Kickass Women

History is filled with women doing all kinds of kickass stuff.

Smart Girls

Watch these girls... they're going places!

Inspiration

Need a dose of inspiration? Here you go.

SRPS Entertainment

Some of my entertainment recommendations with awesome female characters and stars.

She's Crafty!

Some of the awesome items made by kickass women!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

SRP of the Week - Nelle Harper Lee

Do you have a favorite book? What character has influenced you through the years? Any stories that stick with you? Places and people you like to revisit?

For me, it has always been To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. I don't remember when I first read it. I don't recall if it was for school, or for fun. Or both. But I fell in love immediately. I knew the people. They are my people. Scenes in the book feel like scenes from my memories, and are peopled with the same types of characters. I feel like I know the smell of Scout's family home, and I imagine it smells a lot like my Granny's house.

As much as I love the people in TKaM, I really love Scout, and the relationship she has with Atticus. What a profound experience to see a child being treated like a rational, thinking person. Atticus doesn't dumb down his interactions with his children. And he doesn't try to shield them from the very real, very terrible events happening around them. Instead, he talks to them. A lot. About deep subjects. And he helps to guide them in their thinking.

But I reserve most of my adoration for Scout. What a great, active, adventurous, smart, brave little girl! You just know she's going to grow up to be someone so awesome, you'd want to know her. Or be her.

There isn't a lot of information about Nelle Harper Lee available online, although I was able to find a couple of informative pieces. One, a biography on the National Endowment for the Arts' Big Read site, was quite detailed. It tells of her tomboy childhood (and friendship with Truman Capote), introduction to literature, attempts to "fit in" in college, and eventually her departure for New York City. One gets the impression that she is a unique character, one who never quite meets others' expectations, nor really cares much to try. It is tempting to place our own expectations on such an enigmatic figure, but that isn't quite fair either.

She is a private person, who strives to remain private, even in the face of outlandish attempts to corner her into giving an interview. But even when she is telling you to take a flying leap, she is cordial and smiling. A true Southern woman, I suppose.

Certainly a true Self-Rescuing Princess!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Shout Out - Women's Adventure Magazine

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about what kind of princesses we are NOT here at SRPS. But I didn't really talk much about what kind of princesses we ARE. Some of us are the kind of princesses who like to get dirty. 

This princess, in particular, likes being outside.


A couple of years ago, I was bemoaning the fact that Outside magazine ran far too many stories about men out in nature, doing adventurous things. There had to be other women out there who liked hiking, camping, and generally being... you know... outside. Right?

A woman I knew through triathlon suggested that I check out a magazine titled Dandelion. I did. Wow! Here was a magazine that featured stories about women like me! And clothing suggestions for women like me! And generally was supportive of active, adventurous women, like me. It was about time!

I immediately subscribed. (If you know me, you know I have a magazine subscription habit, so this, in itself, isn't as noteworthy as it may sound.) When the first issue to showed up in my mail box, I read it cover to cover. And I eagerly awaited each new issue. I was hooked. And then I canceled my subscription to Outside. (That IS noteworthy.)

A couple of years ago, Dandelion relaunched as Women's Adventure, and buffed up their website and online presence.  They now have a large following and have built a great publication that is a joy to read. I find the stories of women outside doing great things very inspirational. Even if they're doing things I never would dare to try. It's inspiring just knowing there is someone out there doing it.

If you're like me and enjoy doing things in the out-of-doors, you should check them out. Also, they have some pretty fantastic give-aways each month!

PS. Note about Shout Outs: SRPS is not affiliated with any of the organizations or websites featured (or any not featured). These are sites or groups with have a message or content that is complimentary to the SRPS ideal of supporting and encouraging self-rescuing, strong, kick-ass women and girls.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Shout Out - Superheroes are for girls, too

Who was your favorite super hero when you were a kid? I remember being fascinated with Popeye. I even went so far as to dress up as Popeye for Halloween when I was 7. It was a big deal for me. I remember people trying to talk me into getting something more "girly." But I'm stubborn, and my parents supported me in my decision, and I got the Popeye costume at Kmart. I don't know if there are any pictures of me in that costume, sadly.

I also remember liking Wonder Woman. I enjoyed the show on TV at the time. But I can't recall if I ever  dressed up in any kind of Wonder Woman costume.

Actually, I don't have a lot of memories about dressing up in costumes. I something wonder if that was my practical nature coming through at an early age. I had favorite clothes, but they were everyday clothes. I particularly loved my HeeHaw overalls, probably much to the dismay of my mother.

