I Failed On Etsy Until I Learned This

I want to show you something. This is one of my most successful Etsy listings. It's got 2,775 sales and a revenue of over $81,000, which is a profit of something like 20,000 and change that I've gotten to keep from this listing.

And it took me all of 5 minutes to create. This listing, on the other hand, it's gotten two sales. I keep renewing it even though it's really not selling.

and I've gotten $60 revenue, so maybe right around $20 profit. But it took me an entire weekend to put this together. And I think it might be my favorite design that I have ever made.

So maybe that design wasn't the most researchbased decision design I had ever made, but it was just so creative and it was so fun and I genuinely smiled the entire time this idea was coming together. Makes me happy when I look back at that listing and that design. So, when it comes to doing Etsy, is there a way to have the best of both worlds?

To have the money and the success and the sales velocity, but to also have the satisfaction and the creative outlet, too. And why should you listen to a talking head on YouTube like me? I'll show some stats from the shop on the screen for you now, but I'm at almost $2 million in revenue in my shop after opening it just four years ago.

I used to be a fourth grade school teacher and was able to quit my teaching job just a year and a half into my Etsy journey. I've traded in a $50,000 a year job, my teaching job in for a $160,000 a year job. So along the way, I've learned a whole bunch during this journey and now I teach about it on YouTube and in my online community.

At the end of the day, there are thousands of YouTube videos out there talking about how to be successful on Etsy and they pretty much all do say the same thing. So, you probably know more or less what you do need to do. You know, you need decent mockup photos.

You know, you need reasonable pricing, good SEO, that's your title and your tags. You know, you need a consistent upload schedule if you want to get growth. And that is all obvious.

Those are things we hear all the time. I talk about them on my channel all the time because they're important. But what I want to talk about today is something that the average video doesn't really go into.

And I think what we're going to talk about today might not just help you with Etsy, but also help you with not getting burned out during your journey along the way. And to help explain it, I'm going to use the aid of a drawing that I did. Now, heads up, I'm not an artist, but maybe I'm missing my fourth grade teacher days and making anchor charts for my fellow teachers out there, but I think this will do the trick and help me explain what I'm thinking.

So, this is my very simple but straightforward guide on how to succeed on Etsy without getting burned out and being miserable along the way. If you can get your head around these ideas, you're going to do just fine on the Etsy platform. So, let's talk about the first idea here on the left.

We're going to call this the trap. And this really just describes the basic cycle of events that happens when we first get started on Etsy. I think most of us get started because we hear an initial video on YouTube about Etsy and it gives us the idea to open our shop, start a shop, and maybe we have some small expectations in the very beginning, like we're just testing the waters.

We want to maybe have a creative outlet for something we already enjoy doing, or maybe we're looking to make a little extra money. And then as we start maybe listing some of those initial items, we start to get thinking about all of the money that we could make and we start wondering how long is it going to take us to get that initial sale. So back to YouTube we go and we listen to more content about how to have a successful Etsy shop.

And as we listen to this content, we keep seeing videos about a particular listing that's making someone $13,000 a month or a shop that's making $60,000 a month. And we start getting really big dreams and we start going through this cycle again and we think, "Okay, well now I've got a winning idea for a listing. " You put it out, you're waiting for the money to come.

You're starting to wonder, "Why am I not making those sales? Where is the money? " Back to YouTube.

We watch the YouTube videos. We learn that we need to put out lots of listings. So, we get back to listing and we think we have some more ideas and we get those listings out.

We start waiting for the sales, but we wonder why the sales aren't coming. And then back to YouTube. And so, this process, and I've been there, this process can be really frustrating and leave us super confused.

I have been down this rabbit hole a number of times when I started my shop and I even go down this rabbit hole sometimes now. The thing is a lot of times on YouTube we're seeing the exceptional examples. The exceptional example of a listing that is making $20,000 a month or a shop that's consistently making $60,000 a month.

As successful as my shop is, I don't have a listing that consistently makes me $20,000 a month. and the example that I showed you at the beginning of this video for one of my best performing listings, those are far and few between and will often cling to a story of someone opening their shop and becoming successful very quickly. Again, that's an exceptional example.

That is not how it goes for most of us normal folks. And I'm definitely in that category of normal. But what's great, and I'm definitely proof of this, is that there is space on Etsy for us normal folks.

Us normal folks that have never owned a business before, have never certainly owned an own owned an online business or perhaps done any designing before like myself, there is space for those of us that are going to go through a normal learning curve of doing this and learning to get decent enough at it to actually make sales. There is space for us normal folks on Etsy. And don't let these exceptional examples make you feel like you were supposed to get a sale when you only had six, 20, even 50 listings or designs out in your shop.

And that brings us to the choice. So the choice, what choice are we going to need to make now before we accepted this here that we're probably normal? We might have been trying to have all of this growth, make all of this money, make all of this income and sales and we might have had that expectation and trying to have all the freedom also.

