Thanks for the mention Kara!! The fact is we have to adapt. I have been self employed since I was about 22. In that time I have gone from having a fashion line that I produced, manufactured and sold wholesale internationally to having my own brick and mortar store filled with my designs, which included having to move twice and adapting to a new market and new location, to leaving behind the fashion world as a direct result of fast fashion. I then took up soap making and card making because I was sick to the teeth of sewing and pattern making. Then that became over saturated so now I created postcards and journals bc that was where my passion is now ( will it be always?? Who knows!) and because I enjoy it. I know that I can put my "art" out into the world but I can't force anyone to buy it. Over the years I have learned to adjust and flow with the market and what will sell, where there is a market. My number one goal has always been to be self employed and live my life on my own terms but that has to included being able to adapt and flow. Certainly, as I get older so does my focus and and my customers. I am not trying to sell to 20 somethings bc what I make is not for them. I am looking to sell to like minded "older" women who see the world in many ways as I do. That is the connection. It would be silly of me to try and sell in a market that I know nothing about or who won't connect with me. Lastly, I have been around the block enough to know that I need to be flexible in what I will make and why, not be so rigid as to think that just because I don't like it, that my version of it doesn't have value and appeal to my people or my tribe. Your people will find you on some level BECAUSE of the connection. I also know that what I like to make best has a very small audience but if I expand on that theme a bit more and make it more applicable and appealing to more people, I can move more product :) I think that is a win win for all.

That little guy looks like he should be one of your characters!!

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

He does fit right in!

Great ideas! It's funny when I first saw your sweater I thought someone made it for you based on some of your characters 😅

The jumper looks even better IRL!

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

Haha! Thank you!

Thanks, Kara, for another great video. Your sweater does rock!

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

It does!

I really like this video, love the fact and now stuck in my head, audience are your customers, I am making some new designs and I am expressivly going for a targeted Audience, so this video came at the right time.

I actually do love the sweater. I love naive art.

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

I would totally wear that sweater. But, as a fox rescuer who has foxes in my care, it doesn’t look like any fox I’ve ever met. I thought it was a Tasmanian Devil

@KaraBuntin

4 ай бұрын

I call it a chupacabra

Looks like something my daughter would wear..cute

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

I love it!

I'd definitely wear the sweater ❤

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

I think many people who watch this channel would!

in defense of your sweater it looks to me like an anti fashion fashion thing, like something Pharell Williams or Pete Davidson might wear, bc its actually pretty edgy. It would really work for a Hip Hop urban market i think.

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

It works for the middle aged woman market for sure

Seriously, Kara, you are the best!

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

Thanks!

I completely feel this topic. Btw I need that sweater!

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

I put the business link in the description. It could be an army of us wearing them.

Your video got me to thinking....and USUALLY that's a good thing! 😂 I've been selling a lot of canvas items in the last year, but yet my shop banner is geared more toward a different audience. Time for a refresh that will better reflect my current folks.... but that will still be suitable for the other buyers as well. Thanks for giving me a nudge!

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

you're welcome!

This sweater rocks! 😂😂 I would absolutely wear it

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

I think that my audience has a certain aesthetic...

Hi Kara, Is etsy going to stop giving us access to customer emails when they make an order? Or are they just denying Email access through integrations?

thank you thank you thank you

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

You are very welcome

hi kara, i wanna ask about pinterest. what is the really "new" image on Pinterest? Imagine a product photo with a clean, one-color background and a text bar at the bottom with the logo and name of the product. Is changing only the background color going to make the photo "new" again for posting on Pinterest? Is not being 100% same is more than enough or slight changes is not enough, and photos looking like each other is still bad for Pinterest algorythim.

Its funny how we react to shirts on the rack... "that shirt looks silly!" But then you see someone wearing it and all of a sudden... "oh, that shirt is awesome!" Maybe stores need to force their staff to wear the tops as living mannequins.

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

From what I heard it just wasn’t the normal kind of thing they usually get in. ;)

A chupacabra has horns. They don't get up North East way because of the weather. They prefer hot weather.

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

I love that there are so many decisive opinions about what a chupcabra actually looks like.

curious what the best ways are to find your audience on social media? how do you reach beyond the people on your account? is this through advertising? what is the most effective way to have your content travel to the people who will love what you do? Thanks!!

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

Hashtags and keywords for the most part, then figure out what works and do more of it. That’s what it boils down to.

I'd wear that shirt.

@KaraBuntin

2 ай бұрын

YES

You're the second person in the last few days that has done this. "It's a sweatshirt, no it's a sweater." Sweater defined: a knitted garment (typically made with yarn) typically with long sleeves, worn over the upper body. I don't think that you can heat press an image onto yarn, therefore that is a sweatshirt (typically made of cotton or a cotton blend) and not a sweater. If we are going to get our SEO correct and attract the right customer we are going to need to define our objects correctly. The image in the video does not appear to be a knitted fabric. Yes, you can "knit" cotton but it would not appear as a tightly woven garment it would be very "bumpy".

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

In this case it's not heat-pressed, it's actually in the knit fabric with different colored threads. I'm a knitter and I've made plenty of sweaters, so that's where the wishy-washiness comes from. It's not fleece inside, it's a knit fabric that's obviously done with a machine, but it's not made with yarn. There are definitely knit fabrics that aren't made with yarn, it's the process of knitting the loops that makes the fabric a knit fabric. But is it a sweater is it's not yarn? And is there a minimum size that a yarn has to be in order for people to approve of it being a yarn or a thread? These are the questions that boggle the mind. But the image isn't heat-pressed onto the garment, it's knitted into the actual fabric.

I'm getting a gamer vibe from it?

@KaraBuntin

5 ай бұрын

Possibly, i hadn’t thought of that but it makes sense.

Chupa cabra has no tail??😂😂😂

@KaraBuntin

6 ай бұрын

That’s debatable!

@elianamckee

6 ай бұрын

@@KaraBuntin 😂😂😂❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