How Lucky Can One Girl Get?

I've got jury duty AND a root canal, all in one week. How's that for lucky?  Still, it could be worse. I can afford the root canal, and the agony before the doc relieved the abscess made me realize how amazing modern dentistry (and medicine) is. I've never had an abscessed tooth before, and now I know why people used to just yank bad teeth out, even without anesthesia. Wow that was bad.

Sometimes life gets in the way of beading. I especially regret that now as I'm really starting to get back the flow of ideas that sort of dried up before when I was so overwhelmed by the needs of getting the software out to market.  One project after another leaps out of me, and I've got far too many to try even if I could bead for hours each day.

Our Etsy Beadweavers Team has a monthly challenge, with each entry being a listing in our Etsy stores.  This is my entry for October. The original title was supposed to be "Gifts of the Earth" because of all the semi-precious stones used in it.   The theme of the October challenge is "Inspired by Picasso" so I retitled it and related it to the theme as required.

From October 9 until October 15, you can visit the EBW blog and vote for your favorite entry. Every month there are some amazing entries, you'll be sure to get an eye-full, and find a favorite!

I've also been inspired by the November challenge theme, on Spirals, and have started a project I hope will develop into something worthy of entry.

Meanwhile, I'm learning to bead crochet, and trying to earn a living.

Notice where that last falls on the priority list.

Whither Goest BeadEnCounter?

I'm going to write this once and then distribute it, because I've had some inquiries and I've been contemplating myself where the program has to go from here.

We're nearly 4 weeks into launch for BeadEnCounter, and sales are...disappointing to say the least.  Tragic would be more like it.  Like any new project, one hopes for that miraculous "crash the servers" response from the public. It's quite deflating to realize we're going to have to settle for the normal "build over time" business curve.

But it is early days yet. I've found in other ventures that three years is about the normal time to get a new business established.  I don't have the capitalization to hold out quite so long on this project, I need the cash flow in order to pursue the future I'd like to see happen for the software.

Since I was pushing so hard before and during the beta testing program, and then to get the whole website up and store revamped and installers made, etc. I kind of got used to a frantic pace and constant work on the software. Now I feel a little at loose ends. But I continue to fine-tune the website, and to seek optimum marketing opportunities.

So here's what I see happening:

1. Marketing drives the universe. This is my entirely new and original thought. Yeah. Right. I had thought print advertising was the way to go, in national publications.  Well, perhaps I'm being way too impatient, but I expected a better response. Turns out that repetition drives people to be aware of ads, and for print ads in monthly publications, the repeat rate is realllllllyyyyy lowwwwww.  So we'll be redistributing some of our long-term money commitments from print to online venues.  I've got one lined up, others will follow.  Repeated viewings happen a lot faster online. Hopefully click-throughs will happen faster as well.
2. Refine the website. I'm working on photos/images to convey the concepts in the software to the visitors to the website. Something that shows how using the product assists in organizing, and creates productivity and profitability.  Abstract concepts conveyed in concrete images. Any suggestions to improve the website are welcome. 
3. New features in the software. As has been noted by testers and commenters, the Consignment area is particularly underdeveloped, and the Inventory process needs fleshing out. Currently we don't have true inventory management. I want to add much more functional Vendor tracking features, and incorporate some very clever feature requests by early users.  As with any software product, there comes a point where you have to freeze features and just ship the darn thing! Otherwise you just develop eternally and never get a product out the door.  Once again, suggestions on features are welcome at any time at the forum we've set up for just this purpose. You can see what others have suggested, add your own, and discuss with other users how they use the software. Some of our users are very clever.

So that's our future focus. I had expected that after our launch, work, meaning marketing,  would continue. I didn't anticipate that it would be nearly full time!  

If anyone is considering buying BeadEnCounter but is hesitating, or has considered it but rejected the idea, I would dearly like to hear about the reasons why. I want to make BeadEnCounter the best product it can possibly be, and offer an irresistable bargain to artists, beaders and crafters everywhere. My testing group can tell you I take criticism well, and am very willing to listen and adapt. 

Visit us on the forum, and join the conversation!

We are Live!

Yesterday, I got my issue of BeadStyle magazine, with our ad on page 27. Wow. Right there where the magazine falls open because of a blow-in card. 

Today, I finalized the new webstore so that people can purchase the software with little or no problem. I was afraid the old method was too complicated.

So now it's a matter of waiting until people read the issue, have their curiosity piqued by the ad, and visit the website. Oh, and decide to buy.  Boy oh boy do I hope they decide to buy!

Advertisers link page!

