Pick Up Sticks Employee’s Favorites – Treyla

This post is our “Welcome” piece for Treyla, the new girl in the Pick Up Sticks studio. She was born in Clovis but grew up in Eugene, Oregon.  After high school she decided she missed the eastern plains of New Mexico, and came home.

She has a daughter, two year-old Austyn, and is very happily married to Oran.  Besides her family, her favorite things in the world are her two Labs, Tiki and Daisy. She’s also a bit of a Modge Podge fanatic and a fan of the Oregon Ducks.

Best of all, Treyla is  full of energy and fun and loves working at Pick Up Sticks.  We asked her to choose her favorite Pick Up Sticks necklace combination, and here’s what she said:

“When I saw charms  Live the Life (LV051) and Life is Good (BB011), they instantly became my favorite! Everywhere I have been shopping recently, I have been drawn to anything with birds on it. The chain (NK001) has an adorable little bird that sits up higher on the necklace and it adds a unique look you don’t see in other jewelry.

I try to live my life with a very positive outlook, and these charms remind me every time I wear them, how truly blessed I am. I have a beautiful little girl, Austyn, and a wonderful husband, Oran, who are all healthy and very happy. I truly do “love the life” that I have been given, and try to always “look at the bright side”. Not to mention that these charms are extremely colorful, and match almost any item in my closet!”

We’d love to hear about your favorite Pick Up Sticks necklace.  Send us a photo and your own story at marketing@pickupsticks.net and you just might be featured in a future blog post!

Judy, Judy, Judy – Pick Up Sticks’ best sales tip

Pick Up Sticks.  We hope you associate the company name and this blog with our continuing search for ways to help you make your business a screaming success.  That’s why we do this – we want to give you ideas that help you sell, sell, sell.

And that’s why we now offer our loaded Judy in our catalog.  And why we throw in the mannequin for free.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zero.  Null.  Zilch.

We do ask that you pay for the charms and trinkets and necklaces she’s wearing.  But the mannequin and the ribbons that separate price points and the approximately 12 hours of studio labor to load her up?  Free.

“Who’s Judy?” some of you may ask.  Do a search of the term “Judy” in our blog archives and you’ll find several posts dedicated to her.  She’s our “loaded-with-Pick-Up-Sticks,” looking-gorgeous and selling-jewelry-like-crazy Mannequin. We introduced her about six years ago, dragging her to market all dressed up with every photo charm, trinket, and chain we create, as well as the top 12 of our initial charms. We thought she was a fun display.

And then customers started asking if they could take her home with them. Immediately.

What we found was that Judy was a sparkly-girl, catching the eyes of passersby and creating an entirely new kind of excitement in our market booth. And our retailers who bought her told us that she created a fun forum where customers could see a wide variety of jewelry, touching and turning Pick Up Sticks every which way, laughing with their friends at our designs, choosing two or three charms and trinkets and necklace combinations in the process.

What we found was that our Judy sells. In fact, a number of our current Judy orders are from retailers who ordered Judy in the past. She’s been so busy that she’s worn out and they need a replacement.

And the best news is that now you don’t have to wait until market to get your’s. She’s in our latest catalog, just waiting for your order.

She comes shipped to your door looking very chic and  wearing one each of every single Pick Up  Sticks two-sided bubble, dot, candy, chicklet and photo charm, the top 12 initials in five styles, one each of all our trinkets, spacers and locket, and an assortment of necklace and bracelet chain.  She also comes ribboned – meaning that we separate the price categories so that you don’t have to. (Here’s a link to the catalog page – take a look at this beauty!  http://www.pickupsticks.net/US/CATALOG/packages/packages.html)

How good is the deal?  If you order a pre-pinned Judy right now, you’ll get the mannequin free (Yes, we’ve already said that, but it bears repeating.  She’d cost you $120 if you ordered her separately).  You’ll also get the expertise of the girls in the studio pinning and ribboning her so that she’s an eye-catching sales genius.  That alone takes 2 girls 6 hours, so in addition to the mannequin form, you’re getting 12 hours of free labor.  And you get our exclusive logo price tags showing the price for each separate category of jewelry.

Don’t want all the chain?  We can leave that off and you’ll be charged less.  Since we can’t really reveal our wholesale prices here, please feel free to contact the studio for prices.

