Ep 183 | Free, Underrated Local Resources That Can Help You Grow Your Business -- with Preston Cox

Summary

Podcast Summary: Ep 183 | Free, Underrated Local Resources That Can Help You Grow Your Business -- with Preston Cox

Release Date: May 29, 2025

Host: Lizzie Smiley
Guest: Preston Cox

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Introduction

In this episode of "How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy," host Lizzie Smiley welcomes Preston Cox, a successful Etsy seller and Chamber of Commerce manager from Stamford, Texas. The conversation centers around leveraging local resources to grow an Etsy business, providing listeners with actionable insights and practical advice.

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Preston’s Business Update

Preston shares his entrepreneurial journey, highlighting significant growth over the past six months. Since his last appearance in November 2024, his Etsy shop has surged from 100 to over 600 sales, averaging $2,000 in monthly gross revenue.

Preston (04:30): "When I was at 100 sales on my Etsy shop, things took off with the patches. Now, six months later, I've achieved over 600 sales and am averaging about $2,000 a month."

He’s in the process of expanding his business by acquiring a local embroidery shop, aiming to diversify his product line and enhance his customer base.

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The Importance of Local Resources

Preston emphasizes the pivotal role local resources play in scaling an Etsy shop. He advocates for Etsy sellers to view their businesses as legitimate enterprises deserving of the same support and resources as brick-and-mortar businesses.

Preston (17:06): "As an Etsy seller, you are a business. Regardless of if it's a side hustle or a full-time gig, you should have access to resources, grants, connections, and networking just like every other business in your town."

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Exploring Local Resources: Chambers of Commerce and Development Corporations

Preston delves into the functions and benefits of local Chambers of Commerce (CoC) and Development Corporations (DevC). He explains how these organizations advocate for businesses, provide grants, and offer networking opportunities that can significantly aid Etsy sellers.

Preston (18:02): "Chamber of Commerce is an advocacy group for businesses in towns and cities. They focus on supporting local businesses, promoting tourism, and providing resources like grants and networking events."

He shares personal experiences of how his role as Chamber Manager has facilitated his business growth through grants and infrastructural support.

Preston (21:23): "They helped me purchase my big laser for my laser engraving business. They saw potential and supported me with an infrastructure grant."

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Additional Resources: Small Business Development Centers and SCORE

Beyond CoC and DevC, Preston highlights other invaluable resources such as Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and SCORE Mentors. These platforms offer free or low-cost services like business planning, bookkeeping assistance, and personalized mentoring from experienced business professionals.

Preston (30:58): "Small Business Development Centers are everywhere and provide free resources. SCORE Mentors pair you with knowledgeable individuals who can guide you through various aspects of your business."

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The Role of Customer Service and Community Connection

Preston discusses how local engagement enhances customer service and business reputation. Operating within a small community necessitates impeccable customer service to avoid negative feedback on platforms like community Facebook pages.

Preston (38:12): "In a small town, I want to have impeccable customer service. I can't afford to get blasted on the community Facebook page because of poor customer service."

This community-centric approach has taught him to align his products with local demands, such as transitioning from leather patch hats to embroidered alternatives based on customer feedback.

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Sales Tax and Community Benefits

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around understanding and appreciating sales tax. Preston explains how sales tax collected from Etsy sales benefits local infrastructure and community projects.

Preston (46:00): "Sales tax is an expense for you, but it's going to your community, helping with roads, schools, and local development projects."

He encourages sellers to view sales tax positively, recognizing it as a contribution to the community’s growth and sustainability.

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Networking and Collaboration

The conversation underscores the importance of networking and building relationships within the local business ecosystem. Preston suggests collaborating with local businesses, such as partnering with gyms to sell digital products or leveraging community events to showcase products.

Preston (32:53): "Could you partner with your local gym to sell your guides at their lobbies? There are so many options if you open your field of vision."

This collaborative mindset not only broadens the customer base but also fosters a supportive business community.

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Final Thoughts and Information on Connecting

As the episode concludes, Preston and Lizzie reinforce the value of utilizing local resources and building strong community ties to sustain and scale an Etsy business. Preston provides his contact information for listeners seeking personalized advice.

Preston (51:17): "You can find me on Instagram at @277creative or visit my website at 277creative.com. I'm always open to helping local businesses grow."

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Key Takeaways

1. Leverage Local Organizations: Joining Chambers of Commerce and engaging with Development Corporations can provide essential support, including grants and networking opportunities.
2. Utilize Free Resources: Platforms like Small Business Development Centers and SCORE Mentors offer invaluable free or low-cost assistance in areas like business planning and bookkeeping.
3. Emphasize Customer Service: In small communities, maintaining excellent customer service is crucial to building a positive reputation and avoiding negative feedback.
4. Understand Sales Tax: Viewing sales tax as a community investment rather than a burden can shift perspectives and highlight its role in local development.
5. Network and Collaborate: Building relationships with other local businesses can open doors to new opportunities and expand your customer base.

