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The trouble with online reviews – How do you decide who to listen to?

A close friend of mine just had one of the worst weeks a small business owner can have. There are many challenges we face and overcome from every angle you can imagine but one of the toughest is from difficult people. He had to fire an employee this week that may end up dragging out into much drama over the next several months (or even years if it goes all courtroom). I think the hardest part for him were the very personal attacks that this employee threw around like so many dangerous, virulent seeds. These squeaky wheels get so much more attention than they deserve and as the one under attack, we often feel that there must be some truth to their accusations, otherwise they wouldn’t be saying those hurtful things right? Not so. Some people are only happy when they are stepping on other people. We need to be able to filter those people out.

With that in mind I have found a way to address an unhappy individual that I dealt with last November. I wanted to respond to her Yelp review, I wanted to find her own Yelp business page and leave her a few choice comments, I wanted to scream and throw a tantrum, but I chose to not dignify her comments with a response. And then today we received a lovely email from a customer and this is how I have decided to address the issue; by speaking about it here on our own blog.

Thanks for reading and understand that in our very connected world your every action has the ability to ripple into far greater lengths than ever before, so be nice!

Hi Kevin!

I happened to go on Yelp today and noticed that you have two Of The Earth pages on Yelp…and the more current one has only one review, a repeat of the one negative review from your original page. I wrote my own review with five stars, but combined with that other one you still only have a 3-star average.

If you didn’t create that Yelp page you can probably claim it and delete it — it’s better not to have two, so you should be able to just update the address on your original one, I’m not sure about that though. Let me know if you do delete that one and I’ll be happy to put my review on your other page.

Thanks again for the invitations — they are amazing!
Anna

Anna,

Thank you for your message. I am very glad that you are happy with your invitations.

Thanks for the gift of your time in leaving a public review for us. We really do appreciate it. I think Yelp can be a helpful tool (I have used it to find out about yoga studios close to home) but I have a bit of a beef with them (as you might guess) for more than just the Of The Earth listing but also from our many business owner friends who have spoken of their feelings of extortion when dealing with Yelp sales people.

We moved our business last July (and five years prior to that move). When we moved in 2008, our one five star review (at the time) moved with us. When we moved in 2013 to our dismay we discovered that our Yelp page was not going to move with us. Yelp had changed their policies and we had to rebuild, with new images and data our Yelp page for our new location. None of our reviews moved with us.

In December of last year we received our first review on Yelp in our new location. In Yelp’s business plan it made sense to them to ensure that that review was posted on both locations. You see, if we pay Yelp $1000 a month (no joke I talked to them at length) they ensure that any bad reviews are pushed to the bottom of the stack, perhaps even get lost on a back page, as long as the payments keep coming.

In life you have to take a few lumps, so we have put pictures and data and our hours of operation on Yelp but we don’t have to pay them or support them in any way. We also don’t have to tolerate extortion from potential customers, even if that means facing an unpleasant public statement of questionable veracity.

I am excited to read your review and again thank you for taking your time to let folks (on the interwebs) know that you were happy with your experience with us.

Wishing you the best,
Kevin

Kevin Graham
kevin@custompaper.com
www.custompaper.com
Of The Earth
7706 Aurora Avenue North
Seattle WA 98103
1.888.294.1526

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Hand addressing envelopes – how to stand out from the junk mail.

Calligraphy sample from Long Village Lettering
How to stand out in the mail

In this incredibly busy week as we gear up for the new bridal season and work on last minute plans for tomorrow’s flight to New York to set up our booth at the National Gift Show in Manhattan I was stopped for a moment, long enough to sit down even to enjoy a piece of mail that the dripping wet postman just delivered.  It was a hand written thank you note from a woman in North Carolina who runs her own Calligraphy business.  She sent us one of our own seed embedded envelopes back in the mail with beautiful hand lettering on the front and a business card and note on the inside.

I think this can stand as a clear testament to the power of the personalized mailing.  I know everyone is busy, I know I am busy, and yet this simple act of handwriting really can stop someone in their tracks for a few moments and draw their attention to the message you are sending.

For all of you brides out their considering printing your guest’s names instead of hand writing them, don’t.  Just take the extra time to let the people (you care enough about to invite to one of the most exciting days of your life) know that you really care.  You really want them there and your own handwriting spells it out for them.  It is that personal touch missing from so many areas of our lives today.  Your extra effort will be noticed and appreciated.  It really does make a difference.

Okay so clearly we don’t all have amazing handwriting like the image above, but still you have family you can enlist to help, you can pick up a book or watch a video demo for pointers and tips on improving your own handwriting.  Start early and it will be manageable, and worth it.