One thing you don’t get?  All 26 initials, because we know that some of them are hard to sell.  We only send you the 12 top selling initials from each of our initial lines.

We know that getting customers to make a purchase is tougher now than ever.  That’s why we promote our Judy.  She sells, she adds interest to your retail space, and customers love her. What more could you ask of a pretty girl?

Pick Up Sticks – Just Another Day at the Studio

We know there are some incredibly interesting jobs out there, jobs that we’ve all dreamed of.  Secret shopper for Neiman-Marcus. Rolling Stone reporter assigned to hang with Jay-Z and Beyonce. Taste tester for Ben & Jerry’s. Ski instructor at Aspen. Personal Assistant to Bradley Cooper.  Those are all good, right?

Yeah, we’d like one of those. We’re pretty sure we could be VERY helpful to Bradley Cooper.  But since we don’t get to hang with celebrities, we’re going to go out on a limb and say that working at Pick Up Sticks is pretty crazy amazing.  It’s never boring, it’s creative, it’s relaxed, and, honestly, it’s almost always fun.  Here’s a quick look at what we do all day, some days.  Other days we sit around the studio and brainstorm while eating taquitos from The Foxy.  Just another job hazard – great New Mexico fast food.

The above photo is Candace and Leigh dressing Judy up for her wholesale show debut.  This is just one example of how we load her with Pick Up Sticks. . .we’ve seen lots of different pictures of our customers’ own Judy and we’d love to see more.  If you’ve perfected the Judy-loading method, let us know your secret.  As far as we can tell, you’re all doing a great job of creating your own beautiful versions.

“Which wholesale gift shows to attend? Who is going where? Where should we stay? How should we get there? And most important of all-what great restaurant do we get to try while we’re there?” These are just a few of the questions that get asked and answered daily at Glena’s desk.  Other tasks like talking to Sabrina on the phone about the creative process, paying the bills, payroll, inventory control, design decisions, and bookkeeping are just a  few of the jobs she tackles. If there’s a number to be crunched, Glena is the girl to do it.  Just hand her a pile of data and she’s a happy camper (there’s that finance degree showing itself. . .).  Of course getting to come to work every day with her dogs, her Mom, with Candace and Leigh and with Treyla, the newest Pick Up Sticks girl, is the biggest treat of all. (Hmmmmm. . .would you like to see a post on the “Dogs of Pick Up Sticks”?  I’m thinking YES.)

Ever wondered how the “pulling and checking” process works when you order? This is Leigh checking an order she’s just pulled from the stacks of bins of inventory behind her.  Those bins hold every single charm in our line.  Leigh picks up the order from our fancy printer, walks to our “Walls of Bins” and removes all your charms from their assigned bins. From there, the charms and trinkets go through a two-pronged cross checking process. Leigh and at least one other Pick Up Sticks girl look over your order to insure that it’s shipped to you as quickly and accurately as possible.

Check out that great orange wall. We are all about color and whimsy at Pick Up Sticks.

Here’s a glimpse of Candace at the heart of the studio, on the phone, typing an order. Behind her is our handy-dandy fancy printer that basically does everything except pick up lunch from Twin Cronies Drive-In (more of that New Mexican fast food). It not only prints your typed, emailed, or faxed orders, it prints our catalogs, the post cards, bio cards, images for studio use, AND your order forms (whew)! It is possibly the hardest worker in the studio!

By the way, Candace is wearing the 30” Small Link Chain with a AN058 Grow Strong Charm.

Judy isn’t the only display that gets a face lift before a new show season begins.  The display boards have to updated with all the new season’s designs.  Glena is somewhat of a p-touch (label maker) guru, so she get the boards measured, p-touched and ready for Candace and Leigh to pin all the new charms and trinkets on the boards.

Here’s Candace attempting to organize the board that holds the potential/proposed new trinkets.  This highly systemized process (most days) is studied intently and rearranged daily to make sure we’re creating the perfect trinkets to go with all our photo charms.  How are we doing with that?

And finally, here we share with you the highlight of our day. Leigh (lucky Leigh) is handing your orders over to our favorite FedEx driver(eat your hearts out ladies)!!!