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Notable Quotes

• Preston (04:30): "When I was at 100 sales on my Etsy shop, things took off with the patches. Now, six months later, I've achieved over 600 sales and am averaging about $2,000 a month."
• Preston (17:06): "As an Etsy seller, you are a business. Regardless of if it's a side hustle or a full-time gig, you should have access to resources, grants, connections, and networking just like every other business in your town."
• Preston (18:02): "Chamber of Commerce is an advocacy group for businesses in towns and cities. They focus on supporting local businesses, promoting tourism, and providing resources like grants and networking events."
• Preston (46:00): "Sales tax is an expense for you, but it's going to your community, helping with roads, schools, and local development projects."
• Preston (32:53): "Could you partner with your local gym to sell your guides at their lobbies? There are so many options if you open your field of vision."

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Conclusion

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for Etsy sellers looking to expand their businesses by tapping into local resources. Preston Cox’s insights underscore the importance of community engagement, leveraging available resources, and maintaining a customer-centric approach to foster sustainable business growth.

For more information and resources discussed in this episode, visit howtosellyourstuff.com.

Transcript

[Lizzie Smiley]

Hey, my name is Lizzie 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 podcast. This is such a new, fun, exciting topic, especially for so many of you that are in the handmade space. But Preston is literally like rolling out the red carpet for everybody. Like handmade print on demand digital products. He has got suggestions for you where your local community can help you in a major way. This was so cool. I never would have thought of this without him. We love him so much. So before we get into that, I want to make sure that you know about the next live workshop coming up. If you're into the AI digital products, you like that semi passive income on Etsy. I have cracked the code for being able to create SVGs using AI, so found some great prompting tools to be able to prompt for it in the AI and then a super secret tool for converting them with the PNG that comes from the AI into a really high quality vector. I tried Photoshop, I tried Canva, I tried the usual suspects. They didn't work but I found a hack and I'm going to share it. So if you want to learn about selling SVGs, either individual files or bundles on Etsy, I can teach you how to do it with AI. It's going to be Thursday, June 5th from 7 to 8:30pm of course there will be a recording. If you can't join us live. I love when you can but you'll be able to get access to that within 24 hours and I'd love for you to come. There's a coupon code SAVE50 to save $50 on that workshop. I hope you will join us. It's going to be a riot. So let me tell you about Preston. In case you haven't heard one of his podcasts before or if you have let you know, the amazing his business is just taking off more and more. So Preston is a small town kid who loves supporting the local economy. He lives in Stamford, Texas and his husband to Sarah and fur dad to three dogs and a cat. In the past three years he served as chamber of commerce manager in his hometown, helping small and local businesses grow and succeed. He also has a rapidly growing laser engraving business with a niche in making locally themed leather patch hats. Since we last spoke to him in November 2024, his Etsy shop now has over 600 sales. He's just blown up and is grossing $2,000 average monthly sales. He's in the midst of a big transition to expand his local business from side hustle to full fledged business, acquiring a small local embroidery shop to add his ever growing product line. So let's chat with Preston. We're going to get the full update. He always is full of tips, especially for those of us selling handmade products. And he is going to teach us all about how the local resources, chamber of commerce, etc. Can really, really help us with amazing, amazing resources for our business. So please help me welcome Preston to the podcast. Preston. Hey, welcome back to the podcast.

[Preston]

It is always a pleasure.

[Lizzie Smiley]

You're the one who keeps suggesting that Preston, it's your fault.

[Preston]

I'm trying to. I don't know if you have a counter of returned guests, but I'm trying to take the lead.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Oh, I'm, I'm sure you've got it. Well, you know what? Page holes might have you. Yeah, but you know what? You're easier to nail down than that busy lady. She's a, she is a boss. She's amazing. No, but it's so fun. We got the best rapport, we have the best conversations. And so when you suggested this one, I was like, oh, some people are really gonna love. Like this is actually gonna change the game for some people. But we have to back up because dude, you've been, you've been killing it. And guys, you've gotta go back and listen to the prep past episodes with Preston. I mean just old episodes. I'm gonna write them down, they'll be linked in the show notes. But like Preston was my very first ever coaching client. Like when I didn't even know how to coach other than I had just had a success. He was the first person who trusted me. And so. And now here we are. It's so fun. But you have to tell us. You came on the podcast last November because your business, you like hit your stride. You had been doing, you've been doing okay, but then you were like, whoa, no, now it's actually working. And then, since then, it's gone next level. So since November, what's happened? What's new?

