Anyway, it’s a heck of a lot of work creating new designs and adding products to my shop. However, it’s fun because I get to be creative and learn new things. I’ve had to develop some minimal skills in Fireworks, Paint Shop Pro, and Painter. The learning curve slows things down, but I’m creating my own systems and techniques.

Some shopkeepers make a living just off their shop. I can only dream of that. My shop is in a small niche, catering to certain dog owners. It may be too small of a niche, I don’t know. I have to keep adding designs and products and hope that my shop reaches critical mass – the point where it contains enough selection and appeal to generate lots of sales.

And don’t forget promotion, you’re not going to get customers without promoting your shop. I’m on the first page of Google for several of my keywords, but that’s only a portion of the available traffic. Social bookmarking and video are on my promotion to-do list. And blogging (of course!).

Sometimes I think I should put all this effort into creating an information product instead. I want to do both things. My cafepress shop makes me happy and my products make other people happy.

The smart shopkeepers are already preparing for the holiday season with new products. Cafepress is adding a new line of notecards and will also be able to produce single cards as well as packages of ten. These will be wonderful additions to our shops.

Anyway, that’s one of my money-making projects. If you happen to be a fan of the Bichon Frise, come see The BichonStyle Shop!