We didn’t get a chance to include a picture of Treyla in this post, but plan to do an entire blog post introducing you all to her soon. Hopefully she’ll agree that working at Pick Up Sticks is almost always entertaining and interesting!

We love what we do. Now if we could just get Bradley Cooper to drop by with a couple of pints of Ben & Jerry, life would be perfect.

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Pick Up Sticks – Glena’s Favorites

When we started talking about favorite necklaces a few weeks ago, Glena, like Candace, was unable to narrow her choice to just one.  Like some of you out there, she wears Pick Up Sticks every day, mixing and matching various charms and trinkets.  But we did get photos of her favorite combinations – here’s what she had to say about them:

“My newest favorite charms is DT011. The saying on the front and back, “My child”, and “Born to Fly” is perfect for me since my son is a pilot. I wear the charm both front and back, with the Bali Spacers, PT167, and my son Cameron’s, initial, CWIOC.  This charm is ideal for all mothers to wear, because we all know that our children are born to fly and succeed – mine just choose to do it in a helicopter.  And of course I couldn’t be any prouder of him.”

“I love wearing a 36” stainless steel necklace with a collection of charms and trinkets added, because the long necklace goes perfectly with my winter sweaters.  My latest choice is ANO62, ANO64, PG147, PT185, and PT183.  I’m loving the bling of the new trinkets and the messages, “fly baby fly” and “it takes courage to become who you really are” remind me to do the best I can every day, and most of all—don’t sweat the small stuff. When I change my sweater and my mood, I use the “magical clip” and simply add different charms that match both.”

Like Glena, the rest of us find it tricky to narrow our Pick Up Sticks choices to just one or two necklaces, and given the versatility of our two-sided charms and the ease of using the magic clips, you don’t have to!

Pick Up Sticks Employee Favorites – Candace’s Choices

If you’re one of our retailers, we hope you’ve been fortunate enough to meet Candace, the Pick Up Sticks girl who enthusiastically greets you in the booth at market and takes your order when you phone or e-mail the office.  She’s indispensable as well as being our biggest fan.  We couldn’t do our job without her.

When we asked her to tell us about her favorite necklace, charm and trinket combination, she couldn’t limit her choice to just one.  So here are a couple. .

In Candace’s words:

“I love to wear the My Family charm (DT010) with the  You & Me 4 Ever (BB012). I wear the BB012 on the 4ever side because the wording on both of those charms side-by-side sums up the lifetime dream I have, which is that my family will be forever. Another great perk of wearing these two charms together is the fact that the colors match perfectly, and are sure to bring attention to them (just another excuse to brag about my family). I wear the Bee Necklace (NK004) with these two charms because it reminds me to always ‘Bee’ thankful for my family.”

And for her second choice, Candace says:

“Here is another favorite family-related combo. I am wearing the  Two In Love (LV050) with the Bubble “J” (BBIOJ) and a Magnifier trinket (PT182)  on a 36” Stainless chain (SS036). I really like the 36″ chain because of its simplicity and perfect length, which allows me to layer it with my other favorite necklaces. The LV050 means so much to me because I have the best little girl I could have ever prayed for due to my husband and me falling in love. The BBI0J is my new favorite initial because of its bright eye-grabbing colors, and because it describes my life perfectly with my little Jemma in it -Jubilant! Lastly, I chose the magnifying glass because it symbolizes my love for my family. It magnifies with every new day. . .”

Do you have a favorite necklace combo?  We’d love to hear about and see it. . .just e-mail a description and images to us at marketing@pickupsticks.net and we may feature it on Facebook or right here.

Fighting Cancer with Great Love – Pick Up Sticks Style

Glena, Bunny and Sabrina in NYC, circa 2004

When we published our Thanksgiving Every Day post back on November 21, we wrote that we had hoped to get it online earlier but that “. . .our week got preempted by life. . “

What we didn’t tell you was that the preemption was a diagnosis of State 4 Colon Cancer for our very best friend, Pick Up Sticks copywriter and blogger, Bunny.  The week before Thanksgiving she went to the emergency room in Santa Fe, with a referral from an urgent care doc convinced that she had appendicitis.  Alas, it wasn’t her appendix acting up.

