washwhendirty.etsy has been open now for about 5 months next week. i opened
my etsy store on june 9th and started posting items about a month later. it hasn't been terribly successful i've only made about 13 sales so far. and this is despite the positive feedback i've received over the past few months about my items. so it's evaluation time!
i don't have a business background at all and have just been learning by doing. and also by talking to various people both online with successful etsy shops and off line. it's been a great learning curves and i was really infused with excitement at the beginning...i guess like with anything new, you start off by being really excited and have tons of motivations to pursue what you are striving to accomplish. i'm going to be honest though, right now i don't feel too optimistic about this whole thing at all. of course the occasional doubts are bound to come by every once in a while but they usually pass after only a short instant. and i'm not really doubting my decision to start all of this, but i'm definitely beginning to be weary and a bit discouraged.
i love making things for people but when the feedback do not really mirror the state of things, it's easy to get bogged down and feel frustrated.
positive highlights since june has been meeting great people online and starting to build a good network of friends. i've also won
a few alchemy requests on etsy lately, and having fun
creating custom items for some really cool etsians, which is part of the reasons why i wanted to do this in the first place. i personally love having unique handmade things and i also take great pleasure in creating something special for someone. so the alchemy requests have been a great fun...and please don't hesitate to let me know if you are interested in some custom items, i truly love making those! *wink*
though in order for me to be able to sustain this venture, i also need to start making more sales on the things in my store =) because right now this is not giving me any returns at all, i'm putting in a lot of my personal money in it and i'd love for this little adventure of mine to be able to run with its own funds. i know there is that prerequisite year when you start a business where you are not making profits...and that's completely okay with me as long as i'm making a return in my investment. profits are really not anywhere in my radar right now, building up sales and turning those sales over into more items are the main goals at this time.
i fear that this might be a really long and hard road, and trust me i didn't except it to be easy. i love challenges, if it was going to be a walk in the park, i wouldn't have been interested. i truly enjoy the struggles, the ups and downs because they make the victories that much sweeter and much more appreciated. but with the current state of our economy, my anxiety level is very high. everybody knows that when things go bad it's the regular folks and the small business owners that suffer the most.
so to all my lovely online friends and visitors, please help me with my evaluation on where things stand right now. if you don't mind, i would love to hear some feedback about
my etsy store, advices on how to better manage my business and critics on where i fall short.
i'm a pretty happy, go lucky person who loves to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. however with the current state of our country and our economy, i can't help but fret about taking the wrong turns as far as my business decision making process goes.
much love,
kristina
newspaper snowflakes@whip-up
