Kat Kadoodle

Your shop name *	Kat Kadoodle
Zazzle to me is a... *	Full time job - with part time pay
What is the best advice you have received from a fellow shopkeeper about your shops or designs you would like to pass on to another shopkeeper? *
When I first started out I spent a lot of time searching and reading discussions on the Zazzle Forum. I found the forum to be a wonderful community of very supportive fellow zazzlers who were willing to share their experience and expertise with others and I learned quite a bit there. In that spirit, I would pass on two pieces of advice to anyone just starting out. First, always strive to create only quality products for your shop, things that a customer on Zazzle might not be able to create on their own. The wonderful thing about POD sites like Zazzle is that any person can create any product they want on a blank item. It's easy to put text or a upload a photo, and many people use Zazzle just for that. So take it further and go beyond that - create things that someone without your special talent or knowledge might not be able to create on their own. That's where you bring something special to the marketplace and why customers wil l buy your products. Secondly, be patient. Really patient. It takes time to build a good base of products, to have your products get viewed in the marketplace and get the word out there that your shop is open! Don't get discouraged, just keep on designing, creating and promoting yourself - you will get noticed!
What PODs do u currently use or have shops on? *	Zazzle
What did you do with your free time before zazzle or other POD's....and what do you do with it now? *	I used to read a lot. And for a while I was heavily into making my own jewelry. I still have so many pieces (and books) waiting for me to get back to them, but now if I have any free time, I'm usually found at my computer creating a new design or otherwise "zazzling"!
What programs do you use to make your designs *	Illustrator
Tell us more about what you like and do not like about each software you use, what makes it special. *
I pretty much use Adobe Illustrator CS5 version 15.0.0 exclusively and I would highly recommend Illustrator to anyone interested in creating their own designs because of the amazing amount of design tools in contains. If you have no experience at all with it, I think it could be a little daunting to use at first. I know I felt that way when I first started with it since I have more of a fine arts background and am totally self taught when it comes to graphic design. But, I've learned how to use it on my own, viewing many online tutorials and free classes that are available on the internet. If I can do it, anybody can!
Will you make custom orders? *	Yes - no prepay required
Elaborate on your answer above regarding custom orders... *
I'm happy to work on custom orders for people and I do get special requests at least a few times a week. I've found that for the most part the requests really don't take much time for me to do, and are usually just a simple change of color scheme or a small adjustment to accommodate more text. I have worked on a couple of invitation requests that turned into multiple requests and did involve more of my time and effort, but I'm still willing to do that as I really do want my customers to absolutely love their invitations and have them be just perfect. But, that being said, if I was approached by a customer to work on a project that I felt was more involved or labor intensive on my part, I definitely would consider charging for that work above my customary royalty.
List your shop URL's *	http://www.zazzle.com/kat_parrella

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