Bunny and Sabrina on the Plaza, Santa Fe, July 2012, with a high school friend, Kerry

Like everyone else, when we heard the words “Stage 4”, we found ourselves in a bit of a panic.  As some of you who have seen us all together at market know, Bunny is our family.  She is like our sister, but loves us like a best friend and we love her back accordingly.  We’ve know each other since first grade and we’ve shared prom dresses and rides with bad boys in pickup trucks and days on the lake in bikinis and several marriages starting and ending and a thousand family dinners and dancing all night in dive bars in New York. . and meeting you in our booth at market.

Glena and Bunny at the Logan High Prom, looking hot in 1977

Bunny’s a freelance writer and we’re just one of her clients, but when she writes about Pick Up Sticks, it’s from the heart and from long experience.  She was with us at our very first retail show (Country Thunder in Phoenix) and has helped us nurse this business into fruition from day one.

So it’s only natural that in her healing process, Pick Up Sticks plans to be a major player.  On the day of her diagnosis, when several of her numerous friends were in the hospital room, her friend MariAnne fingered her Pick Up Sticks necklace and said, “I need a special Bunny charm, one I can wear that will remind me to say a prayer and send a good thought to her every minute of every day.”

Bunny, Sabrina and Baby Shasta, circa 1978

That idea grew, and Bunny’s Mom, Betty, who is one of our exclusive retailers in Logan, NM (our hometown, of course) looked through the catalog and found a charm that expressed Bunny perfectly.  She then ordered every single one we had in stock, put out the word, and in the past three weeks, has sold almost 200 charms.  She’s sold them at a higher profit margin, putting all that money made into a benefit account for Bunny, who unfortunately, will have rather high out-of-pocket costs for the next six months while she begins chemo treatment.

We’re taking it one day at a time, trying to deal with what could be a dark diagnosis, and we’re watching Bunny turn it into learning and loving experience, which is what she does with her life every day.  For those of you who know her, you can follow her journal entries at www.caringbridge.org/visit/bunnyterry.  Send along an encouraging word if you’re so inclined.

Bunny and Glena at the 12 Shores Golf Course at Ute Lake, Thanksgiving 2011

We’re honored that Pick Up Sticks charms are adorning the necks of women from Maine to California who are daily reaching up to hold that charm and Bunny’s well-being between their fingertips, wishing her well and saying a prayer for her.

She’s slated for 20 chemo treatments at the end of which her oncologist will explore surgical options.  She’s got one under her belt and is feeling great.  And she gave up the blog for this ONE post. . .otherwise she says she’ll be back with a vengeance next week to talk about new designs or something like that.

Bunny and Glena in the center of lots of Logan girls, Summer 2011

If you have someone in your life who is going through something difficult and you need a little help picking a special charm for them, let us help you out.  This charm project for Bunny has been one of the most rewarding things we’ve been involved in since we started the business.

And of course, we’d appreciate your prayers and good thoughts sent her way.

Pick Up Sticks June Retailer of the Month – Beauty and the Beach

We’re big fans of clever business names at Pick Up Sticks (in fact, we think our own business name is a bit clever) and we all agree Beauty and the Beach, 30 Hwy 90 East, Little River, South Carolina (843-390-3700) is one our favorites.  Not only is the business name fun and smart, Beauty and the Beach is our choice for June’s Retailer of the Month.

Beauty and the Beach is a hair salon just minutes from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.  They’ve been in business for 15 years, and they’ve seen jewelry lines come and go.  Why did they choose Pick Up Sticks?  Tammy Phillips of Beauty and the Beach says that along with the whimsy of the line, they really love the magic clips and the fact that the clips make the charms so easily interchangeable.

“Vintage bling” is what Tammy thinks of when someone mentions Pick Up Sticks, and she’s found that displaying the line so that customers can touch and see both sides of the charms works best for getting pieces sold.  “Wear it to sell it!” is the salon motto.  Customers who see their stylist wearing Pick Up Sticks are more likely to stop at the display on their way to the cash register.  And of course, once they see the line, customers are totally hooked into buying at least one charm.

When asked how Pick Up Sticks has changed the atmosphere of the retail space, Tammy says, “It’s definitely more fun!”  There’s nothing to get women buying jewelry like a couple of laughs while they’re choosing their charms.  The cross trinket and the alphabet charms sell well for Beauty and the Beach, as do the charms that say “blessed.”