[Preston]

Yeah, I think when we came on, when I was. Did the show last, that episode, I was at like right at 100 sales on my Etsy shop. Things took off with the patches. I sell, sell locally patched hats. It couldn't get the hats to sell on Etsy, but the patches themselves started selling and spoiler alert, it went really, really well. And so now we're what, six, seven months? I even think in that podcast you said in six months you'll be ready to, you'll be booming. So, yeah, I mean, I've done six months, had over, over 600 sales now averaging about 2k a month gross revenue out of that, getting ready to expand the business even locally, which is kind of cool.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Tell the story. Tell the story.

[Preston]

Yeah, so I got a call from a local shop here recently. There's a lady who runs an embroidery shop out of her, out of her house. She has a couple embroidery machines, pretty broad base of local clients, and called me and asked me if I'd be interested in buying her out basically to grow my business. And around here, especially local sales, a lot of folks prefer the embroidered hats and embroidered gear as opposed to leather patch hats. So it's going to open up my customer base even more, I think. And so by adding a few more products and being able to add some more local revenue. And I really have been wanting to sell cloth patches, custom cloth patches that people can, in the same vein as my leather patch hats. To actually make the patches custom put the heat adhesive backing on them so people can apply them at their. On their own speed or whatever. I think that's gonna be cool. So I'm gonna learn how to do. I'm already learning how to do hats. We had a little training session this last week or so and I'm going out next week to go do some more hats and some patches. And yeah, it's, it is crazy scary. And I haven't owned a business like this in a while. Like actually have overhead and committing all of my salary. You know, I'm going for it and so it's going to be a grind for sure. So hopefully I'm not going to embarrass myself, commit six months and be like, I really need to do a podcast to sell some stuff. Please, please.

[Lizzie Smiley]

We all know. Well, I guess. I guess, yes, you have gotten some business out of it, but you could. Y' all don't come on the podcast to get sales. These are your competitors. We don't even go there.

[Preston]

Don't ever say never.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Never. I know. Well, no, actually, you've made some pretty. That's the amazing thing about this community is everybody who comes on the podcast at least makes some friends, which is really, really special to me. Like, what more there is. There is nothing more important when you're in business than having people you can talk to who understand what you're going through. Not just empathetic, wonderful friends. That's great. Or spouse. But, like, people who are in it. I mean, now, these days, my best friends, I've never met in person. You know Jenny from the shop out in Greece? She's. She's like my little ride or die. And then Heather, Stud, she. We're on Marco Polo every single day. Like, we're doing funnel calls and stuff like that. These girls. There's others, too. I mean, there's like. Bailey has been great. There's been so many. Angel. Passive income Angel. I have to remember, they're like. They're like fake names, right? To tell you guys, try not to slip up with their real names. I'm the only one. I'm like, here it is, guys. It's Lizzie Smiley. But anyway, you have to have those people around you, so that's so fun. And also, I've just talked myself in such a circle, I forgot what I was going to ask. Oh, I know. So tell. You have to tell us, Preston. You've had a slow burn, right? And now, I mean, since November. You were at a thousand a month in November, and you were, like, dancing. You were so happy. You've doubled that. I have two questions. First, I want to know, do you feel like you know what you need to know to scale right now? Like, do you feel equipped?

[Preston]

Yeah, I'm working on it. I feel pretty good about it. And I think to scale, this is going to sound funny. To scale, I need to stay in my lane. Does that make sense? Because. Because it's really, really tempting right now with going into embroidery to say, okay, what can I sell on Etsy that's embroidered, you know, everything. I can embroider everything. And so I'm looking for stuff around my house to embroider. Towels, rags, Shirts, hats, beanies. And I'm just like, I. And you can get really overwhelmed with all that. And so I think, I think how it's going to work out. And in my mind, I've been working on. I have a little notebook here. I've been working on some stuff. The Etsy shop is going to stay patches as much as it can. I'm going to do some, like, laser things, like some digital files, some bookmarks, and like, other, like, little laser goods that I make out of my stuff that I get my patches from, like the leatherette that I have. So I'm still going to toy around with that. But like embroidered patches I think are going to be the game for Etsy. Making custom embroidery patches and then having hats available on Etsy. It's been hard for me to break into that vein and I don't really know why I need to kind of go back through and kind of adjust my SEO, because those listings are a little bit old. So I need to get kind of a handle on why the hats don't sell. But that would exponentially grow my shop to add hats, I think. But the temptation to embroider everything or to laser everything to do all the laser goods is really, really strong. So I'm trying to focus. I think what I'm going to have to do is just really focus. That's going to be. That's going to be the juice of this. I think now locally I'm going to be able to do some, some creative embroidery stuff, creative leather stuff, because it's a little bit easier for me to turn that thing over here locally, but online I'm going to have to stay centered. I just don't want to get too broad and then sell to everybody and then end up not selling to nobody.