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Our 2014 Seattle Wedding Show Invitations Display – Video!

We just returned from the 2014 Seattle Wedding show two day event that was a remarkable success!  The show was very well attended, with aisles full of smiling brides and their retinue of sisters, friends and family in tow.  We displayed several new invitation and paper designs along with our timeless styles that never fail to please.  Here is a five minute video that takes you through our booth from top to bottom.

 

We hope you have an opportunity to visit us in our new store in this new year and view these designs and more in person.  Our shop has hundreds of papers, dozens of invitation styles, wedding invitation assembly tools, guest books, seed paper by the sheet and much, much more.

 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR – 2013 IN REVIEW and ON THE HORIZON FOR 2014

2013 was a monumental year for our business: we moved, our shop and clients received a wide array of press, we have segued back into the tradeshow circuit….oh, and did we mention we are rebuilding our website?  All in all, much has been accomplished and there is much to look forward to in 2014!

Here are a few additional highlights:

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  • We are now offering a finished edge silk ribbon (not just bias cut).

    Double faced silk satin woven edge ribbon

  •  We have added many new papers to our already large line, including these papers from India.

papers from india

There is much to look forward to in 2014 including the events and tradeshows we will be attending!

  • Seattle Wedding Show
    Washington State Convention & Trade Center
    Saturday January 11th, 2014 10:00am to 5:30pm (ticket sales open at 9:30am)
    Sunday January 12th, 2014 10:30am to 5:00pm (ticket sales open at 10:00am)
  • Seattle Gift Show
    Washington State Convention & Trade Center
    Saturday January 18th, 2014     9:00am to 6:00pm
    Sunday January 19th, 2014     9:00am-6:00pm
    Monday January 20th, 2014     9:00am-6:00pm
    Tuesday January 21st, 2014     9:00am-6:00pm
  • UW Bridal Show
    University of Washington Club
    Sunday, February 23

We hope to connect with clients old and new in the next few months, until then Happy New Year!

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Northlake Wedding Event Programs

Here is a quick look at the Northlake Wedding Program for the Center for Urban Horticulture event space.  We are using our Earth Silk ribbon blend #016 in conjunction with the lotka seed paper, black print and a light weight slate background.  We think this says Whimsical Romance!  What do you think?

Northlake Program
5×7 wedding program
Northlake Program
5×7 Wedding Program
Northlake Program
5×7 wedding program
Northlake Program
5×7 wedding program
Northlake Program
5×7 wedding event program
Northlake Program
5×7 wedding program
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New Holiday Handmade Papers – Eco Friendly Gift Wrap

Here is a look at our latest additions to our lotka paper line. We hope you like these new designs. These should just whet your appetite however as we are looking to add many more designs as we stock our new retail store in North Seattle! We are excited to keep taking small steps to our grand opening celebration.
We will keep you posted as we creep closer.

The papers below are all ready for the holidays. We have them in 20″ x 30″ sheets in our light weight (20g) material. These papers can be used multiple times if you are one of those people who carefully lift the tape rather then tear your packages open.

Let us know what you think!

lotka golden print

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orange poppy paper

gold and red floral print paper

Red with silver branch print paper

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Do it yourself seed paper invitations for just $1.00!

DIY Kit closeup - Plantable paper
Aspen print at home seed paper invitation kit
Print at home invitation kit
Natural seed paper diy kit
DIY Kit
Natural 6×9 seed paper invitation kit

We just added new photos of our latest product to help in this economic recovery. Our seed paper DIY kits are prepared with a cut edge finish to save on the hand tearing labor common to our other invitation styles. We also have included felt finish recycled paper invitation envelopes in place of our more expensive seed paper envelopes. This swap has brought the cost of these invitations down do just $1.00 for a fully do it yourself print at home Eco-friendly marvel. The kits are sold in packs of 25 for $25 and can ship with first class mail to you for about $4. Each invitation is meant to be printed at home using an inkjet or laser machine one piece at a time through the envelope feed mechanism. The envelopes have a great raised texture and pair nicely with the handmade stock. There are five colors to pick from. The colored sheets are all dyed with earth friendly vegetable dyes and are ironically named after trees (as they are entirely tree free).

We make these kits in our Seattle paper studio and ship them worldwide, typically within 24 hours. The paper twine used to hold the pieces together can be swapped out for different colors to create more combinations than we show here: http://www.earthinvitations.com/

Our papers contain a blend of wildflower seeds which include varieties that grow in all the growing regions in the US.  Read more at www.flowerseedpaper.com

 

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Love and Marriage – Seattle style

I was recently asked on our Of The Earth Facebook page if we would have a problem working with a couple from the LGBT community.  For those of you who don’t know that stands for Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender.

