← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
Ep 166 | Inspiring Success on Michael’s Makerplace--with Carolyn Murray
00:55:16
Michael’s (as in the craft store) new handmade selling platform called Makerplace is giving Etsy some VERY healthy competition. Tune in to learn about Makerplace and how one seller has doubled her full time Etsy income by opening her shop on...
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- [00:01]
A
Hey, my name is Lizzy Smiley and I absolutely love helping people connect with their calling and all the tools they need to kick roadblocks and excuses right out the door so they can cultivate the life they dream about. If you want to launch, grow, pivot or scale your Etsy Shop, or you've always wanted to develop the mindset and skills to run your own business, then I'm your girl. I've had that entrepreneurial spirit going strong since my very first lemonade stand and now I'm a work at home mama with multiple online companies and a full time Etsy shop. All while being present with my kids for the everyday chaos and most important milestones. On this podcast we'll talk about all things business, mindset, Etsy creativity, dazzling our customers, and so much more. There's plenty of room at this table for you, so scooch on in and let's go. I'm holding nothing back. Welcome to how to sell your stuff on Etsy. I'm so glad you're here. Hey guys, welcome back to the show. I have been looking forward to this one. I hope you have been looking forward to this one. I'm so excited you hit play. I Maker Place has officially blown my mind. This conversation exceeded every expectation you have to stay and listen to the whole thing. I feel like it just keeps getting better as it goes and you're gonna watch me go from like skeptic to ready to open my MakerPlace shop immediately. It's so good. I can't wait for to introduce you to Carolyn. A couple things I wanted to let you know. So I at the beginning of the year I discontinued my one on one coaching just because of time constraints. I couldn't keep doing it and I heard from a lot of folks who were trying to sign up and so I started offering Etsy Shop audits and they're not open all the time. I occasionally open them as I can take on capacity because I literally got a ton of orders for them right away. And again, it's just a time limitation. So if you are someone who would love me to do an Etsy Shop audit for you, they're currently closed. I got maxed out. But if you follow me on Instagram at How to sell your stuff when they open I post on my stories so you'll know that they're back open and or I'm going to put a link in the show notes where you can just put in your email and I will let you know. You'll get an email every time they're open and just, I'm just going to say like grab it fast when it opens you guys. Because I couldn't believe I was a little surprised by how many came through so fast. I was like, oh, I gotta, I gotta press pause on this, there's too many. So it's basically, basically it's an Etsy Shop audit. I do a loom video recording. So you watch over my shoulder while I go through your Etsy shop. And to give first impressions, tell you about the SEO, let you know what needs to be improved, how you could grow your business, what I would suggest. And you also get to submit a question, like there's a little questionnaire you get to fill out and it's like a 15 minute video that you get the recording of to watch. So super affordable. Get on that list if you want to or follow on Instagram. The other thing I want to make sure is I'm still collecting information about how many of you guys are interested in a an AI workshop specifically for coloring pages. I've already gotten a ton of interest. I'm just getting ready to kind of close the doors on that survey. But I wanted to offer one more time this week to say, let me know, put your name in the survey. Also in the show notes, if you'd be interested in an AI workshop on coloring pages, you would not believe the demand on Etsy for coloring pages. It's massive. And the problem that people are running into when they're trying to create AI coloring pages without knowing what they're doing is there's too much detail and then people complain and get of bad reviews. So we are going to go over how to make, how to prompt properly and how to use mid journey to create really good coloring pages that are of the quality that you can just sell on Etsy. I mean some of these shops are just bringing raking in thousands of dollars like basically passively. So if you're interested in that, let me know. But for now we are talking handmade. We are going all handmade because that is Michael's maker place about a little, let's see, beginning of 2024 is when they kind of came out of beta and Michael's, the craft store opened a marketplace sort of like Etsy but by Michaels and they're calling it Michael's maker place. So we now really have some data under our belts. They've had a whole full year and you will not believe how well it's doing and how exciting the opportunity is. It is just for handmade sellers. So no Print on demand, no digital products, no drop sellers. This is for the ultimate crafter and the benefits are. Are really impressive. So we have Carolyn with us today. She's one of their top sellers. I mean, I am personally in contact with two executives at MakerPlace. They have been lovely and super supportive, and they said, here you need to interview Carolyn. She'd be much more interesting than talking to one of us. Fuddy duddies. I thought they were so cute. So Carolyn Murray, the founder of Lakeshore Rock Art, transformed her childhood passion for rock collecting into a thriving business, creating custom portraits from rocks and other natural materials. Based near Lake Michigan, Carolyn handpicks every rock used in her one of a kind creations, offering personalized portraits for families and outdoor enthusiasts. After pivoting from a career in finance, she followed her love for craftsmanship and built a successful creative business that has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, a successful seller on Etsy for years, and now one of the leading sellers on Michael's new MakerPlace platform. Carolyn draws inspiration from nature, her family, and her late mother. Mother's dream of starting a craft business. Guys, please help me welcome Carolyn to the podcast. Carolyn, welcome to the podcast. I've been looking forward to this for months. Thank you so much, y'all. I'm. I'm just casually sitting here with the number one seller of Michael's Maker Place. It's no big deal. I'm not sweating. I am not intimidated at all. Welcome. How are you?
- [05:44]
B
I'm good, thank you. How are you?
- [05:47]
A
Well, I'm great. Now. You know what? I should have asked before I hit record. How do I pronounce your last name? Is it Murray or Murray?
- [05:54]
B
Murray it is Murray.
- [05:56]
A
I'm like, it's Chicago, right? You're Chicago, so it's gotta be Murray. But these days, we can't assume such things. Okay, so, Carolyn Murray, I would love to hear. You have to, like, start us from the beginning. This is such a. We've never talked about Michaels here before, other than saying we need to talk to Michael's Maker Place. Because a lot of us are looking for alternatives to Etsy to either add streams of income or switch if we're having issues or, you know, whatever. So tell us all about your experience. Like what? What do you sell? How did you get on there?
