Loch Ness.
Monday, 29 June 2015
Friday, 26 June 2015
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Etsy Tip of the day - Find Your Target Market
Find your target market
Pre SEO Etsy this was the number on tip on here - but lately people seem to focus on SEO (which is totally fab and useful) this isnt instead of SEO but a little different thing you can do
For example one target marked for me can be dog lovers (amongst other things of course)
For me this is a great one to pick because I AM my target market because I am also a dog lover
So I can hang out in places where other dog lovers go, make friends with other dog lovers and talk about dogs - and it is not forced it is not 'work' it is something I genuinely enjoy
And every now and again I can mention my fuzzies. Not spamming people all the time, not hanging round with them just so I can use them for free advertising
Basically if you make what you love then hopefully you have interests with the other people who would love what you make but cant do it themselves and this drives some extra traffic for you, this gives you people who might like to tweet and share your items to other people who might be in your target market
and you are hanging around with people you like anyways, reading forums that are of interest to you and following pinners and tweeters who interest you
Some people asked if I include links to my other tips (thank you, too kind) so here are the ones I could find
Pre SEO Etsy this was the number on tip on here - but lately people seem to focus on SEO (which is totally fab and useful) this isnt instead of SEO but a little different thing you can do
For example one target marked for me can be dog lovers (amongst other things of course)
For me this is a great one to pick because I AM my target market because I am also a dog lover
So I can hang out in places where other dog lovers go, make friends with other dog lovers and talk about dogs - and it is not forced it is not 'work' it is something I genuinely enjoy
And every now and again I can mention my fuzzies. Not spamming people all the time, not hanging round with them just so I can use them for free advertising
Basically if you make what you love then hopefully you have interests with the other people who would love what you make but cant do it themselves and this drives some extra traffic for you, this gives you people who might like to tweet and share your items to other people who might be in your target market
and you are hanging around with people you like anyways, reading forums that are of interest to you and following pinners and tweeters who interest you
Some people asked if I include links to my other tips (thank you, too kind) so here are the ones I could find
Monday, 22 June 2015
Scottish Monday
I love this one, from Christmas. Mia at the frozen Lilly Loch. Time to overuse 'magical' again
Friday, 19 June 2015
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Etsy tip of the day - Love What You Do
Love what you do
If you just make or buy things because you think they will sell then this becomes a chore
If you are doing something you love then it can be fun for you
Ontop of that because it is something you are into then more chance you can hang around in forums and places where other people who are into the same things as you are - often your target market - and you are not just there to spam them - which people see tru very quickly - you have a real interest and a passion
I had a little thought today
No matter how difficult things can be for me trying to make a living by myself and not working for the 'man'
If I could go back in time to my 10 year old self and tell her that my 'job' would be training dogs, walking dogs and making little sculptures of animals that little 10 year old would be very very happy
If you just make or buy things because you think they will sell then this becomes a chore
If you are doing something you love then it can be fun for you
Ontop of that because it is something you are into then more chance you can hang around in forums and places where other people who are into the same things as you are - often your target market - and you are not just there to spam them - which people see tru very quickly - you have a real interest and a passion
I had a little thought today
No matter how difficult things can be for me trying to make a living by myself and not working for the 'man'
If I could go back in time to my 10 year old self and tell her that my 'job' would be training dogs, walking dogs and making little sculptures of animals that little 10 year old would be very very happy
Monday, 15 June 2015
Scottish Monday
I know I am so luck to live somewhere where we can walk almost everywhere, and even better we can have the dogs with us offlead.
Friday, 12 June 2015
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Etsy Tip of the day - Do a little something in your shop every day
Do a little something in your shop every day
People talk about quitting their day job to do etsy or something like that - if that is your goal then you have to start thinking about this as a job
Hopefully a job you enjoy, but be professional, set a side a little bit of each day to do something
The internet favours active places. Every time to post or so something you have a chance of someone seeing your item - and if you work different times on different days you expand the amount of people who would be there to see you compared to if you just nipped in once a week and did everything all at once
People talk about quitting their day job to do etsy or something like that - if that is your goal then you have to start thinking about this as a job
Hopefully a job you enjoy, but be professional, set a side a little bit of each day to do something
The internet favours active places. Every time to post or so something you have a chance of someone seeing your item - and if you work different times on different days you expand the amount of people who would be there to see you compared to if you just nipped in once a week and did everything all at once
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
A beginner level long thin agility course with video
Sunday at the stables we did this nice fast course
A nice one for speed and confidence, you can pretty much do to 12 on your left hand, front cross the landing of 12 and do the rest on your right hand
I have included a video of the lovely Molly running this course. Molly hasnt competed yet but she is a little superstar. Yes she skipped one weave pole :)
I didnt run this one as myself and Ben were just back from a show and we were both pretty worn out (but the little superstar got another first place)
I hope if you run this you enjoy it, and feel free to share any videos of you running it
Adjust the spacing as you need as wider or closer spacings each have their own challenges
Monday, 8 June 2015
Scottish Monday
Ever feel the dogs are laughing at your lack of ability on your two legs?? At Windyhill in Elderslie
Friday, 5 June 2015
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Etsy Tip Wednesdays - Smell the snowdrops
Following on from my last thread a couple of days ago where I was talking about how one day I focused in on a different term from usual, found out where I stood with it in search - then targeted a couple of items to that term
Today I wanted to share what I had done to help my shop
I walked the dogs :)
Sometimes you can get bogged down trying to do things and end up not being very productive
its nice to just step back and smell the snowdrops, have a proper break and hopefully come back with fresh eyes and get much more done
Today I wanted to share what I had done to help my shop
I walked the dogs :)
Sometimes you can get bogged down trying to do things and end up not being very productive
its nice to just step back and smell the snowdrops, have a proper break and hopefully come back with fresh eyes and get much more done
DABAD - Stress in agility
This post is part of the DABAD, please check out the other amazing blogs here https://dogagilityblogevents.wordpress.com/stress/
I know there will be some positive amazing articles on this subject.
