EkaBlog - Site Blog for Ekaweeka the Small Business Community

A word to all you designers, crafters, services and other independant businesses - incase you haven't already heard - relaxation is as powerful as hard work. The two go hand in hand. As a part of this, I have set aside the books and emails and we're taking a walk on the beach.

Bri and I stopped in Topanga Canyon at Hidden Treasures. And just so we didn't feel totally guilty about this short drive to paradise, we're collecting drift wood for her sea shell mobiles - now hows that for mixing business with pleasure?

So what did you do to take the load off? Tell us - send an email to info (at) ekaweeka.com we'll post your stories up here.

Ciao

There is much going on here for Ekaweeka on many fronts. We've raised a nice amount of attention from around the world, our family of shops and services have grown with the addition of wood workers, soap makers, screenplay writers and more. We have snagged a couple folks from the UK and Australia which is so exciting.

Can I take a second to digress though? Cause we just got back to Hollywood on the 30th and compared to the chilly air and gray mornings in Nor Cal, I am loving LA!!! It is 70 degrees fahrenheit which feels like 85 in the direct sunlight. Lets see here.. its 52 in Palo Alto (Bay Area), 40 in Chicago, 45 in London, 46 in New York, and 42 in Moscow....hmmm why did I ever grow up with a such a bad idea of LA? The question boggles my mind.

Anyhow back to Eka news, how about this, we fixed the image deletion on the edit item page YAY!!!!!

Alright already there is work to be done!

This just in, Briana of Love Briana stopped by the Ekaweeka offices to say hello. She has had some time off from her day job recently and has been working on Love Briana exclusively.

So she pops in and the first words out of her mouth are "working on Love Briana fills my heart with joy!"

And thats just it folks, doing your own thing makes life better. So in a nutshell this is why we do it... you (the small business) have a dream, all you have to do is make your passion a working business which though not easy is entirely possible. We at Ekaweeka are trying to make an easy solution for getting your business up and running in no time with no web design knowledge. Then we market our wonderful family of shops and services to the world and boom!
You get customers, we get your love, and you get the joy of running your own business and being your own boss.

Also since making this great website is our dream, fullfilling your dreams fulfills ours! Sounds kind of like the birds that keep the bugs off the elephant's back, they get to eat the bugs, he has some great friends who literally cover his back. Symbiotic folks thats the word of the day. :-)

One of the most difficult parts of working towards anything, be it riding a wave, or getting your business up and running, is going through your baby steps. Most people wouldn't jump on a short board and try to ride a double overhead wave out on the North Shore without any experience. But everyone tends to imagine themselves riding that 16 ft wave before they have even gotten their feet wet.

In the early days of planning out Ekaweeka we were so high up in the clouds. We had no idea what was waiting for us and we weren't planning for what was going to come first. "We'll have blogs, and calendars, and maps, and ajax customization!" Hahahah its funny just thinking about how silly some of the crap we conceived was. Truth is, we needed to be thinking about the best way to get started without burying ourselves in a heap of junk.

The problem with the big dreams is, you really have no idea where you are going to be after you go through the baby steps. Chances are you will not be anywhere you thought you would be, so why waste your time planning for a future that is all in your head? Start at the bottom, and guide yourself towards that goal.

For anyone out there just getting started, if you have high hopes, focus on the immediate. If you do not know what the immediate is, go get some books on what you are planning to do, read some blogs, research your craft/line of work. Find out what the first steps are and get started on doing those first steps. You can't ride the double overheads without trying some overheads first, and you can't ride the overheads without riding the four footers, and so on, and so on. Yes it is frustrating to start small, but time flies and if you just make a little progress everyday, you'll be there before you know it.

If you are having trouble figuring out where to start email me: tom (at) ekaweeka.com I'll be happy to help you explore what your baby steps are.

We think small businesses are the way of the future. Why else would we bank so much on a site completely devoted to small businesses? The way we see it, while there have always been small businesses, the number of small businesses has gone through a bell curve style growth over time. In the beginning there were many, overtime their numbers diminished, but now they are coming back in a big way.

Before GM & Coca-Cola, hundreds of years ago people made a living by specializing in a craft or service. These crafts/service specialists could only handle so many clients, so over time business men began to pop up. Business men specialized in organizing one business to serve more customers than any single shop keeper could handle on his/her own. Eventually those enterprising businesses got so big a single business could employ thousands of people. And so the number of shops/services decreased for a time as more people worked for a large corporation rather then their own small business.