[Lizzie Smiley]

So what I love about you is your patience. Like, this is. This is the thing. And I think I said this recently, but I'm going to say it again because I just feel led to, you know, people will DM me on Instagram and they'll be like, I just lost my job. I am in desperate. I've got to make this work right now. Like, this has got to work right now. Tell me what to do and I'll do it. I know Etsy can work, you know, this kind of. This kind of talk. And I'm just like, okay, I hear you. I have been you. I completely understand. And I'm probably going to surprise you because right now I could just sell you a bunch of resources that would be really helpful and educational. To you. But instead, if you are in a tight spot, Etsy is not. Is not the play right now. Maybe on the side instead, go drive for Uber eats. You want to be home with your kids? Start an in home daycare. Bridge the gap of the, of the really desperate tight time with something that is more tangible. Because as you know better than anyone, Preston, and me too, Etsy takes time and it doesn't. Things don't. Oh, and it changes. So you're in this constant shuffle. So I think you're so smart to not be like, I'm gonna go guns a blazing. Everything out here, I'm gonna throw it now. And what will happen is you'll test, you'll. You'll look at your expenses and your profit and you'll be like, I've got to make more. And you're like, all right, I'm gonna throw out some new products. I have to. To try to get. You know, there's gonna. Because then there's also gonna be seasonally ebbs and flows and. Yeah, right. So I really, really respect and appreciate your patience to just let it be a slow burn.

[Preston]

Yeah.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Preston]

I was gonna say it's a privilege position of mine right now to have that.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Right.

[Preston]

Because I have had other jobs that allowed me to do this work, and I realized that not everybody has that luxury.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Right.

[Preston]

So. And you know, we've worked hard to get ourselves out of debt. We don't have kids, we don't have big expenses. And so, you know, there is a lot of, like, hard work, luxury items that we have in terms of, like, lifestyle that we live, not having to pay. Pay the invisible man, you know, and so, yeah, my patience is strong in that I'm trying to take it slow a little bit because I don't want to over over step my or out kick my coverage, I guess is what they would say.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah.

[Preston]

In the same breath. Yeah. I mean, I know that some of this stuff is because of years of hard work on the other end, you know, of getting out of debt and making sure that I have my ducks in a row before I start doing some stuff.

[Lizzie Smiley]

I always like to say, like, people overestimate what they can do in six months and underestimate what they can do in two years. Do you know? You know what I mean? And I like this too, but. And the reason you're going to make it, Preston, isn't necessarily because this is the perfect idea. Although you are hitting trends, you're making really smart database choices, you're letting you're Letting your process teach you what to do next, but you're also willing to fail and pivot.

[Preston]

Yeah.

[Lizzie Smiley]

And that is a really key quality of a successful entrepreneur, because the reality is things will change just now. So I'm doing great with my digital product shop is actually doing so well. Stopped Print on Demand a long time ago because it's not my jam right now. Although I've debated now that my digital stuff's doing so well, opening Print on Demand again and working on that. But the physical product stuff that I've been trying to pick up again with Robby, I have struck out a few times now. Even me. I've made so much on Etsy. I know how it works. I know how to take pictures. I know how to. I'm still take mediocre pictures. I know how to write SEO. I know how to set up a listing. I know how to figure out what's trending. It doesn't always hit.

[Preston]

Yeah.

[Lizzie Smiley]

And so the reason that you're going to make it is because you have that quality of, oh, that didn't work. I'm going to try something different as opposed to, this doesn't work. This is. Etsy's too saturated. You know what I mean? You're just like, how can I look inward and what can I change and try? Yes, but how did you know you were ready to kind of push this full time? What inside of you said, all right, I'm at a point where I can take a calculated risk.

[Preston]

There's personal things happening in my life that were triggers for new chapters to happen. Stuff that we've been feeling in our guts, in our heart, about what we need to be doing. And so that was kind of already a little push from the universe. And then this call comes in. We're like, oh, I mean, it's hard to ignore it. And then I start. I've not actually, like, crunched numbers. Like, I've not sat down with a calculator and said, okay, this is how much it's going to cost me. Here's how much it's going to make me. But going off of what I know and what I've talked to people, I've asked locally, what people are wanting, how much work my mentor now has done in the past, all of the anecdotal data is adding up to be a substantial add to what I'm already doing. And you and I talked before. I think maybe in that first podcast, you were like, you got to get rid of something, man. Like, you got to go in.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Sorry, Pete.

[Preston]

Huge that was huge because, you know, I, yeah, I gotta, I gotta get in there and I gotta. I was reading something the other day, or maybe I was to a podcast. I can't remember who it was, but they were talking about like when you're saying yes to, to something, it's stealing the yes from the other thing.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yes.

[Preston]

If you're doing, if you're doing the yes that, that you don't really want to do, then it's a time theft and it's a creative theft. And so that, that really hit home for me. Like, okay, I've got a. I gotta hunker down and commit to this because I think I could do really well. You and I talked about the options that are out there and so I'm ready. Let's go. But yeah, I mean, it's scary. I sound really brave right now, but it's scary to. Because it's not, it's not like, not to downplay anything that like what digital shops are doing but there's no overhead really. Like you have, right?

