The ProSeller Corner

Interview with Danielle AKA becauseofthebrave

2011-10-23T03:19:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Danielle My name is Danielle, I'm married with two kiddos. My family and I are currently living overseas in Turkey because my husband is in the Air Force. It's been an adventure to say the least.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Danielle I started designing for Zazzle in early 2009 after I migrated from cafepress. I love the fact my customers can customize their designs themselves!

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Danielle I have another store, Cranberry Design, which is all about parties, but it is still a work in progress!

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Danielle My best selling product from my Because of the Brave is a Cookie Swap, or holiday party, invitation!

My best selling design from Cranberry Design is my Robot Party Invitations!

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Danielle I recently fell in love with snorkeling. We spent a lot of time on the Mediterranean this summer and saw all sorts of fun sea creatures! Otherwise, I love spending time with my kids and doing craft and cooking projects with them!

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Danielle My kids are both in school and at this time I stay at home, so it makes it pretty easy to balance. Zazzle and school during the day, family time in the afternoon and evening!

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Danielle I believe it was around 9 months, the first few months it was just about getting the store set up and once I was able to concentrate on creating new designs it was easier to reach ProSeller status.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Danielle Don't over think anything! You're always your worst enemy and biggest critic. Always remember quality is more important than quantity, so keep designing and don't worry about sales... they will come.

Interview with Stacy AKA rdwnggrl

2011-10-23T02:39:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Stacy My name is Stacy and I live in Colorado, although I am originally from Washington State. I'm married with one child who keeps me on my toes.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Stacy I started on Zazzle in 2006 after doing an online search for places where I could make and buy my own t-shirt. Zazzle didn't have an order limit and seemed to have the best set up, so I tried it out and have been here ever since.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Stacy I have 2 other shops at Zazzle. My main shop is just a little bit of everything that makes up who I am. One of the other shops is RdwnggrlEquality which I started to showcase all of my pride/lgbt gear. I'm very active in equal rights for the gay community and my wedding products for the brides or grooms has always been very popular, so now they have their own shop!The other shop is RdwnggrlPhotography. This is my new home for my photography. Most of it nature - flowers, trees, sunsets, waterfronts. But I have other topics mixed in here and there.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Stacy I have a couple of invitations that have been very popular for me, but as they are more "bulk" sales, in terms of numbers, I guess I would have to say my best selling individual product is my "Where There Is Music" tote bag.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Stacy I love to spend time with my family - taking walks, watching the sunset, watching movies. I also watch a lot of sports.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Stacy It depends on the day. Because I work outside of the home, as well as raise my son, my time on Zazzle is somewhat limited. But when I have time and ideas, I do my best to juggle both Zazzle and home life. Multitasking is my friend.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Stacy I was on Zazzle for about 4 years before I reached ProSeller status. I hit that milestone, however, only about a year after really putting an effort into turning this into something successful. Before it was for fun, for myself, and for my friends. Once I realized strangers were buying my designs, then I put my all into it.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Stacy Just keep working. If you don't have time to create a bunch of products, then do what you can, then promote them as you can. Blogs. Twitter. Facebook. Emails. Do them all!

Interview with FCACshelter

2011-10-23T02:24:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

FCACshelter I am a self-employed graphic designer and animal lover and activist. In 2009, I decided to combine my talents with my desire to help homeless shelter animals by starting my Zazzle store. I hope this will result in heightened awareness about and urgency for the adoption of shelter animals everywhere. The proceeds from all sales are donated to help local shelter animals in Frederick, Maryland.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

FCACshelter I opened my Zazzle store in 2009 after opening one at Cafepress in late 2008. I liked the ability for the customer to customize the products such as the fonts and colors or personalizing with a name.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

FCACshelter I have another Zazzle store, Flower Gifts, that features my husband's floral photography with my designs.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

FCACshelter The most popular designs are my Peace Love Paws.

and All My Kids/Grandkids Have Paws product lines

but not necessarily a particular type of product from either one.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

FCACshelter Outside of work and working on the stores, we take care of our 3 mixed-breed dogs, who all came from shelters; volunteer at our local shelter when we can; and raise awareness for shelter animals every chance we get.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

FCACshelter It is difficult. I can only work on the stores when I do not have paid work to do, and I'm still adding dog and cat breeds to the store! We have 16,000+ items and counting!

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

FCACshelter It was about a year and a half.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

FCACshelter Wow. It's been very time consuming because you not only have to come up with designs but then take the time to create the items, keep up with any items added since that time, then promote the stores. I have seen sales increase recently and maybe that is due to the changes Zazzle has been making, but I definitely think it helps to have knowledge of SEO and really read through the forums to get more info about the elements of Zazzle (product names, tagging, etc.) and how they work, so you can make the most of them.

Interview with Michelle AKA mistlebee

2011-10-23T02:02:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Michelle My name is Michelle (AKA mistlebee), and my shop is called the ALL THINGS DUTCH HARBOR AND UNALASKA GIFT SHOP.

I have lived on Unalaska Island since 1987, when I came up to work on an at sea processing ship which processed opilio, bairdi and king crab caught in the Bering Sea. After two years I began working on the fishing boats, catching crab, scallops, pea cod, black cod and halibut. In 1994 I went fishing for the last time and then started working on land.

I am single, permanently so, as far as I can tell. I do not have children.

I live with five cats and feed a handful of stray cats which come to my doorstep. I have regulars among the foxes and bald eagles which share the island with humans. They show up when the weather turns cold and some of them have names now.

I currently work as a longshoreman on the docks, barges and container ships. Alaska has been an adventure from day one and life here has been the stuff of many stories which have entertained my family and friends. I am the family adventurer/eccentric.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Michelle I actually made my first design at Zazzle in 2006, when I made a Christmas card to send to friends and family.

I didn't open a store until May of 2010. I don't know why I chose Zazzle over other options. I think I liked the prices when I made my first Christmas card.

I have liked the quality of the products I have ordered for myself, and I have received positive feedback from friends and family for gifts they have received, which were sent directly from the manufacturers.

Product quality has always been a big plus in the comments I have received.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Michelle I currently have started a shoe store and I am moving my shoe designs from my gift shop to the new store, which is called FOOTISHES CUSTOM KEDS SHOES FOOTWEAR.

When all my current shoe designs are moved to the Footishes store, I will remove those categories from my store and focus more on my other products, especially those which feature my photography.

My shoes have digital art designs which I have created from scratch by playing around with my graphics program, and some of them have photographic images taken by me which lended themselves well to shoe designs.

Some of my shoes have scenery from Unalaska Island, or local wildflowers, or garden flowers. I have a few designs with beach scenery and shorebirds and one design with a photo of a parkee squirrel. I altered a photo of a family of sea otters to create an effect like an oil painting and fitted it onto a shoe.

I enjoy making unique patterns and designs. To date, the only shoe which has sold had a silhouette of a raven from a modified photo on the top of a woman's slip-on shoe. That raven photo has seen some mileage and it has helped to sell other products as well.

I plan to move a few other products, such as men's neckties, to their own stores because they aren't really supportive of my gift shop's main theme and the number of designs for those products will now support a separate store. But that is all in the future and there will be links on my main store's homepage when the new stores are ready for business.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Michelle My postcards are always selling. Sometimes people will come in and buy dozens or even nearly every photo image I have on a postcard. One of my friends bought some for her postcard exchange club and I got to see the end product. I was impressed with the quality.

Another product which has sold the most has been my coffee mugs, mostly those with photos of the fishing boats which work out of the port of Dutch Harbor.

Posters of the fishing boats sell now and again, more so than other products.

Everything else is hit or miss, mostly miss.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Michelle I go out hiking and taking more photographs.

Working on my store has changed the focus of my photography (no pun intended). I look for images which would make good backgrounds , texture designs, or design elements for collages and abstracts for my products, as well as collecting yet more photos of the island scenery, the plants, the animals, the insects and the fishing boats.

Photography is very relaxing for me and I get into a zen state of consciousness sometimes, becoming "one" with my environment and the things in it. Nature is fascinating, and the camera sees and captures things I miss because it isn't thinking about one particular thing, but instead, records all that comes within view of the lens.

Because of this, a whole new world has opened up to me and it is an adventure finding out what the camera has captured for me each time I process through the images.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Michelle I would not use the term "balance". Life has its demands and I answer those as they come. Zazzle fills in the gaps, sometimes small and sometimes large, between life's demands. And then there are the opportunities for photo shoots, which are like demands, but with greater rewards.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Michelle About a year.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Michelle Don't quit your day job.

I am not a good person to give advice on promoting your store or products as far as blogs or other devices go.

The one thing I focus on is making sure my titles, descriptions, and tags all work together to draw search engines from outside of Zazzle. When it comes to search engines, content is king

Content means your title accurately describes your product and it uses widely used key search words.

Content means that you have said enough about your product in your description to create a profile of related key word terms which will reflect what people would use to find a product like the one you offer.

Content means that any tags you use will reflect the key words in your title and description, creating a continuity which will put you high in the search engines' ranking and first in the results.

If you are unsure of how to create content, do a few searches for similar products and look at what comes up in the first 20 results and see what they have in common as far as content goes. A pattern will emerge.

And do your best to make quality designs. Getting people to look at your work is half the battle, making them want to buy it because it looks so darned good or it fits their needs is the other half.

Interview with Emily AKA emele1

2011-10-22T07:19:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Emily I'm Emily although I go by Emele online. I'm 27 and English. I spend half of the year living in Wiltshire, England and the other half living in Crete, Greece.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Emily I've been at Zazzle since 2006. I had started selling my photography as microstock and was looking for other places online to sell... I found Zazzle via Google, thought "wow that sounds brilliant... I'll have a go" and the rest, as they say, is history!

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Emily I have a seperate Zazzle store for my digital art creations - www.zazzle.com/emele2 Though it's slightly neglected... I haven't done any digital work in quite a while... Must get back to it!

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Emily I don't think I have just one single item that's a bestseller... I sell a lot of "smaller items", postcards, stickers etc.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Emily When I'm not working on my Zazzle store I can be found online at other venues selling my photography.

But off of the computer I like reading (Clive Cussler, Maeve Binchey, Barbara Taylor-Bradford and John Grisham being a few of my fav authors).

I also enjoy playing xbox games with my man and baking on a sunday afternoon and browsing at carboot sales (that'd be garage sales in America!)

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Emily I spend on average about an hour a day on Zazzle so it's not a problem. I'll be on Zazzler longer if a new product has just come out or I'm rearranging things, but sometimes shorter if I don't have any new products to upload.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Emily Years and Years and Years! I think I actually joined Zazzle before they invented the ProSeller status but only just achieved the status this year - It wasn't really a top priority of mine.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Emily I'm not sure I have any advice for becoming a proseller as I seemed to become one by accident! But my advice for any new Zazzler is simply never to give up - You can't expect miracles (and sales) overnight!

