etsy advice Archives - zero to biz

Why Etsy Isn’t Enough

Etsy Essentials
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by Steph | zero to biz

You carefully set up your shop, perfectly edit your product photos, write detailed listing descriptions, and research keywords for tags and titles. You’re ready to take over the world – the online selling world, at least. Your expectations are high. You wait, but sales aren’t happening as quickly as you imagined.

You’re confused as to why your Etsy success isn’t rapidly approaching. You watch your views and traffic sources, waiting for the moment your shop explodes. That moment doesn’t come and you feel frustration. You blame Etsy, or worse, yourself, and feel like a failure.

Spoiler alert: Opening an Etsy shop isn’t enough. You have to do the work outside of Etsy and drive traffic to your shop, to create a shop that will continue to grow.

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Selling Custom Products on Etsy

I can’t claim to have tens of thousands of sales on Etsy – because I’m not selling a ready to buy, off the shelf, inexpensive product.

I sell wedding invitations and work with couples one-on-one throughout the process to design their stationery, print and assemble, address their envelopes – the whole shabang! In 2019, my average order was $1,143 and I consider it to be not only a boutique product, but also a luxury service.

Truth be told, not all of my invitation orders come from Etsy. However that is where my business started in 2013. I opened my Etsy shop (with zero clue what I was doing) selling notecards and graduation announcements. A year and a half later, I dove into the wedding side of things and began offering full service wedding invitations. Less than a year after that, I quit my job to pursue my business full time.

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The Worst Etsy Advice, Ever.

If my worst enemy came to me and said, “Steph, tell me what to do for Etsy success” with intentions of becoming my biggest competition, here’s exactly what I would tell them – aka what NOT to do when starting your Etsy business.

Don’t open your Etsy shop until everything is perfect.

Take lots of time to research, plan, and create strategies. Make sure you read every informational blog post, listen to every podcast, and take several paid courses. You should spend a few months learning everything you can before you open your shop.

It’s important to know exactly what you’ll do in every situation, how you’ll ship every order, and respond to customer questions. Write down exactly what you plan to do for every scenario you can think of – you can never be too prepared!

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How to Fail at Etsy

You’ve spent your time choosing a perfect shop name, mastering your product, and taking photos but the cha-chings haven’t started rolling in yet. It can be so frustrating to feel like the time you invested in getting set up is wasted.

I hear it all the time – people become very impatient when they don’t get their first sale quickly. They start wondering what they did wrong and begin pondering if starting an Etsy shop was even worth it.

If you’re reading this, you might be one of said people. And I’ve gotta tell you to slow your roll and/or hold your horses because Etsy success does not happen overnight! Giving up on your shop will guarantee that you never get that first sale. Continuing to invest your time, put work into it, and try new strategies ensures that it will happen. I promise!

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Reasons to Start an Etsy Shop this Summer

Summer is quickly approaching (finally and YAY!) and there’s no better time to start an Etsy shop.

If you don’t know my story – I started my Etsy shop in 2013 with a handful of items and little clue what I was doing. I made my first sale within 24 hours and went on to sell over $1,300 my very first month! You can read the story of how I got started right here.

I quickly realized the potential of turning my hobby into an online business. Now, over five years later, I get to work in my business full time (I’m the boss, I get to create every day, and I no longer dread Mondays!) AND get to help other people do the same.

So, why should you start an Etsy shop right now?

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