{ Bracelet from Nicole Lorentz Design }
Okay, here it is...The post I've been promising about the changes and new policies regarding Lassie Girl. In a matter of days the new items will be up and this blog, the website and the Etsy shop will have a totally different look. But I thought I should get all of you updated first and let you know what's going on!
These are not necessarily permanent changes, but rather things I want to try out and see if they make a difference, both for you and for me. Simplify is my theme right now and in order to keep doing what I do, and to keep loving what I do ( kind of important, right? ), I needed to re-evaluate how I do it. Make sense? Burn out is no fun and that's the path I have been heading down for awhile now. It robs me of my creativity, wears me down and generally makes me an unpleasant person to be around. :)
So, without further ado, let's get started and I'll give you the run-down of how things are gonna be and why:
1) I will be re-opening on Etsy, but with a whole new shop ~ www.lassiegirldesigns.etsy.com. Lassie Girl is still my identity, but it was time for a change. I wasn't sure I wanted to keep up with an Etsy shop and a website, but I do like the constant exposure on Etsy, so I'll continue with it for now. There will be a notice in my shop announcement directing new customers to the old shop for sales and feedback history so that they will know that while we have a new shop, we are not new to Etsy. Since I do have new policies about to take effect, to me it will be simpler to start with a fresh slate.
2) In addition to the new policies, my inventory will be much smaller. The prices will also be slightly higher on Etsy than on the website. I love Etsy dearly, but the fees are getting to be quite high, so in order to compensate for that, it necessitates the price increase. For those of you who are not stuck on the Etsy buying experience and would like to save a little, purchasing on the website will be the way to go. Also, most of the sale events will take place there, again, due to the fee factor on Etsy. I will just be able to offer a better discount without having to take that into consideration.
3) I will only be taking a limited amount of orders per week. For a long time, I just took whatever came my way and felt exhilarated by lots of sales. Some weeks were slow, and some were crazy busy. I hated to turn business away, but could not keep up with demand many, many times without killing myself to do so. So from now on, if/when the set quota has been reached ( and it will be orders from both the website and Etsy combined ), then both shops will "close" until the following week. On Etsy you can sign up to be notified when the shop is open again, and I will begin an e-mail list for the website that you can subscribe to which will send a message when that is open again as well.
This change will allow me to offer a much faster turnaround time, which I think most of you will be happier with! It will also enable me to spend more time being creative and coming up with new designs, which is something I have been missing BADLY! Plus, I have really, really been wanting to put more time into the blog and haven't been able to do so.
4) Shipping will take place on Fridays only unless it's an RTS item, then it will go out within 48 hours. I will take a few rush requests per week, but otherwise everything goes out on the same day. Not only will this save me time ( I mail daily right now ), but it will simplify the process of having to look up postage records whenever I have a problem that needs to be addressed by. It also lets you know right up front when you can expect your order to go out.
So, all orders placed by midnight Sunday will be shipped by Friday. Much less of a wait time for you! :)
5) My stock will completely turn over seasonally. By that I mean no longer will I carry a particular style for months and months. When a new line comes out, the old will be discontinued. So in a sense, everything will now be limited edition. Every now and then I will list random, special occasion items like the St. Patrick's Day and 4th of July pinnies ~ Both sold out completely and by only offering only a few of those designs, I can have them ready to ship and it gives me something fun to work on in between seasons.
There are lots of other small changes, but they will be fully explained in detail in the policies sections on Etsy and lassiegirl.com. I do encourage you to read them when they are up. It should answer most questions that you might possibly have. I hope! :)
With all that said, I just have to thank you for being the { G.R.E.A.T.E.S.T } customers in the world! This has been SUCH a learning experience for me, and I am sure it will continue to be so, but maybe by simplifying things the process will become a little easier. And as always, I LOVE to hear your thoughts and opinions. I really do care about what YOU think and what YOU want to see, so even though I may never implement your ideas, I do give each of them careful consideration.
As I make these changes, I do so with you in mind just as much as myself and hope that you will feel the same benefits I expect to from them! :0)
Have a wonderful weekend!