The enterprising business model expanded and evolved into to the corporate world that we live in today. But corporate life isn't for everyone and even those that can handle it don't always have a choice and their company lays them off. Some of these folks say "the heck with it!" and they start their own business.

We're biased of course, but from where we see it, many people are choosing to take their own path, and where possible many small businesses will continue to sprout up as long as the market and the small business people can handle it. Some of those that are very successful may choose to go down the direction of expanding their business to employ many people. But most will reach a point of self-sustainability and it will be enough for them. They'll stick with their own business because it is something they love, and they'll have no one to answer to but the people who love their business. For the small business person having his/her own company will be way better then working for or owning a large company with hundreds of employees.

And so for us, Ekaweeka is very much like a renaissance village. It's a place for all those small business people to get things done on their own, but with the help of many other small business people around them.

In my last post I began a discussion on the means of a small business to market itself. To recap: the post was started to point out how some businesses choose to market themselves, what was working versus what wasn't and the results of each. At the end of that post I noted that all businesses should know who their customers are, this is where we will pick up. Continuing down this topic I'll discuss how Dog Walker NYC got its start with a simple and successful marketing campaign.

For Dog Walker NYC I started by thinking about what I would need to see if I was a pet owner seeking pet services. I personally would want to know how much the cost was, how and where my dog would be walked, and I would want to get a sense of professionalism and trustworthiness from the service provider. Next I asked myself where I would first think to find such a service. I knew people would go to their local community bulletin board (which was Craigslist in this case) to look for someone nearby they could trust.

To look trustworthy I created a nice professional looking website for Dog Walker NYC. Then I started posting on Craigslist (CL) in the household services section. I made a point to keep the posts short and concise. I noted our most inexpensive price (bait and switch unfortunately DOES work - I fall for it constantly), and I listed our website address where they could get more information. By appearing to meet their price target and NOT looking unprofessional I felt most people would see a business they would potentially use and so they would be willing to explore our website for more information. Once we got them on our website they were ours plain an simple. Because at that point we had steered them away from our competitors' listing's to our website which looked professional, had all sorts of attractive graphics, had useful information, and tons of ways for them to contact us from webpage forms to our email address or phone number. Once they were on the website they were able to make educated judgments about what the company was and whether or not we were right for them.

I knew they would want to know: (a) how much we charged, (b) if we walked 1 or many dogs at a time, (c) what our policies and measures for safety were, and (d) what neighborhoods we served. By separating all that info into separate pages, the site was kept tidy and I was filtering out dozens of unnecessary phone calls from customers that wouldn't be a good match for us. At this point my customer had found me willingly (important) seeking my business and all I had to do was not screw it up. Notice that last point - they came to us, not the other way around, being able to have them find you is enormous - that is permission based marketing which we'll continue to discuss as this series unrolls.

So without getting into what comes after your potential customer has contacted you (i.e. how to not screw it up), lets recap:

We've seen a little bit of everything lately, but in general we're ready for the next steps. The event system is completed but there are a couple small issues that need to be cleaned up before it's released to the public. Meanwhile we've got some less useful but still exciting stuff in the works, including an MP3 player and a an ajax drag and drop method for organizing top friends.

We've been gearing up for a press release and also have started planning our first series of events. The events will be semi casual, we hope they are a way for Ekaweeka users and their friends to mingle and see what each other does. We will let people put their creation and product or service on display to show and / or sell. If you would like to feature your work at one of our events, let us know. We'll most likely start with events in Los Angeles and New York and then move into San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston.

KC recently commented on my post about blogging professionally. Here is a snippit of his comment:
"One thing that not too many people will tell you is to be prepared for the long haul. (So ask yourself now - "am I the type of person that will keep at this project consistently, without faltering, for, say, a whole year?"). I mention this because so many people become dispirited that they don't seem to be getting much reward for their efforts in the early days, so many people fall by the wayside."

Couldn't have put it better myself KC. A valuable lesson for anyone - so folks, are you ready for the long haul?

For Earth Day we attended a meeting of "Divine Synchronities". In this meeting 15 people who mostly didn't know each other came together to share stories of experiences in their life where serendipitous / coincidental things happened. Synchronicity is described in wikipedia as "the experience of two or more occurrences (beyond coincidentally) in a manner that is logically meaningful- but inexplicable- to the person or persons experiencing them".