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yes. Like no risk.

[Preston]

A couple of subscriptions and that's it, you know, from a digital shop. But for physical shops, as you well know, man, there's, there's some risk there. And when you're making stuff and there's. You got to really, really focus and you got to kind of know where your value is and what's going to hit because you don't want to waste your time because then your value starts going down and your profit margins go down and all that stuff. And then you have overhead and tools and consumables and all that that we got to factor into. So I got a whole room full.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Of boxes to prove your point.

[Preston]

Yeah, I got that. It's all going to play out and I've learned a lot of things just doing in the last six months what I'm doing. And so I'm excited. But yeah, it is crazy.

[Lizzie Smiley]

You'll have to keep us posted. But I have every confidence you're going to smash it. So like the whole catalyst for this recording that was suggested by you is so everyone heard. Last week I opened up a coaching group on school. It's a one time right now. Well, actually the early bird pricing is over at this point, but it's still very affordable to jump in there and you can ask questions anytime. I do monthly coaching call. I've got several coaches in there with different expertise to help answer questions. You should, you should tell them more about that, Preston. But you're in there as one of Our, as one of our experts, because I trust any advice you would give to anybody. And you threw out the suggestion of, hey, we should talk about the way that like there are local resources that can help Etsy sellers and that. I mean my, my brain exploded.

[Preston]

Yeah, I love being in there talking to folks. It's been really neat getting to meet some of the community and getting to talk. And the point that I was making, I just kind of popped in. I hope it's okay. Just like throwing stuff out there to.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Talk about the whole point. Plus, you're a moderator. Yes, please, I beg you to pop.

[Preston]

I have over the past three years served as a chamber of commerce manager here in my very small town. That's one of the, one of the real life jobs that I have and just through that have learned a lot about what it means to operate a business locally. And I was thinking about that and so I posted in the group, hey, just so you know, as an Etsy seller, you are a business. Regardless of if it's a side hustle or if it's full time gig, you're a business and you should have the accessibility that every other business in your town has to resources, to grants, to connections and networking. And a lot of times that happens locally at the Chamber of commerce level. And honestly, Lizzie, before I got into the position, I had no idea what the Chamber of Commerce was.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah. Talk about it, break it down for people. Because I'm sure.

[Preston]

Yeah. And if you never heard of it. So Chamber of commerce is a government, large government institution. You can search like chamber of commerce.gov, it's an advocacy for businesses. Well, in towns and cities and counties or whatever, there are groups of businesses that have come together in probably a nonprofit forum where they have a board, they usually have a director, they have folks who put on events. They have, they focus on tourism, they focus on supporting local businesses. And they exist in your town. Sometimes, depending on the size of your town or the accessibility of, may be very small. They may not have one at all. It may be there's a town close to us where it's just board members, just volunteers from the community. But most of the people who serve on the board are small business owners or small business managers or employees. And they're all advocating for your small business. My role as chamber manager is to promote the local economy, to help businesses succeed and to promote local tourism. And I do that in a variety of different ways. And so in my little small town, we have about 3,000 people. Last year we had 115 businesses on my chamber member role. Some of those were corporate businesses, you know, your Walmarts, your gas stations, your financial institutions, Edward Jones, Raymond James, those types of institutions. And then we helped incubate several small home businesses that are online sales. One of my good friends serves on the board. Me sells novelty mugs. I have another good friend who sells cookies locally retired, decided he wants to start on baked cookies. And so he sells cookies at our bakery or at our vendor market as his little home bakery. We launched my wife's little sourdough business for a little bit while she was kind of in between jobs as well and incubated that locally. And so the resources are available to you as a, as a community member because whether or not you know it and I think it probably it varies, I think state to state but at least in Texas, where I'm from, Etsy takes out my sales tax of my, my sales and those sales tax go to the city. There's our sales tax right here in Stanford, 8.25%, 6.25% of that goes to the state government. So things fixing things like, like it's supposed to be if the government's doing its job, it's fixing roads, it's funding education, is funding health care, it is providing resources that for small businesses statewide. And then the remainder of that here in Stanford in terms of sales tax goes to our roads, our schools, our hospital district. It goes a very small percent but it makes a substantial difference goes to our development corporation of Stanford which is kind of like a shared role for between me and the development Corp. Is another institution in town, another organization that helps businesses but they get like, I Forget it's like 0.1% of our sales tax or something like that point or $0.01 for every dollar spent. But it equates to something like over $300,000 a year.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Oh my goodness.