Interview with David AKA Country1969

2011-10-19T09:00:00.003-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

David My name is David Materazzi. I am from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. I lived here all my life. I met my wife about 16 1/2 years thru A.O.L. online chat room. I found out she lived only a few miles away from me over the river. Asked her out on a date and been with her ever since. We have a son who is 12 years old. We got married in June 2002. I've been working for a Hunting and Fishing Wholesale Sporting Goods for the last 20 years. I love doing home improvements to our house when I get the time. Love to go the movies each weekend with my wife. We like to call it a date together.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

David I started back in March, 2009.I found out about Zazzle thru a friend that saw a bumper sticker on someone's truck. He told him where he bought it from so I ordered a few for him. The next thing I knew, I was reading about how to make money with designing and products. People tell me that I can be creative when I put things together. So I gave Zazzle a try and I love it.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

David No.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

David My best selling product is my Clean or Dirty Wine Dishwasher Magnet.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

David I enjoy doing home improvements, watching movies and tv. I love surfing the internet and the forums to see what I can learn.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

David It's not that hard. I work all day from 8:30am to 5:00pm. I only work a few minutes (about 2 miles away) from home. I get home and check my email for any sales. I eat supper and after that if I have any designs I want to add, I just work on them until 8:00pm. After that I watch tv or a movie and rest. If nothing is on and I'm bored, I come back up on the computer and maybe add a few more designs on. It's really a business for me to make extra cash and have fun doing something I like to do. I am hoping that I can really make something of this someday and work from home in the future.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

David I just got my Proseller Status recently like most did on the last upgrade.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

David Don't give up. Keep desiging what you can do. Read the forums and learn from others. Designing is one thing but advertising is another, Get your name out there for others to see. You can have 3,000 products in your store and get no sales.Think of ways to tell people you exist. If you don't know the answer, don't be afraid to ask someone. There are so many helpful Zazzlers on here that will give you advice and answers. The most important thing is patience. Your time will come. Good luck and keep Zazzling.

Interview with TD AKA DiligentHeart

2011-10-19T04:04:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

TD Hello, my name is TD from upstate NY. Happily married and blessed with two wonderful kids. We also have two fun loving Boston terriers and two cats. Guess we like things in pairs.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

TD Have been with zazzle for a few years now but have only taken it at a serious level since January 2011.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

TD I do own a few other zazzle stores but they don't get much attention. 90% of my time goes into our Diligent Heart Christian gift shop.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

TD Christian themed greeting cards and postcards seem to sell fairly well. However, t-shirts, hats, and stickers are also good sellers.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

TD Spending time with the family, playing guitar in the band, riding motorcycles are all enjoyable moments for myself.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

TD The first 4 months of taking zazzle seriously, zazzle was my life. Starting a new business takes a lot of time and effort.The effort put forth is rewarding but taking time out for your family is even more rewarding.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

TD I would say around 4 months I finally met Pro-seller status.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

TD If you are committed then you will succeed. Write a business plan and use your time wisely. Add new images and products on a consistent basis. Market your items well and don't give up.

Interview with Keith AKA ogthug

2011-10-19T00:09:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Keith The name is Keith Travis. I live in in the great state of Michigan. I am currently single with 3 kids and 1 grandchild who I love so dearly. I like graphic art that imaginates the mind and have you wondering what's up with this. I also love God and the meaning of life and its challenges.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Keith I started with Zazzle back in 2003 and have been submitting designs since. What made me interested in zazzle was seeing other artists creations and how they are featured in the community.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Keith Another store that I have is called Wicked Designs. It shows you designs that are not featured in the original store.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Keith So far it has been the ipad/iphone cases and shoes.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Keith Spending time with family, watching tv and thanking God for another day.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Keith Balancing time is not that difficult with all the technology we have at our use in this time and age.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Keith I was with zazzle for about 8 years before reaching basic pro due to I must admit I had some wack designs starting off back in the day.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Keith My advice to becoming a proseller is to keep following your dreams and don't let nobody hold you back from what you're doing.You only have one life to live, so live it to its fullest. Pursue it when its easy not hard and you will have greater success.

Interview with Briana AKA brianadragon

2011-10-18T04:55:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Briana My name is Briana Blair, I'm an author and artist living in central GA with my husband Eric, cat Jynx and cockatiel Stoli. Hubby and I work together on our Zazzle shop. It's pretty cool that we're both artists and both wanting success from our work.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Briana A few years ago, I don't remember exactly when. Like many I was part of the exodus from CP. I hear about Zazzle through online friends and went to check it out. Zazzle is now where we have all our work, we really love it.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Briana I do have another store, which I don't pay as much attention to as I should. It's called Mandala Magic, and it's for my kaleidoscope mandalas, which I do simply for the joy of it. I probably have too much fun tweaking and playing to get just the right look. When I break out Kaleider I'm likely to make 100 or more images in a day!

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Briana Sexy Legs Blue Stilettos Keychain.

This is actually our biggest selling design overall. I'm not sure why, but it's amazingly popular. So popular in fact, that I made 3 different recolors which are also selling now!

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Briana Playing on MindJolt games, watching TV with hubby and writing. I'm actually in the process of writing a few new books. I'm probably a little odd in the fact that I enjoy work more than anything. I just love creating things and sharing them with the world.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Briana I work from home, so it's not a big deal. Hubby and I work as much as we want, and then we don't! Sometimes we work for 2 hours, sometimes most of the day. We do have daily minimums we try to keep, and I am no longer allowed to work all day and into the wee hours of the morning. Heh, what can I say, I'm a workaholic!

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Briana A year and a half I think. It took longer than I expected, but I'm glad to be there now, and can't wait to move up the ranks.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Briana Create a lot of good content, put it on a lot of products, and just keep at it. You WILL get there! it's also a really good idea to join one of the FaceBook groups or other groups where established sellers will help you learn what you need to know and give you support along the way. I'd be lost if not for the groups I found, having fellow Zazzlers for friends can really keep you motivated and encouraged during those times when sales are slow.

Interview with Carolyn AKA ArtformTheHeart

2011-10-17T00:28:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Carolyn

My real-life name is Carolyn but since I spend most of my time online these days I seem to be better known as Artform. I was born and bred in Scotland and still live there, about half way between the beautiful cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. I worked as a research scientist up until 2007 when I lost my job because of health problems. That same year I met my fiance, an American from the state of Arkansas so I do quite a lot of travelling to visit him. At the moment we are trying to make a firm and final decision on which country to live in so that we can finally get started on the immigration visa process.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Carolyn I began at Zazzle in February of 2010 almost by accident. I've always been artistic and my fiance is quite proud of that. He suggested selling t-shirts as a business idea and I began looking around online. Zazzle came up first in the search results and there you have it. I'd previously sold some of my original artwork through eBay and it seemed amazing that with Zazzle I could resell it over and over again as prints. It didn't quite work out that way however as my "art" isn't amongs my best selling products and so I concentrate more on designing stationery and cartoons now.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Carolyn My main store is ArtformTheHeart and it covers a wide variety of styles and subject matters. It started out with my artwork (paintings and drawings in pencils and pastels) and photography. It now has a rather large Wedding stationery section, sections for patriotic designs, photography, and lots of cartoons from "chicks" to kawaii to sports and holidays.

Animatastic was my second store and it's dedicated entirely to cute cartoon animals. It's also my second best performing store. I started this out as an experiment with public domain clipart and I had it set up and filled with around 200 products within 24 hours to see if clipart would sell. As I say, it was a experiment because I wanted to know if it was worth my time creating original designs or if clipart would sell just as well. But since I enjoyed creating cartoons so much, I soon began adding my own animal creations and they took over the store!

Tee Whiz is where I add designs that I'm not comfortable placing in my main store for one reason or another - either I don't think they are my best work, or I feel that they may offend people.

Artform Nouveau began because I felt that I had too many designs in this style taking over my main store. Being from Scotland I have always loved and admired the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and that's a big influence on the style of this store. I actually got my first custom request via this store for Rennie Mackintosh Wedding stationery.

The Stepmom Project came about because my fiance has 3 sons and despite the fact that I'm not very maternal at all it became clear early on that I was indeed going to become a Stepmom. I don't spend a great deal of time working on this store but it has it's own moderate success. The designs are almost all family oriented (not exclusively stepfamilies).

Made in the USA was a store that I set up supposedly for my fiance. He has a lot of great ideas and I wanted to make zazzle something that we had in common. It didn't work out that way however and this store has been badly neglected!

I have one other store that isn't linked to the others, but for now I'd prefer to keep it as anonymous as possible (though there is a trail that I'm sure people could follow to find out what the store is, lol).

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Carolyn Wow, that's a difficult question Jasmine! I sell a lot of variations of one design, or one design on lots of different product types.

For ArtformTheHeart, I would have to pick this particular Wedding invitation:

I get a lot of custom requests from this design for specific tartans and customers love it because it can easily be made to incorporate two different tartans - one for the Bride's family and the other for the Groom's family. What customers also like is that I can recreate any tartan for them - even ones that aren't readily available in databases. My most recent request for a bespoke design involved me creating one of the tartans from scratch in my graphics software and and also making a version of the family crest to go with it.

The bestselling product from Animatastic is this cute pink pony party invitation:

After I finished making the pony cartoon, I was a little worried that it looked a little too similar to a My Little Pony toy I had as a child so I contacted Hasbro for clearance before adding it to any products.

Tee Whiz's best seller is this postcard that received a Today's Best Award from Zazzle:

This pretty Mackintosh style rose design sells (in two variations) from both ArtformTheHeart and my ArtformNouveau stores:

It also sold 200 copies on greetings cards from one of the stores.

I have sold a lot of this Adoption Greetings card in both the boy (blue) and girl (pink) versions, strangely almost all to the UK, whilst most of my other sales are to the USA.

As I said, Made in the USA has been badly neglected, but this is a popular invitation design (even after the 4th of July!)

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Carolyn Right now there seems to be no time that I'm not working on Zazzle - unless I'm sleeping. There have been a lot of changes to the site recently and many new products added so with the holiday season imminent I'm working flat out. When things aren't so chaotic, I love to read and watch movies. I love the outdoors and it's been great to discover "The Natural State" of Arkansas, likewise I showed my fiance some of the beautiful sights of Scotland when he was here for six months earlier this year. I also do a lot of promoting for my own Zazzle products and other people's products in a variety of places, squidoo is just one of those where I try to mix some products in with occasionally useful or interesting article. You can find my lensmaster page here: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/ArtformTheHeart

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Carolyn Right now I don't. I've always been a hard worker and really push myself. Living on my own at the moment, there's no-one to force me to take breaks, so I don't. When my fiance is around I do my best to stick to 9-5 hours although I am sure that he would disagree with that.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Carolyn When I joined Zazzle I had no clue about selling online other than via eBay. I didn't visit the forum at all for the first three months and did no promoting at all. My descriptions and keywords for my products were all a mess too. Because of all that, it took me 8 months to meet the ProSeller, just as they put the program on hold. So it took 17 months for me to officially get the ProSeller status but I did jump straight in at the bronze level.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Carolyn The main goal was never to become a Proseller for me, it was and is to make a living from it because I can no longer work a "regular" job. But the same advice applies to both scenarios:

Visit the forum every day. I can't stress enough how valuable the forum is. From advice and tips for new zazzlers, to important updates and news about the site, maintenance and new product releases, promotion opportunities, networking; it really is a very rich resource.

