Since I’m almost a year into my etsy endeavors, Derek thought I should do a little update.
While I haven’t earned enough money to pay for photography classes or new clothes, as I’d hoped, I’m ending the year in the black. I’ve learned a lot from this experiment. I really do love to sew, and I enjoy making toys for my kids. I haven’t had a lot of success, probably because my niche is very very small and because I am horrible at marketing myself.
When I started out, I really just wanted to make sales, and I was tempted to drop my prices as low as some of the other felt food makers on etsy. However, I’ve come to believe that my time is worth something. When I look at the cheap products, they’re made out of cheap materials, are often sloppy, and can’t be bringing in more than pennies an hour. And commercial felt food from Walmart is made in sweat shops in China. I made the choice to “pay myself” around $5 for my work, and that puts me at the upper end of felt food producers. I thought I’d be able to win over customers with my quality, but it seems that people are mostly just looking for cheap, not quality, toys for their kids. All this has definitely made me think a lot about what kind of toys we give our kids. We can’t afford to buy a ton of stuff from high end venders, but I’m going to consciously try to hand make more things for the kids and support made-in-the-USA businesses like Jay’s handmade kitchen shop if we can afford it. I bought some Christmas presents this year on etsy, and I’m glad I was able to support some other stay-at-home-moms while giving some truly unique gifts.
My etsy shop has also inspired me to improve my photography skills, and if I ever make enough sales, I want to take a photography class. I like feeling that I’m getting better at showcasing my products! Of course, stationary food is a lot easier to photograph than moving kids, but my ultimate goal is to learn how to use the full capabilities of our camera to capture good pictures of our family.
It’s been interesting to see what items get the most interest. I’ve had almost 600 people check out my Anne of Green Gables tea set, but I’ve only sold two. My most popular tea party set (with four sales) is Emma’s Tea Party set, with scones, strawberries, and tea. I don’t know whether the popularity is due to the book tie-in (Donwell Abbey strawberries!) or just that I have more (albeit smaller) items in this one than in the Elizabeth Bennet-themed one. I’ve sold six sets of just tea bags, my least expensive item. Friends advised me to go healthy (with a salad set) and do more with the Anne of Green Gables theme (breakfast and cookies), and most recently, I’ve tried going mainstream (with my St Louis style pizza and toasted ravioli). But so far it hasn’t really translated into sales. Any other ideas?
Oh yes–and if you need any last-minute children’s gifts, come shop and use coupon code CHRISTMASBREAK for 20% off your purchase!