- [06:22]
B
Sure. So a little bit of background about myself. I spent many years in the financial industry. I was a manager in the financial industry, which is a very stressful industry to be in. One day I just decided I needed to kind of focus on myself and take some time and regroup and kind of figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And what was supposed to be a summer off ended up being a full time career. I just woke up one morning and I've always loved rocks ever since I was a kid. And I sat down and I grabbed some of my rocks, my glue gun and a canvas and I just came up with this idea and wanted to see if it worked and sure enough it did. And I made a few rock art pieces which are still hanging in my house, put them up online after I made like four or five and next thing I know, here I am.
- [07:12]
A
Did they start selling right away for you?
- [07:14]
B
Yeah, so when I first opened my first online shop, I sold to probably within the first four to five hours. I just marked.
- [07:25]
A
Wait, what?
- [07:26]
B
Yeah, I marketed them out, you know, I kind of told everyone, here's what I'm doing, you know, check it out. And next thing I know I made actually it was three different items and it was within the first handful of hours of being online.
- [07:38]
A
What platform is that?
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B
That was on Etsy.
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A
That was Etsy. Okay, so yeah, we've got you, like you, this is great because you understand us. You're also an Etsy creature as well. Okay, so when did you get onto Michael's Maker Place and also what is it for people who have no idea?
- [07:53]
B
Sure. So Michael's Maker Place is their online selling platform similar to like an Etsy, but in my opinion it's much better. When you go on Michael's website, there's a tab for Maker Place and it's just all handmade items from makers around the us, only us based selling their products. So for me it would be my rock art. I also do like laser engraved or cut items, you know, wood items as well. So you can pretty much find anything and there's some really creative cool stuff on there. Anything that you're looking for that's different than what you would buy at a big box store. I joined Maker Place and it's a newer platform. So I was in their beta program which was in 2023 and then it went live at the end of 2023. So I've been at it since the very beginning, the very beginning days, and it's come leaps and bounds since those first days.
- [08:51]
A
So. Okay, so actually your experience would be different probably than someone starting right away because you were in the beta program. Did it take a while to get sales or did that work out pretty quickly too on MakerPlace I think you.
- [09:02]
B
Know it was slower because the traffic wasn't being driven there. The amount of marketing, okay, Maker Place does now is leaps and bounds different from obviously when it's in beta. Right. Because it was more of a test mode and kind of iron out some kinks and see how things played out. Now for people who join, it's a night and day difference. I mean the marketing alone that they provide is a huge, huge benefit. Huge difference from the beginning days.
- [09:28]
A
I want to ask you a bunch of questions about that if you're, if you're open to it. I want to hear what they're doing, but tell us actually what's happened for you. So like, you know, when we talk to a brand new platform we, we are, we're like wonder like okay, how you know, how many of the, to your point, how many of the kinks have been worked out? Are people actually making sales? Would it be better to wait a year or two or is this like. No, they've worked out the kinks, get in now because they're driving the traffic and you'll be one of the newer shops. Like you'll kind of be end up being one of the OGs. So like how many sales have you made? Like what have you seen happening traffic wise? Has it been a really viable business for you?
- [10:03]
B
Yeah, so since I've been on, you know, since I've been on makerplace, you know it is marketed to millions of people and the huge difference between Etsy and Maker Place is that they will send it. You're in like the Google Ads and all of that. They don't charge you at all on makerplace. Like it's done for you.
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A
So they're running ads but they're not charging you for it. They're running you off site ads.
- [10:27]
B
Correct. You get off site ads for free on MakerPlace.
- [10:30]
A
That is insane. That is crazy.
- [10:32]
B
It is definitely a big thing. Plus they have a lot of other programs for marketing. You know they're really the respect the handmade advertising that's very, I mean that one's huge. I love that because it takes away, you know, people are more know that this is more about the handmade artisans, you know us that put in those blood, sweat and tears and try to make it all ourselves. And we're a million different hats and we're not doing print on demand. We're not doing, you know, sending it off, mass producing stuff. A lot of it is, it is handmade, it is custom, it is, you know, one of a kind type of products. As far as you know. And that's just some of the marketing. There's a lot of other marketing that we can get into whenever you want, but.
- [11:16]
A
Oh yeah, for sure.
- [11:17]
B
As far as my sales are concerned, since I've been on there, I've done over 1700 orders for just shy of 1900 items on Maker Place alone.
- [11:29]
A
And that's basically like, if you think about the fact that they really started driving traffic at the end of 2023, that means like in a year you've sold over 1800 pieces of handmade rock art.
- [11:40]
B
Correct.
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A
That is. Congratulations.
- [11:43]
B
Thank you.
- [11:44]
A
That's incredible. First of all, I'm so happy to hear there is a market for that because I've always thought rock art was so charming. Like, to me it really, I, I don't know. So you and I are both from Chicago, so we were chatting before about like, you know, walking around along Lake Michigan probably where you source a lot of pebbles. And just to me, it, to me, that kind of art feels like home. Like there's something about it that takes me home. I love that there is that kind of demand. But to know that to get on a newer platform and to make that, I mean, that is, that is in congratulations is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, not. Well, right.
- [12:18]
B
Thank you. I mean, it's definitely been a whirlwind. You know, I never thought that leaving my corporate job and doing, just turning my hobby into a full time career, I never in a million years thought I'd be sitting here right now, you know, doing a podcast with you over the success of it. But it is, it is cool. You know, my rock art is very unique. I literally hand pick every single rock out of Lake Michigan from the southwest Michigan side of it. So there's, you know, there's a lot of work that goes into it. And with Michael's being a newer, the MakerPlace being a new platform, I mean, there is no better time to join MakerPlace than now because you're in it. You know, there's, you have to have the patience. Of course there's kinks. You know, it's a new platform, but they are so dedicated. They are on your side, they are in the trenches with you. They take our feedback, they make those changes. But right now, being the newer place, you don't have as much competition as you do on Etsy where there's millions and millions and millions of shops. You know, it's. I don't know, in my opinion, I feel like it's better to get in when It's a smaller pool and less competition. So you can build it up and start getting that following on there, because they can. People can favorite your items and your favorite your shop and everything like that. So you build up this following now while people are drawn to you checking out this new platform. And then by the time it builds up to that Etsy level, you're one of the OGs.
