Website: www.naughtysecretaryclub.com
Astrological Sign:  Let's just say I'm a Libra and leave it at that.
Trade:  Jewelry Designer and Jill of all crafty trades.
Years Your Business was Founded:  2001
Other DIY affiliations:  Austin Craft Mafia, Babes in Business Bonanza, Stylelicious, Craft Lab, Stitch and Has Anyone Ever Told You? Records.
Myspace URL:   http://www.myspace.com/naughtysecretaryclub

Favorite song to take you back to high school:
Anything by Ministry, The Cure, KMFDM, The Smiths, Janes Addiction, Siouxie and The Banshees. Picking just one is putting me in a total Sophie’s Choice type predicament.

Favorite Regional Theme for Home Decor:
Did everyone get this question or is it just because my house is so obviously in theme? My digs have a very distinct kitschy 50’s Asian theme throughout. Lot’s of Barcloth, bobble heads, paint by numbers – all with the same theme. I did deviate when decorating the game room and my bedroom where I went with the Hawaii / Florida motif. Tiki heads, rattan furniture and taxidermed alligator heads abound. I was collecting anything from the 50’s so I finally had to decide on one genera for my house.

How did you get started?
From a very early age I was encouraged to go into business and at the same time be creative. Any entrepreneurial spirit or touch of creativity exhibited around my parents was rewarded with the same praise as getting straight A’s and cleaning my room. Hope and I bred and sold lop eared rabbits as children as one of our very first outings into capitalism. One January my friend and I set up a road side manicure booth in a tent although only her grandmother paid us not to do her nails. There were also early stabs at jewelry. I won a 4th grade science fair with a pair of earrings made out of tooth paste and a tooth brush. My first experience selling jewelry was a line of fishing lure earrings that debuted at a family garage sale.

With Naughty Secretary Club it is the same story you hear from crafters a million times over "I started making things for friends and loved ones and their friends and loved ones wanted them so people started encouraging me to sell my goods". My mother who calls Michaels and Hobby Lobby her home away from home suggested playing with resin and she was right, it was a hit. Resin is how I got my start and what I was originally known for. I eventually got so tired of the monotony of it and had to phase it out. Maybe someday it will make another appearance, but at this point if I had to pour another resin ring I would poke my eyes out..

The way I started selling my jewelry is a little more convoluted. I have always had a zine of some sort since high school. I started with a feminist and music slanted zine called Scratch-n-Sniff and grew into an online zine called Naughty Secretary Club. NSC started with music reviews, crafty tips, rants and more. When I started making the resin jewelry I needed an avenue to sell my goodies. First Tina was nice enough to let me sell the bracelets on Sparkle Craft, but eventually I moved everything over to NSC. For a while the resin bracelets just had their own page among the zine. Later the home page of NSC split into two “click here for the zine” or “click here for the jewelry store”. I had no idea how successful the jewelry business was going to be or how time consuming. I eventually didn’t have any time for the zine and the jewelry side of Naughty Secretary Club won out. Actually in spring 2006 the zine side of Naughty Secretary Club is going to be reappearing. There is a new site update in the works including bringing the zine back.

Biggest Hurdle you encountered?
Becoming more successful (Business being good). That sounds like a weird thing to say, but it is true. I started as such a small business. I had a day job while I cranked out a few pieces of jewelry at night. Now it is much more complicated. Growing pains are hard but exciting for small business owners. With a successful business comes lots more responsibilities. Things like your taxes get very complicated so bookkeepers and accountants enter your life. Work multiplies beyond what you could ever dream of doing alone so there are assistants to be hired. Delegating responsibility is a tricky thing. NSC is my baby and it very hard for me not to micromanage every little thing. Eventually one needs to get incorporated and have your company name trade marked, umm lots more weird tax things. I started Naughty Secretary Club because I wanted to do what I love- make obnoxiously hilarious jewelry- but sometimes I feel like I just sit at a computer all the time. Finding a balance with an expanding business is a big hurdle, one I am still working on but starting to find my way with.

Favorite Annual Fashion / Craft event in Down Town Austin?
Well the annual Stitch fashion show of course. Stitch is an amazing event working on it’s 4th year in 2006. Started by Jesse, Tina and Karly of the Austin Craft Mafia, I was asked to join as the forth producer in 2005. Stitch has been a success from the get go, selling out the very first year and every year it’s getting bigger and better. Last year we sold out Austin’s infamous Emo’s with over 1,000 people in attendance. Not to mention the DJ’s, bands, 20 different fashion designers from around the country on the runway, models and 60+ vendors at the guerilla craft fair. People came from as far away as Florida and California to participate. In 2006 we are already looking for a larger venue to support the growing size of the event. If you are still thinking of cowboys and cactus when you think of Texas you couldn’t be further from the truth.

