Buy Local, Sell Local (part 1)

Don’t jump to conclusions — I’m not going to preach to you to do all your shopping and selling locally. After all, in my book Sell Your Artwork and Crafts Online and my workshops on that subject I teach people to reach way beyond their neighborhoods and cities to show and sell their art. 

But sometimes it just makes a whole lot more sense to do business locally. For years I’ve had my business cards and the postcards for my Open Studios printed by various online printers. Then last year I amped up my business to sell greeting cards to stores through my magnificent sales rep Tamara Holland of Bean Up The Nose Art (hey guess what, she’s also local, just over the bridge in Marin).

Forget having the greeting cards printed online — think of the shipping delays and costs. I also need to be able to meet in person with the printer to make sure the cards come out perfectly. I checked around – boy, there are a lot of printers in the Bay Area. But guess what, the best one by far that I found is less than two miles from my house! 

 Cerrito Printing is a full-service, family-owned and operated printing business at 1600 Kearney Street in El Cerrito. They offer offset and digital printing services to Bay Area (and beyond) companies of all sizes, and also provide layout and design services. Every contact I have with Jayne has been a complete pleasure. She’s so easy to work with, accommodates my requests, and answers my newbie greeting-card manufacturer questions. And most important, the quality of the cards is better than any other printer I’ve used. 

Jayne worked with me to get to a price that was better than any other local or online printer I looked into. And what a relief not to have to deal with the complicated requirements of online printers, each one with its different rules and recommendations buried in various menus, forms, and links — and the tortuous upload procedures. I copied my files onto a flash drive and drove the 1.5 miles (getting the picture?) to Cerrito Printing, had a nice chat with Jayne and Bud, patted Rocky their pup, and that was that! When the cards were done – amazingly quickly – I got a phone call. Has Vistaprint called you lately? I think not. 

I just got my third card order back from Jayne, and I look forward to many more! If you’re wondering what’s happening with all of those greeting cards stay tuned for Part 2:Selling Local.

Click here to see the original post on my blog. And click here to see my website.