Here is her question:

I want to share your page because I think this is pretty awesome but I need to know if you have a problem with doing invites for LGBT before I do. I would have in boxed but I couldn’t. So you can delete this and inbox me. (I’m not starting trouble, just don’t want to promote to my friends who are in the LGBT community if you don’t offer them services). Thanks.

And my reply:

Of The Earth Myssi – The best part about working in the wedding industry is being in constant contact with people who are head over heels in love with each other. It doesn’t matter who they are, how old or young, how fit or flabby, their skin color, political party or gender – we love being a part of folks getting married! The more people we touch with our earth friendly wedding dogma, the better!
I wanted to share this with you here as I have struggled over the years with sharing personal views in a  business setting as it is always important to find new customers and I don’t want to alienate anyone just because we don’t agree on everything.  The time for that timid behavior is over.
 In Washington state people from the LGBT community were finally given the right to marriage equality in December.  This long overdue passing of law should help us as a country continue to recognize how much alike we all are.  In subtle ways the differences between all people should continue this slide into acceptance of one another.  We all struggle in life with real challenges.  Having additional barriers in our way put up by small minded people needs to stop and I am happy to witness that change happening.
As another Valentine’s Day passes I am again reminded that like with the rest of the holidays we celebrate in this country we should not stop celebrating mothers, or fathers, love, the birth of this great country or the veterans that have fought and died defending it just because their respective holiday has passed.  Each day we should celebrate the people in our lives with kindness and love.  Be grateful that you have another day to live and breathe.  Hold doors open for people, smile when you make eye contact with a stranger, tell the people close to you how important they are.  Too soon it is all over and your chance to say the things you wanted to say has passed.
Do it now.  Celebrate every day.  Love universally.
Okay, back to work.
Kevin
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More Photos from the Seattle Wedding Show

seed paper invitation with eco-twist paper twine
Bifold invitation closeup
Seed paper natural petal paper invitation with larkspur flower
Larkspur stem wedding invitation on display at the Seattle Wedding Show
Natural, rustic seed paper wedding invitation display
Of The Earth at the Seattle Wedding Show

Just wanted to share with you photographs of our seed paper invitations display at the January Seattle Wedding Show.  Wallflower Photography came by our booth and wanted to snap a few photos of our display, we of course said yes!  They just sent these to us and we love them!

Please note how much better professional photographers can capture our handmade invitations – even without studio lighting.  If you look at our earlier post you can see a dramatic difference.  Think about that next time you are shopping online; how bad photos can really impact your impression of a product.

Thanks so much for sharing Wallflower Photography!  We love your work!

You can find the full set of photos from the Seattle Wedding Show on Wallflower Photography’s special wedding show photography webpage; the direct link to the 2013 SWS photo gallery is www.wallflowerphoto.com/weddingshows/galleries/SeattleWeddingShow2013.

 

If you want a sample invitation to hold in your hand so you can see the difference between your screen and the real thing, just visit our sample request page so you can get yours for free!  Be sure to tear off a bit and plant it to watch what grows.  Our unique blend of seeds that are embedded in our papers is listed below.

Our North American wildflower seed blend paper contains all of the following wildflower seeds:

Perennial
English Daisy

Perennial
Tussock Bellflower

Annual
Lilac Godetia

Annual
Monkeyflower

Biennial/Perennial
Foxglove

Annual
Dwarf Spurred Snapdragon

Perennial
Showy Evening Primrose

Annual
Red Corn Poppy

Biennial/Annual
Catchfly

Perennial
Creeping Thyme

This blend is specifically designed to be mailed and planted in all growing regions of North America. With the proper care some of these flowers will thrive from New Mexico to New Brunswick.

 

 

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Custom blended colors in our hand dyed silk ribbons create some of our most unexpected treasures..

Real Card Company sent us 4 different color swatches and asked if we could make a ribbon blending all of the colors together.  Our colorist did a great job matching the swatches and the results turned out beautifully.  We love these type of projects as it’s always fun to see how the new blends are going to turn out.

All of our silk ribbon is dyed in our Seattle studio.  Earth Silk ribbon comes in five different widths and two different finishes.  Our 100% silk which has a matte finish and our 100% silk satin which has a satiny light catching side.  Our ribbon is all bias cut and is available by the spool as well as in cut lengths (depending on the collection).  Of The Earth has created an extensive collection of colors with over 150 to pick from.

Real Card Company is an invitation company based in Seattle, WA.  You can find them at www.realcardcompany.com.