[Preston]

That goes directly back to businesses in town through grants. They have three grant programs and grant, not loans, grants money that's free. I have personally from this business and for another little project Sarah and I, my wife are working on have personally partaken in the grants that they offer in the form of property. They're helping us renovate an empty spot that was downtown of our. On our square is an old crappy hole in the wall literally in a small town kind of could you imagine? So my wife and I purchased it from the development court and then they helped us with a infrastructure grant to help paint it to get it ready to buy furniture for. It's going to Be like a little micro venue. We're going to buy furniture. We're, you know, everything from maintenance on it, that sort of thing. For my laser business, they helped me purchase my big laser, the one that we talked about on this very podcast that Preston, you're going to upgrade laser. My development corp helped me buy that. No question. I mean questions asked a little bit like I had to provide receipts and things but like providing a business plan. And here's what I intend to do with this. Here are the receipts for it. They said great. We're helping incubate a new business in town that's going to pay sales tax towards our community.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Wow.

[Preston]

We can support that. So there are these resources that are available. That's like a really long answer for what do I do and how do I do it? And we can get a little bit more into some of the resources that are out there because I think that they're even for digital sellers on Etsy. I think the Chamber of Commerce actually has something to offer for you and I can make a hard sell for it too. So we'll maybe we can do that and kind of talk about what is available. What's out there for you?

[Lizzie Smiley]

Are you a print on demand or digital product Etsy seller who's tight on time or still learning all of the Etsy secrets? I totally remember the days of having no idea what product to create next before I learned how to make those informed decisions. So I can really identify with where you're at. I know how stressful and frustrating it can be to just create listing after listing and see little to no results. You wonder what you're doing wrong and you just want someone to tell you what to create that's actually going to sell. Where are those opportunities? So let me give you a leg up with my weekly trends and opportunities report. You just join my membership and every Monday I'm going to send you an email with a list of exactly what is trending right now with a video tutorial showing you how I found those trends and how to apply them in your shop. We're taking guesswork and time, extensive time off of your table. I'm also going to send you five print on demand and digital product opportunities that are growing in demand right now. Helping new shops make sales and still have very low saturation in the marketplace. So your tight schedule, your newbie status doesn't have to hold you back anymore. I'm going to help you earn while you learn. You can grab my free demo to start and see an example of what the weekly trends and opportunities email looks like right from the show. Notes, see what you're going to get and I will see you on the inside soon. Physical products and print on demand feels really natural, like intuitive to me. Like that's something that it's an output product that could benefit the local community. In addition to the sales tax. I am thinking they're going to want to invest in. Well and I think it depends on the size too. You know, if I was still in San Antonio, I'm not going to try to be fighting, you know, for the grants against other and fairly more deserving people who need it more than I do. But if you're, if you're in a smaller town, you're in a smaller pond, sometimes there's a huge advantage to that. And I think small business owners become more interesting than, you know, perhaps we're in the city, it would be more focused on LGBTQ community support, you know, people of color, which and I would gladly, I wouldn't even try to defer to them to let them, you know, but in a small town, I don't even know what else I'd be up against, you know, in terms of getting some support.

[Preston]

Correct. Yeah. And you make a good point. So one of the things that's available through chambers of commerce, a lot of times it is a town based thing or city based thing in rural areas a lot of times they have county wide and then sometimes they'll have like if you live in a big city, it'll be a, you know, like let's say San Antonio. A San Antonio area chamber of commerce that involves.

[Lizzie Smiley]

It's massive.

[Preston]

Found it. There are like race specific chamber of commerces that it connects you and networks you with with other black owned businesses or Hispanic owned businesses or LGBTQ owned businesses. And so those types of things exist and they may even exist in your area and they may allow people, I mean in our town, we're 15 minutes away from everybody else. But if you do business in and around Stanford or you want to support our businesses, you can be a member. Like there's a membership fee that's adjusted to it. And for us it's pretty small. You know, for a solopreneur it's only like 60 bucks for the year. But that 60 bucks goes a long way. As I'm probably going to tell you in just a little bit about how far 60 or $120 can go. You know, bigger towns, the next biggest town over for us is Abilene. I think their base level is about like $300 a year, which is not terrible, but they also have way more benefits than I could ever offer. And so, you know, it's just knowing what you can spend. Not, it's not for everybody. But there's a lot of free resources that are available to you that are beyond chamber membership for sure.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Okay. So Chamber of commerce is one of the really big ones that are most common that people could find anywhere. It's sort of like a club. Right. So you pay dues, but then that gets you access to the connections, the gatherings, the resources, being able to apply for different things. What are some of the other resources that we may not even know are available?

[Preston]

Yeah, hitting on, just kind of working back down from the chamber.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah, you lead me, my friend.

[Preston]

Yeah. Some things that, that I didn't mention were. So like a lot of times advertising is a major priority in chambers of commerce. So your little fee that goes towards that. For instance, we give every member, regardless of your Tier, a free TV commercial in our area. Like you get a 15 second commercial that plays on our major TV station here in town or in.

[Lizzie Smiley]

That's crazy. That's a big deal.

