Sheryl of the Handmade Business Blog: featured Blogger Interview
January 28, 2010 | By
As a special treat to readers, we have another Featured Blogger interview this week! Today, we’re talking with Sheryl from the Handmade Business Blog, a fantastic resource for inspiration, tips for selling, and ideas.
For our readers new to your blog, please tell us a little bit about yourself and your blog.
Hi! I'm Sheryl Westleigh; I create sea creature themed jewelry and sculpture. I live in rural Maine with my family and out menagerie of pets (including a llama). I run the Handmade Business Blog where I share my thoughts and ideas for running a business selling handmade products, mostly focusing on selling online.
What brought you to creating, and when did you start?
I've been creating my entire life. Even when I was a little kid, I had all sorts of art and craft supplies. I didn't really start taking it seriously until a few years ago when people started saying they would like to buy my sculptures. From there I branched into jewelry because the sculpture is so time consuming and expensive.
Many of your blog posts are educational and offer free information to help sellers be more successful. Do you feel that more handmade blogs are focusing on doing this?
Yes I do, and I think that's wonderful. We need to be sharing and helping each other as a community even if we may be in competition.
How much time do you devote to your blog (promoting, writing, etc) every week?
It depends on what I'm writing that week, but usually around an hour of writing. I don't do a lot of promotion other than feeding my posts to Twitter and having a blog page on Facebook.
Did you have any experience writing prior to starting your blog?
I did, I've had my website at http://noadi.net since about 2002, another blog since 2004, and I've been a lensmaster on Squidoo since 2007.
Do you have any advice for new bloggers who are just getting started?
Pick a good focus for your blog. Don't write about everything, if it's a blog about your shop stick to writing about the shop, start a separate blog if you want to share stories about your kids or political commentary. I currently have 4 blogs, two that I update regularly: Handmade Business and Noadi's Art Blog, and also two I update less often: one that's more my personal thoughts and also a cooking blog where I occasionally post recipes.
What’s a fun fact most readers don’t know about you?
I can't think of many fun facts about me I haven't shared on Twitter. I'm pretty open there about myself. However if you don't follow me, I guess one would be that despite my love of science and creating art I actually went to college for Medeival history and folklore.
Last but not least, why do you believe that supporting handmade and indie is important?
We live in a mass produced world, the more unique and creative things we can bring to it the better. It is important to show people that you can still get beautiful handcrafted things, that not everything is cheap and disposable. I'd much rather spend more on something handmade and unique that will last me years than something cheaper that will wear out in 6 months.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Sheryl’s Handmade Business Blog.
Sara Moore is the Head of the Content Department on ArtFire.com.
All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior
written permission of HandmadeNews.org.
