Wandering around aimlessly

I was homeless as a digital scrapbooking kit designer- at least for a while.

Unfortunately, The Daily Scrap is a dying site in the digital scrapbooking community. It was a while in the coming, but it is still sad all the same. They were the ones that gave me my start and break into the selling world of digital scrapbooking kit design. It was a fun ride. The designers were all great to work with. The community will be missed greatly.

There are things that could be said here, but some things are best left unsaid. Ultimately, the site started down the slippery slope to self-destruction when the designers weren't paid for all the hard work they have put in. As a business owner myself (though not in the digital scrapbooking industry), the hardest part for me to understand is "why?" A digital scrapbooking store is nothing without its designers. A store won't sell itself.

Being a digital kit designer is a lot of work. A lot of work goes into the design process to begin with. You can't force creativity. You can nudge it along, but you can't force it. But once you've gotten the product created, you still have to package it, price it, then market the crap out of it. Most store owners understand this. They know it is hard work. A lot of them are designers themselves. Most designers take the initiative to get their own stuff out there. Most advertise their own stuff. Most make themselves visible on the boards. Most post on their blogs like I am posting on mine. That being said, it is also in the site's/store's best interest to make sure that they get me out there too. The store owner is making a commission fee off my sales for crying out loud! In no way is it not a part of the store owner's responsibilities for their own survival to get out there and pimp every one of their designers. They don't get paid if I don't sell. It is pretty easy to understand. I don't understand why at The Daily Scrap, this was an ignored factor in day to day functions (at least in the end).

That doesn't dismiss the fact that there are many designers who were loyal designers and many exclusive to The Daily Scrap who are still unpaid for the designs that sold over the past couple of months. Most of us don't even know if we sold anything at all. That really takes the winds out of the sails. It is disheartening and discouraging. It isn't fair to say the least. But what is one to do about it? At this point I can't say that I sold more than $10 worth of product. It saddens me. It makes me angry. Even worse is that they pissed off the customers - loyal, money paying customers.

Before the absolute bottom fell out at The Daily Scrap and the bulk of the designers resigned, I had been looking for a 2nd store. I thought I had found it. I even got products up at the Digi Diner. This saddens me as well. I am absolutely irritated by the complete "lack of care" on the store owner's part. Again, the store won't make money without the designers and designs in the store. I figured it was a startup, and over time it would be built up and flourish. Now at the 1 month mark since joining the Digi Diner, the rose colored glasses have come off! It is a lot of little things. It is unacceptable that a store owner not log into their own site/store/forums every day. I can understand vacations/business trips/whatnot when those have been announced, but even after returning it still isn't a regular occurrence. Worse still is that our concerns as designers in the store go ignored and unanswered. Events that were planned/scheduled for grand opening didn't happen. Advertising the site as a whole doesn't happen. You don't even want to get me started on the usability of the site itself. It is infuriating. I will be resigning and pulling my products from the Digi Diner.

So I have been off contemplating. . . looking. . . searching for another store. Any store, really. Hesitation abounds. What does it take to get past the rejection and the situations of the past? I can't tell you that. I just don't know myself. I did, however, take the plunge. I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but I have new homes to go to.

Come this summer I will be in 3 stores - 2 have yet to go live on their stores, the other I already have 2 products in. It was a hard decision. I am really excited about all of them. The first was more of an opportunity than anything. I will be joining Maggie in her newest/latest venture of Dragonflaire Studios. It it is expected to go live June 1st. It is a hybrid scrapbooking site - digital, paper, and everything in between. I am kind of excited about that. I didn't think that I would, but I am. I currently have products in the store at Seaside Scraps. You should go check it out. At least go and buy something of mine to make me feel better. The final store will be the one at Digi by Design. The store isn't up yet, but the forums are. They are slowly developing the site as they go. I am not sure when the store will go live, but I am excited about that.

Anyway, I am not homeless anymore. That makes me happier. I plan on designing more actively this summer when I have more time to sit and focus on just designing. I plan on getting a lot more scrapping done this summer too.