Myrtle Beach is a gorgeous place to hang out, and we’re suspecting there are several of our lucky  readers who will get the privilege to spend part of their summer there.  While you’re in town, stop by Beauty & The Beach and tell them hello for us.  We wish we were at the beach right now. . .

Pick Up Sticks and Pinterest – Part I: How We Do It

We don’t know about the rest of you, but if you had asked us a year ago whether we were on Pinterest, our response would have been a puzzled, “Huh?”. And I’m pretty sure we would have said, “Nah, we’re not getting involved in another social media platform.”

Today it’s a different story.   In January 2012, comScore reported that Pinterest had 11.7 million unique visitors, making it the fastest site ever to break through the 10 million user mark.  Crazy numbers like that combined with the fact that Pinterest users actually stay on the site longer than users of other social media sites got us to thinking.  Could Pick Up Sticks benefit from a Pinterest page?  And could our followers provide us with design inspiration?

Of course we weren’t the only ones thinking that way.  There are now hundreds of blog posts and articles and webinars about how small businesses can use Pinterest to drive traffic to their retail websites.

We’re doing this post in two parts:  this week we want to show you what Pick Up Sticks is doing on Pinterest so that you might be inspired to try something like this for your business.  Next week we’ll actually give you some concrete information and links on using Pinterest for small businesses so that you can research it further and decide whether a Pinterest board might work for you.

Here’s the link to our Pinterest page and boards:  http://pinterest.com/pickupsticksj/ .  Once the boards were created, we invited some of our faithful customers to become curators or contributors to our boards.  You can do the same – the instructions for letting other people contribute to your boards is in the Pinterest help menu, which is under the “About” button on your Pinterest page.

Once the potential contributors received the e-mail inviting them to pin to our boards, they were off!  Our contributors exceeded our wildest expectations.  Sabrina asked them for color ideas, “less than 7 words” quotations, vintage photos, and several other board topics.  As you can see from the page, these women found some great ideas.  And in the process they repinned Pick Up Sticks images so that buyers unfamiliar with our product might click through to our websie to get more info.

We’re really proud of our Pinterest page.  Our contributors have been so industrious that we sent them all a Pick Up Sticks surprise recently.  The process has opened up a dialogue with the contributors that allows them to show us what they like and what they want to see in the future. Because this is an ongoing process, having the page keeps both pinners and followers engaged and returning for another look.  All of which adds up to our being better able to keep the customer happy.

That’s what it’s all about when you have a small business, we think. The very best thing about social media is that it has given us a way to interact with our fans and find out what they like best and want most.

Stay tuned for next week’s post when we’ll share ideas other businesses are using on Pinterest.  And if you’re so inclined, feel free to visit our Pinterest boards and repin some of our images.  We’d be happy to do the same for you – just comment below with your Pinterest page URL.

And Happy Pinning!

Pick Up Sticks Retailer of the Month for May – Fiddle Stix

Fiddle Stix – fun name, very fun boutique setting, and located at 4165 Chappel Drive in Perrysburg, Ohio (419-931-2022).  We’re happy to feature Fiddle Stix as our May 2012 Retailer of the Month.

Fiddle Stix is a locally owned boutique and gallery that prides itself on exceptional customer service.  Jenelle Calverley says Fiddle Stix is the perfect destination for unique gifts and collectibles that are perfect for any occasion, whether it be a wedding, anniversary, birthday, or baby shower.

In addition to Pick Up Sticks, Fiddle Stix product lines include but are not limited to Vera Bradley handbags, Spartina scarves and handbags, Lindsay Phillips scarves and shoes, Trollbeads, Kameleon Jewelry, John Medeiros, Coton Colors ceramics, and Mud Pie.  They also offer stationary and invitations for any event.  Follow the store on on Facebook or visit them at www.fiddlestixboutique.com.

Jenelle says the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions “Pick Up Sticks Jewelry” is “unique and whimsical.  This line has a charming vintage feel that is so original it’s hard to find a comparison.”

She goes on to say, “We selected Pick Up Sticks for its uniqueness and one- of-a- kind charms.   The handmade collectibles are perfect for everyone and for every occasion.  The jewelry fits so perfectly in the fun and whimsical atmosphere of our store.”

