Creating buzz for your business
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could just add your products to your Etsy shop and the sales just started rolling in?
Customers would leave you nice, positive comments.
You'd be the top shop of the search engine for your products.
Easy peasy.
If only it didn't take some major research and smart work to get there.
The market would be even more saturated if it were that simple.
You're probably wondering, how the heck can I sell over $2k?!
Have you ever been curious about how much other people make from their jobs?
I know I have, and the first place I look at is GlassDoor.com where employees of specific companies share reviews for the businesses they work for.
But more interestingly, they also share their annual income.
This is great data for job seekers and college students picking a major.
Unfortunately, this kind of data for handmade businesses is not readily available for public viewing.
This is one of the few reasons why I do an annual income report for my handmade business every year.
Here's 2014's income report, and here's 2015's.
One, to educate other creatives who are interested in taking their business to a more serious level.
Two, I believe in transparency and that you should follow a mentor or teacher that not only talks the talk, but walks the walk.
Three, because this is a good excuse for me to do a year review and analyze what went wrong or right so I can make plans for the new year.
Are you ready to take a peek behind my business?
Here's a snapshot view of how the year went:
If you're a handmade business owner with a shop on Etsy, you could be worried that your shop is stuck in a rut.
You've read blog posts, articles on Pinterest, but your sales are not coming in.
How do you find the support need??
You’ve started an Etsy shop.
You’ve perfected your SEO.
Now you’re at a dead end.
You have nothing to do and nowhere to go, except sit and wait for those sales to come rolling in.
But more often than not, they don’t come quite as fast as we’d like.
And then, one of those days when you have nothing to do, you stumble upon the magical little button that leads you into the great big world of “teams”.
So it was with me, and I’m taking the liberty to assume that I’m not alone.
It's enchanting.
A whole group of crafters and collectors gathered to share, discuss, critique and help one another's shops.
While I readily admit there are benefits to teams, I just as quickly warn against the disadvantages and pitfalls.
I want you to enjoy your Etsy shop.
I want you to have that special light in your eyes when you tell everyone you know about your products.
I want it to be an endearing experience you’ll carry on for years and never once forget.
To assure that outcome, I hope you’ll keep reading.
We’re going to travel through the basics of teams, how they can help your shop, as well as a few words of warnings.
You're multi-passionate. You're crafty.
You can't seem to keep your creative brain still.
You're always coming up with brilliant craft ideas for new things to design and make!
So you grab the scissors and take out the sewing machine to create something really awesome.
But you look in your Etsy shop and you're confused.
Why aren't you making more Etsy sales?
Read on as Meredith Erin talks about her cautionary yet super inspiring tale of how she and her partner went from $20k in debt to multiple daily sales on Etsy and truckloads of product to ship.
So you're a handmade business owner.
Turning your passion into a business and creating an income from your sales is admirable!
But are you feeling stuck?
You're not getting many sales and it feels really hard to turn one time customers into repeat sales.
But just like going to the clinic to get some answers for what's causing that intense migraine, there can be numerous causes for the problem you're having in your business.
Your prices might be wrong.
Your photos might be bad.
Your product line might not be cohesive.
Sometimes you really need to go back to the basics.
However, the problem that plagues most small business owners is not being clear on what makes you unique.
What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
Without a clear and concise USP, you'll struggle to build a consistent income.
In this article, I'll show you how you can find out your USP and finally start moving in the right direction!