Make sure that your designs fit your products - and I mean both physically and aesthetically. Don't use the Quick create tool to plop an image onto every product available unless you intend to edit each one to resize if necessary. And please don't put offensive or PG/R rated designs onto baby or children's t-shirt, it makes us all look bad in the eyes of the customer.

Promote, promote and then promote some more. Your products won't sell if no-one sees them.

Interview with Pam AKA olpampam

2011-10-16T23:40:00.002-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Pam My name is Pam and I live in Northern Ontario in Canada. I have a great husband of 6 years and 2 wonderful little boys. I went to school to be a teacher, but unfortunately have been a supply teacher for 6 years now. It's a shame that the job market is so competitive. However, that made my search for a new career even more important, which led me to Zazzle.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Pam I started designing at Zazzle in November of 2010. I was very concerned about my career come the following September, because I am on call as a supply teacher and wouldn't be able to work. My son started school this September and we are unable to change his busing, so working as a supply was not an option. Luckily, a friend introduced me to Zazzle. She knew I was a creative individual and I'm quite good at researching and learning new things, so she thought it would be perfect for me. I'm so glad she did, because I just love it.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Pam No.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Pam My best selling product is my black and white floral wedding program.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Pam I love to play volleyball, baseball, play with my kids, be creative in the kitchen, make handmade soap and lotions, and much more.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Pam I have to kick myself off the computer. I just love creating and posting my newest creations. It's very fulfilling. But my family is very important to me as well, so I have to set blocks of time aside that are for Zazzling and for friends and family.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Pam I think it was in my 5th or 6th month. It took several months before I sold anything, but once I did, it just kept becoming more and more consistent.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Pam Try to post something everyday. I usually work on a new design everyday and then post several variations of it. Another thing I will do is post a wedding set, then everyday for a few days, I post it in a different colour. This way, I have something posted, but I can still devote lots of time to my family.

Interview with Arnolda AKA funcards

2011-10-16T22:48:00.009-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Arnolda I'm Arnolda and live in the Netherlands. I have a really sweet cat.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Arnolda I opened an account about 1 1/2 years ago. I had a website for e-cards, and thought it would be nice to offer them as paper cards as well. That's how I found Zazzle. I had never heard of them before and really had no idea what Zazzle was all about!

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Arnolda I don't.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Arnolda My QR design is my best-selling design on various products, since customers tend to buy them in bulk orders.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Arnolda I love to go out photographing, reading, bicycling.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Arnolda That's hard sometimes! I let it depend on if I have new photographs to use for creating products.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Arnolda I think I qualified for the new pro-seller program after a couple of months, but at that time Zazzle had put the program on hold. So I became one when they started again, but I don't really remember when that was.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Arnolda There are a lot of products in the Zazzle Market Place, so try to find designs/topics that's are not so common. And read / join the forum!

Interview with Maria AKA blessedwedding

2011-10-16T22:10:00.002-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Maria My name is Maria, happily married for almost 13 years now, have 3 kids and expecting my 4th, and I am a zazzloholic.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Maria I was looking for work from home options when i stumbled upon zazzle, its been almost 4 years now.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Maria I have 22 other stores, varying from gifts to business to niche shops for seasons and celebrations. Here is the list.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Maria From my wedding shop.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Maria Watching movies.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Maria It's tough, I am up pretty late. Sometimes I get just 4-5 hrs sleep in 24 hrs.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Maria When they introduced the proseller program, I got my status just a few months after that.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Maria Never give up. Designing & marketing go hand in hand, just make sure you have your store and product links all over the web. The time you give to designing and filling your store, you have to give the same time to promotion as well.

Interview with Lisa AKA Hafapea

2011-03-07T21:17:00.001-05:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Lisa

My name, for all intents and purposes, is Hafapea Nut. This is obviously not my real name but, it is the name I use in all of my online dealings and as an artist. My real name is Lisa, which is no where near as fun, and I am a single mother who lives at home with her folks. Up until 5 years ago I had been traveling the country as a free-spirited gypsy and was making plans to see the world. The powers that be had different plans for me though and, despite the fact that doctors had told me it could never happen, I got knocked up on my birthday. Thing is I was unemployed and living on a commune in Oregon at the time, so I had to think fast. After six months of not being able to make things work with my baby daddy, I decided to move home to Mom. I have lived here, in Florida, ever since. After giving birth to my son, I immediately enrolled in college and I am now in the last year of earning a Master's Degree in Library and Information Sciences.

Thank the powers that be for awesomely supportive parents! Without them life would have been very different for my son and I. My son is awesome as well. I could not have asked for a better child. He is the light of my soul and the love in my heart. Everything that I do: going to college and running my Zazzle shop, is to help me make sure that I can take the best possible care of him until he is able to care for himself. Here's to finding a job after I graduate - despite the fact that I'm over 40. LOL

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Lisa I started designing at Zazzle in 2008 and my choosing them was more by accident than design. I had never heard of Zazzle before, so I actually began trying to sell products at Cafe Press. Somewhere along the line I stumbled upon Zazzle. I think I Googled "print-on-demand shops" or something. I kept my Cafe Press shops up and running but, since I wasn't making any money at it, decided to turn my focus to filling up a Zazzle shop instead. It was a good thing too, because my Zazzle shop started making money within the first month that it was open. A few months later, having still not gotten a sale, I closed down all of my CP stores and made Zazzle "the one."

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Lisa I currently have 2 stores at Zazzle: Designs by Hafapea and Princess Penelope's Persnickety Pixel Palace. I have 3 other shop URLs that I haven't used yet, but I wanted to get them into place before the merging of shops takes place, just to make sure they get integrated into my account. Once the merging is complete, I will name and begin stocking them. For now, thought DBH and PPPPP are it.

Designs by Hafapea is my original shop. It has over 15,000 products in it made using over 100 of my original pieces of abstract fractal artwork, as well as another 25 or so product lines made using other forms of artwork that I have either created myself or purchased a license to use.

Princess Penelope's has only been open for about a month and there are less than 200 products there right now - and all are for St. Patrick's Day. Once the merging is finalized, I will transfer all of the pixel art lines from DBH to there, though, as that store is going to strictly be for pixel art creations.

The other shops will contain the licensed artwork that I have purchased from various sources. One of them will be dedicated to digital scrapbook art, another to fantasy art and the third will probably be mainly floral. I haven't actually decided yet, but that is probably how it will end up.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Lisa That's a hard question to answer. I have several products that sell well, but there isn't really one that sells more often among them. Although, my Silver Snowflake Sticker sold like gang busters during the winter holiday season and is still getting a couple of buyers here and there.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Lisa When I'm not working on my store I enjoy spending time with my son. Other than that, I am either making more pretty pictures or playing mindless Facebook games that help me to relax.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Lisa I don't. LOL There are only three reasons that I voluntarily stop working on my shop: creating products or promoting it. The first and most important of those is so I can spend time with m'boy. Second is so I can get some school work done and third is simply because I need a break.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Lisa It took me 7 months to earn Bronze level ProSeller status. Not too bad considering I did next to nothing to promote my shop until this year.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Lisa The only advice that I have to offer is a repeat of what you said: work hard and give it time. There is a Squidoo lens out there that I read way back when that said if you create a lot of products, you will sell a lot of products. Being short on funds and time, that is what worked best for me. It cost me nothing in dollars to create products, so that is what I spent all of my "spare" time doing - and it paid off. The only other thing that ever did anything to boost my sales was lowering my prices so that all of my markups were between 12 and 15%. I think those methods only work up to a certain point, though, and once you have reached it, you will need to start focusing on promoting your site. That is where I am at now. My sales for 2010 were up by 60% from the year before, but they still seem to have leveled out. So, I'm trying my hand at blogging, Facebooking, Tweeting and linking to see if I can't do something to change that. None of these methods provide fast results, though, so I am not sure yet how well any of them are going to work. Applying logic to my lunacy it makes sense that you would need to build your shop up before you can start promoting it, though. Otherwise, you have nothing to promote.

Interview with Rico AKA MindDesignGrafx

2011-03-02T13:48:00.001-05:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Rico I'm Rico, I live in New Hampshire. I'm married, two adult children, 3 grand children. We have 2 dogs, River and Rain and our cat Jack. I've lived in New Hampshire for over 20 years and consider it home. I grew up in the historic city of Salem Massachusetts, where the witch's are from.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Rico I joined Zazzle on July 26th, 2009, I was a transplant from another POD, who made some serious changes that were not advantageous for the shop owners. I choose Zazzle because many of the best shopkeepers from this other POD were there. I'm so glad I choose Zazzle, it's been great for me. I love the community here.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Rico I have two other stores that are just in the beginning stages;

TattooTeez - this store features original hand drawn tattoo style designs. The artist is Pam Brownell, my wife. Pam's art has been shown and sold in art galleries and businesses throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Abstract Art Graphics - this store features original hand drawn pen and ink abstract designs. The artist is Pam Brownell.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Rico My best selling products are probably, cards, magnets and posters. Extreme Biking Poster, I've sold quite a few of these.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Rico I have to admit, I spend most of my time working on my store or promoting off site. When I'm not doing that I enjoy spending time with family, friends, cookouts. I enjoy music, watching movies, I like action adventure and horror movies the best. For music I like a little bit of everything from easy listening to heavy metal, jazz, hip-hop. I enjoy sports, football is my favorite.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Rico While not always easy to tear myself away from working on Zazzle, balance is key. Without balance you're working in a vacuum. I usually get up between 2:00 and 3:00 AM and start working so I have time when the rest of the world is awake to enjoy it.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Rico Almost 1 year. I joined Zazzle on July 26, 2009 and made ProSeller on July 20th, 2010.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Rico You're right it does take a lot of hard work and time. You get out of it what you put in. It helps to love what you do. My best advise is to use the Forums and listen to the ProSellers that are the most successful. I have found their help and advise to be the most helpful in reaching ProSeller status. Without them, I don't think I would be where I am today. So thank you to all of them. My other advise may sound cliché but it has worked for me; Set goals, short, medium and long term. Write them down and post them where you can see them everyday. Keep track of your progress. Don’t get discouraged, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” as they say and it is true of a successful Zazzle store.

Interview with Susan AKA SusanSavad

2011-02-28T17:25:00.002-05:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Susan

My name is Susan Savad and I live in New Jersey. When my younger son started nursery school (this was 1981), I decided to go to art school and attended DuCret School of the Arts in Plainfeild NJ for seven years graduating in 1989 (this was actually a 3 year program but I was taking care of two boys and going to school part-time). I am currently working as a graphic artist at an electronics company taking care of their website and catalog but am planning to retire next month. At that point, Zazzle will become what my sister calls my "jobby" which she tells me is what in her neighborhood retired people do and is a cross between a job and a hobby.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Susan I had signed up for some newsletters from art websites and one of these websites (I don't even remember the name of it now) said they were starting a print on demand business which is something I had never heard of before. I googled it and came up with several names and signed up with CafePress, Printfection and Zazzle. The layout of Zazzle at first confused me and at that time they hadn't yet started Quick Create so I didn't do much with my membership then. However, as CafePress slowly started taking away the artist's share of the profit, I was determined to figure out Zazzle and once I did I really enjoyed it much more than the other PODs. At Zazzle, it's not just a matter of slapping on a single design onto a product. Because you can layer several designs and add text makes it much more creative and I've enjoyed making business cards, save the date, wedding menus and wedding programs which isn't possible, as far as I know, at other PODs.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Susan My main store is Designs By Susan where I have my flower designs and digitally enhanced photographs. My other store, Susans Art Gallery, is where I show my paintings.

