Date joined etsy -5/12/08
Sales to date - 2550
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.My name is Sue Urquhart and I live in Santa Rosa, California (which is about 1 hour north of San Francisco). I share a small house with my boyfriend Kelly and his sister Laura, and 3 dogs, 3 cats and 3 birds. Lulu Bug is actually one of the dogs (the sweet Shar Pei on my shop banner). Since my last name is hard to pronounce and even worse to spell I decided that Lulu Bug was much easier to remember for my business name, and easy to spell too!
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
I get up a bit before 7 and Kelly and I go to our favorite local coffee house until 8. I
don’t especially like getting up, but I enjoy this morning ritual which we’ve been doing for years and it’s good for me to get up and get my day started.
I return home and do all my shipping and any other business stuff that has to get done before doing anything else. I have to do a bit finishing work to just about everything before it ships, so if there’s a lot going out this can take awhile. I relist anything that has sold, answer convos and do some renewing too. A varying amount of time is wasted on the internet during this period, and more coffee is consumed. I go to the mailbox in the afternoon and run errands while I’m out. This is when it’s nice to have gotten dressed and presentable first thing in the morning. If I’ve been up late the night before (which is usually the case) a short power nap is in order about now, and then more coffee, and perhaps a little more internet time wasting, depending on the work load. I might do photography, new listings, work on custom designs, or do finishing work for the rest of the afternoon. I check my convos throughout the day and try to respond as quickly as I can. At some point in the early evening some exercise and dinner will likely happen. I’m a night person and like to do the bulk of my creative work at night. I tend get going around 8pm, and will usually work at my bench until midnight or 1 am. I like doing design work at this time too. If I’ve had a lot of sales during the day, I print invoices and shipping labels to get a start on the next day’s shipping work.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
I come from a long line of crafty women, so I've always enjoyed making stuff. I was also very fortunate in that my dad worked for United Airlines and we traveled a lot, all over the world. I really got in to art in high school and then went to art school and got my BFA in graphic design. I didn't start working with metal until after college, and that has been my medium ever since. I also raced motorcycles for 7 years (starting at age 36), but gave that up to focus on my business. The race bikes are now my living room/studio, but Kelly raced his just this weekend.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?I thought it would be a way to write off my jewelry making expenses and make a little money to buy more supplies.
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
It was less than a week, to someone I did not know.
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?
I love junk food, but I'm a vegetarian and I try to balance it with lots of veggies and fruit, but I'm not always successful. Especially after Kelly goes food shopping, then it's a junk food fiesta!
We don't have TV, but I do watch South Park, the Dog Whisperer and Ru Paul's Drag Race online. I will also admit to watching Rock of Love online too (get well soon Bret!)
My very favorite musician is Egyptian pop super star Amr Diab (think Egyptian Ricky Martin) I finally discovered Pandora, and have been listening to the punk/new wave non stop. It's like 1983 again! I was a senior in high school then.
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, an instrument, etc.If I had more time and place to set up the equipment I'd love to do lampworking. I took a short lampworking workshop and just loved it, but I could tell that it's a skill that takes a lot of time to develop, and I don't think my living room can take any more equipment!
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
I find Facebook to be a good networking tool, and joining a team can be a really valuable place for cross promoting and learning the in's and out's of Etsy without getting your head bit off in the forums. Lots of people swear by Twitter, but it's not my cup of tea. Don't forget to tell everyone you know about your shop either!
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
It's hard to choose only 3!
My sister's letterpress shop - rawartletterpress
a good friend of mine just opened her shop recently - pineapplehappy
and I just love FriendlyMade's photographs of old signs.
-One year from now, I hope my number of sold items is...
enough that I can keep doing this full time!
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Have a successful etsy shop and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
