Let's Talk "About Me"...No Not ME! LOL

I would speak as if you are speaking from you (not "Nicole has..."). It does make it more personal to do it this way I believe. In the "she" version it does not feel like I'm really hearing the profile come from the person themselves. This has been my take on it.

Good luck.

I've been meaning to do the same with a slideshow. I do not know how but I'll figure it out....like with my About Me page, I'm having a hard time thinking of pics I want in there lol.

Okay! I finally got around to reworking my About Me page. Yes, it's long, but peeps can choose to skip over whatever they don't want to read. I feel it's a good About Me page because it tells the shop's story, how the name came about, about what we sell, how I run the business, and how important quality customer service is to me -- and all in a friendly and more personal manner.

I haven't created the slide show for it, yet, but will sometime this week. I'm still thinking about how to set it up and what to include. In the meantime, feel free to check it out and offer any constructive criticism you might have:

Howdy! =) My name is Nicole and I'm the owner of The Purple Iris, an eStore at three web locations -- Purple Iris Classics on Etsy, Purple Iris on eCrater, and our own dot com for Purple Iris Plaza, which is still in the design stage. We first opened our doors in 2009 on another marketplace venue to sell off some of our family's vintage collectibles, clothing, books, movies, music, and other items from around the house.

At that marketplace, I got to know the friendly community of sellers and was encouraged to broaden my horizons, finding suppliers to provide new products to sell in addition to our current inventory. While I've been doing business online since 2000 as a Virtual Assistant, it was a long-time dream of mine to open an eStore, so it didn't take much to encourage me. I even had the name for the store picked out long before it was founded.

We now sell a variety of new and pre-owned goods, including our popular stained glass lighting and fireplace screens, quilted bedding and bags, dining decor, other home and office decor, vintage collectibles and clothing, other new and pre-owned clothing, travel gear, books, movies, music, and more. Hence, the slogan "for affordable elegance, leisure and essentials" because it covers the broad set of categories we now sell in.

So, who is this "we" I'm referring to? Well, the "we" would be my immediate family -- parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and yours truly. We've collected a LOT of stuff over the past 40+ years and just have to force ourselves to thin things out a bit every now and then. Plus, it's a way to help me become self-sufficient again after being rendered disabled in a car accident nearly 15 years ago.

We still give most of the stuff to charity and sell the rest that's worth selling. I'm the one who chooses what goes up for sale and am rather picky about it. So you can rest assured that any pre-owned item is going to be in excellent or like new condition. If there are any flaws, they won't be of the extent that takes away from an item and each will be detailed in the item description.

Okay, but why The Purple Iris? I've been asked this question numerous times since opening for business, so thought I might as well answer it here. No, it's not self-explanatory regarding what the store offers, but it does have special meaning. Three of my most favorite people in the world, my late great-grandparents and grandma's sister, are who inspired the name. I have many fond childhood memories thanks to them and chose to honor them in this family business.

One of my favorite memories is of my grandfather and I transplanting two purple irises from the roadside to their garden when I was about 4 or 5. Much to grandma's delight, too, because the purple iris is our favorite flower, purple also being our favorite color. Over time, those two purple irises turned into a beautiful 8x4-foot patch and beyond.

So, I thought the name The Purple Iris would be a great way of honoring their memory. Every time I see the name or the company logo, I'm taken back in time to thoughts of my grandparents and great-great aunt and all of the wonderful memories we made together. They're some of my most cherished memories that are meant to be kept alive in my heart and mind for the rest of my days.

Those memories are my biggest inspiration when running this business and choosing to do right by my customers. After all, they raised their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews with much love, ensuring they would grow to be respectable members of the community. That is why it is of the utmost importance to me to ensure that our family's customers are completely satisfied with their shopping experience.

Also, considering how the three of them lived through the Depression when raising their children, my grandmother instilled in me the importance of recycling long before recycling became the "green" thing to do. As a result, I have always referred to paper, cardboard boxes, and any other paper product as "trees," which I love and respect -- not to mention how I loved to climb them to the top as a kid and enjoy the view.

With that in mind, I feel it is important to save some trees and recycle what I can, including shipping materials -- boxes, packing paper and peanuts, bubble wrap and any other protective material. However, I do understand about allergies, as well as making sure products are properly packaged, so am selective about what I will recycle. If it's something I deem unusable, then it goes in the recycling trash bin. I do also use new shipping materials when I don't have something I can recycle.

So, please feel free to shop The Purple Iris with confidence, knowing that I will do my level best to ensure your satisfaction. If you ever have any questions, concerns or comments, I'm only a phone call or an email away. I would love to hear from you. =)

www.etsy.com/shop/PurpleIrisClassics/about

Hi Nicole. Yes, I'd shorten it up some.

I'm hearing the more personal, friendliness come out while reading your About me. Nice job with that.

There's some stuff like mentioning all the inventory that you sell where it might be confusing to someone visiting your Etsy store.....because they cannot see the other stuff....they are more interested in what you carry now and what you will be carrying specifically at your Etsy store.....This is my thinking on this. You could mention very briefly the main categories on what you sell overall on the internet...but keep it very simple would probably be better.

I love this paragraph here, very clever: "Also, considering how the three of them lived through the Depression when raising their children, my grandmother instilled in me the importance of recycling long before recycling became the "green" thing to do. As a result, I have always referred to paper, cardboard boxes, and any other paper product as "trees," which I love and respect -- not to mention how I loved to climb them to the top as a kid and enjoy the view."

Yeah, I thought about removing that as part of the shortening process. If I don't work on it sometime tonight, I'll do it tomorrow. I just took my meds and am hoping to get some good sleep tonight.

Actually, it WAS pretty easy...hehehe. But I do appreciate feedback. There's no such thing as bad feedback when it's in the form of constructive criticism. I was already questioning whether or not I should include the part about being disabled and you just confirmed that I was right to question it. LOL

Of course, I always have to worry about shortening something because I do get windy. Although, I think it's because I type so fast that I just lose track of how much I've typed. On the About Me page, it doesn't look as long as it does in the forum post, either. I don't know why because the column is narrower and should look longer.

Since I don't seem to be able to sleep, I'm working on some filing. At this stage, it has become a rather daunting task because I'm dealing with more than just bills now -- and for three different filing systems (business, personal, and my folks). So, I'm trying to make it appear less daunting by creating the files and binders that I know I need and putting stuff in them. That way I'll have fewer messy piles lying around looking insurmountable. LOL

However, I may take a break and tweak the About Me page -- or at least tackle it before heading to bed. I already have some ideas about how to shorten it, so it should go rather quickly. I'm just typing up a file list at the moment.