[Preston]

Think about the guy that sells my, my friend that sells cookies would never be able to afford a commercial, but we gave him one for free. Now that may not be the case with everybody. So, you know, please take everything I say with a little caveat that this may just be local, you know, my little business. But a lot of the chambers around here do that. So. So that free resources. I do trainings. If you are a physical seller and you're kind of like me, you sell out of market or you sell physical items at like markets or stuff like that, I give discounted rates for my Chamber members to sell at my market. I give them prime location at those markets as well. And so instead of getting put in the back, you're going to get put up right up front, right next to the entryway. And so that's huge. Again, not everybody does that, but something that I'm proud to do. So working our way back down, development course we talked about this is, I would imagine that these exist beyond just my little Texas towns that I exist in. But look up Development Corporation in your area and see what's out there and see what types of resources they have for you. It's a great way to get started in business because a lot of times those development corps may have a startup grant for you. They may have money available to you. I always tell people that come into my office, they say, hey, I want to start a business here in town and here's what I want. I always ask them the follow up questions are, do you have money or do you have a plan? Or if you have both, we can really work with you. And so you need one of the two for us to kind of move you along in the funnel. If you don't have money or a plan, I'll make a plan. Yeah. And we'll talk about where you can do that. And if you need money, we can help you with money. Like go talk to, go across the hall, talk to them and let's start getting you started on how to get money. Because it's not just local grants, but there may be some area or national or state grants, grants available to you. It's going to be work, but you know you can get free money. Another resource that a lot of people overlook, kind of again, moving down the funnel are small business development centers. The one that's most common in our area belongs to Texas Tech University. So we're about two hours from Lubbock, where I live. But Texas Tech has a satellite campus in Abilene about 45 minutes down the way. They have an office space with several business professionals. The one that I met with was a retired business professor, had run several businesses himself. Set up a free meeting. Their resources are totally free. They'll help you set up a business plan. If you need bookkeeping help, they'll help you learn how to keep your books. I had specific questions about local sales tax. And so I was like, I don't want to call my tax assessor's office and be put on hold for 45 minutes. And so I just went down there and started talking to them. And while I was there, they paired me up with another guy. They said, hey, this guy is really good in product sales. And so he's going to talk to you a little bit about, you know, here's what you need to know for your product and how it works and how the sales tax works and that sort of thing. And so small business resource centers are there. They are everywhere. They're probably more prevalent in larger metro areas, but if you can't access a small business development center, there's a great website out there called SCORE S C O R E Score Mentors. It's the same idea, but it's online. So you go on, you fill out a form and you say, this is my industry, I'm in. For us as Etsy sellers, we'd say I'm in E commerce. Well, guess what? They're going to pair you up with someone who has extensive knowledge of e commerce. A lot of times these are folks that have extra time on their hands as a business owner. Like, done enough divvying up of their responsibilities that they can be the CEO and just invest in other things. A lot of them are retired folks. A lot of them just have knowledge and just want to share. And so through score, they pair you up and you meet once a week, once a month, whatever.

[Lizzie Smiley]

That's crazy.

[Preston]

They'll mentor you. I've done this with a nonprofit. We were on a nonprofit board that was starting a nonprofit, and my wife and I kind of had to do the bylaw side and we'd never really done anything like that. So they paired us up with a person who writes bylaws. That's, that's what he does for nonprofits. And so he came on once a month. Here are things you need to work on. I need you to find this, this, this, and this, and then we'll look at it together. And so he helped us write it. I worked for a, a really successful small business in Austin when I was down there. And they met once a month with a bookkeeper, a marketer, as someone who was a retired CEO and I think just like a general business owner, they came to the house, they had a hour long meeting looking at their books, looking at the marketing, looking at their plan, help them grow. This is free. Free resources.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah, I was gonna ask, I was like, is this free? This is insane.

[Preston]

So get, yeah, take advantage of those things because, yeah, you may be selling digital files, but the, the skills translate. You're still gonna have to know how to keep your books. You're still gonna have to know what your profit loss margins are. You're still gonna know your mission and your vision and how to direct your small business. You're gonna need to know things like sales tax and then like taxes and stuff like that. When it goes along, you're gonna need connections. Just because you're a digital seller doesn't mean you can't also make local connections. Now it's gonna be maybe peanuts to what you might make online, you know, like, you know, you're not gonna sell to 50,000 people in a town of 3,000. But could you get, like, could you partner with. I was listening to the podcast the other day with the, the gal who does the exercise guides.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yes.