Jenelle believes allowing customers to “interact” with the jewelry as much as possible drives sales:  “We display the charms on large round glass trays so the customers can interact with and examine the detailed photos. We like to create example pieces that illustrate to customers how the charms can be worn.  We encourage them to mix and match photos together to create a truly unique piece of art.  The best way to sell Pick Up Sticks though is to wear the jewelry so the customers can see how beautiful the pieces are!”  Her best advice:  Be sure customers can easily touch and see the product.

Fiddle Stix customers love to combine the initial charms with a unique charm that they feel best  describes themselves or the person they’re buying for.  They also love the humor in the jewelry.  “It makes it very enjoyable to sell and it makes the customer’s buying experience fun!  It definitely lightens the mood of the shop when people are browsing Pick Up Sticks.”

Jenelle shared the following story with us:  “I had a customer come in looking for a charm to put a photo in. It ended up being a gift for a friend who just lost her father. They decided to put a small photo of her father in the charm so every time she wore the necklace, she would be reminded of her dad. The friend had searched all over town for the perfect gift for her grieving friend, and it wasn’t until she came to Fiddle Stix did she find the meaningful gift she was looking for.”

Thanks Jenelle.  That’s why we do what we do – we want Pick Up Sticks to be a fun, whimsical, and meaningful gift for everyone.

If you’re in the Fiddle Stix neighborhood, drop in and say hi and choose a new charm.  It looks like a great place to shop!

Pick Up Sticks, Annie and Isabel, and Kicking Cancer’s Butt

Gifts Anna received during her battle with cancer

We received this e-mail a few days ago and decided we had to share it.  Annie and Isabel is a blog written by sisters Anna and Selena, registered nurses who decided to make hospital stays more dignified by creating Designer Hospital Gowns.  Their motto is “When you look great, you feel better.”   Check out their blog and website for some amazingly pretty hospital gowns.  We hope you never need one, but just in case. . .

Recently Anna was the patient instead of the nurse, with a stay in the hospital battling thyroid cancer.  Her blog posts are inspirational and we’re pleased the hear that Pick Up Sticks helped her in her determination to “Kick Cancer’s Butt.”

Here’s a bit of the e-mail we received:

Anna with a painting she was given by a friend

Dear Pick Up Sticks:

I just wanted to email you because I was given a necklace with your charms by a couple of friends to give me strength during my battle with thyroid cancer. I wore the necklace every day and I absolutely love it!!!! It was purchased through a retail store but I found your name on the necklace and looked you up because so many people have asked about it. I also have friends battling cancer and they were interested in purchasing one so I referred them to your site.

I thought you might enjoy reading a couple of blog posts I wrote that included pictures of the beautiful necklace. I have just finished treatment and am getting stronger and looking forward to living a great life:-) Here are my posts:

More Blessings of Cancer and On To Treatment

Bye Bye Cancer

Thank you so much for making a product that helped inspire me through my battle with cancer!!! I will always cherish this necklace.

Sincerely,

Anna Ryan

Check out Anna’s posts – despite the fact that she’s obviously feeling less than 100%, she does a great job of seeing the gifts hidden in her illness.

Anna proudly wearing her cancer scar AND her Pick Up Sticks necklace

In one post she says, “Another gift I have been given is to appreciate my health! I may never completely have the energy I had prior to my cancer diagnosis, but I will definitely value having a healthy body that allows me to get through everything I need to do in a day. I also want to mention that while cancer has temporarily taken my health and energy, it will never take away my spirit, and that is what is going to keep me going, to regain my strength and appreciate my health and life as I have never done before. I posted this picture on my personal facebook page a week ago but wanted to share it here too. For me, it is a visual of what I think about this whole cancer experience and I will proudly show off my scar because there is no reason to hide a badge of courage and strength.”

Congratulations on kicking cancer’s butt, Anna, and thanks for inspiring us all!

Have your own special story about Pick Up Sticks Jewelry helping you through a difficult time in your life?  We’d love to hear it and share it with Pick Up Sticks collectors everywhere. Just e-mail us at pickupsticks@suddenlink.net.  Be sure to include images if you have them!