Were you a costume-wearing super kid? If so, you could post your photo to this super cool tumbler page: Superheroes are for girls, too. I just love the photos of little ones in capes and masks. It warms my heart to see so many brave little girls out there saving the world!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Dolley Madison - Self-Rescuing Princess of the Week

I was stuck on who to feature in today's blog. I wanted to find a SRP from the Civil War, but my brief research showed me that I would need to do some more extensive research. Although there are plenty of stories of women serving as nurses and spies, and even soldiers, on both sides of the conflict, the stories I was able to find online weren't in-depth enough for my liking.

When I found myself becoming far too frustrated (and hungry) to continue my research, I decided to stop and have lunch and catch up on my TiVo queue. And, lo and behold, my TiVo saved me, because it still had last week's American Experience's documentary about Dolley Madison for me to watch.



Before watching this documentary, my only real knowledge about Dolley Madison is that she was beloved by the public at the time she was First Lady, she served ice cream, and she saved the portrait of George Washington when the British attacked the White House. I didn't know how she become Mrs. Madison, what she did to become so beloved (I guess I assumed it was for her charm and beauty), or what happened to her after the fire.

Now I do know all those fact, and more. And I firmly believe she deserves a place among the ranks of Self-Rescuing Princesses.

Did you know she was a Quaker? She was raised in a Quaker family in rural Virginia, who freed their slaves in response to the degree given by their religious leaders, and moved to Philadelphia to start over.

Did you know that she had already been married before she met James Madison? Yes, she married a man her father knew, and had two sons. During a Yellow Fever outbreak in Philadelphia, both her husband and youngest son died, and she was very ill.

Did you know that James Madison was already very famous and in his 40s when he saw her, and was smitten. It is not clear that she married him because she loved him or because he was famous. Or, more likely, a combination of both.

Did you know that when she traveled to Washington, D.C., with her husband, who had been named the Secretary of State for President Jefferson, the nation's capital was effectively a rural city built on a swamp. As compared to national capitals of Europe, it was a shocking wilderness.

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson, in his attempt to establish a different etiquette from the monarchies in Europe, went so far as to alienate most international diplomats? Seeing this, Dolley Madison, became a kind of behind-the-scenes social diplomat, smoothing matters between different parties.

Did you know that it is likely through her efforts that her husband was elected president. Through her behind-the-scenes diplomacy, she had developed a rather extensive network of friends and political allies, which she then lobbied for her husband's campaign.

Did you know that when she was attacked by Federalist politicians, she laughed off the terrible things they suggested about her. In one case, after a lengthy diatribe, she responded with, "It was as good as a play!" How's that for a response to a troll? I think I may add that to my repertoire.

Did you know she was the one to set the role for the future First Ladies for the next 200 years? She made herself the public face of her husband's administration. She considered her role as First Lady as a full time job. She wrote to women around the country, asking them for recipes to use in the White House. Her fashion sense was copied by women around the country. Everything she did was to further her husband's agenda. In fact, it was her idea to open the inaugural ball to the public -- anyone who could afford the ticket could enter.

Did you know that she was instrumental in helping calm the ferocious nature of politics of the time? When she was in the White House, the republic was precariously close to failure. Federalist and Republicans were in constant battle, figuratively and literally. Duals were so common that there was a park that was regularly used by Representatives. Boy, and you thought modern politics was brutal! She was the first to open up the White House for informal parties that brought together the different politicians, and even the public, to help them socialize and create relationships across the aisles.

Did you know she was the first to decorate the White House? Previously, President Jefferson had brought his own furniture to Washington, D.C. Dolley decided that it was an important statement about the future of the nation that the White House have its own decor, designed with an eye to the future. She commissioned appointments and furniture that was specifically made in America, and of a design style that was distinctly American.

Did you know that after the British burned Washington, D.C., it was likely her efforts to lobby to keep the national capital there, rather than move it back to Philadelphia, as so many were suggesting.

Did you know that when she died in 1849, she was afforded a state funeral? The entire government stopped for her funeral, which was attended by the president and his cabinet, diplomats, members of the senate and congress, and thousands of citizens turned out to honor her legacy.

Sure, she had more than her fair share of hardships. Her father lost his fortunes and suffered from alcoholism. Her son failed her, squandered what little income she had later in life, and broke her heart repeatedly. And although she often mentioned her desire to free her slaves, she never did. Instead, she had to sell them off, one by one, to pay her debts. It wasn't until near the end of her life that she was able to stand up to her son, and demand better behavior from him.