For me the timing is just perfect to cover a bit of the darker side of stress in agility
A couple of weekends ago I was at my first Agility show of the weekend
(Ben did amazing BTW, 3 wins in the weekend to take us up to grade 6! Something I never thought would happen)
And we had a lovely day chatting to friends and cheering on their successes too
But
There were also a few people who made the day slightly less enjoyable.
I am sure the majority of them are lovely in their normal life, and in training. But come to a show and they feel stress, pressure to be perfect when surrounded by so many peers
So there was the lady who dragged her dog over to another to say 'hello' and then when her dog showed its teeth to the other dog the lady actually smacked her dog in the face.
The stress to have the 'perfect dog' affects many people, everyone wants that dog you can take anywhere and it just happily and calmly acts in the perfect manner in every situation.
We are not perfect and neither are our dogs, they have the right to not want to be friends with every dog and showing teeth and even growling are not naughty behaviours they are comunications.
There was the mild mannered lady who has got herself a much more drivey breed than she has had in the past and from being lovely and gentle with her other dogs she has felt the stress from the breed experts on that breed to be 'hard' on the dog to keep him under control so she was ringside yanking and yelling at her dog. Very sad considering how gentle and lovely she is with her other dogs.
And there is the stress on the course. I am sure in training people dont drag their dogs too and from the obstacles on their hind legs, yet at a show people feel the stress that they are surrounded by far too many strange dogs and worry their dog might react or run off to play
When things go wrong in training I am sure most of us just go back and calmly try it again or train some more for that level of difficulty, we dont scruff our dogs and force them to the point where they went wrong.
We are all human and we feel the stress, but your agility run is not important, your dog is
Try and grow a thicker skin, if something goes wrong in the ring just laugh and run on and finish on a positive - then train later where you went wrong.
If you are stressed in the line and not sure how your dog will react as the people around you to give a little space, blow a few runs if need be just practising calmly walking up to the start line. Or even do some fun shows where you can have toys or food with you to reward your dog for the behaviour you want.
If you are stressed that your dog wont like other dogs then give them space at shows and get some good behavioural advice of positive ways to help your dog.
Stop stressing about the win, stop stressing about what other people think, take it as a day out with your dog, enjoy your dog and find the positives in what they are doing, nothing else is important
And here is my brag, my tired fab boy with his haul after his first show.
For me the timing is just perfect to cover a bit of the darker side of stress in agility
A couple of weekends ago I was at my first Agility show of the weekend
(Ben did amazing BTW, 3 wins in the weekend to take us up to grade 6! Something I never thought would happen)
And we had a lovely day chatting to friends and cheering on their successes too
But
There were also a few people who made the day slightly less enjoyable.
I am sure the majority of them are lovely in their normal life, and in training. But come to a show and they feel stress, pressure to be perfect when surrounded by so many peers
So there was the lady who dragged her dog over to another to say 'hello' and then when her dog showed its teeth to the other dog the lady actually smacked her dog in the face.
The stress to have the 'perfect dog' affects many people, everyone wants that dog you can take anywhere and it just happily and calmly acts in the perfect manner in every situation.
We are not perfect and neither are our dogs, they have the right to not want to be friends with every dog and showing teeth and even growling are not naughty behaviours they are comunications.
There was the mild mannered lady who has got herself a much more drivey breed than she has had in the past and from being lovely and gentle with her other dogs she has felt the stress from the breed experts on that breed to be 'hard' on the dog to keep him under control so she was ringside yanking and yelling at her dog. Very sad considering how gentle and lovely she is with her other dogs.
And there is the stress on the course. I am sure in training people dont drag their dogs too and from the obstacles on their hind legs, yet at a show people feel the stress that they are surrounded by far too many strange dogs and worry their dog might react or run off to play
When things go wrong in training I am sure most of us just go back and calmly try it again or train some more for that level of difficulty, we dont scruff our dogs and force them to the point where they went wrong.
We are all human and we feel the stress, but your agility run is not important, your dog is
Try and grow a thicker skin, if something goes wrong in the ring just laugh and run on and finish on a positive - then train later where you went wrong.
If you are stressed in the line and not sure how your dog will react as the people around you to give a little space, blow a few runs if need be just practising calmly walking up to the start line. Or even do some fun shows where you can have toys or food with you to reward your dog for the behaviour you want.
If you are stressed that your dog wont like other dogs then give them space at shows and get some good behavioural advice of positive ways to help your dog.
Stop stressing about the win, stop stressing about what other people think, take it as a day out with your dog, enjoy your dog and find the positives in what they are doing, nothing else is important
And here is my brag, my tired fab boy with his haul after his first show.
Tuesday, 2 June 2015
Long thin agility course Week 1 June 2015
This weeks long thin agility course
As ever adjust spacings for safety and flow.
This weeks course was mainly to be a fast flowing course without too many challenges. With the spacings in our yard it was best to turn the dogs right over 7 to give them a nice line to the see-saw. 14 - 17 depended on the speed of the dog/handlers.
Monday, 1 June 2015
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