Shirley aka Mamasakio is a huge supporter of Zibbet and someone who I’ve really enjoyed getting to know over the past couple of months.

She knows a thing or two about marketing her brand online and offline.  I highly recommend that you read her answer to “How do you promote your work?” because she has a lot of gold nuggets to share with you all.

We especially LOVE the fact that her two year old son can say “I love Zibbet”!  And she didn’t even teach him how to say it, he just came out with it!

Shirley creates unique and beautiful jewelry.  You should go and check out her shop and treat yourself to something special!  Her tagline: “Dare to be different.  Dare to wear Mamasakio.”

Enjoy the interview…

1. Tell us a bit about yourself?

   I am Shirley, 40 years of age. Born in Suriname (South America) with Chinese and Indonesian ancestors. We moved to The Netherlands when I was 6, grew up and studied there (Degree in Psychology, Masters in Science of Education, Curriculum Development). We moved to the UK in 2005 and I worked a year or so in the UK. I worked in education policy and education management.

   I have always done something creative. It is a way to relax for me. I painted, made bowls out of papier mache until my place was full of it, crocheting, knitting, baticed t-shirts and vests.
A friend of mine introduced me to jewelry making and at first I made them for myself, family and friends. Now I am selling them online too.

2. Apart from being ‘creative’ what do you do?

   I am a teacher, a cook, a taxi driver, a cleaner, a police officer and more, all in one, AKA Mum/Wife. LOL.

   My fantastic, positive thinking partner and I have four children: a 2 year old boy and three girls  (4, 6 and 10).

   

   I consider myself lucky to be able to do what I love doing and being with the children at the same time and see them grow up.

3. What inspires you to do the kind of work you do?

   A lot of things inspire me. It can be music, reading, people in general, other crafters and artists, nature, the baffling beauty of beads, poems and stories, my own background. Everything.

   I am reading a fantastic book at the moment and I just don’t want to finish it, because I want to keep feeling the atmosphere and the time the story took place. I am researching jewelry at that time now. And I might come up with a creation inspired by that book. Who knows? But it needs maturing…

4. Do you look up to anyone? Who? Why?

   My grandmother who died a couple of years ago was a great person, a very straightforward no nonsense lady. She lost her husband, my grandfather, at a very young age, leaving her with 9 (some of them very young) children and she still managed to have her small businesses going, keeping a farm, a catering business, selling her delicious Surinamese Javanese food at the market in Paramaribo. She was renowned for her recipes. I admire her.

   

5. What other passions do you have in your life?

   Family, nature, reading, traveling. Being with my family makes me happy. Nature allows me to breathe my thoughts. Reading makes me get lost in other worlds. Traveling satisfies my hunger to explore.

6. What do you like most about Zibbet?

   Zibbet is what I imagined a ‘handmade’ community would be: unique, excellent customer services, a personal approach towards sellers. I hope Zibbet will never lose that personal touch.

   I like the look of Zibbet. Items come out more professional than on any other online handmade community I have tried in the recent past.

   I love creating, but dislike listing. Listing on Zibbet is quick and easy…so another reason to love Zibbet.

   It is fantastic that I - as a Premium Seller - can use widgets for my shop. I have a Facebook Fan Page widget, my blog widget, Twitter widget AND my Etsy widget (Zibbet is not afraid of competition!) on my front page. Brilliant!
   
   The Zibbet Community is great. I just joined (http://www.zibbet.ning.com). It is nice to connect with Zibbeters and learn from them. I’d advice you to do the same.

   I like having Crissy’s business tips and Erika’s Zibbet Picks on Zibbet.

7. What ‘new’ things would you like to see added to Zibbet?

   * I would like a Zibbet application / tab added to my Facebook personal account and my Facebook Fan Page. I have a temporary one for Zibbet under the My Stuff tab.

   * Items priced in different currencies.

