My Reboot with YouTube Video Reviews

It's been a few years since I started this blog and I apologize for stopping it with so little information.  I got busy with a major move then started college so I used those changes as excuses to stop my crafting and therefore my ability to stock an Etsy store.  Now I'm back at crafting and have learned a few new techniques.  These items are my early attempts at understanding polymer clay.  I'm rather proud of those flags at the bottom of the picture which are rather good for my first attempt at a complex cane.  But you aren't here to learn about polymer clay, you are here because you want to learn how to create and build an Etsy store that will hopefully become a full-time job for you or at least help pay for your addiction to creating beautiful things (or scary art if that is your preference).

So, let's get down to today's tips.  While surfing Youtube I found two videos about tips for setting up an Etsy shop.  There are more tip videos, I'm sure, but today I'll just review these two.

Let's start with Melanie Ham's shorter video: Tips for Starting an Etsy Shop.  Her video is a little less than 8 minutes and has some good basic tips such as to put a good price on your items so you can actually make a profit instead of under selling, tips on taking good pictures, and the reminder that writing a detailed description can save you time.  She also gives a great reminder to put thought into how you ship items and to respond quickly to emails.  Customer service is very important and it is easy to lose customers if you are not quick and friendly.  She gives some great tips for shipping from home and ends with a reminder that success takes time and research but is completely possible.  Check out her video for more details on her tips.

The next video is longer and posted by Sarah Mock.  It's nearly 32 minutes and part of a weekly series where Sarah interviews experts on blogs, social media, and how to save, or get, more money.  In this episode she talks to Hayley Croom about her soap store on Etsy.  Although there is a lot of chit chat, it is inspiring how Hayley started her business with a built in audience and grew it to a full-time income.  Her biggest tip and the thing she kept coming back to was to view your store as a business from the very beginning.  Starting you Etsy store as a hobby that you update occasionally when you feel like it is no way to start a business.  Even if it is merely a way for you to fund your crafting addiction and you don't plan to make your career out of your Etsy shop, you never know what the future holds.  Keep an eye on your emails and keep your shop up to date.  You never know when you may need returning customers or need to get a new job.  View your business as a job from the start, work consistently on it, and have set hours for work.  You can keep your shop down to something you deal with one hour a week or build it into something you work on 40 hours a week or 100 hours a week.  It is up to you how big you grow your business.  Both Hayley and Sarah agreed that it is very easy for self-employed people to work well beyond the normal working hours or for them to allow days to go by without getting any work done.  Creating a schedule and keeping to it is essential for self-employed people to be successful.  I could continue to badger this subject because consistency and time management are my worst qualities but it is time to move on.  Hayley also gave great tips for getting found on Etsy through tags and product titles as well as her inexpensive way to create great photos using a simple camera, natural light, and Flickr.  The photo can make or break a sale online and it is easy to find great ways to create great photos without spending a lot of money.  The two of them talked about how user friendly Etsy is and how helpful other sellers can be.  The forums on Etsy are very helpful and the website itself has great step by step tips to help sellers succeed on Etsy.