WHY UNDERSELLING SUCKS

http://www.ohmyhandmade.com/2011/contributors/underselling-why-discomfort-is-a-terrible-pricing-strategy/

This is a great article on why underselling is detrimental to you, your business and your peers (Part of this week's Etsy Success reading list).

This is something that I am constantly thinking about. I have already been told that I am underpricing my jewelry because it is so detailed and time intensive to make. I brushed off the observations... until I was approached about wholesaling (for which the formula usually works out to about 50% of your retail price).

Once this happened I realized that many of my items are sorely underpriced. And its' a lesson learned the hard way because now I may have to turn down some wholesale enquiries and stave off pursuing wholesale until I have used a good formula for pricing my jewelry & re-price my jewelry )which will have to be done gradually) if I intend to meet the goals for my business that I have set.

The formula for pricing is supposed to look like: Retail Price = (cost of supplies/materials/findings + appropriate hourly wage) x 2 or 2.5.

My formula right now is based on comparison, a modest hrly wage and a modest price for materials. Which is working out to enough to buy more materials to make more jewelry... NO BUENO!

This woman has bills to pay. And while I am only 8 months into the game and constantly improving my techniques, I also know that my jewelry is unique and totally worth the price that I should be selling it at.

But above all that the phenom of underselling oneself in business, particularly as a female, reflects alot on one's personal life and self concept. And underselling myself in business has caused me to reflect on underselling my self in life, relationships and other parts of my life.

Food for thought from the article:

"It’s true that paying special attention to underselling will mean that you will raise your rates to levels that are uncomfortable to you.

It’s also true that, until you become more comfortable with your life as an entrepreneur and money in general, you will be uncomfortable with your rates no matter how low they are. Selling what you love is hard.

Discomfort is not a good pricing strategy.

Kindness is.

Be kind to yourself, your growing business, your customers, and your colleagues by learning to respect your product & it’s price."

WE SHIP INTERNATIONAL!!!

GREAT NEWS!

Finally got a handle on the reality of shipping rates at usps after shipping to a few countries. So I've added a few more countries to the shipping. If you don't see your country never fear! Just message me!

But an easy way to guage what your shipping would be is to see what is the shipping rate for a country in your geographical area.

E.g. if Barbados Shipping is $4.00 expect to pay the same amount if you reside in another Caribbean country like St. Lucia or Grenada.

IF YOU ARE PUCHASING VIA ETSY & YOUR COUNTRY ISN'T LISTED PLEASE MESSAGE ME FIRST SO THAT WE CAN VERIFY APPROPRIATE SHIPPING.

*Shipping rates are scheduled to increase in Mid April as of now they don't seem that significant but if any changes need to be made I'll let you know peeps!

SHOP ON! http://lanomrahdesigns.etsy.com

Hello & Thank you!

Hey Lovers!

It's been far too long. I hope you are doing well and giving thanks. I also hope you had a chance to cop your own La NomRah goodies during the February sale. If you didn't, no worries there will be more opportunites!

Stay tuned here, follow me on twitter or "Like" La NomRah for info on sales, pop up sales, giveaways, contests etc. I'll be getting the ball rolling with a giveaway pretty soon. More info to come!

I have to say Thank you to:

All My bajan peeps who got in on the very impromptu opportunity to order some La NomRah goodies. I appreciate you and I am looking forward to some photos of you rocking LND.

Every one who has ordered.

My mother, who was very accommodating to me and my bajan customers :-)

Horace who has been spreading the word about La NomRah like a lean mean grassroots PR Machine. Happy Birthday!!!

and last but not least to the team at Bucaleany Clothing Line who has supported me from day 1- from supplies to advice to guidance, it is all immesely appreciated!

CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE?

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!!!

Love is in the air! Honestly, this is as good a time as any to reflect on how well you have been loving yourself... like actually LOVING YOURSELF.

Have your actions been aligning with your goals? Have you been elevating like you said you would for 2011?

It's also a good time to reflect and appreciate the love in your universe that is being directed towards you. I'm not good at staying in touch, but I keep the people that I care immensely about in positive thought and energy. I pray for them, wish for them, or write something positive in my journal. Sometimes I am fortuante enough to add them to my "Thankful for..." list over and over again.

The past year I have met some really great people, lost touch with some fabulous ones, and rekindled with some lovely ones.


I have also been fortunate enough to have people placed in my life who have supported me, shown me love, given me direction... and I mean it when I say THE MOST UNLIKELY PEOPLE have come through for me. 

Some of them have inspired me from afar, offered words of inspiration, been a refuge for me when things could have been better, and been a mirror for me to see myself more clearly.

So because I have felt so much love I felt like I should share it with you.

February 10 - 17 I will be offering 15% off everything in My Etsy Store. So elevate your ecofriendly fashion steez, treat yourself or a loved one like a queen and get them some ear candy.

Geeks, African goddesses, hipsters, fashionistas... something for everyone.

Oh Mr. Sun...

The sun controls everything (deeeeep).  I don't mean it in a solar system, day and night, relation to the moon kind of way.


I mean If the sun doesn't shine I literally cannot get new things into my Etsy boutique.


Because natural light is THE best by which to photograph, if I am not able to get some photos in within that 2 hr window that there is sun coming through my apartment window, I'm essentially screwed.


I respect the sun. As an island girl now stuck in the mire and muck that is the winter, I appreciate the sun. I know what good sun can do for the mind, body and spirit. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you this experience has given me a new found reverence for how connected the universe is even when we don't see it.




