Today I want to talk about my top 3 Tips before you take the plunge and set up shop!
Tip #1:Have a Vision for Your Shop.
You need to have a clear vision of what you want to sell on Etsy before starting. Throwing a bunch of random items on Etsy isn’t going to take you very far. Know what your product is. Try to pick one category or one singular item to sell. Having a hodge podge of items will certainly make you diverse but it also sends the wrong message to your potential buyers. Which is; you are not an “expert or specialist” behind the items in your shop. Keeping your shop inventory to a limited amount of categories will really help you create better products or curate a better collection of products because you will be focusing your energy on one thing instead of being scattered all over the place. This is also what will help you create your “brand” . This will be the key ingredient as you evolve on Etsy.
I also want to strongly encourage you to start your shop with an original idea or concept. Do not search an item on Pinterest or find another Etsy shop you love and copy everything verbatim! Not only is it wrong but piggy backing off the success of another shop or persons idea can only get you so far! Staying in the “Etsy game” and growing your shop better year after year is going to require you to be able to “rethink the wheel” from time to time. You are only in competition with your self . As you evolve on Etsy it will be pertinent that you take your products to the next level from time to time. This will keep your shop from becoming stagnant and ensure that each month, and each year is better than the last. This is impossible to do if your products from the very beginning are not even your own original ideas.
Tip #2: Take Quality pictures
Consider the pictures you post in your shop the resume you are sending out to potential buyers. Pictures alone will be the main determining factor if a potential buyer commits to clicking that “complete sale button”. This does not require the use of a fancy camera or lens (although that would help) it just requires some forethought, a little staging, and natural light. You will never see me post a picture in a dark room or without the use of natural light. I have a DSLR camera that I typically use for my pictures but in my sale history there are handfuls of images that I use to this day that are just simple iPhone pictures. If your indoor space does not allow you the natural light necessary for a clear and “bright” picture go outside! There are many shop owners who exclusively shoot outside and they have some the best pictures hands down. There is no excuse to taking a crummy pictures if you have a decent camera phone and a little sunshine. I will go more into taking good pictures later on in the mean time just play around with natural light until you have an Idea of what works best for you! And remember practice makes perfect! It has taken me years! to develop my picture taking skills and something I am constantly experimenting with and trying to improve to this day!
Tip #3 Just Start
Just start. This is my motto for everything. I have 4 kids ages 4 and under including a newborn. There is never a perfect time or day to start any project or activity. After having my first two children (twin boys) I developed this motto “just start” If I put off projects naturally, they never were completed. But If I could “just start” them the likelihood that I would complete them went up immensely. This idea holds true for starting your Etsy shop.
You do not need 10 pieces of inventory ready made to start, you don’t even need three! If you already have an idea and one item made. Go find some sunshine and take a good picture! Etsy is one of those things that certainly just gets better over time. It may take you a considerable amount of time to even make that first sale. If you can just get that first item listed you are much more likely to start working on the next one! The more the merrier! But you can’t go any where if you don’t even begin! If you have been contemplating starting a shop and you already have steps 1 and 2 figured out JUST START! Who knows you could be well on you way to quitting your day job and doing something you truly love before you know it!
That completes my show notes for day one of “How to Start and Etsy Shop”
Stay tuned for the rest of the series and be sure to catch me live so you don’t have to wait around for me to get to the notes!!
-XO Haley
Disclaimer-This post contains affiliate links however all products and recommendations are purely my own! thanks so much for stopping by!