… Competition in the market became a problem at times. We had a number of sellers on Etsy, replicating our designs, and undercutting our prices. I went through a phase of checking a list of about 5 other sellers on a daily basis, to see how many sales they were making (sometimes multiple times in a day).

… Passion, drive, customer service focused, and being a bit OCD. I am obsessed with my business. I spend all of my spare time working on it. I enjoy doing it which makes it not feel like work. I think it takes a special personality type, one who can hyper-focus on their brand. As I mentioned before, customer service is also key! I talk to all of my customers like they are my friends.

… I find literally everything inspiring. When I see billboards, I get an idea. When I see the way the colors of the dirt are blending together, I get an idea. I built my entire Ophelia Collection off of this concept. I can’t help it. I never used to consider myself a really creative person but in college (although I studied science) my favorite class was art.

… I think the winning formula is to not think of anyone’s expectations. Don’t be scared & realize that you have absolutely nothing to lose. Just create what you want to create. Realize that if your work makes you happy, it’ll make others happy. It’s better to have tried than to never have tried at all. Basically, do what makes you happy.

… Of course, my best selling products are the cat prints. I have a number of landscape prints, but they are not that popular. I have quite a few different images of cats: for the bathroom, for the kitchen, for the living room, for the nursery, and even for the office. They are all popular, they are all sold regularly. I focus on a quality product: for printing, I use high-quality watercolor paper from one of the world-famous brands.

… My best selling product is My bumblebee, hand-drawn and made by my own hands here at home. My stamps are now made from resin and I draw the designs when I feel inspired, that’s mostly with the change of seasons. I also have a monthly subscription box, for this, I design a new image every month and I take inspiration from nature, mostly plants.

… I don’t think there is only one way of being a successful entrepreneur, this process will look different for everyone! For me there are multiple formulas, the important thing is to have the right balance. Finding out what you want to do I believe would be the first step, like really figuring out your niche and giving it your unique touch.

… As previously stated, we truly believe our product is weirdly unique compared to other African Mask sellers on Etsy, so we are not worried about competition. I want customers to purchase what grabs their hearts, and if the other online stores on Etsy are offering products that people absolutely love then we which those stores happy success.

… Social media hasn’t been a significant contributor to my store traffic, providing less than 5% of store visits in a typical month. However, moving forward I want to increase this to 25% over the next 6 months through the use of Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. With changes to the Etsy algorithm in early 2020, it became apparent that relying on organic traffic to support one’s store will no longer suffice.

… One of the things I enjoy the most is freedom. I just love planning my own schedule, spending more quality time with friends and family, or even going on a spontaneous trip to the seaside in the middle of the week! But the most important thing that keeps me going is feedback from costumers. It’s an amazing feeling getting those happy “thank you” messages from buyers all around the world.