I have been doing some research about selling on Etsy and watching different YouTube videos for some tips. The problem with most of the videos I found is that they all spent way too much time promoing their company or its products. Very little time was spent on how to promote other people's companies or products. It was disheartening to realize I would spend 30 minutes watching a video or listening to podcast only to hear but wait let's talk sbout this next product  we are offering. I get it you have a company with a product you want me to buy but that is not why I am watching a video on how to sell on Etsy. I wanted a video or podcast from a succesful brand to explain how they became successful on Etsy.

I finally came across Rock Your Band by Scott Voelker and quickly started to follow some of the advice given on his YouTube videos. Advice such as turning on different types of coupons for your store to nudge customers to buy other products. Updating all your listings on a continuing basis to let customers know you are still active. Turning on the Share & Save feature that is new to Etsy. The one thing I really took to heart was doing product research before launching a store of any kind.

Whoops, I started the store first but the product research got me thinking about the direction of my store and brand. I started thinking about what I wanted the general public to know about needle work and how to encourage the general public to value needle work. I started to doing basic research on Etsy and quickly realized that large projects are not selling for a variety of reasons including the expense and no standardization of pricing. 

What is selling are small projects that reflect a simple elegance and keeping the price of a needlework piece affordable. I was a little disheartend because simple designs are what I stitched as a beginner with some of my siblings. I had surpassed simple designs a long time ago. I had to remove my emotions the time honing my craft and reset my thinking. I asked myself how I could introduce the general public to needlework in a fun creative way. 

I then remembered these wine glass charms that appeared in the 2018 Halloween edition of Just Cross Stitch. I bought all the supplies neccessary to stitch them including some double sided interfacing from Jo-Anne's for finishing. While shopping, I ran into other people who were willing to give me advice or were excited to see what projects I was working on. I was al ittle reluctant to share but people were geniunely excited to see my projects and learn about my Etsy store.

It was a refreshing change to learn that I can be creativity and there are people willing to encourage my endeavors and give me advice. It also helps that I am getting the traffic needed to my Etsy store and my website through the SEO and Tags that I have chosen which has also surprised me. It's amazing how finding the right mentor, even if it's just a video, can encourage you to push yourself beyound what you thought you were capable of.