Why It's All Totally Worth It

Image Credit: Small Glow : www.smallglow.com

Etsy is famous for the constant ebb and flow of its sales. One day a shop owner may be flooded with sales, the next he or she may be pulling their hair out waiting for just one at the end of the day. It can really do a number on the nerves when Etsy is your day-job and/or primary source of income. Consistency? Smooth sailing and an even payout each Monday? Forget it!

-And let's be honest, this is only one of our troubles. Never mind USPS constantly changing their shipping prices, the constant terror or getting a bad review, the misery that comes from an unfriendly shopper, or the nightmare of figuring out your taxes each year.

That said, there are a few, glimmering high points to being your own boss and selling your own work that make all of the supposed downsides fall to the wayside.

1) I am in charge. I decide if my business will be eco-friendly, I decide what my packaging looks like, I decide when and how I go to work, and on what I will and will not spend business money on. For those of us that are driven, independent individuals with a passion for what we do, this can't be traded for the world.

2) My time is my own. The sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing you are giving your precious time to you and no one else.

3) Finally, and most importantly, what I do makes other people happy. Holy wow, getting notes of "thank you" or glowing reviews fills me with a warm fuzziness I never anticipated when first opening shop. The knowledge that you have created something that someone out there (perhaps who you will never meet,) loves and appreciates shatters all the downsides. It's pretty darn magical.

I asked people on the forums of Etsy a few months back what they felt was the best and worst aspects of selling online. The best answer:

The best thing about selling on Etsy?  Being your own boss, being responsible for each success, failure, and every facet of your business. -and the worst part? Being your own boss, being responsible for each success, failure, and every facet of your business.

. . .

How to Approach Opening an Etsy Shop, Pt. 1

Thinking about opening an Etsy shop? -Or your own online store? You aren't alone! Personally, I suspect just about everyone out there has that little twinge of desire to make, promote, and sell their own work. So how does one go about this process? Though it may not seem like it, there is a lot of initial work needed "under the hood" before you can click "open shop" and expect the sales to start rolling in.

The first question to ask yourself is "Do I have something to offer that people are willing to pay for?" The answer might surprise you. On Etsy and the rest of the www, clever people like you are selling everything from pin cushions to bean bag chairs, greeting cards to website templates, wooden toys to, can you believe it, advice to other shop owners. Interestingly, sellers on Etsy are their own demographic of potential shoppers. A good number of shops take advantage of this by targeting them specifically with "Etsy is my day job" mugs, "Shipping day!" tote bags, "hand made with love" stickers, and even customized, pre-written Etsy listings geared to drive the most traffic to your items.

So how do you know if what you have is marketable? This brings us to our first step in approaching your journey to e-tail!

Research your product. Fortunately for us, step one is also fairly easy. Do a little research on your items to find out who, if anyone, is buying and selling. Do a quick Google search. Better yet, browse Pinterest and Etsy to find your competitors. How are they doing? Do their numbers and sales look good? Are a lot of things coming up in search? Needless to say, there are two sides to this story: if what you're selling is too prolific, you can have market saturation. Jewelry, for example, is one of the toughest things to start with on Etsy right now due to the sheer volume of items being offered. This doesn't mean you should not try to sell your jewelry! What it does mean is that you will need to spend a little extra effort on step 2:

Give your brand a personality. Decide what it is that will make your items unique and capitalize on it. Yes, there are other dreamcatchers on Etsy. -But are they made with organic materials? -In your home state of Hawaii with local ingredients? -With humanely foraged feathers? How are the other dreamcatchers you find online packaged and photographed? What is a different way that you could do it to make yours stand out?

A shop that did a great job of this is Wish Charms. The owner, Rosaleen, knew she was competing against a lot of close up photography of beads and charms for her bracelets. So she decided to focus on her packaging to help her stand out. Instead of selling just a charm bracelet, she sells a mini gift set of charm bracelet and cute stationary note together. She expanded her items into the realm of paper, fonts, and quotes - setting her apart form other shops selling charm bracelets.

Find your niche. Finally, via the powers of research, find out who it is that will be buying your product. Women between the ages of 18-30? Mothers with young children? Men between the ages of 35-50? In what country do they live? What kind of lifestyle do they have? What kind of blogs, websites, other products do they like? Sleuthing is a big part of business planning. The answers to these questions will dictate the design, logo and branding of your shop as well as the format of your listings, your keywords, and where you advertise and promote. A shop with items geared to new moms will have a different banner and color scheme than one designed for teenage girls. Identifying your target group early is crucial to what will later become an ongoing and full time process of knowing what is trending with your shoppers.


Congratulations! You have answered the three most crucial questions in the first stages of opening an Etsy shop. The next step is writing up your personal business plan where you will address costs, calculate pricing and profits, and give yourself a timeline to get the shop up and running. We'll talk about this in part 2. 

See you then, stay inspired!

Five Things Only a "Full-Time" Etsyian Will Understand

What better way to kick off the blog than with the forum thread that sparked the idea. As anyone who runs an Esty shop as their day job will know, the trials, tribulations and triumphs associated with our online employment are relatively alien to anyone outside the Etsy-sphere. I find myself aching to share my experiences with other Etsy sellers, whether its the satisfaction of hitting the latest milestone, or that little twinge of terror when ever you're notified that one of your items has been reviewed. 

When I first posted this little list, it garnered hundreds of responses, bringing me to realize that I was not alone in this desire to share my experiences as an Etsy seller!

Is Etsy your day job? Then maybe you've experienced these: 

1) Everyone at your local post office knows you by name and is totally accustomed to seeing you come in in your PJs. (Some times the post office is the only reason I leave the house in a day.. why bother getting dressed?)

2) Only a few hours away from your phone / computer result in some serious Etsy withdrawals. ("What if I have a custom order notification?!?!")

3) Your friends think you are poor even if that is not at all the case. ("...Don't worry, we'll pay for that. We know your job is Etsy and all...")

4) Your knowledge of packing material, shipping rates, and transit times is unparalleled. (Mom calls to ask how much a medium flat rate is. -$12.65, of course!)

5) Even with the diminishing social life, growing assortment of used coffee mugs on your desk, and the knowledge that you spend waaay to much time on the computer.. You love your job, and wouldn't trade it for anything!.

Do you agree? Have anything to add? Please share!

My favorite responses included:

-" No one believes you actually work. People are always telling you which places in town are hiring."

- "The only outloud talking I do during a normal workday is to my mom on the phone, my dogs and to myself. I often also answer myself and have full on conversations."

- "I make pots of tea and they go un drunk while I work on orders."

- "Even my other half thinks im just 'playing' on my phone when im really editing and listing items or talking to customers. IM WORKING HERE!! not playing angry birds of flipping candy crush."

- "Working hours are history, you've been known to send emails anywhere between 7am and midnight, and work everyday. You've even been known to sneak in a few hours work on bank holidays and even Christmas day."

Reading all of these responses, along with so many other sellers chiming in to say "Yes! that's me!" "Omg I'm not alone!" Was so much fun. It turns out "living the dream," making Etsy your day job, has a lot of surprises and A BIG learning curve. In the posts to come I'm hoping to offer advise to the up and coming and speak to the commonality to those of you who are there with me :)

à très bientôt!