- [13:51]
A
Yeah, the OGs. Okay. The goats. You touched on something that I would love to ask you about, and I'm sure as an Etsy seller, you've at least heard about this, if not experienced it. Etsy has changed my family's life. I've made hundreds of thousands of dollars from Etsy. It's a platform. I'm very grateful and I love that we have a platform where we can also do print on demand and digital products. But it has gotten away from Etsy's roots of being handmade, which is now Maker Place is giving us back. And it's also gotten away from that really personal touch. So are you. You mentioned they're like, on your side. Do you feel like when you have an issue, you can get customer service attention from Mike, from Makerplace to resolve it?
- [14:31]
B
100%. 100%. They have. Makerplace has a dedicated official sellers Facebook page that you could type in any suggestions, concerns, issues you may have. They have a direct. A direct email for MakerPlay sellers.
- [14:49]
A
Okay.
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B
It's actual, like, live human beings that contact you and respond to you and are more than willing to jump through all of the hoops to help you get, you know, the service that you need or to fix any of those issues regarding, you know, actually anything, whether it's marketing or technology.
- [15:09]
A
Oh, like I say, do you know? Do you know? And it's, it's, it's totally okay if they don't. But do you know, do they have a phone number, too, for sellers?
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B
They do. I mean, you can. The best way to contact them is always by the email. And they usually say 24, 48 hours to respond, but honestly.
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A
And then there's Etsy who maybe never will respond.
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B
Like, you will never respond, or you can call them and they will never answer the phone. These are truly live human beings that are like a team dedicated specifically to it, that speak to the sellers every single day for help, advice, ideas. They will. You send them the email. And honestly, like, I'll send an email to the seller's thing and it could be. I could have a response in 20 minutes. I could be two hours. I mean, sometimes depending on when I send it. Of course, if it's later in the day, then I might not have a response until the next morning. But the responses, they come in quick and they know their answers. And if as soon as that person responds to you, if you have another question for them, the same person who is responding to that email and following up with you within the matter of, you know, 15, 20 minutes, whatever it may be. So they are. The team behind the scenes is unbelievable. It's unlike any other platform that I've experienced personally. Etsy, Amazon.
- [16:23]
A
Oh, well, Amazon's even worse than Etsy. That's what people don't necessarily realize. Like, we can dog on Etsy and sometimes we need to, but Amazon's way worse.
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B
Yeah, I'm no longer doing my. I don't. My Amazon's done.
- [16:35]
A
It's not worth it. It's too much. I've been very impressed even just interacting with the executives to arrange this with you, just friendly and helpful and open. And I would love to talk more about kind of how the platform runs, but I was very impressed. And it does sound like for right now, while they are still small and growing, they are trying to, to attend to the pain points that Etsy sellers have had there, you know, as we all try to do, hopefully learn from the downfalls of other, you know, of the competitors and try to at least make that the differentiator. Now, once they've got 90 million sellers or, you know, whatever Etsy's dealing with, who knows, the. It might change. But the point is right now, their brand is they are trying to be attentive to that. And that is. That's a huge deal for us right now in the marketplace.
- [17:23]
B
Yeah, they are. It is night and day different. I mean, night and day it is. It's very refreshing, you know, and I can't even say, I can't even begin to talk about how many. Just the headaches and the, you know, it's annoying and disheartening. Like when you're on Etsy or Amazon or any of the others and you desperately need help or have a problem and you have nowhere to turn, or they tell you this is where to go, but then no one responds. I mean, this is. It is so nice to have the team behind the scenes. I mean, every single one of them is so amazing and they just, whatever you need, whatever ideas, problems, they are there to address it. And it's a game changer in comparison.
- [18:08]
A
What do you think about the actual, like, as a seller setting up your listings, how has that Experience been like, is it really similar to the Etsy listing or are we learning a whole new language? How would you compare that?
- [18:19]
B
No, it's very similar. So when you create, create your listing, right? So you have the title, the listing details, the photos, the video, you know, upload a video of you making it. There's the attributes, the tags, all of the different categories, whether it's holidays, occasions, you know, that all is very, very similar to the Etsy platform. So if you know how to do Etsy, you should have no problem setting up a listing. On the MakerPlace MakerPlace website, they do have like a collections, you know, like a collection section. So you can like, if you went on mine, I have one that says rock art. I have one that says, you know, customized. I have a like wood, you know, laser cut. I forget the exact name of whatever the folder is. So they have those different categories for you. But like I said, it's pretty much the same setup as far as how to set up a listing as it would be on Etsy.
- [19:15]
A
Okay, that's, that's actually really encouraging. That means like we get over there and it's not such a learning curve to get started. So I love hearing that. And tell us about the other really controversial thing with Etsy is like the, the seller fees, like listing fees and transaction fees. And you know, what is it? Listing fees, transaction fees, the pro credit card processing fees and all that. Can you tell us about makerplace? What are the fees over there?
- [19:38]
B
Sure. So makerplace actually is the lowest fees of any marketplace out there, which is also huge as a seller, right. Because you just especially like postage is always going up. Right. So that postage increase, either you have to keep pricing your items higher and higher and higher, you know, and certain plan like Amazon, the fees eat up so much of your profit and then adding on the postage, it's crazy. So, but Maker Place, again, lowest fees out there. And the way that it works is there's this. It's the standard credit card transaction fees, right?
- [20:11]
A
So three, you have anywhere plus 20.
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B
Cents and then there's a 4%, they call it a referral fee. But if you are on their professional plan, which costs like 9.99amonth, that drops down to 2%. So the free version's 4%. The professional plan would be 2%. And in my opinion, I'm on the professional plan. It's way worth it. There's a lot more boost behind it. You know, you get more marketing opportunities.