Although I consider them both fine art, I wanted to keep the two types of work separate.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

My best selling product so far has been the Brass Mortar and Pestle Poster.

My next best selling product is Red Tipped Yellow Carnation Save the Date Invitation.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Susan I work on my paintings and have just started playing my violin again after many years. Now that I'm just about to be retired, I hope to join a small local amateur string ensemble. I am, of course, very interested in photography as it is the basis of my designs.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Susan Zazzle can be very addicitive and I actually have to think ahead of time when I'll stop and do something else. For instance, I might shut my computer off before lunch and come back after lunch to work on a painting. Otherwise, I might keep saying to myself, I'll just work on this design a little longer and I when look up at the clock, it's dinnertime.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Susan If I don't count that initial period of time when I wasn't sure how to post products to Zazzle, it took a little over a year for me to become a ProSeller.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Susan When I first started, my original concept was to have a shop with just flower designs because I read on one of the forums that a focused shop did better. However, although I was selling my designs, I thought I could do better. Things picked up when I diversified my shop. I have many different categories in my main store but have been really careful to be strict about make different sections for each category so that hopefully it is not confusing to the customer.

My advise:

1. Have a broad range of categories. This way you have much more chance to have what a customer is looking for.

2. Put your designs on any product they will fit on, not just those things you think will sell. For instance, I thought it would be silly to put my flower designs on men's t-shirts and yet I've had customers who have bought them (maybe he's the president of the Garden Club, who knows?)

3. Although you have to think quality first, the more products you have up and the more diverse the designs, the more chance you have for it to show up in the marketplace and for a customer to like it.

Interview with Scott AKA scenesfromthepast

2011-02-27T00:22:00.003-05:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Scott My name is Scott Buel. I run a vintage and antique picture shop called Scenes from the Past. I'm recently married to Amanda in October 2010. Although we live in the Washington D.C. metro area, I am originally from Michigan and my love for my home state is partly what inspired my Zazzle store. I wanted to help preserve history and get it out where people can see and enjoy its beauty.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Scott I started my Zazzle shop, Scenes from the Past, in 2008. I found them when I left another website that is more geared toward professional photographers. In 2005, I took over my grandfather's antique photo and postcard business. He had built up a collection of images over a period of 40 years mostly in the topic of the Great Lakes shipping industry and railroading. But also of old images of towns from all over Michigan. My grandparents were antique dealers for 30 years or so and he sold in all kinds of shows and antique malls. When he started slowing down, I recognized an opportunity to keep the business going, so he gave me his pictures to bring to the internet. He has a collection of 80,000 images or so in all kinds of formats- glass plate negatives, old postcards, odd shaped formats that were obsolete and forgotten, slides, etc. He also became quite the prolific photographer in his own right during that time. So, I started a multi-year project to have them digitized. When the first website I mentioned didn't work out for generating revenue, I canceled my subscription and eventually Googled my way to Zazzle.

I was immediately impressed with the wide selection of products I could sell my Grandpa's images on. I also found the creation process to be fairly easy. I also thought it was great that they could offer this service for free-- no subscription fees!

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Scott I only have the single store at Zazzle.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Scott My best selling product is a poster called Play Golf Free (While Having Your Suit Pressed).

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Scott When I'm not working on my store, I'm very busy working on applying metadata to the images in my archive. That is also proving to be a multi-year project. In the end, I will have a fully searchable and keyworded library of all of my Grandpa's images. I'm a huge history buff and a tech geek who married an archivist, so this is all a natural fit. Besides enjoying working with my image archive, we enjoy visiting all of the rich historic attractions in D.C. like museums, Civil War battlefields, etc.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Scott I have to split my time up because I also have a day job as a proposal writer for a federal contractor. I sneak in Zazzle work whenever I can and take advantage of lunch hours, evenings, weekends, and holidays to create products. My wife, Amanda, is very supportive of my Zazzle work because it has paid off. My earnings last year paid for a nice chunk of our wedding!

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Scott I think I reached ProSeller status sometime in 2009, so about a year.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time.
What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Scott Be patient, keep creating products. Use good keywords and don't be spammy. Read the forums and see what is working for other sellers.

Interview with Margaret AKA ChefCateringBizCards

2010-08-27T11:04:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Margaret I'm Margaret Chayka, a single, middle-aged gal in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area with one precioussss daughter and two cats. In 1998 I decided to become a personal chef, and since my first passion was doodling and drawing, it was a pretty natural transition to graphic design with the professional foodie in mind. It all started in 2004 when I produced a custom logo for an online chef acquaintance and I just spread the word. In those early days I was just using Powerpoint!

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Margaret The perfect storm leading up to my Zazzle store was a company layoff, a desire to abandon Cafepress, and a switch from custom to 100% pre-made logo and graphic design. I started Chef Catering Biz Cards in late June of 2009 while I had time on my hands.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Margaret I recently decided to shift my existing Culinary Note Cards store at Zazzle to a 100% Christmas shop for foodies: holiday cards, "from my kitchen" stickers and tags, and tree ornaments. I sell a lot of culinary Christmas cards, at Zazzle and elsewhere, to produce sellers, kitchen design companies, cooks, bakers, you name it. In August, 2010 I opened up a new store called Events and Holidays which will contain gifts and stationery for everything from birth to...well, you know.

The ProSeller Corner What has been your best selling product?

Margaret This binder is totally popular, and it's no wonder why. A watercolor style single red stand mixer, with nifty checkerboard and diamond tile in sage and charcoal.

From Culinary Note Cards and beyond, my top seller for 2009 was this charming snowman chef with snowball platter; I design a new snowman every year.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Margaret That turns out to be very little time! I'm crafty as well - I sew handbags and am working on a Wordpress to sell them on. I don't like the restrictions of online "craft sellers" sites, and if you goof off instead of sewing, they turn your store off! I also love - when I have the time - to play video games and go to the movies. If it can be killed or blown up, I'm all over it, hee-hee!

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Margaret I'm pretty much a workaholic, and my daughter's grown up and family is spread out all over the place, so I'm pretty much a free agent. I have a full-time job, but it doesn't start until 9:30, so as an early riser I get in a good 4 hours of designing before heading out to the rat race.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Margaret About 6 months. I was surprised by all of it, since my experience at Cafepress was quite different. I made my first sale quickly, too, which was astonishing.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Margaret I can't say that I know any secrets - I design a lot of stuff, so uploading my designs to Zazzle is fairly regular; most of my sales come from the marketplace so I make sure my keywords are descriptive and target my market. I make announcements on Facebook, then it auto-loads to Twitter, but my blog suffers from neglect on a very regular basis! Since my Events and Holidays store will cover a larger market, there will be a need to buckle down on more marketing, but I'll see how it goes.

Interview with Melissa AKA Nightmareartist

2010-08-20T16:02:00.002-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Melissa My name is Melissa A Benson and my shop is "Nightmareartist". I'm married. No kids or pets except for all the wild birds that come regularly to my feeder. I have a bachelor's degree in Illustration from Paier College of Art and an Associate degree in Music. Majored on bassoon and tutored music theory and harmony all through college.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Melissa I started at Zazzle in 2004. I was looking for an outlet online for selling original art that I did for the Magic: the Gathering card game. I came across Zazzle and I was delighted that I could offer my fans such a variety of items, and the real beauty part was that I didn't have to carry any inventory! Zazzle also had the option of customizing everything and I felt that was a great plus. Of course the fact that it was a free service was a huge plus. I've never been sorry especially after the CafePress "incident".

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Melissa I have two other shops on Zazzle. One is "Fat Boy Fossils". That's my most recent shop and it has mostly trilobites and ammonites scanned and digitally altered from my husband's collection. His job is seasonal and the idea is for this shop to help out financially in his off season. I also opened a shop for my best friend called "Two Cents Plain". She's been out of work for a while and isn't very computer savvy so I set it up for her so she could get some extra income. She comes up with the ideas and I do the art for most of it. It is a shop of light-hearted Jewish themed chuchmus in Hebrew, Yiddish and English transliterations. I love the "OY!" section.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Melissa The best seller in Nightmareartist is the "Christmas Bells" border card. Fat Boy Fossils is the "Four Fossil Trilobites" tie. Two Cents Plain is the "World's Best Bubbie" t-shirt.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Melissa I'm a big reader. The authors I like are pretty eclectic: Arthur Conan Dole, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, C. M. Kornbluth and Fritz Leiber, Ellis Peters, David and Leigh Eddings, and oddly, Clive Cussler. I listen to my music which is pretty eclectic as well: bassoon concertos, Ivan Rebroff who was a Russian bass singer, Medieval Babes, Emerald Rose and movie sound tracks to name a few. I used to shoot skeet and had a 99 average with the 12 gauge.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Melissa Not very well. If I don't set limits on my Zazzle time, I'll never get my commissions done!

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Melissa I don't remember. When the program started I received an email from Zazzle telling me I was one.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Melissa In a word: Promotion. Take advantage of all the free publicity you can and put your images on everything that makes sense. The more items you have available, the more likely you will sell something. Link to as many relevant sites as you can and keep up with the Zazzle forums. You'll get some great information and inspiration.

Interview with Juan Carlos AKA SuperNova23

2010-08-12T08:24:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Juan Carlos My name is Juan Carlos. I'm from Los Angeles, CA. I'm single, have no kids, but do have one cat.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Juan Carlos Around April 22, 2009. And I did it on that day CafePress announced their new pricing system.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Juan Carlos I have two stores at Zazzle. They both have the same kind of designs, however the second one is better organized than the first one

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Juan Carlos I don't really have a best selling product since I have sold a wide variety of products and designs since I got to Zazzle.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Juan Carlos I love to read. I'm currently reading "The Call Of The Wild" by Jack London

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Juan Carlos I work at Zazzle for a couple of hours in the early morning and late at night.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Juan Carlos 9 months.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time.What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller

Juan Carlos Believe in your designs, no matter how ugly or boring other shop keepers may say they are.

