Published November 17, 2009 | 
According to everything I’ve read from the experts, I’m going about pretty much everything all wrong. Niche! Niche! Niche! They all say. And while I do indeed have niche designs, I don’t really have a niche shop, or even a niche web site (yet. that could be changing soon.) Not only that, but my "brand" is broad and I apparently share it with a "gentleman’s club" in Houston.
The question now becomes: Why don’t I change my brand? And why not branch out to smaller niche shops and link them together?
In answer to the second question , I may do that down the road, but I’ve discovered it’s easier to work on my catch-all site first. (Plus keeping all designs at CP and Z in one "shop" is just easier for payment. I don’t earn enough yet to branch out to dozens of smaller shops.)
As for the brand, I’ve gone through countless business names (the one I paid to incorporate was the worst one of all) and none seemed to "fit." This one does – and has the most interesting story behind it of any name I could have.
My brand is me. When someone sees my logo (the drawing of the rose inside a Texas outline), it’s recognizable. When they see my icon (my manga drawing that my sweetheart did of me), or my site background (the rose trellis), they know right away that it’s me. Someone I met recently even said she recognized the icon right away and could tell it was a drawing of me, and old friends can tell it’s me too as soon as they see it. I’m extremely flattered every time I hear that because I happen to think the drawing is quite lovely. Even though there are other icons that are similar to each other, none are quite like mine. It helps distinguish my brand, which I love.
For the first time, I feel that my business name and brand "fit." And nothing feels better than something that fits well.
The Yellow Rose of Texas.
There’s a Yellow Rose in Texas,
That I am going to see.
No other feller knows her,
No other one but me.She cried so when I left her,
It nearly broke my heart.
And if I ever find her,
We nevermore will part.She’s the sweetest little rosebud,
That Texas ever knew
Her eyes are bright as diamonds,
They sparkle like the dew,You may talk about your Clementine
and sing of Rosalee,
But The Yellow Rose of Texas
is the only girl for me!
There really was a "Yellow Rose" of Texas and she helped shape Texas history as much as Sam Houston himself. Emily West Morgan was a lovely mulatto slave girl captured by Santa Anna on his march to San Jacinto. Emily sent word to Sam Houston and kept Santa Anna "occupied" while the Texans surrounded his army and defeated him, literally "catching him with his pants down." Texas owes her freedom to the beautiful slave girl who risked her own life in the Texas battle for independence.
Read more in the historical fiction: Miss Emily, The Yellow Rose of Texas
Posted in Business, POD Companies | 
Business, marketing, niche, POD companies, Wishcraft | 
1 CommentPublished July 30, 2009 | First, I should say something about the shipping. This is directly from the Zazzle site regarding shipping specifically for shoes:
Your made-to-order custom shoes are produced for you as quickly as possible
and you should receive them in 4 weeks within the continental US, depending
on the shipping method selected. For international destinations, delivery
ranges between 5-6 weeks.
For this order, I selected “Ground- With Tracking (4-7 Business Days After Manufacturing No PO Boxes, APOs or FPOs).” As the weeks went on, I became a little concerned because in the Order Status of my order, the shoes remained in “Processed” status up until the day they shipped, which was last Friday.
As for the shoes themselves – I couldn’t be happier!!! I LOVE THEM! The design rendered exactly as I’d hoped while creating them (yes, this is my own custom design). Using the Keds templates helped tremendously, but it does take some getting used to in getting the “bleed area” and placement where you want – I redesigned them a couple of times after seeing them in the Zazzle design tool.
The gradient in the roses looks wonderful, as does the black and white “keyboard” contrasting colors across the toe. I added 3 different “flaming” skulls designs – on the toe, on the heel, and a different one on the tongue (even though it can’t really be seen), and I’m very pleased with the result. The orange and yellow flames are exactly as I envisioned them. The entire design is very crisp and clean.
The fit couldn’t be better too. These are among the higher quality Keds shoes that I’ve owned (right up there with the most expensive Keds walkers, which I loved). If you’ve ever worn Keds, there’s no need to worry about sizing – the size is spot on with traditional Keds’ sizing. (I know this could be a concern since shoes are non-returnable.)
I can’t wait to get out there and show off my new Keds shoes! Thank you so much Zazzle! These are wonderful!
Toe detail:
Heel, with the traditional Keds logo:
Tongue detail. The skull is different here.
And here’s what they look like on…
Visit my shop on Zazzle for your own pair! You won’t be disappointed!
