My Shop: What I’ve Learned So Far –

Posted on by Liz

Even though I am only been at this for a couple of months now, I thought I would take a minute to share what I have learned so far about starting my little creative business.  Below are a few highlights that I believe anyone who is starting or is thinking about starting a handmade business or Etsy shop may want to consider and keep in mind.

  1. JUST START.  There is never a perfect time and you will never have it all figured out. You’ve got to start somewhere and you can figure it out along the way.
  2. Its not all about making.  Creating your product is an extremely important aspect. However, you will find yourself spending alot of time planning, creating accounts, and getting everything set up.
  3. Write everything down and stay organized. Whether you keep notes in your phone or keep a hand written notebook, write down everything.  For example, in the first few weeks I was getting started I set up an account for EVERYTHING. (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Venmo, PayPal, USPS, etc.)  I made a list of all of my user names & passwords. And let me tell you, this list has come in extremely handy over the past few months.
  4. Set small, reasonable goals.  I like to do it weekly.  I write down my goals for the week, make sure they are achievable, and do my best to get them done.  If I have a goal that I do not get done, and I still want to achieve it at the end of the week, I carry it over to the next week and try again.  Plus, looking back at your old goals and seeing what you’ve accomplished in a short amount of time is AMAZING!
  5. Stay focused and don’t get discouraged.  Trust me, its easy to get discouraged when you don’t have 100 Etsy sales over night – we all want instant gratification.  I’ve been on there for 4 months now and still only have 2 sales.  BUT I have still been super busy creating and selling things off of the platform!

I am not an expert on any of this.  But I wanted to share my experience and let ya’ll know some tips that seem to help me out alot.  I will post more as they come up, and I would love to hear what advice you have to share as well!

Cheers!