Interview with Debbie AKA dizzydebbie

2010-08-10T18:34:00.000-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Debbie
My name is Debbie aka Dizzy Debbie and I live with my husband in Dallas, Texas. I have two children all grown up, with children of their own. (Yes I’m a grandma) In my children’s place I have two more babies at home, with me, Toby a male tabby, and Princess a female calico, they truly are my babies. Toby sits, on my desk, right next to my keyboard, while I’m creating. He gives his paw of approval to everything I do. I’ve lived all over the world, coming from a military family and married a career military man; I never lived anywhere longer then 3 years. I lived a total of 12 years overseas, in Asian and Europe. Art in many forms has always been in my life. I come from a line of artists, but I’m the first to create digital graphics. I must say, I don’t miss the paint brushes and chalky fingers at all. I recently added my products to gift bags that were given out, to celebrities, at the ESPY awards. I was thrilled when Marcellus Vernon Wiley, a retired NFL football player, showed a lot of interest in a pair of my Keds tennis shoes. Thank you Marcellus for the photo.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Debbie I was in search of a new POD (I already had a shop at Cafepress, but wasn’t very happy with the interface) I stumbled into Zazzle and it was love at first sight. That was back a few years ago, I didn’t become real active as a shop keeper until the spring of 2009, that’s when I first decided to treat my shop like a real job.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Debbie I have two other stores at Zazzle, but don’t work on them. Royal Coffer is my store devoted to everything royal, Queen, Princess, King and Prince products. The Card Store started out just being a shop devoted to greeting cards but I ended up expanding it a bit, and then lost interest. I tend to work only one store well. I may end up incorporating my favorite designs from these smaller stores into my main shop, then closing them.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Debbie My best selling product is a business card, and actually not my favorite either, go figure.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Debbie I really enjoy a good Sci-Fi movie; my favorite to date is The Fifth Element, but cooking is a passion for me. I love to create interesting and unique dishes, many with either a French or Asian flare.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Debbie I don’t, but at least when I’m working my shop at night, my hubby is next to me, at his computer playing games.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Debbie I signed up with Zazzle in 2008 but didn’t actually start working my shop till I left Cafepress, in the Spring of 2009, and I believe I made Proseller around the Holidays of that year.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Debbie Describe your products well, and don’t just slap your graphics or photos on to everything, make sure it fits properly, is appropriate, and looks good on that item. Nothing I hate worse then seeing a beer drinking design, as an example, on a baby onesie. If I’m turned off by that, so will your customers.

Interview with Nique AKA NotionsbyNique

2010-08-10T18:00:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Nique My name is Nique and I live in Southeastern Michigan with my husband and two daughters. Our eldest’s birthday is actually, today – she is 18. Our youngest is 7. We have 3 dogs and a bird, which is not very many for us given the zoo our house has been in the past. We have always had dogs, but we’ve also had birds, fish, turtles, hamsters, lizards, and rats (those were for my oldest daughter – they always ‘icked’ me out!)

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Nique I joined Zazzle in May of 2006 – strictly as a onetime type thing – to create a t-shirt for a group I belonged to at the time. I was one of the founding members of Artifex, a group that designed expansion packs for Zoo Tycoon (you can still find that merchandise in my store if you look! LoL). We had so many fans that we had decided to make some t-shirts to sell. So I opened a store and the rest is history, as they say.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Nique Notions by Nique was my first store and it really compliments my Gemini/ADD personality. There is a lot of variety. I love to learn new techniques and work with new mediums, so there you will find everything from my fantasy artwork to my photography – on virtually all of the products that Zazzle has available.

My second store is Noteable Expressions. This is my stationery store and has primarily weddings, though I've added party invitations and business stationery as well. This is the one place where I try and stay organized and ‘on topic.’

The ProSeller Corner What has been your best selling product?

Nique My best seller for Notions by Nique is my, “Anyone Can be a Father” print. This is so special to me because it is a picture of my youngest and hubby holding hands just after she was born.

My best seller for Noteable Expressions is my Barbed Graduation Announcement – funny because I didn't actually design it to sell – those were the ones I designed for my daughter’s graduation this past spring (yes, that is her picture on the announcement and I was the photographer as well! LoL). Since then I've also customized it for Sweet 16 Birthday party invitations and those are selling well too!

Very close in sales (less than 10 separate them) is my Romantic Stroll Monogram wedding invitations.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Nique I'm very creative so I also work a lot with other projects – I love to use watercolors, acrylics, and pencils. I write – one book has been published. And I love spending time with my family! We have a lot of game nights and love swimming together - especially this summer – man! It’s been hot!

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Nique Balance? Life? What is that? LoL
Seriously, until about 6 months ago Zazzle was a fun ‘every once in a while’ thing. About 6 months ago I started getting serious about it and now treat it as my 9-5. Or 7-11:30 truthfully. But I take a lot of little breaks through the day; to go swimming with my youngest for instance. If I start to really feel a ‘burn out’ phase coming, I get outside or play some WoW. Yes, I'm that nerdy – I have 7 level 80s in Wow – go Horde! LoL

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Nique A long time. I just became a ProSeller a couple of months ago, but like I said, I only got serious about it 6 months ago. It goes to prove – you get out what you put in!

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Nique First, don't try and rush it – this is not a ‘get rich quick’ scenario. Second, LOVE what you do – if you don't have a passion for it you will never have the patience you will need to see it through. It’s an unbelievable feeling when you get that email letting you know you've made it – but really, nothing changes – you still have to love what you do and at the end of the day, again, you get out what you put in! Well, that and a LOT of luck! I wish you all luck and may you never need to call the Whine Fairy!

Interview with Jenny AKA pawsgirl

2010-08-10T17:40:00.003-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Jenny Well, where do I start? My Zazzle name is Pawsgirl, but usually I'm called "Paws" on the Forum.
My name is Jenny and my Partners name is Kevin. We have been together for 14 years. I am 49 this year and Kev is 54. I am born and bred Australian and Kev is English.
Together we have 2 Cats ("Smokey", our old boy passed on a month ago. He was 20 years old) "Pookie" (real name is Spook) and Ragdoll Cross and Ginge, a Red British Shorthair.
We all live in Queensland Australia, in a small town called Gin Gin, that is the 4th oldest town in Queensland.
I have 3 Kids by a previous marriage and all have grown up and have their own kids now.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Jenny Well, I had to look back for the time when I started on Zazzle. I was at the time on another POD site, but left before my first year was up. One of the other designers on the site told me about Zazzle, so I had a look and joined in August 2008. I mean, how could you beat a free store and a proper mark up for Royalty, when the opposition was charging $65.00US and had knocked down the Royalty to 10%!!!
I had started a Business in Australia with Dog and Cat Breed merchandise, Mugs, Mouse pads, T-shirts etc, and Zazzle has become an arm of that business.
As we sell mainly on the Internet (Website and Ebay), we started getting people from overseas purchasing our Mugs.
Americans may think that their postal costs are a lot, but Australia's postal costs to overseas are really high, so Zazzle has helped on many an occasion.
Now, if I sell anything in Australia that can be done through Zazzle, I order and send from Zazzle. My USA customers get their items faster and hence they are happier.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Jenny My Stores on Zazzle are Paws and Manes, Fractimation and What's in a Name.

Paws and Manes is all about cats, dogs and horses. Cats are especially dear to me and so I try to do as many as I can. I have just recently put up a few designs of the Australian Mist, which is a true Australian cat and a relatively new breed. I am still going with dog breeds and think I am up to about 80 breeds by now. (I still have to put the designs up for many of them.) I have also been able to introduce the Australian breeds of dogs to the world, many of which people had never heard about before, e.g. The Australian Kelpie and Working Kelpie, The Tenterfield Terrier, The Aussie Bulldog and the Australian Koolie.
Fractimation is a mixture of "Fractals" and "Imagination". Fractals are a mathematical equation made into repeating and none repeating designs. Some beautiful designs can be made. There are some good programs around that can be used and most of them are free. I also have landscape designs and photographs that have been taken in Australia. The landscape designs are made with a program called Terragen and are very realistic looking.
What's In a Name is just starting and I only have a few designs in there at the moment. I hope to have name meanings with a picture underneath, so that it's not just text. For instance "Jennifer" means white wave, but is comes from the Welsh name of Gwyeniverre. I also hope to have Coats of arm for a variety of names eventually.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Jenny My Best selling products have to be my Australian Cattle dog, Australian Kelpie and my cat designs. It's funny, but in Australia the cat designs are not really sought after, however the dogs are. In the USA, the cats are desired as but the dogs aren't as much!!

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Jenny Most of my time is taken up with my Website and Ebay, but I do enjoy being out in the sun in my garden. I used to be the head gardener at the local council, but had to resign after an operation I had bad results that meant I could no longer lift heavy weights. I also belong to the Local Hospital Auxillary, where we raise funds for hospital needs that the government won't supply.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Jenny I would love to spend more time on Zazzle as I do love putting the designs on the items and talking to other Zazzlers. I have learned so much in the couple of years that I have been with Zazzle.
It's a case of so many ideas and not enough time in the day!!!
My life these days seems to be sitting in front of the computer, although I do take time out for some of my favorite TV shows.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Jenny Well, I started in August 2008, my first sale was the 13.10.2008 and I made Proseller in April 2010. So, that's one and a half years. It took a while, but I made it.
Making Proseller made me work a little harder to get more of my designs up and now there isn't a week goes past when I don't make a sale.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Jenny All I can say is to work hard, design smart, be aware of what is and isn't allowed and read the Forums and pay attention what advice is given to other sellers.
Don't be scared to ask questions. The only stupid question is the one that hasn't been asked.
Do your own work and don't copy or make something similar to others you see.
Use your own imagination!!!
Most of all, don't get upset if you don't make Proseller within a few months. It all takes time and one day it will happen!!!

Interview with Kris AKA KrispysKingdom

2010-08-09T01:40:00.003-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Kris My real life super hero name is Kris and currently I apply my powers in Dubuque, Iowa. I have three amazing kids - Cherokee (15), Maximus (7), and Heaven (3) - and we have a Bugg (dog), Pixel, and a big fat cat, Lego. I'm getting married on October 10, 2010 to Jon, a veteran of the United States Army, and Zazzle printed our Save the Date cards...

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Kris I just celebrated my fourth year of Zazzling. Honestly, I don't remember how I found Zazzle and I didn't take it seriously as part of my business until two years ago. The most appealing feature of Zazzle was and is the customization options. I have been a graphic designer, creating custom printable items for clients since 2003. Zazzle allows me to offer a middle ground for clients who just don't have the money to pay for custom design. They can choose from the products in my store, personalize them, and order without additional fees. So instead of losing those potential clients, I can refer them to my store and still gain their business.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Kris I only have one store at Zazzle, which is under my nickname of KrispysKingdom. I have worked on re-branding it to go better with my business, Kustom By Kris, so you can get to my store via its own domain, http://kbkswag.com. I have just about every product type in my store, although the focus is primarily on business and parties. I don't have a lot of products, though I made Pro-Seller right when the program started. I do have some product collections, which are sets of different products with a similar design, but every design and product is developed individually.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Kris Out of my small selection of products, the best selling is (by far) my Masquerade Sweet 16 Invitation. Not only does it sell well, but I have received many requests for additional products to compliment the invitation, including Thank You cards, photo booth backdrop, Response cards, Quince version, and mailing labels. I have plans to develop even more to go with this set, too.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Kris When I'm not working, which isn't often, I enjoy going on nature hikes with my family. I also love watching movies (comedy and horror are my favorites). I play volleyball once a week throughout the summer and run away on the random road trip whenever I can. At the moment, my life is consumed with wedding arrangements since I am a DIY kind of girl and lots of home renovations.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Kris Balancing work and everything else has been a tricky act. I am lucky to be able to follow my ambitions since my fiancé only works part-time and has his veteran's pension. So I work outside of Jon's Wednesday through Saturday schedule and, although I have a studio in downtown, I pretty much just work at home now. Jon will be able to retire on his pension soon and I will get to work more (yes, I said "get to" - I love my j-o-b!). We have already discussed my desire to expand my business into event planning, which I am doing with a partner.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Kris My goal was, in no way, to be a Pro-Seller, or even to find success at Zazzle when I started there. In all honesty, I just thought it would be fun to design products without someone telling what they should look like. As the earnings increased, the desire for success grew, and now I have something I can work on when I don't have custom projects on my plate. My advice to other Zazzlers who are looking for success would be to not expect it to happen quickly. If you want to make enough money at Zazzle so you don't have to work, then you might as well stop now because you have to work (a lot) to earn that kind of money there. I would also encourage everyone to believe in quality of quantity and market every design in every way you can. Running a business is about more than just having a product. I develop a business plan every year, which includes year-end goals that I strive to reach every single day.

