Interview Tuesday: Jena Coray of Modish

This week’s artist for Interview Tuesday is Jena Coray, owner and writer of the indie blog and online store, Modish. Jena is a jewelry designer who started Modish (pronounced: m?’d?sh) as a way to help promote her own jewelry and some of her fellow indie artists. As Modish grew, she found herself promoting others work more and more until that became the focus of her blog. Eventually, she opened Modish Handmade Goods Shoppe so that readers could buy the work that she was featuring on the blog. Jena has been featured as a Typepad Featured Blog twice and she was chosen as an Etsy recommended blog. Here is my interview with Jena:

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and about Modish.
I’m a curly-headed cat mom who recently moved to Portland, OR with my boyfriend and I’ve been officially “self-employed” since last July, running Modish! Modish is a shopping blog that focuses solely on handmade goods made by indie designers- it’s updated multiple times daily and there’s lots of fun weekly features.

2. How long have you been running Modish and how did you get started?
I’ve been writing the blog for over 2 years, although it seems even longer- not because it’s not fun, but because it feels like I’ve written so much! I had been a fan of design blogs like design*sponge and decor 8, and had searched and searched to find something comparable that focused on indie artists and handmade goods, as I had a small jewelry business at the time that I was looking to promote. I couldn’t find a blog like that, so I made one to bring more focus to indie designers like myself.

3. What is a typical day like for you?
I rise and shine pretty early- on a good day, I’ll get up at 5:30, do yoga for an hour, drink some coffee and then get started blogging. I usually answer emails and write new posts until early afternoon, take a little lunch break, and am back on the computer at least until my boyfriend gets home from work, usually later tho. I can sometimes work into the wee hours of the morning, especially when I have a giveaway to organize!

4. I’ve read on your blog that you’ve taken the leap from running Modish part time to full time, what was that like?
It was scary and nerve-wracking and the rational, level-headed side of me attempted to talk myself out of it many times, but the creative, reckless, “let’s just give it a try!” side eventually won out. I had fallen in love with blogging and felt that I had become an integral part of a welcoming community. I started feeling a literal pain in my gut every time I had to be “working” instead of working on what I really loved…I just couldn’t do it anymore. So, I saved up enough money to live of off for at least a few months, just in case, kissed my 401k and health insurance goodbye, and bit the bullet! Everyone was super supportive (and jealous!) the whole time during my transition into self-employment, which definitely made it easier.

5. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced running Modish?
I think it’s constantly challenging finding new and interesting ways to present the information I want to share. I have a complex of always wanting to be “different”, I always have (even when I was in grade school, if I saw a girl wearing a shirt that I owned, I would never wear it again at the risk of {shudder} wearing it on the same day!) and it’s sometimes difficult being an idea factory for new columns and features, always trying to add content to the blog that hasn’t already been “done.” I feel most discouraged and start to run out of motivation fast when I feel as if my ideas are being copied by other bloggers- I respect the talent and unique voices of my fellow indie and design bloggers that have worked hard to carve out their own niche within our community, but there are others that tend to rely on those unique voices to do all the hard work so they can sit back and say “oh, that’s a good idea! I should do that on my blog!” It sometimes makes me want to give it all up, feeling as if everything I do will just be nabbed by the next guy and the next guy, making Modish “just another blog.” But I realize I have to accept it for what it is, keep the mantra “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” echoing in my head, and use that competition to help spurn new ideas and force myself to become more innovative in thinking of the next thing that will help Modish stand out from the crowd.

6. Could you tell us a bit about your monthly giveaways?
The monthly giveaways were started a few months into writing Modish as a way to gain readership and also draw more attention to the indie businesses who I’m trying to help promote- anyone who makes handmade goods and sells them in an online shop can donate a giveaway prize, and usually the amount of goods donated per month comes out between $500-1000! On the back end, they are hard to organize and require many many hours of work, but they seem so fun for readers (I wish I could enter!) and participating businesses alike, that I’ve kept them going. And I’m always impressed by the giveaway goods that I receive- there’s some mighty talented folk out there!

7. What are some of the things that you’ve done to get the word out about Modish?
At the very beginning, I wrote a press release and emailed all my favorite design blogs telling them about my new little niche blog that they may like to have a look at- some posted about it and I started getting immediate traffic. I also tried to contact the designers when I wrote about them so they’d take a peek at the site and hopefully tell their friends about it. I announced it on small business and craft forums like The Switchboards. I just tried to network with fellow indie businesses and bloggers and after the initial attempts the first few months to really get my name out there, things just kind of grew naturally on their own from there!

8. You’ve been Typepad’s Featured Blog (twice!) and Etsy’s recommended blog, what has that been like?
It’s awesome to be recognized for hard work, and every time I’ve been featured somewhere, it helps to boost my confidence in my blog a bit- I think, so, maybe it is cool? Maybe it is different? Maybe I should keep plugging away and spend all my precious time and energy writing it? Ummm, yes! It can get a little lonely out here in blogland, so it’s always nice when somebody finds Modish, and even better when they like it! I still get googly-eyed looking at all my stats everyday- people in the Ukraine and Thailand and New Zealand are all reading my blog? How cool!

9. Do you have some favorite blogs, websites, or podcasts? If so what are they?
Oh, too too many to list- all my daily blog reads are posted on my site and I suppose that all the shops that I feature each day are my favorite websites!

10. What (if any) are your future plans for Modish?
No big plans for the blog right now- just going to try to keep on keepin’ on, try to market myself, gain new readership and keep it interesting enough for people to keep coming back! I do have some big plans that don’t pertain to Modish directly, but do involve my being able to continue working for myself… to be revealed later, muah hah hah…

11. Do you have any advice for an artist or designer just starting out?
Specifically for the artist/designer that’s attempting to sell their work online, my tips are to work on your website- a web presence is key! If you want a full fledged e-commerce site, hire a professional- the investment will be well worth it. Etsy shops work too! Learn how to take really good photos of your work. Be kind to everyone you come across, always. Know that customer service will be part of the job. Present yourself as a businesswo(man), even though that’s hard for many creative people, and you’ll be treated with respect and get the attention you deserve. Don’t give up! Tenacity and drive will help you go farther than you could have ever imagined.

Many thanks to Jena Coray for taking the time out for this interview. Please be sure to visit her blog at http://blog.modishhandmade.com/m.

Would you like to be interviewed for an upcoming Interview Tuesday? Do you know of an artist that you want to read about? Send me an email at info[at]craftedweb[dot]com.