- [20:39]
A
Oh really?
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B
You can sell in the potential to sell in store once a month. Being a featured maker marketing campaigns, it's, you know, if I'm a big, big fan of the paying the 999amonth to have my referral fee drop down to the 2%.
- [20:54]
A
And for those listening, the comparison is Etsy's is 6.5%. And the only way to get it reduced is if you create, if you use your share and save link and you create the transaction and someone buys from your share and save link, you can get it, you can get it lowered. But to have it start at 4% on Makerplace and then you can spend basically $10 a month to get 2% transaction fees is insane. And is there a fee for listing? There's, it's 20 cent fee on Etsy. Is there a fee for listing?
- [21:21]
B
No, she, there is no listing fee. So every listing is free to create the other thing that they do in regards to the fees. And it's limited times of course, but they have an affiliate program too where you can get a link when they have that special promotion going. And it's like you drive the sales to your site and it's an extra, it's like 15% or something like that. So it's a big difference as far as the fees are concerned. You know, it's.
- [21:47]
A
The executive sent me this, this, this number that really caught my attention. They said that Maker place sellers earn 39% more on every sale versus other marketplaces. 39% more. That's uncanny to me.
- [22:03]
B
Definitely the other thing that I forgot to mention too, you know, in regards to makerplace versus Etsy, for example, makerplace provides you with off site ads for free. So on Etsy you can opt into it, but once you hit a certain threshold, you have no way of getting out of it. And you have to pay for those off site ads like 15%. Right. So if you make a sale from someone who clicked on that link, you know, I think it's, I don't know if it's 30 or 60 days or 90 days, they go back and buy it within that window you're paying for that off site ad with no option to get out of it. Michael or Michael's maker place, it's 100% free, the off site ads, which is huge.
- [22:47]
A
That's incredible.
- [22:48]
B
Google Shopping or wherever it makes sense to me.
- [22:50]
A
Like I'm so glad they do that makes me smile. But at the same time like, you know, Maker Place doesn't yet have the, the user base, right. So they're having to Generate, they're doing the marketing for us because you're not having the actual existing marketplace. People who are just shopping every day. Like people don't know about it yet. We're still getting the word out, but, but at the same time, I'd love for you to talk a few minutes about the way that they're generating traffic. So since, since makerplace is new, they don't have the, you know, however, millions and millions and millions of people who are shopping on Etsy every single day, month, year. So they're having to generate. Just like if you go and start a Shopify store, people don't just come because you built it, you then have to go market it. Whether it's social media or it's paid ads or it's word of mouth, whatever, makerplace has to generate the traffic to build awareness around the platform. So how are they doing that right now? And also how many visits are they getting a month? Do we know like what kind of traffic they're getting?
- [23:44]
B
So makerplace, as far as traffic is concerned, there's millions of visitors every single month to Maker Place.
- [23:52]
A
That's crazy.
- [23:53]
B
So you can go on Michael's website, you know, michaels.com and there's a separate tab to take you to Maker Place. You just click on that, it drops you in there. It's hosted by the same exact site they have. Their brand campaign is Respect the Handmade, which speaks for itself. You know, it just proves that everything is handmade. You know, no pod, no, they don't do the digital files. You know, they want to make sure that everything is literally hands on by the sellers, which is huge because again, we've seen all the platforms that have gotten taken over by everything that they said they would never, that would never happen. As far as the marketing, there's the Respect the Handmade brand. There's customers that navigate the Michaels website. They send emails and text messages to tens of millions of Michael's customers. I've gotten so many, I can't even tell you. I've gotten text messages from people that I know who are sending me, you know, their Michael's email or text message that they got that had my product on it. They're like, oh, look who I got, you know, look what I got today. Which is pretty cool, you know. Yeah, it's always so surreal. You never. The fact that people pay money for something that I make is always, you know, it's one of those things you just don't get over. They also do a lot of MakerPlace funded promotions, which is another huge thing I think as a seller. So what they'll do is they'll do a site wide sale for, you know, for example, like Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday and it's 30% off. But what that means is a seller, they're doing this site wide sale for Michaels and MakerPlace. Your items are going on sale, but you are not losing that profit. Michaels is paying that.
- [25:31]
A
Oh, they're paying the difference.
- [25:33]
B
They're paying it. Right. So if your product was, you know, a hundred dollars and it was a 30% Makerplace funded sale, that $30 that the customer is saving is coming out of Michael's pocket, not your pocket. So you're making your full price of what you made, which is huge. And then you can actually schedule a sale on top, you know, at the same time you can do.
- [25:57]
A
Okay, you can run your own sale. Okay, right.
- [25:59]
B
So then what would happen is your item is, let's say you do an 20% off, the customer would get the 20% off which comes out of your profit and then the 30% off of that.
- [26:08]
A
Just like any, you're getting 50% off, but you're still making money like you were only running a 20% off sale.
- [26:14]
B
Yeah, it's. I mean it's not the exact 50. Cause it's not like the 30 plus the 20. So it's more like a 43, 44%, you know, depending. But either way you slice it, that's only if you add the additional, you know, the additional sale to it. If you don't, they're still getting 30% off, but you're making full price, which is huge. They also, as far as marketing, they have celebrity partnerships. I'm not sure if you've all seen it, but the recent one for holidays was with Jennifer Love Hewitt. She put out her. Yep, she put out her maker place little wish list, I guess you would call it. There's media partnerships. So they had the Purewow best of maker place seller influencers like Abby Romeo. She focuses with the neurodivergent crowd. And then they do all the paid media, you know, which is Google, Facebook, Instagram, all of that is free for us sellers, which again is a huge difference than other platforms. There's a lot.
- [27:06]
A
Well, that does explain the millions of visitors per month. That's, that is. I'm so, so like plot twist. I'm so excited about this guys, because as many of you know, I'm getting ready to reopen my physical product shop on Etsy selling laser engraved items And I'm going to be putting it on Maker Place as well. So I'm going to be able to report back to you what happens, what my experience is. I hope a whole bunch of you will do it with me, but I want to be able to provide content for it. But like you, Carolyn, you've got me so much more excited because I didn't. I figured, okay, I'll get a couple extra sales, maybe a month. But now it sounds like with what they're doing, it could really be a whole separate stream of income that's comparable to, if not exceeds Etsy's because of.
