Bella on the Wall

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Bella up the walls

I’m going to be completely honest with you, this is not a normal blog. You see, I’ve already tried that. I’ve already failed that. It was but one attempt in a long line of failed hustling schemes. Just ask my husband, he loves listing all of them; designing pillows, buying and reselling rare schliech figurines, breeding aquarium fishes (which went pretty well until they started eating each other). The list goes on and on. But that’s a tale for another time, as for now, let’s focus on the future.

Etsy! – It’s all in the art printable business baby

Im gonna make it big this time, I just know it. As it happens, I’m pretty good at drawing things. Ok, so I may have missed the Etsy window a tiny bit. But, as Nike once told me as I passed by a shoe store shopwindow, “Just do it”. And goddang it Nike. I will just do it. I will.

Anyway…

Who am I you may wonder? Well, let me paint the picture for you. I am one year older than Taylor Swift, let’s just leave it at that. I live in southern Sweden with my husband, toodler and baby. It’s chaos, believe me, absolute and utter chaos. But it’s mine and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I am also a second generation hustler. Always trying to turn my hobbies into money. And that’s where this blog fits in!

MARKETING!

This is where I will funnel my costumers 🤓 Great for me, but also a chance for you “dear random stranger” to follow my journey in becoming a glowing business superstar or just another tiny speck of dust in the infinite universe called Etsy.com.

It’s going to be full of mindless ramblings, cringeworthy optimism and a lot of shameless self promotion.

Maybe you would like to tag along on said journey, maybe you don’t have anything better to do, or maybe you are really into sadism and simply enjoy watching other people fail.

Either way, if you do, no matter how magnificently I succeed or how graciously I land on my face, I promise you this, it will be quite the journey.

(As for the shameless self promotion, here you go; https://www.etsy.com/shop/BellaOnTheWall )

A Bella never forgets

I did not forget to blog dear reader, no of course not. That’s preposterous. I merely tested your ehm.. perception skills. And.. yeeey, you passed the test. You will now receive a reward 😌

A 20 % of coupon on my shops nursery printables. https://www.etsy.com/shop/BellaOnTheWall

Use the code: BLOG20

Well done, dear reader, well done!

Just Bella

I didn’t post yesterday, because apparently the ”every other day” policy is to complicated a task for me to figure out. Been a day? Two days? A year? Who knows.

Anyway, let me update you on my bumpy ride to success. (not really as much bumpy as slow and slightly declining, but that doesn’t sound as good)

No new sales as of yet, but it’s just a matter of time. (I tell myself as I wipe away a figurative tear). However, I’ve had another person favorite an item of mine, this one! (Paus for some shameless self-🔌) https://www.etsy.com/listing/723821711/baby-lemur-animal-print-lemur-mom-and?ref=related-3

I tried to be clever and sent them a coupon for 20 percent off. Didn’t take. The only thing I got out of that was the pat I gave myself on the back. (Was a real good pat though…)

Maybe I should give all blog readers a coupon. Yaass! What a savvy business move. That would make me seem important and accomplished. 😏

I will come back with a special coupon for you in a day or two. If I ever figure out when it’s time to post.

Bella pumps it up!

This post is basically going to be about me and my boobs. Just putting that out there. If you find boobs or breastfeeding disgusting I suggest you go apologize to your mother. (Just kidding, but seriously though, babies gotta babe)

Since day one we have struggled with breastfeeding, my boobs and I. None of us seems to be particularly good at it, this time around anyway. My left boob does okay I guess, not walking any extra miles, but hey, it gets the job done. The right one on the other hand?! Don’t get me started on the right. It has no clue as to what it’s doing. A little milk here, a little milk there, but barely ever where it’s supposed to go. Trying to feed baby, nah, I don’t feel like it. Going to pick up toddler from daycare Let’s make milkshakes everybody! It even stopped working all together there for awhile. Had to beg and pump every other hour.

And that’s not all, it hurts! Like really, seriously hurts. In the beginning it feels like putting your nipple through a meat grinder. Especially if your boobs really suck at it. (Pun totally intended!) It does get better, if you can push through the pain and blood and tears, all the while trying to smile because you’re afraid your baby will feel bad otherwise.

