Every day I spend a little time in the Etsy forums just to make sure I don't miss out on some important announcement affecting my business. One thing that I see over and over again is new folks coming in asking for the key to success on Etsy. Those threads are always populated with tons of advice from tons of smart sellers, but today, I think I'd like to turn it around a little and talk to the existing sellers vs. the newbies. I've been thinking about these concepts for awhile, letting them crystallize into things I think you should know...
If you're a successful Etsy seller (and YOU define success in this scenario, not me), the following is most likely true for you:
10. You're a self-starter. No one has to tell you to do anything. In fact, they'd probably die trying.
9. You're comfortable around organized chaos. You probably thrive in it, and when people aren't looking, you probably snort it.
8. You have a love/hate relationship with packing tape.
7. You are more curious than the most curious of cats. If it can be known, you'll learn it. You will do it completely wrong 500 times just to get it right once.
6. You dove into branding and marketing like it was a hot fudge sundae. You know how to tweet, plurk, facebook, pin, tumblr, relist, renew, blog... and more importantly, when to stop.
5. You accept, reject, mourn, adapt and change what you're doing or how you're doing it every 6 mouths. Psychiatrists marvel at your resilience.
4. If you go an entire day without a sale, you'll spend the entire night designing a new product for a new shop. If the drought persists into day 2, you're out jonesing for a support group only to come back to a sale in your inbox.
3. You have designated 'areas' in your inside your 'home' for designing your product, making it, photographing it, listing it, storing it, and shipping it, and by 'home,' I mean '1 bedroom studio apartment' and by 'areas,' I mean 'coffee tables.'
2. You learn something new at least once a week. If you don't, you get an itchy rash.
1. You've figured out the difference between 'successful' and 'busy.' This was the hardest lesson to learn, and you have the scars to prove it.
*whew*
I feel better now!
~Lori