- [27:51]
B
The competition factor, 100%. I mean, what I've done in the past year on Michaels is probably, I don't know, actually triple what I did on Etsy this past year.
- [28:05]
A
Oh, my gosh. Oh. Financially, wow. It just sounds like they're doing everything they can to get us the traffic, to get us the support, and to just. To really differentiate. I'm just like, what even. What even? Overload.
- [28:20]
B
Doesn't it?
- [28:21]
A
I am a little bit. I am a little bit. And you know what it takes. That's not easy to do all the time. Hey. Hey. You guys coming in hot with a pro tip. Are you ready? Do you use special fonts, graphics, SVGs, or other digital goods to create your products or run your Etsy business? You need Creative Fabrica. So for years in my shop, I walked that fine line of either using stock fonts and graphics that were right there on Canva, and I had a ton of trouble differentiating myself because, let's be honest, everyone else was using them, too. Or I had to go invest a ton of money, sometimes hundreds of dollars, to buy them direct from a designer so I could create something extra unique and stunning. Right? And don't even get me started about the whole factor of making sure I had a commercial use license so that I could use it for business. It was a whole, whole nother expense and hassle, to be honest with you. But I have since found a better way, and I'm letting you in on the secret. Okay. Enter Creative Fabrica. You guys, getting a membership to Creative Fabrica has been a game changer for me, okay? I've literally saved thousands of dollars. I'm able to create faster because I no longer have to scour the Internet for what I need. It's very convenient. Not to mention, I don't have to wait for my budget to allow for a new digital asset before I can create something new. I have this membership. I can just access it whenever I want. So what is it? Creative Fabrica is a website where you can access unlimited digital goods for just $9.99 a month. Like, $9.99. My jaw drops because this is an insane deal because everything comes with a commercial license as well, which means you're allowed to use them legally for profit. And I have to chuckle because this is. This is less than I used to pay for just one font before. Y'all, like, $9 and 99 cents for access. Okay. They have over 6 million fonts, graphics, and other digital resources that you will have full access to at any time. It's essentially like. Like, to be honest, this is like the top Etsy seller's best kept secret that you are now privy to. Welcome to the family. Did I mention you belong here? You belong here. And on top of that, Creative Fabrica. So they discovered this podcast. They reached out to me, and they were like, Lizzie, we want to offer your audience, like, a special. A special little perk. I'm just like, well, we love that. Tell us what it is. So now you guys can get one month free. You can get a free trial for up to 10 downloads, and you can test drive it and see if it's a good fit for you. Like, I. I literally pay my own membership. I love it. So if nothing else, like, take a free trial, stock up on some fresh stuff for free. Thank you, Creative Fabrica. And if you love the service as much as I do, it's just $9.99 per month to keep it going. And you can also cancel at any time, no questions asked. I love that. I love it when they do that. So if you want to jump in on the sweet deal, just go to howtosellyourstuff.com creative again, that's howtosellyourstuff.Com creative and you can grab that free trial. I'm so excited you guys to share this with you because, oh, this is like one of those pieces to the puzzle that can just change everything. It can just up the whole game. So just like, let me know how it goes. Okay. Can you. You know, on Etsy we have, like, Etsy ads. And so, like, I can. I can put money ad spend behind my thing to get it, like at the top of the first page. Are they running that yet?
- [31:50]
B
So they don't have on site or like, on site, I guess you would call it inside marketing on site ads yet. But in my opinion, like, you can run a sale. Like I had mentioned before, if you're in that professional plan, they you have more opportunities where they will just, you know, promote your products for you on their page. So half the time, like, I didn't even know at first. I was just on my laptop one day and I was logging on to I don't even know what. I just turned my laptop on and right on my Yahoo. You know the news page that pops up and that little thing that scrolls across with all the pictures and ads and articles.
- [32:30]
A
Yes.
- [32:31]
B
And I'm like, I had to take a second glance. I'm like, wait. And then I had to hit the back button. I'm like, that's my rock art there. Like, I had no idea.
- [32:40]
A
On Yahoo.
- [32:41]
B
Yeah, I had no idea. Screenshot, Screenshot. Taking pictures and everything. I'm like, oh, my God, that's so crazy. And then I had the same thing happen. I was like scrolling on Instagram or Facebook and next thing I know, like, it was a maker place by Michael's ad and sure enough, my products were there. I'm like, screenshot, screenshot. I'm like, oh, my gosh, Everyone, check this out. You know, like, it's so cool to see your work being broadcast to Michael's. And you know, if you shop at Michael's, you love Michaels. Everybody loves Michaels.
- [33:10]
A
Absolutely. Yeah.
- [33:11]
B
So, but seeing like your hard work on, like your favorite store like that or just randomly, I mean, it is a crazy feeling, I'll tell you that much. And I always think that my mom always wanted to open up her own craft business and she passed away before she could. So I always think that every time I see that stuff, my mom's up in heaven. Like, yeah, get him, girl. You know, like, good for you.
- [33:33]
A
You know, she gets to celebrate it with you. Like, it's her win too. That's actually me. That's so special. Are you having fun with the. Are you selling laser engraving things too? Is that going well?
- [33:42]
B
So I am doing the laser engraving and cutting things. I actually, I only have a few of those on my makerplace shop right now because my rock art part of my maker place business was so crazy busy that I didn't have the time to upload all of it. So that's actually this next week's agenda is to crank out and get all of that more of it listed online. This within the next.
- [34:08]
A
Carolyn, you and I are going to be texting buddies for the next several months about this, and we're going to be testing it out.
- [34:12]
B
This is going to be competitors and be like, oh, not at all.