And by freedom I mean that we can make designs without doing research. Maybe make designs that we just feel like making. Choose elements that we feel like choosing.

choose fonts willy-nilly and have very little research behind the designs that we're trying to create. Or maybe the freedom freedom could also include maybe taking shortcuts like maybe I know that I'd like to have so many designs in my shop a week, but I'm going to take a shortcut and I'm just going to fill my shop with designs that I downloaded from maybe Creative Fabria. So, I feel like freedom could take those two forms.

So, we might have thought that our normal little self could have all the scalable growth and all of this freedom, whether it be creative freedom or the freedom to take shortcuts with getting our items listed. And we might have thought that that was going to work, but this is the catch. We can really only have two of these things.

So, if we're normal, which I'm assuming you're here with me, then we can't have both this scalable growth where we're making all of this money and all of the sales and also have all of this freedom, too. We can only have two of these things at any given time. So, very early on for me, I recognized that I was normal and I wanted growth.

I wanted scalable income. The more YouTube videos I watched, the more exceptional examples I saw, the more I knew that there really was something to this and that if I could just get a fraction of that, that was going to be amazing. So, I really leaned in to growth on Etsy and I really let go of the freedom piece.

I did not expect to be able to use Etsy as a creative outlet, nor did I expect to be able to kind of use shortcuts. I realized this was going to take a lot of research and I was going to have to really go the route of researchbased decisions and not just be taking creative liberties or shortcuts. And neither of these decisions are wrong, but when we kind of put it in perspective like this, it's easier for us to have expectations that match the way we're thinking about our Etsy shops.

Because if we're expecting to do the freedom piece and have the freedom to kind of do whatever we want and we're normal. We're not one of these exceptional examples, then we shouldn't expect as much growth as someone who is maybe making more researchbased decisions. Growth is their aim and they're less concerned with the freedom.

So there's no right or wrong answer here. But if you are in the boat that I'm in and you're normal and you also want to see growth in your Etsy shop and you're looking to make a maybe a substantial income or at least a consistent income in your Etsy shop, we still want to speak to that question I posed at the beginning of this video of how can we have both? How can we feel satisfied creatively but also experience growth and then not be burnt out during our Etsy journeys?

Which leads us to our next topic here. We're going to talk about sustainability. And this is where it's going to be really important to lean into the cards we've been dealt.

That's really going to help make this sustainable. Think about the cards you've been dealt. So, for example, are you a teacher?

Are you a nurse? Are you a mom? Maybe there's something about you that makes you an expert in some niche that's already doing really well on Etsy.

For me, I'm a teacher and so one of the very first niches I got started in was the teaching niche. I had insights into this niche that other people would not have had because of my experience as a teacher. I was also an ant.

And so some of my first sales were in the ant niche, but I had insights on what someone would want to wear on their ant shirt because I was an ant. So it was a little easier maybe for me to have insights. And not only that, not only did I have insights into these niches, but I actually enjoyed designing for them, which made them much more sustainable.

Perhaps you are really funny or sarcastic. That would be a great niche on Etsy and that can actually fold into many many other niches. But if you are funny or you are sarcastic, that is a card that you've been dealt that could perhaps serve you very well on Etsy and then have you feeling really satisfied in designing those types of things.

Think about the hobbies that you're in. These are cards you've been dealt. Also, are you big into sourdough starter or into pickle ball or into crocheting or into gardening?

These are all things that are very popular on Etsy. And I'm just naming a few. Think about the hobbies that you like or the interests that you have.

Other people have those hobbies. Other people have those interests. And if you're designing items in those niches, then you're going to have insights that others just simply don't.

and you're also going to enjoy designing there more. Maybe you really enjoy the holidays and so maybe you could add a lot of value to holiday items in your shop. So, we've established that maybe we're not exceptional.

We're just normal and that's totally okay. And then the best way to make this whole thing sustainable and enjoyable for ourselves is to lean into the cards that we've been dealt, which can simply mean thinking about the things that you already know about that also might be niches on Etsy. Even if they're big niches, that's okay.

I got into the teaching niche. That's a big niche. But I enjoyed listing there and I still enjoy listing there.

FYI, I have had 29 orders so far today. and a good 14 or 15 of them are last day of school shirt types of designs. If you're interested in getting some help with the teaching niche, I happen to know a thing or two about it.

I did create a resource that is a complete work of art that tells you all of the subniches that I work in, plus even others that I wish I could duplicate myself and also work in. I tell you all the types of customers that are in the school niche, the broader niche of the school niche, and I give you a 90-minute video resource that goes along with that calendar and resource. I've had lots of people reach out to me letting me know that that they've gotten their first sale in the teacher niche or their first best seller in their shop overall in the teacher niche based off decisions they made because of the guidance in that resource.

It's over 30 pages long. It's chunked into really manageable, easy, digestible bites by month. If you're interested in it, I will leave it linked down below.

Also, if you do pick it up by June 1st, you're going to be invited to a special session. I want to give you at least 30 days to 60 days to work with the resource before this event, but you're going to be invited to a special session where we'll get to talk to each other and we'll get to share. You can ask questions about the teacher niche.

