1. There is a lot of stress!
Have I done enough work? Are my products good enough? Why isn’t this selling? The self doubt and stress is never ending!
2. You will not be successful overnight!
You will not be successful overnight, over days or months! It takes a long long time to start selling successfully and even longer to make enough money to live.
3. Social media is great but nothing beats listing well
I have gained hundreds of followers on twitter and Facebook but mainly sales are from Etsy itself. Social media is fantastic but mainly for talking with other businesses, making business friends and asking advice. I will do a separate post on twitter hours which are brilliant for this but just a few include #handmadehour #ukcraftershour #ukgiftam #ukgifthour
4. You have to constantly add new products
Don’t just let the products you have sit there and expect everything to just work! You need to be learning new things all the time and adding new products. You should aim to have around 50+ products else you will really struggle!
5. Use all of the tags you can
When listing products, on social media and on blogs use as many tags as you can do if people search a particular term yours pop ups. There are even websites to check how many times keywords have been searched so you make sure yours will be used.
6. Make your product stand out
You need to stand out! Social media videos? An all singing all dancing website? Unique products? Amazing packaging? Brilliant marketing campaigns? All of these are things you need to think about to stand out! It is incredible hard to be seen
7. It is a full time job in itself to promote yourself
You have to spend A LOT of time to be seen! If you don’t, you won’t be seen! Whether this is through social media or constantly changing, rephotographing, relisting and retagging products, don’t underestimate how much time this really takes
8. Remember to have time off!
It is so easy to work 12-18 hour days 7 days a week without a second thought but you need a break. Even if it’s an hour a day and one day a week, you need to stop. Not only will it give you a rest but it will also give your brain a rest to come up with new ideas
9. This isn’t going to be cheap
Even if you think you’ve already got the products you need, especially for a handmade business, every little bit adds up. This is cheaper than starting most other businesses but things add up especially adding on insurance etc. Be prepared not to earn for a few months.
10. Never forget the reason you’re doing this
It’s so easy to be disheartened but keep on remembering why you’re doing this! It will keep you motivated and give you a goal to work to. Things are not going to work straight away but the knowledge that you get to do what you love every day is enough to keep you going so don’t forget it!
Meaningful Makes 