Any Advice for Marketing and Promoting your Business?
I get asked this question on a daily basis and would love to eventually write a book on the subject. My rule of thumb has always been “It is 40% what you can do, and 60% how you market it”. I live by this rule. Marketing and promotion is so crucial to a business. You can have the most awesome arm warmers this side of the Mason Dixon line, but if no one besides you and your best friend know that then you are not going to be selling very many.

Advertising is important, but expensive. This is something you can move up to. Start small with zines like Bejeezus. Split an ad with friends. Before there was ever an Austin Craft Mafia ,Jenny, Tina and I split a small ad 3 ways in Bust and Venus because we could not afford one alone.

I love swag! Swag is especially important if you have a network of business ladies like the Austin Craft Mafia. For instance this Christmas I gave Hope the gift of swag. I had 2,500 postcards designed and printed up one side being for Hot Pink Pistol and the other side for Naughty Secretary Club. Every order I send out has one of these postcards in there as well as postcards by my friends like Ornamental Things, Subversive Cross Stitch, Jasmine Made, Chia and the other ACM ladies. So every time my customers get an order they are exposed to these other new and exciting businesses I support. I also give all the above ladies a stack of these same postcards of mine for their own orders so that their customers become aware of Naughty Secretary Club and Hot Pink Pistol. I have done other fun swag items like stickers, Chap Stick, buttons, pens and even nail files. I believe in the end Stickers (stickerguy.com) and Post Cards (4over4.com) are the cheapest.

There are plenty of free ways to promote your business as well. LINK, LINK, LINK!!! I once read in a book for you to think of your website as a city. You want as many roads coming into and out of your city as possible. Those roads are reciprocal links with people. The more links there are to your web site the better. If there was only one road leading to New York City, it wouldn’t be much of a city at all. I love to swap links with people because I enjoy my own links section being this big plethora of resources for shopping and music.

Another totally free promotional tool is My Space. I know at some point this statement will be antiquated, but for right now I can not preach to you enough about how My Space is free advertising. Everyone from small business to bands have a great opportunity for a ton of free exposure. If you do not have a My Space profile for your business yet, stop now and go get one. IT IS FREE. Then don’t be picky with your friends. Why start a public profile if you are going to be selective about who can and can’t be your friends. Set your profile to private if you are that picky about it.

Future projects?
In spring 2006 I will be co-hosting a show on wearable arts for the DIY Network called Stylelicious with 8 of the 9 Austin Craft Mafia ladies. In fall 2006 I will be hosting my own show called Craft Lab, also on DIY. Craft Lab will be on every day with a different crafter and I working through various projects like giant plush monster masks and airbrushing skateboards. I am super excited about both shows.

As I mentioned the Naughty Secretary Club zine is going to be making a come back in 2006. So there is going to be some writing in my future. Not just for the web site, I am also talking to a couple of magazines about possible regular columns.

Speaking of writing. The Austin Craft Mafia is on the home stretch of a book proposal we are hoping to shop the book to publishers in early summer 2006. I am also working on my own jewelry book proposal. I have several other book ideas I am currently formulating as well.

Even with TV and writing Naughty Secretary Club is my true love. I adore jewelry, making jewelry and designing jewelry. The day I stop going to flea markets and digging in crusty boxes for that long lost bag of vintage charms is the day someone needs to slap me. I still hand pick and design everything on Naughty Secretary Club and have no intention of stopping that. So in the future look for more one of a kind designs on Naughty Secretary Club.

Favorite Indie Business(es)?
Well of course I have to say I love all the Austin Craft Mafia girls. Right now I am smitten on my friends Traci Bautista (www.treicdesigns.com), Kathy Cano Murillo (www.craftychica.com) and Claudine Hellmuth (www.collageartist.com). I LOVE Fred Flare (www.fredflare.com). The lovely ladies of 31 Corn Lane rule skool and cook a mean bowl of spaghetti (www.31cornlane.com). Happy Owl Glass Works (www.happyowlglass.com) has adorable stuff. I wear my Naughty Secretary Club Neighborhoodie (www.neighborhoodies.com) and Austin Craft Mafia Scarf by Lulette (www.lulette.com) regularly.