Then there is this super weird little side affect you can get, if you’re really unlucky (like me) It’s some kind of hormonal unbalance where you get extremely depressed the first few minutes of every breastfeeding. It passes pretty quickly, but it’s unpleasant to say the least.

So we’re quitting, my boobs and I. Lets wave the white flag and give up. We gave it a good shot though, almost 5 months. But enough is enough. I can’t take it anymore.

I’m gonna miss it though, even if it’s a big pain in the ass (boob). Cause it’s also the most amazing ting ever. Weird, hard and painful, yet some of the best moments of my life.

Bella found the missing post…

I still have like 8 different yet the same websites and I’m still super confused, but here is the post anyway;

Today, a lifelong dream of mine, was crushed. I could merely watch as it got mangled, demolished, smashed in to smithereens. (My synonym game is on point!) Okay, so maybe it wasn’t as much of a lifelong dream as it was a spur of the moment fancy. But now that it has fallen to the floor and shattered into a heap of lost opportunities, it sure feels as if it was more than so. Still, who knows, I’m known to get a tad overdramatic from time to time.(Again I must apologize to my former English teacher for these ridiculously long sentences. And while I’m at it, sorry about the adverbs.. I just love them so.)

So what was this dream?! You ask me from the edge of your seat. Well, I had this wonderful idea of making DnD art. You know dungeons and dragons creatures and what not. Maybe start another Etsy shop and call it Dragons on the wall. (I know, I’m a genius🤓) But alas, the gods of copyright and infringement laws wanted differently. The licensing rules around DnD content are present in the murkiest of waters. I dare not tread near it. Maybe I should’ve looked into it before drawing a bunch of artwork, but hey, then I wouldn’t have this picture of beholders on a date. And what fun would that have been.

Bella is confused..

I just wrote a post. Put my heart and soul into it (At least some time was spent) Published it and POFF… it disappeared. No, it didn’t just disappear, it took all sense and reason with it. Suddenly I have multiple blogs, except there all the same and they’re all missing my latest post. I try to restart the app and POFF POFF POFF. Even more blogs appear. Not the post however. So now I’m a bit confused and starting to question whether I even wrote a post to begin with. If this is a real blog or a glitch in the matrix… Am I even real… Are you?!?!

Anyway, if anyone has any (Hihi any) idea as to what might be going on. Please enlighten me. My brain doesn’t handle confusion very well 🤪

Bella is sleepwalking

My brain is working rather slowly today. More so then usual. It’s just inches away from moving backwards. I’ve been sleeping too little for too long.

I’ve always had a weird relationship with sleep, or non-sleep that is. Must be because I’m so ”woke” (Yeah I’m sticking with the puns).

It was way worse about 3 years ago though. Back then insomnia kept me up every night. I spent those hours tweeting celebrities on my overheated phone who just wanted to be left alone (the phone that is, not the celebrities.. Well, okay maybe both). Now however it’s toddler and baby who won’t let me sleep. I might still suffer from insomnia for all I know. It just never gets to me first. Poor thing.

Every time I get to this level of tired, I start hallucinating. I mean full blown, crazy and/or high person hallucinations. It can be anything from people in the doorway to bunnies on my nightstand table. It used to be quite scary, but nowadays I find it rather entertaining. There is no vacation like going a bit insane.

Now you’ll have to excuse me, there’s a talking toilet roll in my bed who wants my attention.

Bella goes to bed

It’s gonna be a short one today folks. The hour is late here in Asgard and Toddler has already been awake twice. My tingling mommie senses are telling me it’s gonna be a looong night.

Had I not been a hurricane of chaos and poor decision making, I would’ve finished this post hours ago. But alas, easily distracted as I am, I have managed to do a whole lot of nothing this evening. Like thinking about writing this post and then drawing two dungeons and dragons ”Beholders” on a date instead. It felt important at the time…

Etsy update: Dun dun dun-dun…. Someone favorited one of my products!!

This one to be exact! Yeeey! I’m practically a millionaire already.

But now I must bid you good night! Sweet dreams other hustlers of the world 🌸

…Bella is behind you

My blog, or blög as we swedes call it (nope, but we definitely should) is about two weeks old now. Sniffle.. They grow up so fast. Let me share with you, my fellow hustler, what I have learned during this time.