People can find us in the advertisers links on the Beadstyle website as well.  And next month, the ad will appear in Bead & Button, with a much larger subscription base, so that's exciting as well.

Not too surprisingly, my creativity has been sidelined by all the stress and business of trying to get a new business launched. I sit down to bead and do a little of this and a little of that and not much of anything in particular. Not too long ago I was bubbling with ideas of what I wanted to next. I have to recover that and it may take awhile.  I hope not too long.

The Day Arrives, Sort Of. Software Soft Launch, Spotlights in the Sky

For the last several months, I've been focused on moving my new software to market.

This has involved countless hours of programming, to get it right.  Then I recruited a group of testers, to make sure.  This involved setting up a feedback forum, distributing build after build as we all worked to find sticky interface and functional points, responding promptly to each concern, and learning all the spots where my brilliant ideas were exposed as not quite as brilliant as I had thought.

After I got through rebuilding the whole structure (those testers were thorough!) during testing, it was time for the next part.

Build the website. So I had to download and learn a new tool, Rapidweaver. I haven't built a website for over 10 years, and technology has marched on. Heck, I started coding HTML by hand back in 1994. 

Rapidweaver is a marvelous tool, but it's structured with lots of bits and pieces of add-on programming that each cost a few dollars. It adds up.  I spent...well, I can't even count the hours I spent researching online, downloading, testing, learning the software and tweaking on the website.  It was a very intense two weeks.

Then I had to add the e-commerce component. More downloads, more learning, more tweaking. I'm using a plugin called Cartloom that connects my website to Paypal, and then downloads the file to a purchaser.  Wow, what a tangle to implement. It works, now, but nowhere near as elegantly as I'd like.  

I set up a forum for users to communicate with me, and with each other. I connected the website to this blog, and the blog to the website.  I set up accounts hither and yon...I swear I can invent new passwords in my sleep. My password database got about 12 new entries. Yes, I am a geek. I have a password database. Doesn't everyone?

Oh, I almost forgot. I had to research, download, and learn to use installer programs on both Mac & Windows. How can you sell software without installers? More money, more time, more accounts & passwords. Whew.

The website and the webstore are both works in progress. They'll be evolving as I continue to find new and better tools and designs.

The software is now finalized in Version 1.0. That means no new features until I roll out the first upgrade.  But I'll be alert to user-feedback in case there are errors that must be fixed in order to have the kind of solid, robust program I want my company to sell. 

We've placed an ad in BeadStyle and Bead&Button magazines, which alternate each month. Six months at an amazingly high cost. But it's national exposure and this project is not going to fail for lack of marketing.

No sales yet, but the magazine will be rolling out to consumers in the next few days. Then we'll see.  It could all still be for naught. Or it could hit big. Some of my testers have been very complimentary.

Needless to say, beading has somewhat fallen by the wayside. But I did finish one piece the other day, which I will post soon. 

Software Screenshots up on Facebook

I've decided to post most of the screenshots on Facebook for now, until we get the new website in shape. The album feature makes it easy for people to view and scroll through. 

Get a first look at the software and feel free to leave comments.

Software Beta, Marketing Push Begins

Getting a new software product to launch is no task for sissies. It's not enough to build the darn thing, you have to test it too.  Don't want to pull a MicroSoft and let the customers be the beta testers by releasing buggy software.

So, I'm looking for beta testers for BeadEnCounter. I already have two volunteers, but I think I need a few more. If you're interested in testing the new software, designed to help organize and produce cost figures on your beaded pieces, please contact me at beadencounter@gmail.com.  A beta tester will have to spend several hours working with the program, and then provide comprehensive feedback on any faults or bugs they find. Did I mention that those who participate and contribute get a free copy of the shipping software when it's ready?

The program is going to run natively on both Mac & Windows, no emulators necessary. That's a big difference from any other software I've been able to find out there. It tracks beads, findings and any other material you use, lets you upload pictures of your work and post directly to Facebook and a blog right from the program. 

It also keeps a list of your seed beads, for those of you like me who keep buying the same sizes and colors over and over. BeadEnCounter grew out of my own needs for organization and profitability (not that I've sold much, but darn I know to the penny how much each piece cost me!) in my beading.  I'm not aware of any other beading/crafting software that keeps track of seed beads.

This blog/website is going to be revamped a bit. The main website will be mutating into a sales site for the program. It will have support areas and FAQ, features, screenshots, and a way to purchase online.  The blog will be moving (don't worry, there will be plenty of warning) to a slightly different URL, and may become a bit more involved with software development and selling than beading for a bit, but don't worry, I'm not going to stop beading or stop showing my work.