Interview with Shane AKA reflekshins

2010-08-09T00:14:00.003-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Shane

My name is Shane Gilreath. I reside in Los Angeles with my wife Suzanne and chiweenie, Peanut.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Shane I started having fun with Zazzle in 2005 or 2006 with my then newly created Zazzle shop, "Reflekshins; Hawaiian Style and Haiku Art," after migrating some of my haiku art pieces from another site, Artwanted. Zazzle looked like a fun way to design some pieces for my own personal use.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Shane I have two other stores:

Thoughtless Tease: Fun and Fashion for Women and Men
The Neighbor Hood Shoppe: Hoodies for all Seasons and all Reasons. Fashion casual wear for men and women.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Shane

I designed a "Freshly Squeezed - Mammograms Save Lives" t-shirt in my Thoughtless Tease shop. It seems to be a big hit.

Lately I've sold several "Guidette Stylin'"

track jackets, too. Fist Pump Baby!

Reflekshins: Track jackets seem to be the big seller there. Recently a customer purchased 450 dollars worth of liberty magnets.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Shane I entertain my wife and pet (and vice versa) and also enjoy listening to Hawaiian music.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Shane Zazzle is my creative outlet and hobby. I try to keep my hobbies in the enhancement area and away from the obsession area. Moderation is the key. Zazzle has provided a wonderful creative outlet and has enhanced my life.

Although I have a full time job interviewing clients for a law firm, Zazzle earnings have actually paid for my bar exam and hotel stay and a lot of other extras for my wife and I.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Shane Proseller status is relatively new for me. I believe I've only been a Proseller since March of 2010.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Shane Keep it fun, find your niche. Get a good night's sleep and enjoy life.

Interview with Ilene AKA starstreamdesign

2010-08-08T23:48:00.002-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Ilene

My name is Ilene and though I won't give away my exact age, I will tell you that I have memories of watching the first moon landing (so that can give you a hint). I live in Central New Jersey with my husband and 6.5 yo daughter. No pets but we're working on that as my daughter (and I) really want a dog(s) (just have to convince the hubby).

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Ilene I really was clueless about Zazzle and any PODs until early 2009. I had been an art director and graphic designer in corporate communications, advertising and production for nearly 20 years and was a freelance designer/art director for many of those years. After I had my daughter, I left my big-shot art director position and stayed home with her. While on FB one day, I saw a status update by a friend (who I was friends with in high school and hadn't spoken to in 25 years... ahh, gotta love FB!). She had written that she had just received a $39 check from Zazzle for the sale of some postage stamps that she had made from a photograph of her ballerina daughter. I was intrigued so I checked it out. This woman is definitely NOT a designer and I thought with my background I should be able to pull it off. This was March of 2009 but I really
didn't get my store together until May of that year when I started posting products & made my first sale.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Ilene

Star Stream Design is my main store & is an all-around one-stop shop. My focus is just to do great designs with the utmost care to typography. (I'm a little OCD about typography)
Star Stream Business - With my experience in the business/marketing world it was just natural for me to open a shop just for business design. One of my favorite things to design on Zazzle are business cards and just about everything to do with corporate identity and branding.

I also have another shop in its infancy which is more of an apparel/fun stuff store. Its in its infancy so I will let you know when I get it together!!!

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Ilene Star Stream Design: My most popular designs is this bridal shower invitation and this Golden (50th) Anniversary invitation

BTW, the FPO pic on the anniv. invitation is that of my fabulous parents who get a kick out of seeing themselves on there.

As for my business store (Star Stream Business) this business card for a massage therapist is very popular. It's funny because the logo on here is one I created over a decade ago for a massage therapist friend. She ended up not liking it and wanted to use a ballerina (??what?!) for her logo. I thought I'd resurrect it for Zazzle and I'm very pleased with the results (not to mention the sales!)

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Ilene I have a 6 yo daughter so much of my time is playing activities director for her. (She starts 1st grade full-time in the fall so I'm excited that I finally will get the time to finally work on Zazzle all day.) We do typical 6yo girl things together: playdates, PTA stuff, parks, shopping(!!). In the extremely limited free time I have I like to hit the gym 4 times/week. I'm huge on reading. If I have time I like to spend it creatively: drawing, painting, etc. I used to design jewelry but Zazzle took over the time I spent on that. I also do hand calligraphy (for weddings, etc.) but that has slowed down due to the economy & brides being pretty tech-savvy themselves (eg: printing their own computer-addressed calligraphy). I just like spending time with my family & we're always trying to find something fun to do or places to go.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Ilene Balancing life w/ Zazzling is a struggle everyday. I'm usually exhausted by 9:30pm as my daughter gets everyone in the house up at the crack of dawn and I'm running around morning to night. I don't get much of a break b/c my husband works full-time & sometimes weekends. I just try to fit in work whenever I get a spare moment, whether its at 5:30am before my daughter is up for the day or after she goes to bed, or even when she's on the other computer playing Build-A-Bear workshop. :-)

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Ilene It took me exactly a year to reach ProSeller status after I joined up. I wasn't too serious about getting products in until about 6 months in and then it just took off after I discovered better ways to promote myself.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Ilene I felt very fortunate to become a ProSeller. All I can say, its no easy road & definitely no get rich quick scheme. It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to get there. Tag and describe your products well. Network & promote like crazy (but don't get too obnoxious about it). Read the forums and get involved. And I can't say enough about quality control. Make great products to which you would be proud to
sign your name.

Interview with Jennifer AKA nyxxie

2010-08-05T21:55:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Jennifer Hello, my name is Jennifer, I'm 28 and I live in the Inland Empire of Southern California! I am single, no kids, but I do have a cute little Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix named Mr. Brown.

The little guy keeps me busy, so it is almost like having a child! Okay, maybe not exactly, but he is a handful. :-)

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Jennifer Well for years I've always wanted to go to the "other" POD, it was always in the back of my head. Then one day in 2008 I decided to just do it! I did just a little research on which POD I wanted to join, but honestly it all came down to the look and feel of Zazzle that made me choose it over the other one. Zazzle immediately screamed Web 2.0 - sleek, modern, and clean. I'm a sucker for a well designed website. I tried it out and everything was incredibly simple to understand, hardly any fuss, I was hooked.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Jennifer I do! I'm almost embarrassed to share them because they are in progress, but what the hay!

Designs by Nyxxie - This is my main store. I didn't want "nyxxie" to be the title of my shop, just my user name, but I worked with it and now it's "Designs By Nyxxie." You can find a variety of cute and funny designs. My designs are clean, colorful and fun!
Cute as Kawaii - I have a lot of Kawaii themed products in my main store so I opened this one up to start adding more Kawaii designs to it. For those that don't know what Kawaii means it's simply just "cute" in Japanese.
Nyxxie's Math Boutique - This store isn't open yet, but if you go the url you can still find the products in Zazzle's marketplace. Basically it's just a bunch of designs featuring multiplication tables. My goal is to create more math products.
You're Invited! - I began making a lot of invitations so I figured if I keep going at this route it will be too congested in my main store, so I made a new store! It simply has invitations for different occasions including birthdays, baby showers, wedding, bridal shower, general parties, etc.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Jennifer It's hard to say because invitations sell differently than regular items.

So for the best selling regular item I'd say is
definitely this "Mmm, Cupcakes" apron.

And my best selling invitation would either
be this Ice Cream Party invitation

or this Disco Ball Party invitation

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Jennifer Well I'm a creative at heart, so when I'm not being creative on Zazzle I'm being creative somewhere else. Aside from Zazzle I'm a logo designer, so I keep busy with that. I also love photography, cooking/baking, and every once in a while, when I can settle myself down, I love to write. I have a soft spot for poetry and I love watching action/thriller flicks. And of course, I enjoy being with family and friends.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Jennifer Zazzle comes last in my life. Whatever extra time I have I devote it to Zazzle. But it really comes down to how much I can commit myself to it. I'm also self diagnosed ADD, so if I can't make myself focus on Zazzle then my attention will go somewhere else.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Jennifer About a year. I've been at Zazzle for almost two years now. When I first joined Zazzle I didn't put my heart into it at all. Let me give you some real honesty. I joined Zazzle in September 2008. My first check cleared in May 2009. This is because I had barely any products. And I barely put in any time.

I remember around July/August 2009 I got real with myself and decided that I wanted to succeed with Zazzle. So I started making Halloween and other products feverishly and everything I was making was selling like hotcakes. By the end of 2009 I was a ProSeller.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time.What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Jennifer My little story above proves that hard work pays off. So definitely keep pushing yourself to do better. I know that there are a lot of people out there with an extraordinary amount of talent, that are working hard but haven't reached ProSeller status yet. Just know that if you keep doing what you're doing it will pay off in the end. I find that taking a break and coming back with a fresh start really helps.

And the Zazzle forums continue to be a great amount of help for me, I am still learning. Take all advice and implement everything.

Interview with Mike AKA suburbanscenes

2010-08-05T18:15:00.003-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Mike

My name is Mike Savad I live in Westfield, NJ. Single, no kids, unless you count my computer and camera. No pets, though I did have some birds and fish at one point in time. My hobbies are Stained Glass, Fusing, Photography, Photo editing and manipulation, I built my last 3 computers, I'm learning Japanese off and on, and have a vast knowledge of the building trades.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Mike I came here about a year go, I think in June of last year. I came from Cafepress, which I was doing pretty well in. But they changed their policy and cheated me and everyone else of a lot of money keeping 90% for themselves and telling us that they do all the work. I guess they don't know how hard art is to actually make.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Mike No just the one. but the store is mixed, i felt that it was better to keep everything under "one roof" as it were. It's easier to find and keep track of things for me. Logging into other stores would be a hassle for me. Suburban Scenes by Mike Savad

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Mike I don't think i have one best selling item. I have around 1,100 designs as of this interview. Though my pharmacy section and barber section are very popular.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Mike I think i'm pretty much always working on my store. Except when I'm at my real job. Though if I can pull myself away, I would be found in the shop fixing tools, or making something.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Mike There is life outside of Zazzle? I'm not sure there really is. Reality kind of merges into one. I photograph things in order to edit them, in order to send them here to sell them. People buy stuff, and repeat number one.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Mike Hard to remember, I think maybe 6 months in or so. Maybe a little bit less.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Mike Keep a huge variety of designs on your store. Sell every design you have on every product they sell. Don't sell just a mug and a poster and maybe a key chain. Many do that. If it fits on the template and you can manage to make one successfully (something pretty hard to do on Zazzle unfortunately), - sell it all. Some say it's the amount of designs - it's not, it's what those designs are. Keep a large variety of things, and offer something for everyone. Also don't be afraid of pushing the price a little more, you'll have to experiment what works for you. You can especially charge more for posters. Also when creating a template, always choose the best paper, usually a few dollars more won't be noticed, and the user can always bring it down for a personal sale.