But what Self-Rescuing Princess doesn't have challenges? The fact that she was able to overcome her father's failure and her first husband's death, to rise to such a high level in the national esteem is truly inspirational.

"There is a secret in life, better than anything a fortune teller can reveal: We all have a great hand in the forming of our own destiny." - Dolley Madison

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Not That Kind of Princess

What do you think of when you hear the term "princess?" What about a self-rescuing princess?

Last week, to commemorate the new (renamed) version of my etsy store,  I decided to create a Self-Rescuing Princess treasury. I made the mistake of searching for "princess" items. Wow! There is a lot of princess stuff out there. And, sadly, most of it perpetuates the damsel in distress or diva aspects of princesshood. There are plenty of "Daddy's little princess!" signs. And "Princess Bitch" items. And far, far too much pink (and I like pink). And, of course, lots of the different versions of the Disney princess ideal.

SRPS is not about that kind of princess.

The name "Self Rescuing Princess Society" came into being last summer, and originally consisted of three of us.

None of us would consider ourselves as weak. We're certainly not divas. And though we may occasionally hold court, we're not (drama) queens. But we are regal. And we've all had to pull ourselves out of tough situations, effectively rescuing ourselves -- one was going through a medium-ly challenging divorce, another was going through a really dreadful divorce, and one had just turned 40, and quit her job to go back to school. And we all believe in the power of the tiara. It's like bling that empowers.

In the beginning, there was only one tiara. And it got passed around to whomever needed it. But that tiara went missing. (It's still missing, strangely.) In the spring, when the person to whom that tiara belonged replaced it, she also bought one for the other two. 

Later in the summer, when planning to attend the twice-annual gaming convention PAX, we had the idea of dressing up in our tiaras as a kind of self-rescuing princess cosplay for one of the days. The concept of a self-rescuing princess has been around in the gaming community for a while, and we figured we would receive a warm reception. And that's when the term "Self Rescuing Princess Society" was born.

A couple of weeks ago, I started this blog with the goal of opening up membership in the SRPS to a wider audience, and creating a place where we can celebrate our awesomeness. Are you a self-rescuing princess? Care to join us?

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Another Big Step

I spent the entire day today doing something pretty scary: I closed down my etsy shop.

OK, I only closed my itchbay shop. Well, really, I didn't technically close it. I just moved everything into a whole new shop. I have to say, it's very scary to walk away from a shop in which I have invest over 6 months of work, made a significant number of connections and had a reasonable amount of traffic.

Why, you ask. Well, because I worried that having the log-in name of my shop be so very different from its actual name would eventually cause more problems than those caused by making the switch. I'd already gotten some questions from one of the new teams I'd joined, where they asked me to have a Yahoo ID that was the same as my etsy ID. As much as I love the handle "itchbay," it's not the brand I'm going for.

I've been agonizing over this for a couple of weeks now, and finally just bit the bullet and did it. Things are pretty quiet now, and I felt now is as good time as it will ever be to do the work and start over before I invested even more money and time into the other shop. I re-listed almost everything in my new shop. I did leave a few things behind -- mostly items I didn't really feel excited about. (I'll chalk those up as more learning experiences, and include them in a future post.) Mainly, I wanted to do it before I started listing all the new items I've been working on.

Sadly, "Self Rescuing Princess Society" was too long for etsy's system, so I settled on SRPS. That acronym will be used more and more going forward, so it'll work. I also tagged everything in the shop so that searches for "Self Rescuing Princess Society" will still bring up my items.

Unfortunately, I lost all my item views, circles, and hearts. To help rebuild my etsy network, I'm asking everyone to take a second and go heart something in my store. I'll even give you a coupon code worth 25% off anything in my shop to make it worth your time!

Next on the agenda: getting my website set up!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Learning Experiences

I had my first-ever table at a craft show this past weekend. I made a few sales, which was nice, but nothing to get terribly excited over. But I didn't do this show so much for the sales, as for the learning experience.

I knew it was going to be a small venue with fewer than 100 visitors, and fewer than 10 vendors. I didn't expect to make any significant sales. Basically, I went because the entrance fee was low, the venue was near-by, and it would give me good practice in organizing my items, setting up my area, creating my marketing materials, and perfecting my face-to-face product pitch.  It's also nice to meet other crafters and artists and talk with them about their experiences and get their feedback.

