what sandra thinks

I have a problem making decisions. I’m not even sure asking for your thoughts will help… but I’m going to try anyway.

Here’s the thing (yes, this is about my shop(s) again)… as I’ve mentioned before, RedBubble has no overhead. I design, they produce and deliver the products. Etsy, on the other hand, is fully handmade… I print my designs, I mail out my products… so I need to purchase supplies, be sure I have enough printer ink, package and mail out orders. Significantly more work… and overhead.

There are other sites like RedBubble (I design, they produce). And I’m considering opening another store on another site… one that allows more customization and some different products.

My dilemma is this:
Do I name another store what sandra makes like the RedBubble shop? Or do I use the name I finally settled on for the Etsy shop?

I’ve decided to tell you the Etsy shop name even though I don’t know for sure if I’m keeping it open. [Also, maybe you’ll think it’s silly, so please don’t laugh at me.] I chose the name because on Etsy, I never had plans to sell anything other than cards/paper things. And the name made sense to me… my logo was cute… and I have small paper bags I would slip the cards into prior to mailing to customers. So there it is… paperbag design co. [Yeah, I even linked it. I might leave it open… I don’t know. If I ever feel like I’ve added enough cards and feel like I can handle it, maybe I’ll make a real announcement. But for now… this is what I’ve got.]

Okay… back to my dilemma. For the potential new shop, I like the idea of using paperbag because it seems like more of a brand name than what sandra makes. Also, it’s kind of separate from the blog. (And do I want customers to find this blog through my shop? I’m good with blog to shop… but not sure about shop to blog. Might be best if potential customers don’t discover how crazy I am…) However, in the potential new store, I might end up selling more than just paper products so does the paperbag name work? Does it matter? What the hell does Target, for example, have to do with any of their products? Of course, I won’t be printing or packaging cards at this new site so no cute little paper bags. But I don’t know if that matters either. (Same Target example here.)

If I had thought of the paperbag name before, maybe I would have used that for RedBubble, too. After all, I started with journals and notebooks there… they’re made of paper. But I’m not changing that now. (Not sure what’s involved or if I even could if I wanted to at this point.)

I’m also not sure I really love the what sandra makes name anyway. I didn’t give it that much thought when I started on RedBubble. I thought I was just going to design a few journals and notebooks and that would be it. Then I went nuts. Sigh…

Do I name the new shop paperbag no matter what I end up selling there?

Do I name it what sandra makes because I might sell all different things there?

Does it matter?

I think it might be clear from this post which way I’m leaning… but I can’t make a decision. And, of course, this is stopping me from proceeding with setting up the new shop. (And throw in some anxiety to hold things up, too…)

I’ve never used a poll before. I’ve used a pole. But not a poll. Please do leave your thoughts in the comments, too, though. Thanks in advance for all your wisdom that’s sure to follow…

©2007 what sandra thinks