- [34:15]
A
There's no, not at all there's so much room at the table. We'll just make sure we do totally different things and then we'll just like tell each other what's working. But okay, so here's something that I really depend on with Etsy that I'm. I'm guessing is there, are there any third party tools yet? Like do you know what I'm talking about? Like ever be or E Rank that we have on Etsy that tells us what people are searching for. I mean the more I think about it, they don't even need it because you're not. People are not searching on the MakerPlace platform, they're searching on Google and that's being sent out. But I want to make sure I'm using the right keywords. Like how have you been going about the SEO?
- [34:47]
B
So you can actually on MakerPlace like you can search for anything specific just like on Etsy or that. Right. I could log on there and look for a laser engraved wood box if I wanted to. So that is still the same where you could do the searches like that. As far as Erank or any of those like out third party companies, there are none on there actually I did kind of offer that as a suggestion that you know, that would be really great like any sort of partnerships, whether it's shipping supplies or whatever it may be we've talked about, you know, kind of that's a.
- [35:19]
A
Would be. I'm friends with the guy at Everbee, he'd be glad to write that program. I can absolutely make that connection today.
- [35:24]
B
That would be a huge, you know, just like having those third party ideas. But currently that is not available. Okay, but they do have so like and I'm going to grab my phone just for one second. So when you look at your screen page they have like a performance overview which lists your sales, your units sold orders, your store rating, product ratings, your favorites. People can favorite your items and then they also, you know, you can do right now your stats. It's the past week, the past 30 days, past year, all time. But it also that's for your products. And that's another difference that I want to at some point talk about. It's not just your products that you're selling. You can also have get paid for like if you wanted to do a how to, you know and demonstrate like instructions you could put that on there on how to make this or that. And you can provide classes to people, you know.
- [36:14]
A
Oh my gosh.
- [36:15]
B
Your class with someone or open like tutorials.
- [36:19]
A
Oh my gosh.
- [36:20]
B
Yep. So you can have people sign up to do like an in store class and you get paid to do all of that as well. And they have the stats for those also on your, your page they also do. You can see what your keywords are, you know, like the top searches and that. It's not as detailed as like an Etsy or anything because they, you know, as they're working out all of the kinks, they're prioritizing the most important, of course. So they are on there, you can see them and the stats, it's, you know, you can go right into the report section and see all of it. Like I said, what you're saying is.
- [36:56]
A
They'Re telling you how the words you're using are performing. Right. They're not telling you what your words to use. So when you went and you created your maker place, did you just kind of copy and paste your titles that worked on Etsy?
- [37:07]
B
No, I did not. Okay. I, it's similar, but again, like on Etsy, I feel like you have to add a little bit more into the title than you do on Make Replace. Yeah. So you could be pretty generic. I mean, not too generic because people, again, those are keywords, right. That's what people are searching for. So you have your long tags, right. And the short tags. You want it to be specific, but you don't have to do where you have like, you know, you see on Etsy, some people have like a thousand commas or breaks in the words.
- [37:39]
A
Yeah, we have to miles long.
- [37:42]
B
And people are like, what the heck does that even mean? You don't really have to do that on there. Like so for my rock art, it'll say like custom family portrait rock art, you know, or something like that. You can keep it simple, but you still have that section for your tags and all of the different attributes that you want to add. The more you add to that stuff, like any other SEO, right, the better it is, the easier it is to find your product. But you could see like if I pulled mine up now, the keywords, you know, pebble art, rock art, home decor, wall hanging, this or that. You know, it's crazy.
- [38:13]
A
You can rank for home decor like that. Like on Etsy that was over two decks, like, I don't know, the year after Etsy opened, you couldn't rank for home decor anymore. I mean, they've improved the algorithm and now you just start in the micro niches. You rank there, then they kick you up into the next one so you can get there, but it's just different. Okay, so here's what I'm going to do. Tell me if you think this is a bad idea, Carolyn, but I just want to give people an idea if they're listening. And again, I am going to be launching this. I'm going to be coming back to you guys with all the secrets I'm going to be. You know, if it works the way I think it might based on only because of what Carolyn has told me, there will be lots more content in the future. But what I am going to do is since they are using. They're. They're doing paid advertising on Google, Facebook and Instagram. I am going to use keywords everywhere on Google. I'm going to do like Google and use Google itself to figure out what my titles should be rather than just try to guess. Because that was my big mistake when I first started Etsy and it made nothing sell, was that I was using words people were not searching for, because it's what I called it. So I want someone other than me, I want Google to tell me what people are searching for, right?
- [39:17]
B
And like, for. For my rock art, you know, I deal with that. You know, some people call it pebble art, some call it rock art, some call it stone art. You know, it depends where in the country you're located. On Etsy, it's globally, you know, so it's a matter of figuring out which, for me, what are they searching more? And I know I can look it up and see that pebble art was searched more than the rock art, you know, and then there's the stone art. But I'm surprised that people search for stone art. You know, I never even thought of putting that one in there, but they do.
- [39:48]
A
It's so. It's so interesting. That's why it's helpful to have the tools. So hopefully we can get that down the road. But. But I really think it makes sense right now. They're. They are. Most of the traffic is not coming from within Maker Place. It's coming from outside or it's coming from the Michaels community. Not necessarily going on to Maker Place and doing the search. I never realized how squeaky my chair is. That needs to be remedied. I know you guys wanted to know that. Do you. Okay, like, last question, and then I will. I'm taking too much of your time, Carolyn, because we chatted before. What about? Do you. Do you have any sense of how the. Oh, did they tell us that about the algorithm? Do we know how the algorithm works at all? Oh, you kind of addressed that. You Said the tags is the biggest thing.
- [40:27]
B
Yep. Your tags, your title, the attributes. They don't, you know, I don't really know the exact details of how that algorithm is I guess how it works more so than as of right now like the tags, the listing details, attributes, those items there. I really don't know any hidden secrets on that one.
- [40:49]
A
No, it's not a mystery.
- [40:52]
B
You know, it's always.