Interview with Teresa AKA TLCGraphix

2010-08-05T17:54:00.004-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Teresa My name is Teresa. I live in East Tennessee about 40 miles from the Smoky Mountains. I have lived here for about 30 years and love it. I am a happy newlywed! I have 2 children ages 25 and 20 and an adorable granddaughter.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Teresa I started Zazzling in August 2008 but didn’t get most of my designs on and my shops up until after Christmas that year. I remember working on my shop on Christmas day that year as we drove to VA to be with my husband’s family. Verizon wireless sure comes in handy on road trips!

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Teresa I have quite a few shops! Maintaining them can be hard since they aren’t all linked together except for volume bonus.

Christmas T-Shirts and Gifts – mostly tropical designs.
Fishing and Hunting T-Shirts and Gifts - the name says it all.
Humorous T-Shirts and Gifts - humorous designs from chocolate and coffee to wedding and political.
Kids N Moms Only - a wide variety of women’s and kids designs that don’t fit in my other shops.
National & State Park Gifts - prints, tees and gifts made from photographs I have taken (my favorite shop).
Party T-Shirts and Gifts - beer, beach, margarita, martini and party tees and gifts.
Tee Graphix - sports, active & health related designs.
Valentine's Day Cards, Shirts & Gifts - my Valentine’s Day shop.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Teresa

My best selling product from TLC Graphix.
It sells especially well to the UK

My bestseller in the National Parks shop is

made from a sunset photo

from my fishing and hunting shop
this sells the best

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Teresa I love photography, hiking, working out and cycling. I enjoy being active and love spending time with my kids and family.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Teresa Balancing time is a difficult task for me. I have a day job, too, working with special needs kids so my life is pretty hectic. If I’m not busy with my children or husband I’m Zazzling! I really have to leave the house to really take a break!

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Teresa I think I reached proseller status after about 6 months.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Teresa I feel that designing what you really enjoy comes across in the finished product and helps increase sales. Learning how to market your designs and promote them is a must! Stay organized and focused and make a plan for growing your shops and business – and think of this as a business. Take the time to tag appropriately and make your storefront pleasing to the eye and designs organized and easy to find.

Interview with Carla AKA reflections06

2010-08-05T02:17:00.002-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Carla My name is Carla Rolfe, and I'm a happily married Christian mom to 7 beautiful people, and grandmother to 2 beautiful grand-people. I'm a native of WA state, but for the last 12 years I've lived in southern Ontario Canada. We currently have 6 cats, and one desperately insane beagle named Tulip.

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Carla Zazzle wasn't really my first choice, but that's because the Zazzle they used to be years ago is light years in the ancient past from the awesome place they are now. From 1999 I was designing AND producing my own tees, posters and calendars and a few years later one of my clients suggested a fairly new Print on Demand site. I checked them out and held out for another year and then went ahead and joined, and joined Zazzle at the same time. Back then (2004, I think it was) it wasn't very user friendly and so I essentially left the shop just sitting. The big change came in the fall of 2009 after the other company made some changes that I just couldn't live with anymore. I stuck it out there for a few months and then decided to really jump head first back into Zazzle and see how things went. I began rebuilding my store from scratch, removed all the old stuff and began uploading the best of the best and creating new designs exclusively for sale at Zazzle. From a business perspective, it was one of the smartest moves I've ever made! w00t, go me :o)

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Carla I currently have 4 shops at Zazzle:

Reflections Family Friendly Apparel and Gifts - This is my main shop and houses a HUGE variety of goodies from funny tees, awesome keds high and lo tops, business card templates holiday goodies (Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.) and pretty much everything else you can think of. I'd have a kitchen sink there too, if they offered it for custom design.
Reflections Christian Apparel and Gifts was the second shop I opened. For those who love to wear a message of faith, this shop has tees, totes, binders and lots of other great items.
Birthday Sweeties was my third shop and the one I honestly have the most fun with! My husband and I decided after 27 years of being a mom to 7 kids and now 2 grandkids that I'd likely hosted or help plan more birthdays over the years than most people ever think about, lol. It's a blast to create the different themes and this is the store that is home to my Twiggy Tots line of stick kids (I've been drawing them since I was a child) and my giant eyed baby animals. To a child, a birthday party is a super-magical time, and making it as awesomely memorable for them as possible is a fantastic way to gift them with great childhood memories. What child doesn't like to go to school with a stack of awesome birthday party invitations to hand out? Kids love it, and I love to make it happen. Honestly, there isn't enough time in the day for me to work on new designs for this shop, and the list of "yet created" is rather large.
End of the World Gear is my most recent shop. You've heard the ancient Mayan prophecy that tells us the world will end on December 21, 2012? Well, just in case those wacky Mayans were wrong (or right?), I've got a shop just for those who survived! My husband and I decided that a little thing like the world ending (and you being the sole survivor) shouldn't stop anyone from having a great t-shirt. :o)

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Carla My bestsellers tend to vary with the season.

From my main store though, this shirt and this binder are top sellers consistently.

From Birthday Sweeties it's definitely hard to say which sells best because so many of them sell on a regular basis!

This one though was the biggest surprise, because it was originally a custom design from someone who contacted me through the store with a rather large list of specs for a custom design. I poured my heart into this design for her (the swing set and the sandbox was drawn by hand first, then recreated with photoshop), and it ended up earning a TBA the day I offered it for sale, then a second pretty little red ribbon for most views. I thought that was pretty wonderful. The customer who requested it? She loved it!

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Carla Have you ever known one of those people with way too many hobbies? Yep, guilty as charged. I enjoy reading, sewing, drawing, photography, bird watching, writing, badminton, baseball, custom design for other projects (web, blogs, projector overheads, concert posters, etc.) and the list could honestly go much longer. Recently I've decided to become pro-active in my health and weight loss and so I've started walking a 1.25 mile stretch every day after dinner. Soon I'll be adding swimming, bike riding and getting back on my elliptical. I'm totally committed to getting into shape again after having so many babies! I'm never at a loss for things to do, I can assure you of that.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Carla That's an easy one: life and family come first. I love what I do as far as design goes, but that comes after the kids are fed, dishes are done, laundry is folded, etc. Usually, I'm in design mode first thing in the morning and then after the kids are in bed, but if there is some free time during the day for me to work on a project, I'll snag that time and do a little something.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Carla To be fair, I should answer this way: Even though I have been with Zazzle for almost 6 years, I never really worked hard on my store until September of 2009. From that point it took me 3 months to reach ProSeller status, but it was with A LOT of hard work, adding new designs (and on dial up still, if you can imagine that), offering them on nearly every product they'd look nice on, etc.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Carla You are correct, it does take hard work. Some of the things I did (and still do) that I would recommend: Read the forums and learn from others. Offer designs on products you may never purchase for yourself. What I might like on a t-shirt someone else may prefer on a tote bag, so if it fits nicely, offer it! Offer items that can be customized and definitely personalized. Name your products well, give descriptions as if you were describing the product over the phone to a friend who can't see it, and USE the description tags well. If you have a pirate t-shirt for example, don't forget to use tags like ahoy, plank, eye patch and things like that, that people automatically associate with pirates. People search the marketplace for those things and if your pirate tee doesn't have them in the tags, they'll never see it! One final word of advice that I'd add is to not get discouraged if sales are slow. We've all been there and then suddenly things pick up again. Keep adding new designs and keep using rich descriptions and with time, your products will get noticed.

Interview with Veronica AKA Superstarbing

2010-08-05T01:39:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Veronica My name is Veronica. I currently live in Northcentral Arkansas although I was born and raised in Michigan. I am a single gal with no kids. I do have a yellow lab named Marley. Not the most original name, mind you. When I first got her, I called her Marley dog because I couldn't figure out what to name her. Tried to change her name but she wasn't having it. She's the perfect dog for me. Goofy and a bit misunderstood...just like me!

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Veronica I signed up for Zazzle in early 2008 but did not really start taking it seriously until early last year. I chose Zazzle because I thought that their interface was much more cleaner and sharper than other print-on-demand companies. I liked that each product that Zazzle offered had the option of being customized by the customer.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Veronica

Superstarbing Designs - This is my main store and features a variety of designs (music, cats, floral designs, etc.) and business cards. Most everything in this store is customizable to certain degrees and reflects my personality and current inspirations. I've really become obsessed with minimalist design and this is tending to show in my recent business card offerings.
Dynamic Weddings and Stationery - This store features my wedding invitations and save the date product lines. I have plans to eventually expand into other invitation types (birthdays, baby showers, etc) and other types of stationery.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Veronica

My Rockstar Guitar design has been my most popular product
from my Superstarbing Designs store.

This Simply Glamourous Wedding Invitation has been my most popular product from my Dynamic Weddings and Stationery store.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Veronica I like to read. I'm currently reading a book called "How to Survive & Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul" by Caroll Michels. I just happened upon it while browsing through books at a local thrift shop. It's more about advice for working with art dealers and the like but quite informative nonetheless!
Checking out thrift shops and antique shops is another thing I really enjoy doing. I love finding great deals on little things and almost always find inspiration or cheap craft/art supplies. I have a bit of an obsession with shoes (I only have 80 pairs. Not too many.) So shopping for shoes is another thing I might be found doing.
Some of my other interests include writing poetry, playing computer games (I like to flaunt my inner nerd with games like Bookworm Adventures!), and anything having to do with music. I can't really say that I'm an outdoorsy type of gal. I rather like the comfort of indoor plumbing and air conditioning much better!

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Veronica Over the past year this was more of an issue for me. I used to co-own a Auto Repair/Bodyshop with family members and spent upwards of 50-60 hours at the shop a week. This didn't leave much time for Zazzle or anything really else really. I found myself getting up early or going to bed late to work on designs or upload products. I finally made the decision to leave the business for good a few weeks ago. I think I made the right choice and I have been working full steam ahead on my Zazzle stores and promotional sites ever since. I will be looking for employment again soon, but it is nice to have a little bit of time to upload designs and get things organized before I am too busy again.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Veronica After I started taking Zazzle seriously, I think it took me almost a year to finally attain Proseller status. With the business venture I was working on with my family, I couldn't put as much time into my stores as I wanted. I would get really close and then miss the mark by a little bit and have to start over again. I had a wonderful holiday season and have managed to keep the momentum going up to now.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Veronica I think the thing that I wish I considered more when I first started on Zazzle was the importance of great descriptions and keywords. I had just over 1000 products when I found Customizables thread in the Zazzle forums and I took the advice in that thread to heart. It took me awhile to revamp all of my product descriptions and tags but it was so worth the effort!
My advice to fellow Zazzlers is to take advantage of all the helpful hints and tips you will find in the Zazzle forum and through your fellow Zazzlers' tutorial sites and videos.
Another thing is to remember that Zazzle (or any other POD) is not this "get rich quick" sort of deal. It requires a lot of patience and a lot of hard work! It really is worth it when you achieve each goal that you have set.