Best thing about Running your own business:
When you work for yourself it is so much more gratifying. If you have to work late or through your lunch you are not nearly as bitter about it. When you work for someone else you tend to do the bare minimum to get your paycheck. When you work for yourself your business is like your baby and you will go above and beyond to make sure it has what it needs. You tend to have a lot more pride in your work. Not that working for someone else cannot be equally gratifying, it's just not for everyone.

The very best part of running a small CRAFTY business is there is such wonderful satisfaction in knowing that you are making a living selling things that you made and designed with your own two hands. A lot of people have the misconception that I have a factory full of small children in Malaysia working for me on their breaks from sewing soccer balls. Nope, sorry. Most of what you see on my website was made by hand in house. So when someone buys something you made yourself, it's like a little pat on the back. When people send me emails saying how much they liked their order it still makes me feel all warm and squishy inside. You can ask my husband even years later every time I sell one of my revamped vintage pieces, I practically give the Sally Fields academy awards speech: "they like me, they really, really like me!"


Best Thing About Wearing as much jewelry as humanly possible:
God who wrote these questions, I feel personally attacked. I look at it like this: I practice what I preach. I told you people I love jewelry and I meant it. In my house I have the master bedroom as my studio and that room is obviously filled to the brim with jewelry. There is the spare bedroom that pretty much doubles as my other jewelry room. My first collection as a child was Bakelite jewelry. I have never stopped collecting vintage costume jewelry so I have TONS of it. This being the case I have to give everyone a fair shake and since I am a bit of a recluse when I do go out I have to wear as much as possible. On any given day if I go out you can pretty much bet I will be wearing a Naughty Secretary Club Cha-Cha Bracelet, my favorite orange Lucite Aztec Warrior Ring, Resin Flamenco Dancer Ring, Wedding Ring, Cha-Cha Earrings and sometimes Cha-Cha Necklace. Occasionally I also wear my favorite orange Bakelite bracelet and lip ring with all of this, up to 8 pieces of jewelry at once. Is that a lot? Let’s just say I jangle when I move.

Best thing about Living in Austin:
Austin is an amazing town with so many cool bands and crafty artistic people. Austin is warm (or hot depending on you look at it) most of the year, you can go swimming until October, there is cold Shiner beer everywhere, you can go see a great art show, you can go see a punk band play, you can buy a hand made outfit, you can have the best Mexican food of your life – all in the same day. I am from a small town in Texas called McKinney where I never really fit in to say the least. Austin is this Mecca for all the weirdoes from small town Texas. The other thing I love about Austin is that I am still close to my parents who live 3.5 hours away. My sister, Hope, lives here in town and we have pretty much decided we can’t be separated so that is a bonus that she lives here.

Worst This about Running your own business:
It is hard to pick a bad thing about running your own business, but there are a few. If you want a successful business be prepared to eat, sleep, drink and breathe it. From the time I wake up I am working until I fall asleep at midnight reading my latest copy of Fortune Small Business. Some of your friends and family might want to slap you after awhile because all you talk about is your business. The other hard thing I find is that at the same time one of the best things about running a small business is getting to set your own hours, but it also happens to be the worst thing. In other words, work is never over. The computer is always there, I can promise you there are always emails that need to be answered. If you work out of your home it is hard to say "OK it's 5, I am quitting for the day" when there is a pile of things to do right there on the living room floor staring at you. When you are having a hard day what are you gonna do go stand in the mirror and tell yourself to "take this job and shove it".

Worst Thing About having a cat that’s not allowed outside:
So if you don’t know me personally you might not know that I have a cat named Georgie and a dog named Lucy. Both are like my first born children. Georgie is not allowed outside at all. For one because I don’t want her to get hit by a car or taken as a snack by a giant bird of prey, but also because in the past when we let her outside she developed some skin problems. The other thing you might not know, and I didn’t either until recently, is that my friends apparently were never raised in environments where you closed doors behind you. Seems perfectly logical to me, however several of my friends in particular some Austin Craft Mafia members have a hard time remembering this golden rule. This being the case when people come over to my house I end up sounding like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman racing around the house reciting “remember to shut the doors, remember to shut the doors”. Even with all of this neurosis’s on my part, they still forget to close the doors and there have been some very close calls with escaping kitties.

Worst Thing About Living in Austin:
The worst thing about living in Austin is that it can seem like a very small town at times. That could also be considered as a plus I suppose. However, I sometimes find myself longing for the anonymity of a big city like Los Angeles.



more about the other mafiosa ...