First of all, ETSY SEO. I’ve been doing research, I mean all the research. On YouTube, Etsy support, Facebook groups, Pinterest, you name it! I understand approximately 20% of it all. But you know, still 20% more than two weeks ago.

Struggling with SEO, my friend? Don’t worry, Bella is behind you (BAM, title right there, bet you thought I was being creepy)

Although I wouldn’t recommend taking advise from someone who has only had one sale, eh what the heck, I’m an self proclaimed Etsy guru now. Who needs credentials.

1. Research keywords before making a product. Not the other way around.

Look for keywords that many people use in the search, but few shops use in their listings. This of course is next to impossible, so yeah.. Good luck.

2. Use this site https://spacefem.com/etsy/active.php? to see what keywords other shops use, then pop them in to Marmalead and Ka-Ching. (Still waiting for that last part)

3. Use one focus keyword in title, description and tags!

4. The usual, use all 13 tags, fill in all information and have killer photos. Just make sure they don’t actually kill anyone, not good for business.

And of course if you happen to write a blög about it, then don’t make a post while in a hurry. It never turns out good.

Where is Bella?

Okay, so it’s been two days. Two days filled with adventure, love and intrigue. I got pregnant, birthed the baby, realized I had an evil twin and that the baby was in fact hers. My husband left me for my cousins daughter and I was kidnapped by outlaws from another time. You know, just the regular housewife stuff.

Obviously none of that happened. I’m sorry to say that nothing happened at all. My adventures ambition was for nought.

Except for toddler returning to kindergarten, getting sick from kindergarten, then staying home from kindergarten. It took only two days this time, a new record. Seems the germs were left dormant all summer, patiently waiting for the return of their tiny human hosts. Other than that however, nothing new under the sun.

I’m having a tsunami of ideas for my shop though. Unfortunately my free time exists in puddle size only and the tsunami has little room to roam. But we’ll get there, one puddle at the time. I made a baby announcement card yesterday, for rainbow babies. For those of you who doesn’t know what that is, let me enlighten you (that sounded rude, didn’t mean to be rude)

It’s when you finally have a baby after maybe years of trying, miscarriages and heartache. If you’re lucky there might be sun after the rainfall and an rainbow will appear in shape of a little bundle of joy.

When I was a teenager I thought it was the easiest thing in the world to get pregnant. As a matter of fact, one barely had to look at a guy for there to be a slight risk of conception. Sex Ed was basically ”Having sex will ultimately lead to having baby. Use all the protection!”

So there I was in my ignorance believing that all I needed to do, to get with child, was to throw the pill in the trash (didn’t really do that, this is Sweden after all, we do love recycling)

It wasn’t that easy at all, it turned out. Actually it was quite the opposite. Took us three years to get toddler (he wasn’t a toddler back then thank god) then it took two years with baby. Both times we got into the ivf waiting list. We thankfully never needed it, we got our two little rainbows anyway. And I sincerely wish that on everyone who wants it.

And when they do, how about a baby announcement card from Bella on the wall 😉

Bella hits the wall

I realized yesterday, that writing a blog everyday, while building a ”business”, breastfeeding baby and trying to minimize toddlers random acts of destruction, is quite hard. (I’m hoping my English teacher isn’t reading this, ”Still writing too goddamn long sentences I see. 🧐”)

So I’ve decided enough is enough! An every-other-day blog is not too bad. Right?

Right?? (Come on, I’m desperate for validation!!)

Besides, how interesting is my life really anyway? I kind of need two days for something noteworthy to happen. Take yesterday for example, beside my normal tasks I: cuddled a cat, ate some candy and …look, that’s my point, I can’t even think of a third thing.

Okay, now we got that out of the way. Every other day it is. Puh!

Let’s take a look at the Etsy universe shall we.

Bella on the wall in numbers:

71 views on Etsy. It’s hard work getting traffic, trafficking? Hm..That is probably not the right word.

1 sale.

27 followers on Instagram! Yeah baby, I’ll be calling myself an influencer soon enough.

Well, that’s about it I guess. It’s not that bad, numbers are going up. I’m not losing money. (Technically I am, but you know, let’s not dwell on the negative.)

Now I’m gonna go and be super interesting for two days, all for your entertainment my dear reader. And when I return there will be stories to tell!