Crains has an interesting article up asking this question. I’m interested in this topic from a variety of angles! Are the city government agencies supportive? Are other businesses supportive? Are potential clients supportive? How much do people want small business anymore? I’d love to have your feedback. Send me any comments at
cleverbetsy@kensium.com
I posted the following “feeler” on Crains:
I’m new to owning a small business. I just launched cleverbetsy.com which is a “green gift” website. Being a jewelry artist started as a hobby and suddenly I couldn’t keep up with wedding and other special occasion custom orders! The fact that I have two little kids was a factor….
Also, I was still working in my original career, marketing and advertising. As said former marketing pro, I have to give my favorite firm ever a shout out – Chempetitive Group is the best integrated communications firm for the life sciences! Boo Ya! This past Thursday they just had their annual client bash. Their office is on Jefferson over by the Ogilvie station and they have this gorgeous green roof. Delightful! The theme for this year’s party was “Roofstock”… Very fun. But I digress.
My point – and I did have one- is that my day to day experiences managing large client accounts inspired me to pair account management with art. I’m now the “go between” for a number of artists and “patrons.”
I represent 15 local artists in various mediums who are all committed to using some portion re-used or recycled materials in their products. We offer jewelry, paper crafts and textiles. Everything is handmade and / or custom. It is a huge amount of work but also very rewarding.
I have to disagree a bit with another blogger above who stated that no one is interested in special things anymore. True – many Americans are price conscious right now. However, sustainability and nostalgia never go out of style. I think the key is “little treats” that feel indulgent but don’t break the bank and mean something more than what they mean – if you know what I mean!
I’m selling lots of wire wrapped sea glass pendants right now. They are $7 each and I sell ribbon to go with it for $2 per strand. These are beautiful, timeless, sort of dreamy and still very inexpensive.
Right now I’m working my butt off to get images and descriptions posted so that I can (hopefully) capture some of the 2009 holiday season. I’m teaching myself the ins and outs of e-commerce… It’s been quite a learning curve! My profit-sharing partner, Kensium, and I have re-designed the site’s template about 3 times. Mostly because I was too stubborn to listen to their advice from the beginning. I wanted the site to look unique. Unfortunately, it did look unique in the “where is the buy button” kind of way..
So, all this self-promotion and reflection to eventually ask – who out there has some tips for a new e-tailer!? Particularly in regards to Cook County rules and regulations. Correct me if I’m wrong but the rules governing websites still seem kinda loosey goosey. Any time I call a government agency to ask for help I get multiple conflicting answers! Are there resources to learn this stuff on the fly? Any counsel would be welcome.
Also, I’m open to other types of feedback. My business is going well right now due to word of mouth. However, I have yet to get many purchases based on the site’s own merit. That is to say, it functions as a business card but I’ve had very few sales that “the web” generated. The site is cleverbetsy.com. I’d welcome any feedback. I’m the person behind the “info” button. And please do bear in mind that it is a work in progress. We are changing the shopping cart so that prospects no longer have to go to google to checkout. We’ll have our own cart. Also, I’m uploading about 200 new products, descriptions, etc in the next few days. That’s why I’m up at 1 am! But if any ideas occur to you, please let me know!
Thanks and good luck to all the other small business owners out there who are still cranking at this time of the night or morning or whatever! The good old US of A will never fail with all the vim and vigor we entrepreneurs have to offer!!! Ra, Ra!
Liz 
Relevant Links:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/
cgi-bin/article.pl?articleId=32293