You get to let me know how it's going. you can let me know what you'd like to see in future updates to that calendar and that will be sometime in August. I'll I'll be reaching out to you to let you know through an email link after you've purchased.

Now, going back to the cards that you've been dealt, two cards that I didn't show here, they were cards that I had not been dealt um were being really good at research, enjoying research, enjoying data. If that is a card that you've been dealt, then it's not necessarily a niche that you're going to be working in, but you're going to be out of the gate better off than others because you've been dealt that card. And that is something the rest of us normal folks have to develop because that is something that if we want to see the growth, we have to develop the skill of researching and being able to create designs that people want to buy by noticing trends in the market by understanding what people are wanting to buy right now and incorporating those kinds of elements into our designs.

And another card that I tended to pick here was just time management. If you're good at time management or even grit, that you're a person with grit, these are all cards that you might have been dealt. These are not ones that were necessarily dealt to me.

I wasn't working with that stack of cards when I got started with Etsy, but they are skills that I was able to develop over time as I have gone on my Etsy journey. So, you'll have more cards in your stack of cards, not just the ones that you were dealt as you're going through this Etsy journey with me. If you do want some help with identifying trends and making designs that people actually want to buy, I will leave a completely free video series that I do here on the channel called the last design video you ever have to watch.

is chalk full of the most valuable information I can give you about how to make designs that are going to help scale your shop and help you get sales in your shop. And if you want further support, then you might be the kind of person that would love to be a part of our learn and earn academy, which is my online community. We do a monthly trend report.

I have guided activities in there. I released one of those about every month along with other special content. and we do a weekly call where you can jump on.

We brainstorm ideas together in some of those sessions. You could just ask questions if you want. You can watch how I would add value to the market in particular niches.

That's the angle some of those sessions take. So, I will leave a link to that down in the description below if that's something you are thinking you want some support with. And also, there's a right way and a wrong way to go about playing these cards.

Think about your intention when you're sitting down to design. Are you trying to take or are you trying to give? Taking might look like really obsessing over sitting down and designing and thinking about all of the sales you want to make and all of the money you want to make.

Of course, you're going to think about that sometimes, but while you're sitting down and designing, you need to flip your mindset. You need to be thinking about giving. You need to be thinking about giving that customer, the person that's going to see your listing on the other side of that computer screen, that person that is looking for the perfect gift, that person that is looking for the t-shirt that they want to wear to encourage their students on the first day of school.

that shirt that someone is wearing out for their birthday event or to that funny ugly sweater contest where they want to get everyone to laugh at what's on their sweatshirt. You want to be thinking about giving that person exactly what they are looking for. You want them to feel great about that gift that they're giving or to be the hit of the party when they go to that ugly sweater contest.

I I don't know if this seems like a funny or silly or unimportant point to anyone listening, but this small mindset shift while you're designing not only makes the whole process more sustainable because it's more fulfilling to think about giving than it is to think about getting. And in addition to that, when we're thinking about getting and then we don't get as fast as we wanted to get or receive, then we wind up feeling frustrated. So there's a whole circle of things that are happening when we're constantly thinking about what we want to receive.

But if you can shift your mindset to thinking about that customer, you're sitting down, you're designing for bachelorettes. If you can sit down and really think about that customer on the other end of the computer screen and exactly, you know, get into their mind about what they're they're wanting based off what you're seeing in research. And then when you're doing this research, you'll get better and better at it and you'll start seeing little gaps in the market and you'll start going, "Oh, I could see this person really needing this, but no one has this out there yet.

" An example would be the doodle designs becoming very popular and it's like an aesthetic. If you go look up bachelorette designs, you're going to see this doodle aesthetic that's bleeding into all kinds of niches now. But when that first started coming out, if you're always in there researching because you have a growth mindset and you're not focused on freedom, but you're focused on growth and you know you've got to do this research, then you might have noticed right away, oh, this doodle aesthetic is really cute and it's starting to take off, but there's no camping doodle types of designs.

I bet that camping bachelorette would love to have that type of aesthetic. and thinking about what she might be might be be looking for. Not only is it going to be more rewarding and this whole thing is be more sustainable, it is probably going to make you the kind of person that is making the types of designs that people want to buy that much faster, which is then going to lead to the sales that you're looking to get anyways.

So, in review, don't fall into the trap that only exceptional results happen on Etsy and that someone normal like me and you can't be successful here too. Secondly, you need to make a choice. Do you want to have the creative freedom to do whatever you want or do you want to grow?

Usually, you can only pick one of these. And of course, if you want this to be sustainable, you've got to be realistic and consider starting with playing to your strengths, playing the cards that you've been dealt, and focus on giving rather than taking. If you could do all of these things, it really might not matter so much that you don't start out the gate with these exceptional results.

You are going to be a lot happier during this journey in the long run. Next, let's talk about the eight reasons you should start an Etsy shop or just not give up during your journey until you've got it where you want it. But of course, not until after that tip from Tucker.

Tucker, take it away.