The fun side of Setting up shop on ETSY

Wow!  I have finally decided to enter the world of blogging!   What will I blog about?  I will be blogging about the ups and downs of running your own business, and of course, being that my business is jewelry, I will also be writing about jewelry making.

As of Dec 30/10, I decided to post my jewelry lines on ETSY which is like EBAY for artisans.  It's a great website, but very much dominated by the US since it is run from the US.  However, there are a great deal of vendors world wide that sell on there and from what I see, pretty successfully.   You can imagine my excitement when I sold my first piece before I even finished posting my photos that first day!    I haven't sold a thing since! 

There is great promise for me to keep my head up however as there are wonderful support groups, amazing blogs, newsletters, Teams, and emails to read to help support the business owner in setting up Shop and selling on ETSY.  They even give you supporting hints on how to photograph your products properly (a HUGE consideration to take into account I am learning).  For instance, consistancy.  Are your backgrounds always the same shade?   Do your close ups always show the product completely clear, with no blur?  Are you using all five photo slots?   If not, you should photograph your packaging and put photos of those in your empty slots.  Then there are banners on your shop...does it send the message you want customers to know about you the first 2 seconds when they click onto your page?  What about your BIO...does it say who you are..is it personal enough without being too personal?    Oh my!  So much to consider!  And that is just a small token of what it takes to be a good shop owner!   

I got lucky and found a great TEAM that I could join called JET Team, which stands for "Jewelers on ETSY Team" and I tell you, what a great group of men and women...though I think there is only one man named Bob!  LOL   There is a forum everyday that they all type into and support one another and share their new pieces of the day and talk about products and supplies and their families and each other and just the weather even.  It's so much fun and really makes all of this new business stuff a lot easier.  You don't feel so alone I guess...like what you're doing is not futile.  There are many days I think "why the heck do I spend so much energy and time doing this when nobody is buying the product" but all it takes is that one customer to buy something and tell you how much they love it and thank you for your talents and creativity, then you think "this is why I do what I do"  I feel God has purposed me with these gifts..I need to use them, even if it means not selling for a while and spending time online laughing it up with a bunch of other artisans going through the same thing as me.  All I know is, Thank God for ETSY!  Go JET Team GO!!!