- [40:53]
A
It is but, but again like really it's the algorithm we need to be concerned about is Google or Facebook slash Instagram because all of the traffic is being sent. It's so interesting. It's not a closed vacuum like it is on Etsy and I know Etsy's doing off site ads and things like that, but we almost don't want to be featured in them because we don't want to get charged 15%, you know. So it's like this whole aha.
- [41:14]
B
That's why Marketplace is so great because you don't pay for those off site ads and you see it it everywhere.
- [41:21]
A
I'm very, very excited to play with it. Very excited to be buddies with you. I know there was one other thing they wanted to mention because they get a lot of questions about it the folks that I had emailed with and it was the question they get a lot of times is what rights will MakerPlace have to the content I post?
- [41:38]
B
Yes. So this one.
- [41:39]
A
Why is that coming up? Why does that I'm that so interesting to me. I would never ask that. I asked it on social media, but not.
- [41:44]
B
I would never ask it either. However, it's just, I feel like it was one of those snowball things. Like one person read something and misread it and then it turned into this massive snowball. So you retain sole ownership rights to everything that you create. Everything. Michaels does not own it. They do not claim ownership, they don't do anything with it. It is 100% yours. What you do sign though when you're. It's a non exclusive license and you are granting Makeover Michael's Maker Place the right to market for you the marketing side of it to drive that awareness, the engagement of your store. But as far as your actual products can, you know, all of that is concerned you own, you are the sole owner of it. It's just like you know when I, a couple of years ago one of my pieces was in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine and it, it, it's almost verbatim like you sign a million more forms for that but it was, they retain. It's this Non exclusive license that they could use it to promote your products, your store on their marketing, you know, on their platforms for you. So it actually is a huge benefit for you because again, you're giving them the right. They could put it in print, they could put it online, they could put it in a commercial.
- [43:08]
A
Okay, we do the same thing with Etsy.
- [43:11]
B
That's what I want, right?
- [43:12]
A
I don't want Etsy the same permission. There's nothing weird about that to me at all.
- [43:15]
B
There's nothing. I just feel like that was one of those, like I said, a snowball effect where one person read it wrong and then next thing you know, they convinced everyone that.
- [43:28]
A
Hey there, how to sell your stuff, fam. Real quick, I want to make sure you guys know about my most popular free resource that's waiting for you over on my website. Seriously, thousands of people have downloaded this puppy because it's so packed with meaty tips to help you get more sales in your Etsy shop. So first of all, just a little background or this won't mean much to you at all. But in case you don't know my story, when I first started my etsy shop in 2016, I had been blogging for a while and had built a decent following on Facebook. We did a nursery reveal for some DIY reclaimed wood signs that my husband built and we painted with homemade stencils. So cringeworthy now. And a few of my followers were like, oh my gosh, those are so cute. They're so rustic. Where can I buy those? And so, as you can imagine, the wheels were just turning in my entrepreneurial little mind with my baby. I wasn't going to be able to continue the social media consulting work that I've been doing because I was constantly on these team calls and needing to do hours and hours of deep, focused work and it just wasn't going to fly. And I really wanted to be present with my daughter. So that's how I ended up on Etsy and I decided to try and sell reclaimed wood signs. It was the height of the farmhouse craze. Just imagine, like, thank you to the lovely Joanna Gaines. Everything, farmhouse, everything, painted wood. And I thought with my blog followers, I might just have a bit of a leg up. But I was wrong. I was dead wrong. I put in the hours, I got my first round of products ready, photographed, meticulously put together, my listings clicked publish and absolutely nothing happened. And I think I made $60 total in the first few months because of my blog followers. And then it was like absolute crickets. So like you may feel if you're just getting started and not seeing results yet. I was confused and definitely a bit discouraged. I for sure thought that I was onto something and I didn't know at all why it wasn't working. But the thing about a true blooded entrepreneur is that we ultimately see business like a puzzle to solve, right? Like we find ways to make it fun and we're a little bit stubborn and determined to just figure it out. As I always like to say, thanks to the book and phrase coined by Marie Forleo, everything is figureoutable. And so I dug my heels in and started studying everything I could find about making sales on Etsy. I studied the competition, I poured through best selling listings all over the Internet. I took an Etsy course and I started testing things and lo and behold, by about six months, months I was making more and more and more sales. Like I just keep learning and tweaking and growing and testing until it started to work. And I built my monthly income to $6,000 plus per month. Like there were even months when I would hit 10, 11 or 12K and it was the best feeling ever. Like if you can just kind of put yourself in that moment where like you figure it out and you start really making the money. So full circle back to that free resource that started this whole conversation. When I moved into the Etsy coaching space, I sat down and I wrote out everything that I had done to create results, like all the changes and tweaks I made that turned into more and more sales. And from that I wrote the first rendition of my Etsy course listings that sell. So I had somewhere to house like all of the details. And I created a free PDF outlining four major strategies I used so that I could help someone new or struggling to at least get started without having to invest in a course. Right? So that PDF is called the four strategies I use to grow my Etsy shop from 25 to to 6,000 plus per month. And it is by far my most popular, most downloaded freebie. You can absolutely check it out. The link is in the show notes for you and I hope it gets your wheels turning and helps you start to move the needle in your Etsy shop in the direction of your goals. So grab it today and I cannot wait to hear about your takeaways. What else do you think we need to know, Carolyn? Like in closing, what do you think? What would you know? What piece of advice would you share or final thoughts would you share?
- [47:16]
B
You know, I think that like I said before, if you have the patience to deal with, you know, the little kinks. And again, makerplace being a new platform, there are not nearly as many kinks as you would think there were. But it's the time to get into it. I mean, my shop is living proof that my business could go from, you can go from zero to a million in the matter of, you know, a year. I mean, it's insane. And I thank my lucky star is every single day that makerplace and I kind of crossed paths when we did because it's been a total game changer for my career, for my business, for my life in general. And I love it. And I'm actually part of that. Like I said before, this professional plan, I'm gearing up this Saturday. I'm actually going to be selling in store at my local Michaels. So.
- [48:12]
A
So you'll set up a booth there?