Who's ready for summer????


Some Eco-Vert goodies to be added to the boutique soon! mira, mami! mira! http://lanomrahdesigns.etsy.com

So until I am able to master the assembly of a light box... I submit to the mercy of the sun.

How to Recycle a BRA??

Hello eco-friendly fashionistas... and curious onlookers!


This post may be some what controversial for some who do not believe in the reuse of undergarments. Actually it's a very touchy issue everywhere. Here's how the inquiries started for me:


When Haiti suffered the devastating earthquake in January, I was deeply saddened and personally affected. It was a natural disaster that forced me to take inventory of the people I cared about in my life, many of whom happened to be Haitian, with relatives in Haiti.


I watched, paralyzed by shock, concern and confusion as Haiti suffered. And then I watched in frustration as aid efforts went awry. But once the paralysis subsided,  I went to my closet and started yanking things off hangers. Went to my drawers and did a premature Spring cleaning.


Once I had a pile together, I realized there were A LOT of bras in the pile.  Looking at the bras in the pile actually stirred up some feelings in me I didn't know were there. (Besides having to come to grips with the fact that my breast grew...who woulda thunk it). I am an only child, yes, but I grew up in a house that had raised many children prior to me, and we were no Trumps or Huxtables. As such, I was no stranger to hand-me-downs and I had no hang ups about it.

Taken from www.laperla.com

But... Pride & Dignity are not qualities exclusive to the rich or well-off.  So besides it being unsanitary to share undergarments, for some people, using already worn undergarments is the marker by which your pride and common decency are measured - whether one is prideful or shameless (and not "shameless" in a good way). Likewise, it may be insulting for someone to include underwear in giveaways or hand-me-downs. Like a slap in the face. And how could it not be? For someone to imply that because one is poor, one should put aside health concerns and the threat of contracting Lord knows what; or that because one is poor one surely could not be clean, or decent, or sensible, or educated enough to know that sharing underwear is just... dirty.... it is the ultimate of insults!


Money can't buy class! And in THAT, one can be rich regardless of socio-economic situation


On the flipside, I also believe that poverty is the mother of all invention and innovation. It is also a good teacher in being conscious of waste. You simply cannot. Afford. To. Waste. Especially when the prospects to replenish recources are not forthcoming or readily available. I have fond memories of my grandmother chopping my pencils in half the night before the first day of school. My little self crying out "WHHHHYYYYY!" on the inside. Going to school bright and early Monday morning excited! And then embarassed to reveal my newly maimed and butchered writing utensil. But then a little part of me would also be quite disturbed to find my classmates were discarding half of their intact  pencils just because the eraser was done; I would just be moving on to the eraser-ful half of my butchered pencil. We weren't ridiculously poor but my grandmother knew poverty, which meant for her that she also knew how to make the most of a little.


I recently came across an organization that accepts used bras for recycling. The Bra Recyclers (<--click it) is a company that "specializes in the recycling and reuse of used and unused bras."Click on the link for more info. Some bras are donated while others are recycled, decorated and turned into pieces of art. 

Founder of The Bra Recyclers in USA Today.
from www.brarecycling.com

Currently there is a Nationwide Help Reshape Haiti Bra Drive going on until Feb. 28, 2011. Yes, a bra may be the last thing you think a woman in Haiti needs, however try walking around without a bra for a day or two and see how that feels for you, bearing in mind that you have a choice of whether or not you want to replace your bra. 


You know what a good bra can do for you in terms of self esteem and feeling good about yourself. Have you also thought about how a bra affects the kinds of interactions you have with others? I mean, this is a real study in sociology here. 


I can hear one friend in particular right now saying, "They didn't bring black women from africa wid no bras on anyway." Needless to say I can also picture myself giving him the stare of death.




You may not want to donate your bras based on the fact that you would never knowingly accept/wear a bra that has been used. You may not want to donate your bra because you may feel like it is a slap in the face to a woman in a bad situation.


But looking at it objectively, I can't say that if I lost everything in a fire or natural disaster, had to drop everything and leave an abusive situation, or was living in abject poverty, I wouldn't accept a slightly used bra. You can have the empathy of a thousand saints but sometimes until you are in a situation, you have no idea how you will react.


So take a look (or not)  at http://www.braceycling.com and decide whether shipping off your bras goes against or along with the ethics by which you stand.




Stay abreast of The Bra Recycler's activity & events at their blog.

Motivation

I KNOW ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT I'M NOT WHERE I'M GOING TO BE; I'M ALWAYS BECOMING.




-RUBY DEE

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Take a look at the boutique--> http://lanomrahdesigns.etsy.com/ <-- and tell a friend to tell a friend.

Remember, all the items currently in the boutique are made from upcycled materials. We are upgrading the seemingly useless and making it fashionable! Treat yourself or someone you know to a La NomRah creation!

Message me for more info on:
- Custom orders
- International Orders
- Personal deliveries within the NYC Area

Thank you from La NomRah!

[Respect your divinity!]

            

Quote of the Day

THE CHALLENGE IS NOT TO BE PERFECT, IT IS TO BE WHOLE. 

-Jane Fonda

Welcome to La NomRah Designs

Thanks for stopping by La NomRah Designs! Take a look through my creations and if you find anything that you like, or see something that you would like custom made, feel free to contact me at LaNomRah@gmail.com.

You can order by contacting me at the above email address. Paypal is preferred. Thank you for the support.

Take a look at my debut creations from my eCo-Vert line - made of all upcycled materials.


Ashe.