   * When I list an item I sometimes refer to one of my blogposts for more background information. I would really like people to be able to click on the link and open that particular page in a new window.

   * A Zibbet widget would be fantastic. I want one for my blog.

   * A Zibbet Photo Gallery to feature different Zibbeters for my blog, including their URL so my blog visitors can go to their shops in one click. I have seen wonderful work from Zibbeters and I just want to share it. I already tweet and blog about my favorite items and Zibbeters regularly.

8. How do you promote your work?

   Online …

   Project Wonderful (http://bit.ly/bLs1Dg) is brilliant. I have done it once and it brought a tremendous amount of people to my shop.

   I blog, http://www.mamasakio.blogspot.com. (Please read Crissy’s tips on Zibbet too about blogging)

   Twitter and Facebook are very useful tools. I’ve gotten sales through Twitter and Facebook.  Just a tip: use http://bit.ly to shorten, share and track your links.

   YouTube can be very powerful too. I started using it because I could not get all the pictures of my lariat necklaces, and the different ways you can wear them, listed, so I made a video and uploaded it on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/mamasakio.

   Tutorials are the best video’s you can make for YouTube, and always add your Zibbet Shop URL.

   I have joined all possible sites and I at least filled out my profile, added my avatar and left my Zibbet Shop URL on there. It just takes a minute and it might be useful in the future. I joined Photobucket, Picasa, Flickr and MySpace, for an example and more. I can’t possibly keep up with all the sites I signed up for but at least I have my information on there, including my Zibbet Shop URL.

   Offline…
   
   I always walk around with my business cards.

   I always wear my own handmade jewelry. And I get people asking me where I bought my jewelry. So offline sales definitely works using or wearing your own items.

   I do realize that you can’t go out and about carrying your hand carved furniture or ceramic bowls, but it might be an idea to make a t-shirt or a shopping bag with your handmade item(s) - preferably the bright colored ones - and all the necessary information, your Zibbet shop URL etcetera. Maybe an idea for a Zibbeter who makes t-shirts or shopping bags?

   I can and will do a lot more offline.

   I just ordered ‘I love Zibbet’ buttons (http://bit.ly/d5xHCb) from Portable Graffiti. Our 2 year old son knows how to say ‘I love Zibbet’ now (didn’t teach him this; he just came out with it, so I must have said it a lot for him to remember) so I have to go out more with him wearing Portable Graffiti’s ‘I love Zibbet’-button, and showing off my jewelry .

   *****

   Promoting your work is also promoting your Zibbet Shop and Zibbet. I think it is also up to us pioneer sellers to make Zibbet and our shops successful.

9. How would you recommend other Zibbeters make the most of Zibbet.com?

   I think everything has been said before: try to excel in what you do, promote your Zibbet shop, promote Zibbet, use Project Wonderful, upgrade your account to a Premium one and enjoy unlimited listing. I am glad Jewels So Sweet, has introduced me to a Premium Free for Life Account! Zibbet is stuck with me for life!

   Use a personalized e-mail signature. Add links to your shop and if possible add Zibbet banners too. Zibbet has a range of banners to choose from. If you blog, don’t forget to use the banners on your blog too.

   Needless to say that everybody should start buying from one another. It gives you the first feedback you can display on your front page (this is not possible with a Basic Account by the way). New buyers and non Zibbeters would be more confident to buy from us.

   Maybe you find this useful as well:
 Include a sentence and add a link to the Check Out Guide and FAQs on your front page?  Most people are new to Zibbet so this would help them find their way round.
I also added a short sentence how to pay with PayPal without having a PayPal account. It is mentioned in the Check Out Guide, but just to make sure people know they can make purchases with their bank or credit card too.

10. In the future I’d like to be…

    …still doing what I do now. I am forever learning and developing. Maybe I will combine batic and papier mache with my jewelry making? I do have plenty ideas.

Tags: Add new tag, featured zibbeter, mamasakio