Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Heading out the door: a note about special orders

I had a gal contact me a few weeks ago to inquire about making a couple of quirky custom orders for her.
I was glad to do it and immediately said yes.
Custom orders are fun.
They make me think OUTSIDE the box 
&
they are brand new ideas to work on.
This gal was a stranger to me and found me on etsy.
SO, since then, We have had like 150 conversations.
No lie {I just looked} Wow.
I have gotten to know her and the things she likes and she has gotten to learn about a few of my quirks too ;)
I think if I ever stopped by her town, I'd let her know so we could meet for coffee.
Hmm, does she drink coffee?
Since then she has come back A LOT.
Lucky me.
The most recent projects were from a fabric she fell in love with.
(not a fabric from my shop. This was EXTRA custom. And that is fine.)
SO once I ordered her fabric we talked about what to do with the extra and she ended up asking me to make a little sun dress for a special two year old.
Here's the thing. I may not have a toddler dress listed in my shop.  
But she saw from other listings that I crochet too, and asked.
Sometimes that is all you have to do is, just ask.
That is kind of the joy of ordering from Etsy.
The customer service, the custom attention.
Getting exactly what you ask for.
At the same time, you are helping a momma put a little extra in her account for her hard work.
And I've found there's a lot of us mammas on Etsy.
You are also giving her confidence and making her feel good. Like she's doing something RIGHT. 
Like she is worth something.
And let's be honest, there are many days as a mama where she is trying her very best and she is being told
 "I hate you!!" by her tween child and she's not really feeling like she does anything right.
She is working hard, straight from her heart and soul but not getting paid to be a mama.
So YOU are doing way more than just ordering something special from her.
You are making her feel better.

So lets review:
Even if a shop doesn't have something you are looking for, if you like it's style and like what's in there, chances are if you ASK, then you will be pleasantly surprised by the response you get.
{if not, move on to the next}

Custom orders are cool.

Etsy is a great place to not only get something special, but also lots of times a spot to make a creative mommas day.

I have a rock star customer.


This is a custom bed to fit a awesome crate she found.
I hope the real kitty just loves it.
Thank you, you rock star customer. You know who you are ;)

Stay tuned for more custom orders leaving the shop.



3 comments:

  1. This is such a great article, and sooooo true--us Etsians are usually happy to do just about anything a customer wants (if we can). Happy customers makes for a happy shop owner! Keep up the great work and the custom orders!

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks! yEP, CUSTOM ORDERS ROCK!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, you rock star artist for creating things I love!

    ReplyDelete

It's fun to get love notes: