Learning Opportunity for My Fellow Etsians!!!

If you have an Etsy shop and want to expand, learn some fantastic networking tools which will increase traffic to you and your handmade items and eventually bring more sales and haven't heard of Timothy Adams, please let me introduce you to this amazing entrepreneur. What I like about this young man is his willingness and desire to share with others what he has learned while building his Etsy business and other artistic endeavors. I'm a big believer is the "reap and sow" of life -- in other words, "what goes around, comes around..."

I won't tell you Tim's story but let his new video introduction do that. There's nothing like hearing it straight from the source !

A free 5-day introductory course was offered and is still available (see below the video and introductory text for the links to each). I recommend it highly to any Etsian who is wanting to learn more how to do business and sell their handmade art/crafts/items to an expanding client base.

I received all 5 days, read each, tagged and highlighted more helpful tips than I have been able to get to in the past 10 days. Of those I've been able to implement, the results are amazing! Here are images from Google Analytics showing how my shop compares during this time period versus other shops about the same size, etc.:



I have much more to work on and have had to take a few days off to attend a training for my day job. It will be interesting to look at my figures over the weekend after almost a week of not networking -- it's all a learning curve.

While I can't prove it unequivocally, when I first began using Timothy's tips in his 5-day course, I had sold 15 items. As of today, the sales have increased to 30 items. That was an unexpected happy surprise!

My plan was to work my business and develop it so that when I retire from state service, I can still work at something I have passion for and enjoy. That is still my plan but I can see the time line may move up drastically using what I learned in 5 short days.

Have a great Wednesday! I have an 8-minute training presentation to give today to 18 people, most of whom I do not know. Excited and nervous but also looking forward to getting it done ... and getting it over :)

Etsy Shops I Adore -- Check Them Out!!

One of my favorite things to do as an Etsy member is to cruise the forums, find an active thread and begin at the beginning reading every post to see what others have to say and what is working for other sellers. Over the weekend, I found a great thread that was started by Timothy Adams of Timothy Adams Design about tips and suggestions for networking and exposure.

While reading, I found two shops that contained items that widened my smile to a grin of pure delight!

Flying Buttons which is chock full of amazing and fun handmade buttons turned into wonderful hair accessories, jewelry and other items.

My favorite is "The Owl Nerds and their Dysfunctional Boss-Giant Paperclip/Bookmark Organizers-Fabric Covered Buttons". These paperclip/bookmarks are just perfect for co-workers or fellow bookworms! At $5.50 for the set of 4, who wouldn't want at least one set? The difficult part would be to figure out which to keep and which to gift to another!!

UglyBaby is another current favorite shop. Her specialty is shower art and there are several pieces I have marked to purchase one day soon.

The favorite right now is "Shower Art - Wild About Him". From the description of what exactly shower art is -- "shower art is waterproof art you can hang in your shower with a suction cup. Or anywhere else." The price is $18.00 which is more than fair for a piece of what is truly "art" that can decorate the inside of your shower, the front of your fridge or have a place of honor in your cubie at work.

I hope you enjoy these and will share some of your favorites with me. I love seeing all the new shops, artist and entrepreneurs and what each is so talented at creating!

Have a great Thursday!
Diane

If You Are New To Etsy or Want To Increase Traffic To Your Etsy Shop ...

I recently found a thread in the Etsy communities where Etsyans were sharing tips and found a great site with lots of "easy to do" tips for newbies to Etsy, as well as lots of information for those who have been around awhile and are exploring other avenues to market their art and handmade crafts. Timothy Adam Designs has shared a ton of suggestions, tips and tricks to help each of us create a successful Etsy shop to share and sell our wares. His newest offering is "Handmadeology, the science of homemade".

Check out Etsy 101, the first in a series of "how to" videos on becoming an Etsy seller. More are planned and I'm looking forward to learning more from each.

In addition to Etsy 101, Tim's site includes valuable information on Twitter, Art Fire, Google Analytics, adding an Etsy mini to your Facebook site, and some great photography tips. It looks like it will be a "one stop shop" for helping any artist/crafter learn how to set up shop and market his/her offerings.