa.etsy.com. But as Tammy Powley says, you have to spend as much time in marketing as you give in making jewelry, (if not more).
TammyPowley-About.com

I learned more and more about working from home - new buzz words as social marketing, social networking etc. Well, I have come a long way.

Rena Klingenberg in her wonderful website
home-jewelry business-success-tips.com. took me by the hand to show what its all about and I am so thankful to her.

Social marketing, what I came to know , seeks to influence social behavior, to benefit the target audience and the general society.

I like that. It's not about only money and profit and more money and greed. It's about people, feelings, consciousness. It's about finding out what people need and helping them to find that if you can.

Like, what my dad used to say- create something beautiful, write your best for the sake of art, for the sake of people. My dad, Mr. Narayan Sanyal was a prolific writer in India and had written 139 books in Bengali. His subject matters were diverse. He focused on writing and never worried about money or profit from his work. Well, he was also a civil engineer by profession. With several awards in his life time, money followed him any way. Even after he was gone, his royalties are still alive and robust.
I wish I could give something like that to my readers.

I remember that back in India people dropped by unannounced for a cup of tea. Women with their on going art project used to flock at each other's
backyard. Basking in the afternoon sun they showed off their needlework or knitting project, talked about their worries, savored gossips and laughed at silly corny jokes. Art was a way of life.

Days have changed but aren't we doing just that when we visit each other's blog site? hey, the web is not such a scary horrible place then, hm?

We can't offer a cup of tea but we can offer a link.It really feels nice when I find someone came to visit my blog and left a note.
So if you do happen to come to my door please drop me a comment so that I know your presence and get a chance to know you. With all the best - Dita.
P.S.
In the family picture you can see my dad and ma- both have passed away recently, my daughter Nina, and there is me too. We were in Yosemite.

And, by the way, yesterday I finished a necklace with wire work. It was a lot of work but I was happy. The other picture is of that recently finished necklace. It's going to be in my etsy store at alankarshilpa.etsy.com