I'm on the fence, a few clicks away from starting my Etsy shop... where I make handmade natural clay sculptures (no replications) and paintings... The underpricing I needed to hear. Regardless of profit, it's time and energy creating it. Know your worth besties! Thanks for the video
I would definitely recommend starting an Etsy shop, despite it being a pain. Just treat it as a 'cart for hire' and as you touched on in your comment, don't feel pressured to jump through hoops like lowering your prices. 💚
I want to thank you. Every time I second guess what I'm hand making for my hand-made crochet business, your words of wisdom reconnect and affirm that I'm slowly walking in the right direction. Always enjoy what you have to say and look forward to next week.❤😊
On the last point, big one I said "NO!" to was making face covers in 2020. My quilt guild was churning them out, I saw tons of quilters on the Facebook groups churning them out, and then I started to see the posts in late April and May about people completely burning their machines out. I even politely declined a viewer request in late 2020 to have me do a tutorial on a face covering because I did a sewing machine feature video where I was sewing on a covering as a demo of how it stitched ONLY. Not sorry, not regretful either. I've since heard about all these people who blew up on Etsy making the face stuff in 2020 and now their shops are closed because they got typecast as a maker and seller of that one thing and nothing else worked. So yeah, again, definitely a fan of the strategically well place "No."
I had some dude on this channel tell me I wasn't a good business person for passing up on the opportunity to make and sell masks as I could sew. This channel which is still a part of my business years on. Sometimes you've just got to trust that you know what's best for you and your business better than anyone else and keep on keeping on. 😄
Something I’ve noticed browsing on Etsy- is it’s all the same, quickly thought up, easily copied from something else- crap. Honestly it wouldn’t be hard to stand out and be a little different but the problem is Etsy won’t push you or else you pay up for it because it’s an ocean of duds that you have to come out on top of. I used to associate Etsy with unique and high quality but not anymore. I do buy on Etsy still buts it’s only for craft supplies. Another reason to open that website huh? 😉 Thanks Kim for your insights! I tune in every week just to let you know :)
My saying no is to Etsy. I get people every week come into the shop I sell in, and work in one day per week , who say to me "these are lovely, they would sell really well on Etsy!" They might but then id have to deal with the stress that is Etsy, and that is a big no from me.
Thing is, they might not sell well on Etsy at all unless you have something like 50 people on your social media just champing at the bit to buy your listings as soon as you link them. I sell lots of stuff in person but online is like tumbleweeds rolling through an Old West ghost town.
Thank you, Kim! I'm quite good at having festive things up in time - mainly because I keep them up all year. If I create a Christmas theme item in March then I put it up. That is because I am likely to forget that I have made it by the time it gets to August or September 😆
Me too! If I took my existing seasonal items down, I'd never remember to put them back up again. 😄 I've fallen behind with a few new items though. I really must get on that.
You know what once again I needed to hear that, I've never thought about it like that (the generic one)...I've struggled with how can I compete with Amazon, Target, Shien handbag prices but while I do work with cork leather which is harder to find mainstream, I do think maybe I need to rethink about what the aesthetic is or something. 🧐 Definitely something think about! It's always hard to not be generic while also not stepping on IP but thinking cap is on! Great point about seasonal too, I see people complaining about Halloween hard right now but we have to remember that the retail timeline is different to the actual calendar (and here in the US Halloween def sells big time, I mean the 12ft skeleton has sold out every year since it launched!). Thank you for always having such helpful advice!
Excellent video. Your messages are always grounded in reality and reason. I'm saying 'no' more than ever! It has to work with my already hectic life, otherwise I lose the joy and quickly burn out. Stopped doing shows years ago for that reason...so exhausting!
Yes, markets and shows are overwhelming at some point and both my age and energy and outside events have made me back way away from almost all of them.
We millennials who grew up watching Art Attack know EXACTLY what 'Ta-ra' means haha. Came here thinking I'd find some comments about that, but it seems I'm the only one! (I'm Canadian, and LOVED that show. It was my absolute favourite! Neil is 100% why I got into designing/creating 😊)
wow, were you talking to me.... This week I did three shows, just because my husband was away and it was easier.... what was I thinking I am totally done in... Yes with my Etsy Sales which were also good last week I had my best week Ever. But your right I should have said no to the last one in the end I fell on Sunday because i was too tired to concentrate on what i was doing. Getting a balance is important and i was panicking after the desert that was July.
