Online Seller Experience, Small Business Success Stories
… Selling online has changed my life. It is my life now. I never thought that my full-time job would become online-selling. I have had some stressful moments and I am just coming out of a period of time when I had no access to the material. I feel like stress while working for yourself is different than stress imposed on you by an employer. Yes I have stress but it is nothing like the stress I have had while employed.
… Social media marketing is something I’ve just started and as someone who’s not that tech-savvy its been a challenge, I believe social media is extremely important for an Etsy shop or any online shop as a matter of fact as it helps to drive customers to your shop and the more eyes you get to your shop the more sales you will make.
… I’m not worried about competitors to be honest, as I paint each one of my signs with my own style; each piece is unique! The high quality of raw materials, their durability, and the possibility to customize your product exactly as you want are the key factors that make my products stand out.
… I’m inspired by many things. It could be my artsy mood at that moment or music I’m listening to. It’s therapeutic for me to sit at my desk and let my mind flow with new ideas. I brainstorm and come up with different color combinations and promotion ideas. I keep a journaling app on my phone and when I get an idea, I jot it down so it won’t be forgotten.
… Formerly I used to do everything all by myself. From product design and production to sales and shipping. Today I mainly take care of new models, social media, and image editing. For the actual production, answering customer inquiries and writing invoices and taxes now I have employees. The shipping is done by my wife, with whom I have been standing side by side every day from morning to evening for 25 lucky years.
… Cost of advertising is very high. I don’t mind paying Etsy’s required percentage from every sale as they have a phenomenal website and great tools, but I don’t think sellers should be charged when ads are clicked on unless a sale is made. Too many window shoppers out there, and makes it hard for small businesses to get ahead.
… I create a lot of Pinterest boards, collecting images of fursuits and costumes I like, but more so of unusual and interesting animals. I will look at their unique shapes and characteristics, think about how I would bring it to life as a character and go from there. Sometimes there are also popularity trends with different animals and species, I also try to pay attention to those if its a creature I might also be interested in making.
… I worked in a pretty big garment factory and I made patterns for women’s clothes. It was a very interesting job and the people were great. At one point I felt like I wanted to do more, to be independent. All my childhood education was based on creating beautiful things that would make the house more pleasant so I went for this idea. I consider very important the need for beauty in our lives and if you bring a smile on someone’s face, you can be satisfied
… Brillies Sunglasses was a happy accident. I’d tried and failed other businesses. I tried selling jewelry, packing supplies, soaps, etc., but, I never felt passionate about my products. I’ve always loved vintage, so when I met a vintage sunglasses supplier and realized I could turn it into a business, it just kinda made sense. It clicked.
… Learning the craft took a lot of research. I had tried many masks are out in the current market and let a few of my family and friends try them out and get their feedback with what they liked or disliked about it. After the input, I came up with few designs that I had people try out, It took a few times until I finally got it where they were liking the product and wouldn’t change anything about