Interview with Donna AKA maggie02

2010-08-05T00:21:00.015-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Donna I am recently divorced and live with my little Chi Chi doggie, Maggie. Before you ask, yes, that's where I got my Username [maggie02] for my Zazzle Store. I figured she'd be good luck for me, since she's gotten me through some tough times. In a toxic marriage a friend pulls you through and since I was living far away from my family, my little Maggie was my best friend. She's my little angel.

I just got a job which I start in September, which will take some of the pressure off of bad Zazzle months. Now I'm hoping to put a little aside in the bank when I get some really good months during the holidays.

I also hope I can make Silver [ProSeller] by the end of the year with all the holiday sales. Good luck to me!

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Donna I found Zazzle through the Kroger website when they were having a "create a tote contest." Zazzle happened to have had an ad on their site and I followed it. The rest is history. I believe my first Store was opened about April of 2008. Since then I've opened 4 more stores. I did try a few other POD sites, but found them to be very user un-friendly. Now I'm glad I stuck with Zazzle and pretty much never went back to those other sites.

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle?

Donna Yes, I have four other Zazzle Stores.

Christmas Toys: Not much guesswork here. Christmas theme store. I really don't get to it as much as I like, but will try soon as Christmas will be here before we know it, right?
Mouse Pad Shop: This is a shop I opened just for me. I know it will probably take a long time to get sales since I'm not sure how many people are really shopping for mouse pads. But I just love creating them. To me, they're like little "mini canvases." I just love doing them for some reason. I like the fact that I can do one, and then move on and do a completely different design. I don't have to go and put the same design on every singe product Zazzle makes, because the store is "just mouse pads!" I love that. When I get burnt out on my other stores I go here and just have fun! It helps me to unwind and by the time I get back to my other stores I feel refreshed and ready to start again.
Party Thyme: My second store and still a work in progress. It is pretty much party invites, themes and such. The name about explains it really.
Scary Things: A Halloween type based store. I really try and create there as much as I can, but it seems to be going slower than I like. I have it divided into themes such as Pirates, Skulls, Trick or Treat, Mummies, etc. It pretty much explains itself also.

The ProSeller Corner What has been your best selling product?

Donna Believe it or not one of my best selling products is my "monkey mug."

It's under my "office humor" section and for some reason people just love it. It's simple with absolutely no design at all, just text. But the first week in December I sold like 12 of these things! Guess that tells you how people feel about sitting at their desks all day, huh? I keep saying I'm going to start making more "office humor" stuff, but I keep getting side-tracked. But I do sort of sprinkle little funny products in here and there, so if you look real hard you'll find them.
I think the world needs more humor and that we all just need to laugh a lot more.

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Donna I spend my spare time with my twin sister and my favorite Aunt and cousins. We just hang out, go shopping, out to eat, spend hours talking, laughing and having just plain fun. My aunt is my adopted mom now that my mom is gone. And my cousins are like my sisters. My only immediate family left is my twin.
Mom, Dad and my Older Sis are all gone. So I've learned just how precious life really is and how short.
I've started learning to eat dessert first! LOL!

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Donna I Zazzle like a mad woman and then I take breaks. When I get on a creative roll I take advantage big time! Getting on a creative jive doesn't happen all the time and if you don't take advantage of it you'll miss so much precious time creating beautiful things. So my advice would be to do it while the juices are flowing and when they aren't so much, or you get burnt out, play! Enjoy life! It's way too short not to, trust me.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Donna I started my first store with Zazzle in April of 2008. I didn't really take it all that serous because I was working at the time and was in a toxic marriage which distracted me a lot. Then around Spring of that year a friend of mine joined and started creating very quickly. Well now! I wasn't about to have her pass me up! LOL! So I really got to creating and before I knew it I had more products than I ever thought I would.
I think my first check was in January of 2009 for like $15 and some odd cents. I only got that because it took me that long to make that much. So by the end of 2009 my sales really started to pick up and I made the first level (Bronze) Pro Seller by the holidays of 2009 I think. My goal is to become Silver by this Holiday Season of 2010.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Donna Be prepared to put a LOT OF HOURS into this! The more time you spend, the more products you get out there, the better chance of sales. But please, don't mistake quantity over quality. Don't put products out there just to be getting them out there. Make sure you put "quality" products out there.
This will ensure less cancelations, and more sales.

I would also advise you to go to the forums. Had I not gone to the forums I have no clue if I'd even be ProSeller now. I learned so much from everyone there. All the people at Zazzle are so kind and willing to help you in any way they can. Listen to what they have to say. Some things they learned they learned the hard way and they are giving you their best advice so you won't have to.

Interview with Amy Marie AKA Shopaholicchick

2010-08-04T18:58:00.001-04:00

The ProSeller Corner Tell the world a little bit about yourself.

Amy Marie My name is Amy Marie and currently in am on the East Coast of the USA...I love to travel, and I have lived in NJ, MD, OK, AZ, South Africa & Germany at various times in the last 15 years since finishing High School. I take my camera with me everywhere and I have taken well over 3000 photos from my travels mostly of places and scenery, I prefer to photograph nature and animals, since they don't talk back if they don't like how they look!

I am single with no kids, I like long walks on the....oh wait wrong website...Well I am single and since I travel so much my friends are scattered around the world, so anywhere I want to go on vacation I have a place to live...which can always make it easier to travel on a budget!

I have a cat who is about 200 years old (16 in human years), his name is kitty & he is going senile and hates everyone and everything unless he needs a door or a can opened...then he will loudly complain until he gets what he wants. So, if anyone wants a cat...

The ProSeller Corner When did you start designing at Zazzle and what made you choose them?

Amy Marie Well I Started with another POD in 2005 when a friend talked me into it, she had been telling me about it for over a year but I was on dial up once I got high speed I gave it a try, then in December 2008 I began getting concerned about the changes taking place elsewhere so I began to slowly move my images over to Zazzle, and I am so glad I did....it put me about 6 month ahead of the mass exodus from that other POD!!!

The ProSeller Corner Do you have any other stores at Zazzle? (Talk about what each one is, what it is all about)

Amy Marie I have a lot of stores at Zazzle...

Shopaholic Chick - This is my first and main store it has a great variety of designs, holidays, wedding, sports, music, go green, just a little of everything for everyone in the family. This store also links to all my other stores so you can easily find just what you are looking for.
Addicted to - what are you addicted to? you can find it here, some with images some without, dozens of new designs added every week!
Alien Nation - As you can guess it is all about aliens, Martians and any other form of intergalactic life! There are aliens dressed to look human, there are mean aliens with guns, there are cute cuddly aliens, Martians playing with the mars rovers and just some strange or funny aliens.
Anime Nation - cute anime inspired people designs each with it's own name and personality
B is for Birds - Birds of all sorts in cute and funny poses just enjoying life!
Binderific - binders binders and more binders, what else can I say?
Chasing the Gnome - photography from around the globe.
Clown Town - clowns clowns and more clowns, this is my newest shop so it is still small but it is growing rapidly!
Dragons Lair - This store is all about dragons, there are hundreds of dragons in different styles, colors and positions. There are mean fire breathing dragons, silly cute dragons, Asian dragons, water serpent dragons, flying dragons, and tons of other great dragons.
Edibility - food food and more food!! if you love food you will find a deliciously edible design in this great shop!
From Santa's Desk - cards from Santa Claus & Mrs.. Claus Customized with your child's name to be sent as a thank you from Santa. these are a great way to teach you children how important saying thank you can be!
Graduation Station - designs for people who are graduating, perfect for gifts or party invitations.
Kiki Kitty - Black cat designs - dozens of cute images of cartoon black cats
Kooblees - Kooblees are individually designs little creatures who are just adorable no matter what you age. they are perfect for a baby's nursery or a classroom to help teach shapes and colors!
Left Handed Cards - cards for left handed people! every card appears upside down because it is design to print backwards so it will open left for a lefty!
Occupation Station - cute cartons of boys and girls doing some of the most popular professions on the planet!
Peace People - hand drawn little fluffy peace people are crazy about saving the planet and keeping the world peaceful and happy. each color has it's own little theme like water conservation, solar power and so forth!
Same Sex Marriage - as you guessed this shop is all about same sex weddings, there are dozens of great designs to help same sex couples celebrate their wedding or commitment ceremony.
That's My Baby - cute designs with baby stuff on them perfect for baby showers or birthday parties for little kids!
Triple Goddess - pagan designs for the goddess within. If you are wiccan or pagan you will find some great designs here.
What If... - ever wonder what if? well these designs will help you get other people wondering what if!!!
Witches Wardrobe - Designs featuring Witches. Cutes funny, serious and evil, as well as Halloween costume witches.

The ProSeller Corner What has been you best selling product?

Amy Marie Wow that's really hard I have a few that sell well seasonally....I think different shops or sections of my shop do better at different times of the year especially with my sports designs.

I think my favorite design from my best sellers is this one
it is from my Same Sex Marriage shop and shows 2 little old men holding hands.
I have sold it on almost every product available.

By favorite though is this one. The dog shirt with the design and the words "ring bearer" underneath! So many great couples think of their pets as their extended family and children it is not uncommon for them to have a part in the wedding!

The ProSeller Corner What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your store?

Amy Marie Travelling, anywhere and everywhere. And I always have my camera...oh wait maybe that counts as working on my shop since many of the designs end up on my store or inspire designs for my store. I also enjoy reading and attending lectures, especially those about history, I am a huge history geek and a news junkie....I check the news wires online 5-10 times a day; CNN, AP, AFP, Reuters, as well as other sites like yahoo most emailed & most viewed....sometimes I even read E! or TMZ....even though most of the time I have no clue who the celebrity is they are talking about since I don't go to movies much and rarely listen to commercial radio.

The ProSeller Corner How do you balance your time between Zazzle and life?

Amy Marie Wait I am supposed to have a life outside of zazzle? I hang out with my friends when they are around, but most of my friends work or go to school, or have kids so when I go out it is usually to the zoo, the playground or some other kid friendly place. I work on my shops a lot late at night when no one is around to bother me and I can't sleep.

The ProSeller Corner How long had you been with Zazzle before you reached a ProSeller status?

Amy Marie I got it in my 3rd month, but I had a large cache of 10,000 designs to move over from my previous POD. Also I joined zazzle just before Christmas and started loading my best sellers fast and first and the sales came in right from the start.

The ProSeller Corner Getting noticed and becoming a ProSeller takes a lot of hard work and time. What advice would you give to those aspiring to become a ProSeller?

Amy Marie Well I have a few, first start with tutorials. [They] offer several as well as links to other peoples tutorials. It is always better to get it right from the beginning and not have to redo it all later.

Second repeat this mantra: "I am not the shopper" - then take it to heart, remember you are not the shopper, just because you would not buy it on a mouse pad doesn't mean they won't so give them that chance. 99% of my sales are items I personally would never purchase, but I am not the shopper, so I will give the shopper what they want.