The point of the meeting was as described in the invitation email:
"Where two or more are gathered, the wisdom and power accumulates as we gather in groups to inspire each other. Amazement and renewed hope comes from listening and sharing with our hearts as we create infinite possibilities in our lives."

It may sound a little hippy dippy to some but as the description of the meeting suggests it was very inspiring and encouraging. Everyone has moments of doubt and fear but when you hear 15 different people all sharing stories of miracles and magic in their day to day life, you realize there is a level of wonder everyone can attest to. It cannot be predicted but it can counted on.

In my recent post on friends and networking I outlined the idea of building your business through your connections. Many of the stories I heard at the meeting last night included examples of the power in networks. Try it out for yourself if you don't believe, engage someone - anyone in a conversation about a magical synchronicity that has happened in your life, get them to share on of theirs and you will see - the world is full of possibilities. The hardest part is letting go, following your instinct and allowing the occurrences to happen.

This doesn't mean you should quit your day job and allow the universe to drop a 10K project on your hands, but it does mean that if you follow your intuition and allow the road to unfold things won't be so... unclear.

If you like the sound of the Divine Synchronicity meeting, hit me up, I'll be happy to help you put one together.

This weekend we stopped by the Fairfax Flea Market here in Hollywood. The market is located in the parking lot of the Fairfax High School at Fairfax and Melrose, it happens every Sunday from 9am to 6pm and not only hosts your typical used items and collectibles. Many of Hollywood's Small Businesses try out their products here or simply come to meet new clients for their regular business. Some of the other local's here including painters, fashion designers, jewelry designers, craftsmen who make shabby sheik furniture from old throw out pieces. The Fairfax Flea Market is one of 6-7 Flea Markets in the Los Angeles area. Getting a booth at one of these varies from spot to spot but they generally cost anywhere from $100-200 for a space, and some take a small percentage of your sales.
Many of the artists who take up spaces at the market end up meeting prop scouts for local studio television and film productions, some just meet each other, others meet casual foot traffic that occasionally turns into future business. One of the vendors that caught my eye was Hitch Couture. They had a chrome camper trailer converted into a mobile boutique. Now this was a brilliant idea. They must save thousands of dollars on rental space, and they can set up shop anywhere.
Hitch Couture created a niche for themselves - making them stand out from all the other vendors. By use of astroturf and plants outside the trailer, a complete changing room in the back of the trailer, rack space, and glass display boxes they were 100% in control of their atmosphere. There are roughly 80 vendors at the Flea Market, Hitch Couture got my attention by simply going a few steps further. Check out their website www.hitchcouture.com.

Kerry Miller - staff writer for Business Week, just wrote a great piece on the dos and don'ts of social conduct online. Her points outline the mistakes many people and businesses make when marketing with social networks. Online just like in the real world she says "is all about giving, not taking". Sometimes online users overlook that they are still interacting in a person to person format, I found a few points extremely relevent like these points below:
"Showing up in flip-flops at a white-tie event is no way to make a good impression."
"Collecting a thick stack of business cards may make you feel important, but it's not a very good way to glean useful contacts."
and "Establishing a new connection doesn't end when the party's over".

I'll disclose right now that it's an article about conduct on Myspace but I think it's fair to say these lessons apply elsewhere.

As we cruise the events, festivals, shops, and private studios of Ekaweeka users we're always taking pictures and working to show everyone what those folks are doing. We are also hoping to get them some exposure. Naturally many of these businesses/artists/people are doing something original, something they don't want to be copied for fear that their ideas will be taken leaving their potential businesses in the dust.

Copyright can sometimes be the only way to protect an original idea and if you haven't filed a copyright for some of your original work now would be a good time to start thinking about it. Copyright is often overused though, we've seen artists and craft makers claim that their work is copyrighted and they told us they didn't want pictures taken of those creations. This is a perfect example of how your protection can be your enemy, if you have thought about this or even have the same feelings on protecting your work, don't take our word for it but do give it consideration.

