*Spotlight* Boutique

Good Morning Meet the Boutique'rs! Today we are meeting with Funky Little Chicken! Facebook here & Website here. Amazing lady named Ally.

Some info about her is that her favorite color is Red. Thai is her favorite food, the hobbies are baking, cooking, blogging, reading, & graphic design. Her favorite quote is "Do or Do Not. There is not try."

Now on to the Funky Little Chicken? It's hip, cool, and some cool designs to rock your child's nursery. 

It is created by a mom with a passion and flair for graphic design, and a desire to create a nursery for her "chicken" that was stylish - not babyish. Funky Little Chicken is a collection of art designed to add sophisticated, personalized style to your baby's nursery. Funky Little Chicken designs are printed at a size of 8x10 on archival artist paper for exceptional quality and color. Prints are shipped flat and ready to frame.

Now stop on over and let her know you saw her on Meet the Boutique :)

*SPOTLIGHT*

Savanna is the proud owner of Soleil Creations, an online children's boutique that specializes in creating beautiful custom, handmade tutus, dresses and hair accessories for young ladies of all ages.

In 2009, the concept for her company was inspired by her love for boutique headbands, flowers, and hair bows. Her search for the perfect boutique style tutu dress for her daughter continued when she couldn't find a boutique that was willing to work directly with her as a customer to bring her vision for the perfect tutu dress to life. In 2010, her daughter's 1st birthday was growing closer, and she decided that her needs would be best met by her putting together her own vision. The results were impressive. She never knew that side of her existed. Support the love of her life, friends and family and  for similar creations, and matching hair accessories for their little angels she was encouraged to launch her store "Soleil Creations".

The mission over at Soleil Creations is that they strive to create the most beautiful and fun tutu dresses, skirts, and matching hair accessories for little girls everywhere. They custom make each tutu dress, skirt and accessory to meet and exceed every customer's vision. Savanna's creativity is constantly inspired by her beautiful little daughter Hana {Japanese, meaning flower} Soleil {French, meaning Sun} for the company is named after. Hana is the embodiment of playful creativity, curiosity, uniqueness, and everything whimsical. Savanna's continuing vision and mission is to breathe life into the dream creations of others.

"From one mom to the world, happy dreaming" - Savanna

*SPOTLIGHT*

Our *SPOTLIGHT* of the week is Stacey!

She is the owner behind Krafty Candles!

Stacey's favorite food has to be her chili cheese chips or fries. Maroon is her favorite color and she loves to experiment with candles!

She was born in Missouri but moved back from Alaska in 2003, and her & her husband started their own Tree company. Thus, she decided last year she needed something girly in her life and that's when she started making candles!  She's been married to her husband for 13 years and have 2 children, and a dog named Kodiak. Big family, and doing what she loves.

Favorite Quote is "Live and let Live!"

Fan page facts:
100% handcrafted soy candles/ecowicks with unique scents!

They have over 23 regular scents and Coco Cola is one of them! :)

700 + fans

Don't forget to stop on by and leave some love! :) Tell her MTB sent you!

*SPOTLIGHT* of the WEEK

GOOD MORNING! Today is a new day, and a new week here at MTB :)
Sharing stories of those whose passion who have turned into their calling/fate or what they desire to do!

Meet Kellie at "BOW"dacious Boutique!

Her favorite foods have to have spice.  Pink is the color! Her hobby has to do with Bow making.
She started her boutique a little over a year ago and have been completely amazed at how much it's grown! Her inspiration to start making her own bows and girly things were her two beautiful daughters. Her passion is anything girly.

Her motto is "At "BOW"dacious we are often imitated but never duplicated!"

Some facts about "BOW"dacious {taken from the Facebook Fan page}
Founded: October 30, 2009
18 reviews :) All 5 stars!
In the about section: Handmade Fashions for kids of all ages.... even Grandma!

Thank you for sharing your story with us Kellie! "BOW"dacious Boutique everybody!
Be sure to stop on over and let her know you saw her on MTB.

Networking? What is that?

Question came in a few days ago!

"I don't understand how to gain fans? Some people who don't have really 'great' work have a 1000 or more fans, and I am just curious are they really selling anything or just get the numbers to seem like they have customers?"

Honestly, it shouldn't matter if you have a lot of fans or not, just fans that are purchasing your product, but exposure is always a GOOD thing. I bet a lot of our boutiques out there maybe wondering about something similar to this, or this exact question.

When you are scanning through the many pages of Facebook, just browsing and jumping from pages to pages, keep in mind 'Networking' is a key importance of having a successful fan page. :) You want that exposure and you want to bring in that interest to your fan page and list why your product is GREAT, why should they purchase from you. Don't know what networking is here's the definition...

network - communicate with and within a group {source: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:networking&sa=X&ei=svdLTd3fKcnpgAemsaAs&sqi=2&ved=0CBYQkAE} 

These fan pages you see with 1000+ fans, definitely know how to network. Networking to find a common ground of how you can work with other pages.

You as a business should network, don't waste a majority of your time on a page if you aren't networking and getting exposure. At first of course, but if your number is at a stand still of +4 or -4, it might not be worth your time to keep updating constantly if there's no feedback!

Feedback also plays a good key in knowing if you are getting anywhere with your page as well. Fan numbers can tell you a lot or very little but feedback let's you know who can see your posts, and who is most likely to respond.

A good thing to do is network with those either who make the same products, or network outside of your circle and find your ground, that will help you gain fans. :)

There are networking sites, for instance Meet the Boutique! Send in your boutique to the Trusted Seller's, Get a review, Donate for a Giveaway, or Read a story or 2 about other boutiques. Or do all of the above! Meet others and get to know each other! :) Use your resources.