Hi, just found your video. You are pretty but most of all I like the way you talk. It is fun listening to you. Sideeffect: I learn something about Etsy. Greetings from Germany.
I SO agree with setting boundaries and getting comfortable saying “no”. I said “no” to a huge order a couple months ago. I was running a sale and they asked if I would discount more for a high volume order, they wanted to buy. Now, I care for rescue foxes. My shop supports their care. I’ve got info about that all over my shop, including my listing videos (Figgy the fox nose boops the camera, he’s my Head of Marketing) … so this person saw all that, and thought to themselves “yeah, but can I grind the price down a bit more?” When I realised in my heart they were NOT my buyer, not my target market and they didn’t “get” my brand & mission….. well, the relief I felt saying no was massive… like a weight lifted off… and thats despite the fact I coulda used the money, it woulda been about a grand that woulda paid off a hefty vet bill I had to deal with. But… boundaries. And the upshot is, the time I saved I put into my shop and just had my busiest ever month on the platform. If I had said yes, I woulda burned my energy pleasing one customer and wouldn’t have put the time in where it was needed
Exactly this. I used to say yes to every opportunity that came up in the early days and it led to burnout more than once. Now I can see the power of a well thought out no and it also teaches us to trust ourselves and our decisions more. 😉
Hello! just wanted to leave a quick message to say - Hiya ☺️👋 and thanks so much for putting your time and energy into these fab vids, they really do help! Donna x
The "generic" product is really making me wonder now. My "niche" is repurposing fabrics and one of the things I make is zipper bags in two sizes for crafters. I also make ornaments, also with repurposed fabric, which can be much more varied, perhaps personalized. The bags are minimalist, not fussy. But HEY! I have Halloween AND Christmas products listed!! ;-)
I started off so well this year too, but I'm back to being behind again. I'm actually thinking of shelving a lot of my autumn plans so I can catch up again. 😄
In Oct./Nov./Dec. 2023, I was listening to a lot of videos by Etsy sellers about seasonality and how to be competitive selling seasonal items. They kept saying for Valentine's Day you need to have your stuff for sale in your shop and your SEO perfect before Thanksgiving because it takes Google SEO 6 weeks minimum to recognize a shop and parse what it sells, and it starts over on each item when that item's SEO changes.
I think it's really difficult to make something that's completely unique. Everything is a variation on a theme. And if you do come up with something unique and sell it online you can guarantee if it's successful that everyone else will nick the idea! You just have to put your personal take on it. Not that it always helps. I have a personal take on some of the things that I make but it doesn't necessarily make them more attractive because, certainly now when money is so tight, the bottom line tends to be, how much is it, rather than are you paying a corporate CEO or a small handmade business. Plus, there is so much online now it's hard to be heard above the din of 'buy me buy me!'. i have learned to not worry about. I stick to my personal ethics, keep calm and carry on. :)
Agreed. This is why I made sure to say that we don't have to reinvent the wheel because we really don't need to be 100% original. But too many people use the "there are no original ideas in the world" as an excuse to copy other people's work, and I feel that needs to be acknowledged more.
If I manage to "get good" at markets, I'd be happy to chat with you about it so you can share tips if need be. I have zero time to start a seller-focused youtube channel but I'm happy to try to help. TA-RA! 😁
Aw that's a lovely offer thank you. I think I'm going to leave the market/craft show content to the experts though, unless a miracle happens and I change my mind about doing them. Although that's unlikely! But thanks again for the offer! 💚💚💚
Hey Kim, I just watched your video and I must say that it was really informative and well-made. I was wondering if I could help you edit your highly engaging and more elegant videos and thumbnails which will help your video to reach to a wider audience and increase your subscribers and viewers.Can we discuss about it ?
Hi Kim I must confess I haven't shopped on Etsy for a while but, I recently checked in to look at some stuff and I was shocked at the amount of AI art. It's so prevalent now it just stands out all over. So to your point about being original, I think that the shops that do there own everything will stand out so much more than that AI. The more that AI is done the more it all looks the same. Thats not a good thing.😱 Coffee break !!!😁
Yeah the CEO pretty much said, "AI art? Sure!" fairly recently which was then followed up by saying the platform wanted to cut down on sellers with low will and low skill. As you can imagine, it left the community scratching their heads a fair bit! 😄
@@KimBliss Typical corporate response. Wants it both ways. But to a shop that does their own stuff flaws and all is so much better than mass produced tat that AI offers.
