“When you start with next to nothing, all you’ve got is a lot of thought, a lot of innovation, figuring new ways to do things without using a lot of money.”
John Paul DeJoria
If you are able to have a computer and a good internet connection, it’s amazing the things that are available to all of us for free to start a creative career or find new ways of expression and connection with the whole wide world. Possibilities are endless.
I was a little Artist who was only able to sell my little handmade creations and paintings at local markets and various cultural events, through travelling a lot and having to invest most of the income in materials. It was a very unique life with amazing adventures and infinite creative ways for survival, but it was quite tough sometimes.
The Internet changed everything for good or for worse, only time will tell, but one thing is sure, the possibilities to connect with like-minded people, to find inspirations and most of all to acquire knowledge thanks to so many people that are sharing their own, is without value.
Yesterday I celebrated One year I have opened my Zazzle Shop and started to experience how to be an Artist through the online world. I had no idea what I was doing but nevertheless, I threw myself into it, reading everything I could and surfing oceans of words, but meeting amazing people that have constantly given me the courage to continue, besides not seeing material results. If you have been reading my posts, I have been mentioning quite a few from time to time.
Whether you are a Painter of any medium, Photographer, a Writer, enjoy some designing, or even some little doodles, on Zazzle everything can become a product and if you do your research on latest trends and what people are searching for, then you have some customers waiting for what you can create with your unique style.
The only thing you need is a computer and a good internet connection and a lot of imagination and willingness to learn.
- You do not need to pay for anything
- You do not need to deal with shipping, or customers or emails, they do everything.
- You do not need to buy any materials.
- They are doing the promotion for you plus you can use Pinterest which is free.
It has been a fantastic experience. I fell in love with Zazzle immediately. Just the concept of Printing on Demand alone, is magic for me, to avoid all this over-mass production, that only depletes the Earth resources and produces more waste.
One thing differentiates Zazzle from other similar sites, like Society6 and RedBubble, they provide graphic designs tools for free so you can adjust your image or artwork to each product, and add filters or personalizable text, different background color, or make patterns, copy and paste, or add shapes. For sure there are programs like Photoshop which you have to pay and the ones for free like Inkscape, or Gimp, or Paint.net, (I will share the links to these at the end of the post) but the customization that is available to all, both designers and clients is unique, and quite easy to use, even if you do not have any experience, like I did. Plus they offer unique products with a very high quality that you only find there, as well as many Designers that only sell on Zazzle.
They have an excellent customer service and support. I personally had a great experience with them all the time. Zazzle is a US-based Company and I am Italian, although I speak quite good English, the culture is different, and they have been so patient with me when I could not understand something, like filling the w8ben form, or anything else related with the shop.
The only thing that for us living in Europe is a bit of a problem is how long it takes for products to arrive, which is obviously not only a Zazzle problem, but it is common with all the other sites too. It could take between 3 to 6 weeks. So when ordering something for weddings, birthdays or anything which have a date, one should take into consideration the maximum period to be safe. Plus Zazzle offers a 30-day return policy if you are not satisfied with the product.
But when things started changing for me is when I found by chance an interview on YouTube by Elke Clarke. I had been on Zazzle for 3 months and was not seeing results and obviously, I was trying to learn as much as I could to see what I could do to better the situation, and was starting to wonder whether it did really work and if anybody was making money on it or it was just fake.
With that interview I got my questions answered. Elke Clarke is one of the Pro Diamond Designer. Zazzle gives Badges according to the amount of sales that you have accrued during your time with them. So imagine Diamond. During her 10 years on Zazzle, she has been making over one million dollars. But like she says, it took her a lot of time and dedication over the years to arrive at that figure and started by request to organize courses to help other people avoid the mistakes that she has done. She also taught her daughter that in very little time has managed to arrive at Pro Gold status level and enjoy a stable income of 5000 dollars a month.
But apart from all this, they are really lovely and amazing people always willing to help. I did not have any possibilities to attend her courses, but continuously read all her older and new posts on her Blog, participated at her live talks on Facebook, as well as free course that she always constantly offer, with so much information that really gets you started and makes you realize that there is really so much more than just producing artwork and uploading it on products.
Above all the technical information, what I found with them is inspiration and motivation. When we are creating and working hard to make something happen, with little knowledge and nobody to talk to, it becomes really difficult sometimes and we can get easily discouraged, like you have read in many of my other posts. And through reading their posts and then participating at the lives you enter into a world of positive thinking and connect with like minded people that understand what you are going through and are there to help, it gives so much push and motivation to wanting to continue to do better, understanding where we are making the mistakes and trying to address them.
Of course, it is not a get-rich-quick scheme but with the correct strategies that they teach, and the more you learn, over time you will see the results.
If you are a creative person and are looking for new ways to increment your income and to expand your creativity in new ways you should have a look, it has definitely opened up a new world for me.
I hope you have made it this far! As I am celebrating I have created a Special Mandala for coloring for you to Download for Free, to thank you for all the support you have given me over this year. Hope you will enjoy it and if you feel like it I would love to see your work either on Instagram or here in the comments. Happy Weekend!!
Here are the links to download the free mandala, they are through Dropbox, you can download them even if you do not have an account, and do not need to sign up for nothing or give me your email. Just Enjoy! It is intended only for non-commercial purposes.
None of these links have any Affiliate Referrals they are just for your information.
Links for Zazzle
Jen & Elke Clarke
(The above link takes you to their free Blog. It contains an affiliate link if you choose to buy one of their courses, but it does not affect the price you pay)
Free Graphic Design Resources (You can find YouTube Tutorials for each one of them)
SunFreeStar 