The ad you see will be appearing in Bead & Button and BeadStyle magazines for six months starting in September, so that's a hard deadline for having the program ready, Freddy.  It costs the moon for the ad, but I hope it will be worth it.

I've also started a Facebook page for the program. Until I get the new site designed and up, check there for screenshots and feature lists over the next few days. I'll be premiering much of my website content there, so comments are always welcome.

A Couple of Firsts, Tutorials and Software and Freeform Peyote!

Yes, the previous two posts were sent from my software in development, BeadEnCounter Beading Inventory software.   One of its features is the ability to send a post to either Facebook or a Blogger blog using the secret emails from each of those services.

The software is looking good, nearly in beta form. If any of you reading this (I do have several readers, I hope, after weeks of neglect) wish to participate in the beta stage of development, please email me at beadencounter@gmail.com.  I need testers who use Mac or PC, as the software will work on both.

Participation means receiving a guaranteed-buggy pre-shipping version of the software. I'll ask you to test the functioning of the various areas of the software, where data on your beading inventory, your finished work, and your seed-bead collection is stored. We'll also be testing functions like backing up and upgrading the files, which are necessary to take care of your data once it's entered.

Then you have to tell me in great detail what goes wrong. ;) This is the fun part, because so often the software you use is developed by faceless programmers on another planet. At least they might as well be, for all the feedback you can really give. At least this time, your pain will be heard, corrections will be made, and the final product will be that much better for your contributions.

Not to mention you'll get free software when the product does ship.

I could ship the software without a beta phase, but that's a very Microsoftian thing to do, expecting the first adopters to serve as beta testers. I hope not to do that.

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In other news, I have listed on Etsy my first beading tutorial, Netted Rope and Netted Loop Variation. This stitch just came to me while I was working on a netted rope bracelet. It seems to be original, at least I've never seen anything like it. It's easy and lends itself to a zillion different adaptations.  I think of new ones all the time.  Pictured is one of the bracelets made with the variation. 

Even working up a seemingly-simple document like a tutorial took an unimaginable amount of work. I had a very kind beader offer to be first reader, and she worked enough of the pattern to point out all sorts of places where explanations were unclear, or pictures not explanatory enough. I had to nearly rewrite the whole thing, because she was right, in almost every particular. Someone once said that writing was the universe's way of teaching you how fuzzy your thinking is. I concur. Just when you think you've made everything plain, you haven't.

But the tutorial is much better now for the assistance of the first beader...er, reader.

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Last, but not least, my freeform peyote piece is done. I think. I'm still deciding if I want to embellish more. Pictures tomorrow, I hope. I'm stopping now to go and bead. You do the same!

The Time! Where does it go?

It's nearly the Ides of March, and not only haven't I got the software finished, I haven't blogged lately either. But this is me, refusing to feel guilty. Life is too short for spurious guilt.

There has been movement on the software front. Finally got the icons I need for the interface done, and the major screens are now shaping up really well. Perhaps a screen shot early next week?

I have done some beading, though never as much as I wish I could.  Let's see, what can I show.....?  (sound FX of rustling through photos)

First is a wonderful necklace that my husband says is his favorite so far of anything I've done. It's a quiet, elegant piece, and it doesn't garner the same kind of attention and/or compliments from passersby that some of my showier bits do. On the other hand, when I tell people I made it, their eyes get real big, because it looks so complicated, and yet so cool.

The neck band is all peyote, done with raku color small bugle beads. Yes, it's asymmetrical.  The pendant and fringe beads are real porcelain raku, from Xaz Beads. I bought these a few months ago at the Pasadena Bead Show, and have been wanting to use them since. They are wonderfully light, and have a surface shimmer that just won't photograph.  I fastened the whole thing together with a snap catch behind the pendant, so it goes on very easily.

Then I felt the need to do something spring-like. Even here in southern California, I get springtime cravings for color, the way I used to do in the terrible gray months in Michigan. So I spiraled my way into color delirium, I don't know what I was thinking when I bought those neon bright shocking pink beads, but they work nicely in this bracelet.

The bracelet is now listed on Etsy, too.

The spiral was fun, although for some reason it seemed to take me a long time. Perhaps because I'm just not getting enough beading time. I found some nifty magnetic catches I used in this that are so strong, they stick when you put one on each side of your finger!  On the other hand, they have holes in the middle for a knotted thread, but when faced correctly to embed the knots inside each piece of the catch, the magnets are incorrectly oriented. What genius decided that the NS magnet poles should face in the SAME direction in each catch piece? It's like selling only left shoes.