Some things to think about:
How easy is it to copy your ideas? If it is that easy, you may not have something so original...
Even if a picture is used to keep a visual of your creation... is that likely to steal all possibility of selling your own?
On the contrary, it could perhaps get you more business as other people discover what you are doing.
We would suggest not preventing pictures to be taken as chances are - they will only increase knowledge about your work but they could produce more buyers. This is just the tip of the iceberg but think long and hard about it before saying "No!" to anyone out there that wants to remember your work. After all if you do tell them it isn't ok, you can count on one thing from those people; they will probably bother speaking to you or about you again except possibly in negative retrospect.

As a final thought think about how much other art influences your art. If someone does try to use your ideas, they are not going to make exactly what you make (not without becoming you at any rate), instead your influence will live on in other work. Isn't that what it is all about?

All a day in the life I guess... So while the initial server migration we just performed went over swimmingly for the most part, a rather hazardous bug revealed itself this morning. Basically any page where a user could type in text and save it which included: message composing, account settings, profile info, interests etc. the whole nine yards; was crashing if an apostrophe was in the text upon submission. Frankly I'm just fascinated how we went an entire day without anyone using an apostrophe!

For all those who like myself might take advantage of astrology to explain the madness of this sort - Mercury is officially in retrograde for the next 3 weeks. Wooo Hooo! For those who don't believe in that sort of thing please disregard any mention of hippy dippy stuff on the site blog.

On another note everyone please wish Ellery a happy birthday.

As promised we are here at the Trading Post. It's a beautiful hot day in Hollywood, CA. In addition to the live jazz band, hot food and beverages there are over 150 different vendors here with paintings, prints, photography, collectibles, soaps, jewelry, clothing, furniture, hats, beads, fabric, and of course much much more.

Briana has a whimsical booth - she has created an atmosphere complete with decorative ferns and flower bouquets.

We found early on that the psychology of her booth's layout required some serious though. Initially we used a walk through strategy allowing walkers by to enter her area. Shortly after we decided to bring all her tables up front so there would be easy access.

The day is still early, check back for updates as we continue to explore the potential opportunities of flea markets for art and craft vendors.

A couple weeks ago we wrote a post on how preventing people from taking pictures of your creations for copyright protection was potentially more harmful then good for business. Shortly after the post was published Laura Iverson of Zen Breeze Art wrote to us about her own experience with copyright theft. Laura had a really bad experience with some sweatshop art imitators who copied her art designs from the gallery images of her ebay shop and resold low resolution blow ups of them in their own shop. Here's Laura's account of the nightmare turned reality:

I wanted to share Laura's story to represent the devils advocate on this issue, clearly it isn't quite as simple as "the more pictures they take the more business we'll do!". It also doesn't appear to be as easy as preventing people from photographing your work.. if we tried to block those attempts no one would be posting pictures of their art on the web. This does serve as a warning to keep your eyes open for art imitators, sure imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but in this case flattering may not fix the damage that can be done.

Protect yourselves folks, it could be as simple as grabbing an email address from the person taking pictures of your work - after-all they most likely do like your art and there should be nothing wrong with having a way to keep in touch.

If anyone else has a similar story or a testament to the kind of synchronicity that takes a random photo at an art fair and has it turn into a sale of your art down the road - share it with us.

Selling your goods from a kiosk in a busy shopping area may not be your idea of a great sales opportunity. But as a shopper and lover of unique jewelry, I’ve found some pretty great pieces by perusing these little stands.

I live near Union Square in San Francisco, and while sometimes it’s kind of annoying to deal with people hawking their goods while you’re trying to shop/catch the bus/walk/go to work, sometimes I actually stop and find something.

One such time was when I got my now-beloved fork ring. There is a vendor in the Union Square area who makes jewelry out of forks and stones – at really reasonable prices. I think I paid $10 for each for the ring and a bracelet. He had some samples set out, and then a bunch of loose stones you could pick from if you wanted him to make it for you right there. I’d been in the market for a black ring, so I chose a black rectangular stone, had him measure my ring size, and watched him go to work on my new piece of jewelry.

He said he bought the forks on the cheap where ever he could find them. He cut off what he didn’t need from the end (handle) of the fork and filed it down, then bent to remainder around his ring-sizing tool. He bent the tines, and used them to hold to hold the stone on the front of the ring.

His ring-making enterprise struck me as creative, and also pretty cheap to undertake. Forks you could probably get for free. And the stones weren’t really that high-quality, but the ensemble put together was cute enough to be irresistible!