Self Rescuing Princess Society table at the KPFX fundraiser.
Some of the lessons I learned:

Lesson #1: Make more stuff. The first big a-ha moment for me was to gather up all my products into one place. Seeing them all together was certainly eye-opening for me. When I look in my etsy store front, I see that I have 70+ items for sale, and that seems like a lot. But when I gather them all up and put them into one crate, it reminds me that it's really not very many things at all. Certainly not enough to warrant getting a booth at a larger craft fair.

Lesson #2: Keep pricing consistent and easy to understand. This can be a challenge since similar items can have different components that create variations in the cost. But when placed on a table, you don't want there to be any confusion about the price. In my etsy shop it's easier to just place a specific price on each item, since they're not really grouped by price. But on a table, I found it easier to keep all similar items in the same price grouping. That allowed me to arrange them by similar feature, and make one large price sign, keeping it simple for the shopper to see and understand.

Lesson #3: Look good. Be the prettiest/sparkliest/most-eye-catching table there. This, I think, I managed to do quite by accident. But it helps. People are drawn to bright colors, and fun items. It also helped that I was off on the side, with an open table next to me and was easily seen from all spots in the room. I know that location isn't always something that one can choose. But even when surrounded by other tables, it helps to have a clean, colorful, well-organized table.

Lesson #4: Look organized. I still need to work on this one. When I looked at my table myself, it looked good to me. But that was because I already knew what was on it. When I look at the photo I took of me at my table, I can see how cluttered and confusing it may have looked to someone unfamiliar with my products. I will be experimenting with presentation arrangement, and possibly investing in some table-top organization equipment to help make my items easier to see, and to make my table look more professional and "put together."

Lesson #5: Check out the competition. There really wasn't any direct competition at this show. The seven vendors there all had very different items for sale. But it is still good to walk around the room and watch them in action, to see how they do what they do, and whether I can learn anything from their methods. Do they set up their table in an interesting way? Is their signage clever or eye-catching? Do they sit back and let the customers shop quietly, or do they stand out front and chat with everyone? 

Lesson #6: Don't be shy. I don't really have a problem with this. Anyone who knows me knows I am not shy in any way. But I do hesitate being a sales person at times, for fear of coming across as pushy. I think that comes from being a customer and having had bad experiences with people trying to sell me something I clearly do not want. But the difference is that these people who are looking at my items, are at least somewhat drawn to them. What's the harm in giving them a card with a coupon code on it?

Lesson #7: Perfect the spiel. Selling online is very different from selling in-person. I can edit what I post on my product descriptions until I get it right. But in a one-on-one conversation, I only get one chance to get it right. Keep it simple, keep it upbeat, and keep it relevant. As much as I envision my care packages going to people in hospice or chemo, that not exactly what people want to think about on a beautiful spring day. Instead, I can explain how a friend got one when she was recovering from a broken collar bone, or how nice it would be for someone who is "sick" -- keeping it non-specific allows the customer to fill in the blank themselves.

Lesson #8: It's all marketing. I knew going in that not everyone who stopped at my table would buy something. But everyone who left my table got a card with my store name, store tag-line, the link to my etsy store, and a coupon code. I encouraged them to check me out online, and to pass the code on to their friends. I have no idea how many of those people will actually take the time to check out my etsy store, but even if only one person does, that's well worth it for me. With any luck, one or two people will look at my card again and smile at the name "Self Rescuing Princess Society" and maybe tell a friend who will also think it's cute. Every new person who learns about my shop is a potential customer, or a friend of a potential customer. For now, my main marketing goal is just to get more people to know about Self Rescuing Princess Society, and the items I sell. 

Lesson #9: Listen to the customers. It's important to listen to what the customers are saying, But it's equally important to listen to what they're not saying. The fact that more people seemed interested in using my care package blankets as baby blankets is something that hadn't really hit home yet. It had crossed my mind, but I had dismissed it. But when people saw the blankets at this show, that was their first thought. One customer even managed to convince me to break up a care package set so she could buy the blanket, which I was flexible enough to do to make the sale. As much as I like making care package sets, you can be sure that I will be working more stand-alone blankets in the near future.

Lesson #10: Have fun. When you're having fun, you're more likely to have a natural smile on your face, a gleam in your eye, and an open and welcoming demeanor. Customers can sense this. If you look bored, or are otherwise unapproachable, they will pass you by. Also, when you're having fun, you're more likely to discuss your products more passionately, and that can help you with your sales. Customer know when you're talking with genuine feeling, and that excitement in contagious.

All in all, it was a good experience. And the fact that I did wind up selling enough items to cover the cost of the table and still have money left over to buy more supplies, is a bonus!