commerce

So...after two official sales, I can now announce say it's official - I have an Etsy shop! It's diplomatica.etsy.com. I'm primarily selling vintage clothing, but hope to also sell knit items. I'm working on a group of balaclavas like this one for the shop...stay tuned.

Niche factor

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about crafting ones own image and how that image grows. One of my co-worker's student employees referred to this as "being your own brand manager." How do we do that and where does it get us? I was lucky to start on my professional brand early. I was put into the niche world of electronic records preservation. It helped me earn a permanent position right out of graduate school and has kept me gainfully employed since. But did it steer me in the direction that I wanted to go? I hope so - it seems to work and I seem to get a lot out of it. I think the hiccups are more situational and day-to-day work grumpiness that most young professionals feel. And I feel that reflexivity on where your brand is heading is a good thing. I don't want my brand to end up washed up or being reinstalled at an inaccessible price point (see post on Woolrich re-launch).

Why am I talking about work on an exercise and yarn blog? Well, this link to crazy Swedish clogs made me think about this. It was posted on the "I love clogs" group on Ravelry. I am so amazed that this group exists on a social networking site for knitters, but yet it makes sense. A niche that is filled nicely, and I had the pleasure of a great laugh while perusing this Swedish website. I prefer my Skane Toeffln clogs over these, though.



Mine are like this thumbnail, but blue with hand-painted flowers on them. They've made me happy these past few weeks and brought color during several boring meetings and cold bicycle commutes.