You'll notice in the second picture that the bracelet is resting on a...what is that thing?  Oh, it's my new Wristometer ©, a bracelet sizing mandrel that's printable on a single sheet of cardstock or paper.  Then you cut it out and tape it into a cone-like shape. This is something I've been working on and hoping to get out there soon.  Like next week.

There are other bracelet and necklace sizing options out there, but I think there's a place for a very low-cost, portable, and easy doo-dad for sizing how big a bracelet is. It's remarkable how the length of a bracelet when laid flat has so little to do with what size wrist it will fit! Depending on the thickness of the beading, the flexibility, the catch, all those things make a difference in fit.

So keep watching this space. I'll try to provide more updatingness. And promptidity.

Great Changes Coming

In the next few weeks this blog will become an appendage, rather than the main event. It will become a link off a website dedicated to the BeadEnCounter software that I've been working to design and bring to market.

As part of that effort, www.beadencounter.com will mutate into a marketing and information tool for everyone interested in the software. There will be feature lists, FAQ sections, support and help for the software, and screen shots.

The blog will continue, because I can't imagine not beading and blogging about it. And I suspect I'll be agonizing in print over the process of getting a new software product to market. It's much more difficult than you would think.

So watch this space, as there will be announcements, I hope including the opportunity to participate in a beta testing program.

The Theory and Practice of Bead Organization, Part One

My husband looks at me funny when I sit down to work with my bead software and catalog all my inventory, as I call it.  

But for me, it's an odd combination of business logic, design process and a very slight organizational wankiness.  It's a warm, feel-good process for me, combining right & left brain.  At the end of it, I know where every bead I've just purchased has gone, and helps to prevent the older purchases from getting buried or fading into the background as new ones come in.

The business logic results in my being able to trace the source and cost of every bead I purchase, whether it has been purchased wholesale or retail, and recording close to purchase date what material the items are made of, and any special facts about the item.  In the future, if I want to know what the beads labeled #244 are, I can just look them up. 

I can also check the accuracy of my receipts, and get a grasp on my total investment in beads. Right now, I suspect that other than consumables such as stringing materials, findings and perhaps seed beads, I should probably not be buying anything new for quite a while. I need to produce and sell.

The organizational quirk is that I'm not a big organizer in most areas. I avoid business and personal filing as much as I can, and still find things when I need them. My clothing is not arranged by color, nor my canned goods alphabetized.  But beads, I feel, should not remain in thousands of teeny but varied plastic bags, jumbled together.  I need to have an over-riding organizational principle, or it's all just chaos and I can't create in chaos.  I'll describe more of the physical organization of the beads in a later post.

The design process comes in as I handle the new purchases, and then integrate them with my existing inventory. I see combinations that look good together, or just see the new items in the context of my own workspace, and ideas arise. Of course, I always end up having so many ideas I'll never be able to make them all, but in the course of cataloging, the ideas arise, combine, evolve, and finally, come close to the surface enough for me to grab them, sketch them, audition partner beads and actually start the project.

So here's how the whole thing goes. I bring in the incredibly tiny packages that result from profligate spending and marvel again how buying beads and stones can pack so much value into such a small cubic space.  I try to preserve the store receipts, but frankly, often those receipts are completely useless in describing what's been purchased. Store owners just don't have the capacity to make or print receipts for specific bead purchases.

In my software, I enter each strand or bead purchase, and the software assigns an ID number. The entry has a complete description, with material, color, shape, size, place and date purchased, price and number of beads. The program calculates the price of each individual bead for me.  I'll make a list or mark each package with the computer-assigned number.

This latest trip, at Chapman's, I got a lot of different cabochons. I'm very excited about using some of these. 

Next, I take the new pieces to my workspace. I've got a Brother P-Touch label-maker to create numbered labels for each separate item.

At Harbor Freight (a great store), they sell small plastic boxes that measure about 3" x 7" x 9" that are filled with smaller plastic boxes, either 1.5" square or 1.5" x 3". These small boxes are good for strands, loose beads, cabochons of the smaller sizes, etc. I label each box with a printed number, and that's all I need to do. 

Then I file each numbered small box by color in the drawers of a set of rolling drawers, purchased from Stacks & Stacks. For me, color is the overwhelmingly important quality of a bead. I have two of these sets that roll under my desk, and I think I need two more.

I'll talk more about the color-organization later, and about my seed bead storage, which is separate from the regular beads.