- [48:14]
B
Yep. Once a month it's available. If you're on the pro plan, you, you know, they invite you to do it. So. But once a month I sell in store for a few hours at my local Michaels. And it's really cool. I built really great relationships with the people at Michael's at my local store. They all know me, they have my cell phone number. But it's cool to meet the clients, you know, the customers that come in and out. And it's just more market. I mean, it's great, you know, plus I get to go shopping.
- [48:43]
A
There's that. Yes. Then you can go spend all your profit on. Oh my gosh, it's so dangerous.
- [48:48]
B
Which is another thing I forgot to mention Lizzie and I want to mention that before I forget it. You know, I get most, almost all of my supplies I get from Michael's. But that's the other thing. You get discounts with Michael's and Michael's Pro when you're on maker Place. So you get really? Yep. And it's even so great because I know like if I go to my Michael's store and they're out of something that I need, I can hop online to the Michaels website, order what I want, have it shipped directly to my house, which saves anyone in this small business, like what we do being a maker, those couple of hours are a complete game changer. Like I know for myself, in the matter of the three hours it would take me to shop around for the best price, to drive to the store, to drive back, stop and get a coffee on the way, whatever it may be, I could have created three, four, five, six more pieces. So I have it shipped to my house. But if it's sold out in store, I hop on Michael's website. And there is so much stuff on Michael's website that is not that you don't see in every location that I'll sit there and, you know, I'll be. It'll be a Sunday night and I'm on Michael's ordering my supplies, and I'm like, I have never seen that. Like, I had no idea that there could be like eight pages of mod Podge stuff. No clue. But now my brain is spinning in a million different directions. Like, oh, mod Podge glitter. I should try that. What can I use that for? And then I'm just spinning off into other tangents in that. So having that extra discount with Michaels and Michaels Pro, I mean, that's huge, you know, and it just sends your creative brain going a million more directions.
- [50:29]
A
I'm really glad you shared that. That's actually a. That is a really big deal in the physical, handmade space. The way the supplies piece was a challenge. Whether it was finding the best deal, finding it in stock. Just knowing that they're partnering with you, it sounds. It just sounds like they're partnering with you on every level. And they're trying to be like, what Etsy has stopped being. Not again, no shade on Etsy. I'm. I am a digital product, slash print on demand person. Like, I get it. I'm also physical products, though. And I loved that feeling on Etsy back in the day of just the. Like, I'm getting something really carefully curated and made by someone just like Carolyn. And you know what? Kudos to Michaels because I'll be honest with you, when I heard Michaels Maker place, I'm just like, oh, and we think Etsy's corporate. This is Michael's.
- [51:15]
B
Right?
- [51:16]
A
And yet I stand corrected. Because everything you have said and frankly, my personal experience interacting with the executives, it is so not corporate. It is so caring for the individual artist. Just trying to create more beauty in the world, trying to create a space for artists again, trying to make it human. So I stand corrected. I'm really, really, really glad. Like, I am pleasantly surprised.
- [51:41]
B
And it is. I totally agree. It is not at all what I was expecting when I got on there. Just that the team, you know, that team behind the scenes that people don't even. You would think, like, on Etsy, we don't know who's running the Facebook groups. We don't know who the people are in charge making these decisions. We don't know any of those people. And again, I'm on Etsy, so I can, you know, kind of speak knowledgeably on that. But the Michaels, I mean, they are so solid and so down to earth. And like I said, they're just in those trenches with you. And, you know, they know that it's a new site. They know that there's kinks. They know how important it is to keep it, you know, that respect the handmade. They know the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that we put into it.
- [52:25]
A
And this is our brutal.
- [52:27]
B
It's right. It's our passion, it's our livelihood. You know, it's. It's. It's like a big family, you know, that I never, ever thought I would have. And now I feel like I just owe them so much for everything that they've done for me, you know, in my career and my business. But, I mean, I. I just love those guys. I think they're so great, and they just work so hard to improve it. And it's come leaps and bounds in such a short time. You know, it's just patience.
- [52:56]
A
It sounds that way.
- [52:57]
B
And even Etsy, I mean, Etsy's had its kinks over the years. I remember when I first got on Etsy, I'm like, what the heck is this? Why am I getting all these spam messages? Well, now they have a spam folder, you know, and sometimes normal messages go to that spam folder, which is a whole other issue on its own. But, you know, but certain little kinks like that, every. Every platform is going to have that in the beginning, actually forever. There's always going to be kinks. But that's every website, that's every cell phone, that's every laptop, that's every appliance in your house, car, whatever it may be. There's always upgrades, always things that are changing and getting better. You can't expect this perfect thing to come out of nowhere without any sort of issues. So it's just a matter of being patient and knowing that they have your back and they're going to fix it, you know, and make everything better. But as it is right now, I am Team Michaels all the way.
- [53:52]
A
We're going to have to have you back, Carolyn. And especially as I get into it, we'll have so many more conversations we can have, and this has been. It's been a delight for me. Thank you so much for being willing to get out of your comfort zone and come on camera with your adorable self and chat with me. You all need to go check out the YouTube video. She's the cutest thing you've ever seen.
- [54:12]
B
Oh thank you so.
- [54:15]
A
Thank you so much. And I know this is your probably you may not have even listened to the podcast, but we have a specific sign off. So again, thank you so much Carolyn. Thank you all for listening and hanging out with us. I hope you're as excited as I am. I'm looking forward to your DMs and emails. And since we are especially handmade until next week, go make something awesome. Thanks you guys. Take care. And that's a wrap on this episode of how to sell your stuff on Etsy. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. If you're looking for more resources, head on over to howtosellyourstuff.com where you'll find podcast show notes, all the links from today's episode, the blog, courses, coach coaching, and more. If this episode was helpful to you, awesome. The greatest compliment I can receive from you is a rate, review and subscribe on this podcast. Not only will it allow us to connect again on a future episode, it lets me know I'm providing you with value and helps other people find this content more easily. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support. Have a great day and see you next time.