Keep warm!

Spotlight of the Week!

MTB'ers, I'm setting up the Spotlight of the Week instead of one everyday.
That way the reeping benefits would be a whole week, with your story told, and shoutouts! :)
{Don't forget that you will get added to the Trusted Seller's list automatically, but you must maintain 5 reviews. If you do not have 5 reviews after the 5th day of being posted, it will come down, and you re apply again.}

Now on to our SPOTLIGHTer! :)
Meet Ashlie~

She's the owner of The Hook Up by MC!
Chocolate is her favorite food! {who doesn't love Chocolate?}
Colors can't beat her Purple, & Lime Green! {rad colors!}
Hobbies she can't contain are the Crafting, Photography, and of course Design!

This is her story, she started The Hook Up because of her wonderful Uncle. Her Uncle was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer and after going to his treatment center in Chicago, he asked her to knit/crochet some hats that he could take and add to the box. She did, and then posted them on her Facebook profile. Her family and friends encouraged her to sell her items. Hint hint, The Hook Up was born on October 23, 2010. She would not have done this without the support of her Uncle, family and friends.

"You are one in a million" - Uncle Mark Cotten

{click the photo above to redirect}

Have you noticed?

I have added a new feature on Meet the Boutique! :)

Trusted Boutiques - anywhere you are, and that way you can find those trusted boutiques because after so many people getting scammed, and a lot of owners not receiving payment! I felt like it was time to add a Trusted Boutiques for those who would get exposure along with great reviews and giving both buyers and owners CONFIDENCE!

Owners you will be able to comment about the purchaser underneath your image as well, just write their name "@John - Quick Payment, patient while I was working through the crazy busy days, and even sent a tip!" <--- that's an example. Be sure to get confidence!

So if you are a boutique/owner of a business be sure to submit the following to meet.the.boutique@gmail.com.
- LOGO (must be visible in the photo album view)
- FB Fanpage
 and other links you feel you'd like to add.

Must have 5 reviews in order to stay in the trusted boutiques showcase. If you don't have "ANY REVIEWS" in the 5 day span after being added, your boutique will be taken down, and you re-apply again.

You are not limited to 5 reviews, but your customers/clients may add to this alternative page as well to boost your trust sales. :)

Thank you everyone, and for those who have requested this additional feature!

Finally a Question! :)

{Note: Meet the Boutique is here to answer your boutique questions, kind of like "Ask Sally" or what not, but these are about Boutiques/Businesses}


Be sure to send in your questions via meet.the.boutique[at]gmail[dot]com :)

First off here's the question:

Here's a question for MTB, how do you say no to custom orders? Do you say no to custom orders? Do you have a limit? I would love to wake up every day and just make stuff. No rhyme or reason, just whatever comes to me. Etsy would be a good way to go for individual listings, but there's no customer interaction like with FB. I don't have time to create because I'm swamped/overwhelmed with custom orders. It's 2 am, but all of my ABSOLUTELY necessary orders for tomorrow are done. I'm having to stop orders next week so that I can work on taxes. I hate saying no to people, maybe other boutiques can help. Might make a good blog. Or did you already blog something like this?

Honestly, I have a problem saying "No" sometimes as well, BUT back to your question(s), you could either A) state it on your site, that you will no longer be accepting "custom" orders, but people can inspire {suggest ideas} you. :) B) You may always put a limit on how many you'd accept during a month of time, and that you have slots open if they'd like to purchase, but make sure that they are certainly interested. {pay before you make or deposit (something)} C) Put together color combinations, and show styles of what you do they can pick a color combination and the style, a little custom but not fully.

I totally hear you on having too many orders, and being overwhelmed! I've been there, so I get that! Etsy is definitely a great place to get the items you'd like to make sold :) definitely you should aim for Etsy for the individual listings and more!

But do what's best for you! These are just some suggestions, and Boutiques be sure to leave some feedback of what you think might help or what you would do! Have a great day!

Post Promised

First off, sorry it's been one of those weeks, where I can't catch up on anything... actually maybe that's been this whole month.

So breaking down your page is what I want to talk about here on MTB today! :)

Have you ever noticed the Insights that is labeled underneath your status posts from your fanpage?

You must have, if you are admin, only you can see them.

Ever wonder if people are seeing your posts, and how many of the impressions actually "like or comment" then here's the in depth of that. :)

You want to know what your impact is on some of your viewers? Then you take a look at impressions.

I've highlighted both in this screen capture..

So on Tuesday at 7:17p only 365 impressions on people, that could mean a multitude of things, like from the time of 7:17p to the time that I checked back approximately 6 hours later, only 365 times was this post appeared on the wall by my "likers". It counts how many times it was shown up on someone's newsfeed. It could be approximately 20 people's walls this same post in their news feed and it appeared 365 times. The break down on impressions is that not necessarily are people going to "see" your post but how many times it appeared on their news feed.

Notice the Feedback says 1.10% meaning that's a guesstimate of how many views actually liked or commented on your post. Generally it can give you an idea of 1.10% of 100% left feedback. Like my general statement above is that it could appear on 20 people's news feed whether they see it or not, but only 1.10% left feedback (comment, or like).

I hope this gives you an idea of how to work with those mini-insights. :) I always try and aim for the time of day that people would be on the computer, and I always try to leave it an open-end question that will get me Feedback! :)

More to come for the in depth insights that aren't quite clear! :)