The larger Harbor Freight boxes, I keep for use as project boxes. More of the small boxes fit in each drawer if I remove them from the large boxes.  For our latest trip I was able to pack enough project work into three of these boxes for the entire trip, including tools. That way I can keep materials for each project separate and not have to finish it right at the moment. I do have to be careful about not having critical materials segregated in project boxes when I need them for another project. I guess that means I have to not have too many Unfinished Projects hanging around.

So that's part one. There'll be more on the workspace, color organization, seed beads, and working tools later. With pictures. (oh boy that means I have to clean up)

Software. Why Software?

Because software is what I do.

Well, really, databases are what I do. I don't make software that writes music or plays games or even lets you write a book. Databases are a kind of software that takes bits of information and organizes them. Then the database shows you the information in forms you can understand.

The operative word there is organization. That is, I think in terms of organizing information and presenting information every moment when I work with my clients. So, early on in my most recent revival of beading enthusiasm, I finished a piece, a necklace with some old beads collected years ago, and some new, wonderful beads I'd found in Mendocino. Well, Fort Bragg, actually. The Rubyiat store there. Looks like I missed their main store in Mendo itself. Oh well, next time.

But I digress. I found myself wondering how much the finished piece cost for materials. I realized that for the older beads I'd collected, the costs had vanished in the mists of time. The newer beads I remembered, but also realized that as I bought more and more beads (a clear intention even then) it wouldn't have to get very darn misty before the per-strand costs left my memory. Then there was the per-bead cost.

I was finding out that even if you buy a whole strand, generally in a necklace you're using between 6 to 12 of any one bead, sometimes just one or two. (As a beader, I find myself wishing humans had more necks. Or one larger one.) So you need to know the per-bead price to figure it out accurately. But once you've broken a strand, you no longer have the total number of beads, and cannot figure out the per bead cost.

My first plan was to keep the prices in the containers with the beads, and add them up when finishing a piece. But the sudden proliferation of pieces of paper in my containers, the need to keep them with the proper beads while working, opening & closing the containers, and then going back and adding them all up at the end...not so much fun. I also found a need to add a somewhat amorphous "additional costs" to each piece. This covered an estimate for older beads I no longer remembered the price of, stringing materials, cheap clasps, needles consumed in the process, glue, etc. It all costs. I couldn't keep this with the piece, because then I might lose the records.

At this point I threw up my (figurative) hands and said what my clients must say right before they call me. "I need a database!" Luckily, I can do this, because I certainly couldn't afford my own prices to build me one.

I'm going to post a few pictures of the current state of the software, which I have been working on here and there, as I could get a bit of spare time, for a little less than a year. It helps me track my beads, my seed beads separately, the finished pieces, and other things. Please add any comments or questions you might have, because the final goal, when this software has grown enough, is to sell it to beaders like me. Home beaders who want to sell somewhat professionally, or who just want to know how much something they make cost in materials, but don't want to spend a lot on software to do that.

Picture one is the listing of bead inventory. It's a (very) small part of my actual inventory shown. I have a lot more beads than that! Obviously some of the older beads don't have prices. The ones that do, calculate the per-bead price for me, a major feature for the math impaired like me. I just have to enter the price of the whole strand or total beads purchased, and then count the beads (I can figure that one out, generally) and I have per-bead costs.

Picture two, to the right, is of my seed-bead take-with report. I wanted something on a single page, sorted by size and code, that I could tuck in my purse, so I wouldn't purchase duplicates. Even starting out, I found myself liking the same colors over and over and buying them more than once. It also lets me see where I do want to buy more of a particular bead, for a project that may need more than I have. I keep more info of each seed bead, but there's just enough here to fit the maximum number on the one-page list.

Next up, picture 3, is of the screen where I record all the beads used in a finished piece. It's easy to choose each bead used and have the program calculate what that cost, from the inventory list. I can add my additional costs, and even the time spent, and if I want, a per-hour charge. However, I'm finding this isn't like database work. I'm never going to make a decent per-hour wage at this. I have to price my pieces more like art.

However, on a business basis, I really need to make sure at the very least my material costs are covered. Just because I can finish a simple strung necklace or bracelet in half an hour doesn't mean that I'll make a profit at a low price to the customer. Those beads may have cost me $50 ore more!

Last picture today, is a little bead history screen. When I look at a particular bead, it tells me what pieces that bead was used in. It's interesting but not particularly useful at this point, but I like it. It's the data geek in me.

But isn't it a real pain to enter all that information to get going? Actually, it's fun. I'll talk about that in another post, soon.

I'll be posting more pictures as we go along and the software develops. I really want this software to succeed. I want to make it available to beaders at a reasonable cost, probably less than $20.