… I started selling just on Etsy but I have been looking at other sites I can sell on and I started my own website with a store. I was really busy on Etsy but lately, sales have slowed a little. I am not sure if it is because of competition or the ranking of the listing on Etsy. I do Etsy marketing which you can pay daily and have your listing show higher up as an ad.

… Accept criticism and use it as a building block to improve the way you sell. Another big thing learns all about SEO, without great SEO you will not get found. Write item titles and descriptions like a buyer will search for. No long cute wordy be short but precise. Another thing you need to have a good camera for taking pictures of products and spend time on editing.

… I used to work in the hotel industry and had a few little entrepreneurial businesses when I was in school so I have always been this minded. My mother and gran always sewed so I must have absorbed some info from them, so when I bought a sewing machine to try to make something for my apartment I self-taught and took it from there. I do a lot of online learning courses and absorb as much as I can to keep evolving.

… The challenges aspects of my business are mostly operational. It is important to me that my customers receive a super-fast service and the highest quality product. In order to face the challenges, I checked for many months different printing manufactures across the United States and Asia that will give me the highest level product available with fast delivery, and super attentive and professional customer service.

… In the bedding industry, we will have competitors in everything even in life people are trying to get better than the rest that is my least concern if worry about how cheap someone is selling something similar like my item or how quick delivery there can do it does not affect me if there can do it for cheaper and dispatch it quicker.

… We did not have sales goals. We knew that our sawhorse was an excellent product because we had refined its design in our own shop for over 50 years. We figured that over time, sales would grow: it was true, useful, beautiful, very light, and very strong. We enjoyed making it and enjoyed sharing its clever nature. It was our way of conversing with the world – our sanity if you will.

… Absolutely it has changed my life! I cut down my work hours to focus on this career. I’m so proud of how far the business has come! I do get stressed! Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in orders but I take a deep breath and remind myself of how far we have gotten in the last year! My husband helps a lot with the business! Sometimes it’s chatting with customers so I have more time to focus on getting orders completed.

… Our life has completely changed now that we sell through Etsy. We love running our own business and we never thought we would get that far. There have been many challenges and stresses from time to time, but it has been such a rewarding journey. We try and tackle things one problem at a time, and we talk a lot together, this really helps.

… Hi, I’m Ayse, and Welcome to TurkishRugDynasty; On the territory of Anatolia, each region’s own specially designed rug was woven. and now there are very few places that continue this tradition. When I was a kid, I learned to weave rugs with a tradition from central Anatolia from my mother and father.

… Social media does not come naturally to me as I’m not a very outgoing person. So I find Instagram really useful as I can connect it up to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr and post to all at the same time. I try to capture interesting little moments that give a sense of the processes at Happywrap and what we’re up to. Learning to make the most of hashtags is also great as it’s like leaving a trail for people to find your business.