[Preston]

Could you, could you partner with your local gym? Could you partner with a corporate gym, Planet Fitness, or some crunch, whatever, to help them, to help them with Guides to sell guides to them to get. They may let you come be a vendor, like set up your booth at a shop one at, you know, at the gym lobby one day. If you are someone who is a, like makes business planners, calendars, that sort of thing, why not promote to your local businesses and see what happens? So there's just, there's just so many options and so many resources that are available that if you just open, open your field of vision just a little bit, you'll be able to see like there's, there's resources here that I can use and that I'm just as worthy of getting just as much as Walmart down the street. I'm capable and I'm, I need those resources. In fact, you may need them more than those big corporate businesses. That's what I exist for. I love the, the solopreneurs and the two to four employees size businesses because those people need help, they want direction, they need marketing help, they need advertising resources. And so there may be connections that you haven't even thought about connecting to. If you just kind of think, think a little bit bigger than just oh, I'm an online, I sell, I sell color and pages online. You know, like if you think, think a little bit bigger than that, that you're a business owner, think about all the resources that are out there.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Well and the reality is is that anyone who does well on Etsy is probably going to scale beyond Etsy and therefore, you know, eventually whether it's, and whether it's, you know, more online E commerce or there is going to be some brick and mortar element or something, odds are myself, I'm proof positive you're going to scale beyond Etsy if you're really or, or Etsy is going to be a stepping point to something different. So making those connections and understanding what's available is helpful. But I do think, I think that there's that imposter syndrome factor right? P about oh, I'm just an Etsy seller, I shouldn't be tapping into that. And I'm just like, well actually look at Preston.

[Preston]

Guess what? You may also be a resource for another business. I had a great conversation with someone the other day. She's an artist and like a, like a fine print artist, you know, does like wall hanging paintings, you know, thousands of dollars worth, but wants to make her paintings more accessible. And so I said do you know about print on demand? And she goes, no, I never really thought about that. I was like, don't think about, don't, don't sacrifice Your artistic integrity. But also think about your art getting into the hands of thousands of people rather than hundreds through mugs, making calendars, making, you know, like, journals, stickers. I mean, all this sort of stuff. And she's like, okay, I can see.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Well, just wall art and prints too. I mean, she. The world is her oyster, right?

[Preston]

And so she's like, oh. And her mind kind of opened up to what was out there for her. And so I love that. So it goes both ways, right? So you may have resources for. For somebody that's a local business that they never thought of because they've only ever sold locally. So that's why the importance of connection and networking happens within the Chamber of Commerce. That's why I love having like lunch and learns where we talk about marketing, where we talk about business growth, we talk about finances, because it's connecting you with other business owners that are a lot of times in the same boat as you, just in different industries. And so we're all dealing with the same stuff. It's just a matter of what. What's your industry?

[Lizzie Smiley]

Oh, my goodness. I'm like, there's, there's like so many different ways you could take this conversation. Preston. It's so interesting where. Where are the best for people to look for these opportunities? Like, it's going to be different for everyone. Is this a Google search for everybody?

[Preston]

Yeah, I would search like chamber of commerce in my area or if you have a, you know, if you're in a larger town, search like my town's name, chamber of Commerce and just call people, email. Trust me, as a chamber of commerce member, a manager, I love when people reach out to me and ask me questions. Is my job. I want to connect to hungry, ready to grow businesses. It's my favorite thing. And so call your chamber of commerce managers, call your development Corp, Call the business office at the college next to your town or whatever and just ask, hey, I am an Etsy seller. I want to scale my business and want to be a better E commerce seller. Is there any resources that are available for me and how can you help me? And let them tell you, not every chamber or DCO or whatever it is Development Corp. Is cut from the same cloth. Some people are really helpful. Some people may not be. Some people may be old and grizzled and, you know, they've been stuck in that office for years and they just don't know what to do with themselves. It all depends. I'm not saying that every. Down every alleyway, there's just a pot of gold for you to explore. But call and ask questions before just writing it off completely because there might be something there for you and it might be the thing that connects you to that next level of growth that you need to know. Because yeah, there's just a. There's a pot of resources for you. And if I were starting anywhere, I'd probably start with looking online for chamber of commerce and then looking online at score and just kind of seeing what opportunities are available to you.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Do you think you would have if you hadn't had the local market, the local economy, and then the knowledge base that you have pouring into, you know, helping you build your business? Do you think you'd be as passionate or as far along as you are with your Etsy shop now?

[Preston]

That's a good question.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Seems like it's just played a huge role in the growth and kind of building your confidence.

[Preston]

Yeah. The one area that it's really helped me in is customer service. Selling locally. I, especially in a small town, I want to have impeccable customer service.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah.

[Preston]

I can't afford to get blasted on the community Facebook page because I had poor customer service as a business. And so I have learned how to take care of my customers. It does help me understand, like, what real life America is looking for. You know, does that make, does that make sense?

[Lizzie Smiley]

Like, yeah, expound upon that. That's actually a really interesting.

[Preston]

Yeah. You could get so out of the or so in your own head or in your own little echo chamber that you think you know what everybody's looking for. But talking with like actual real life people, this is how the embroidery stuff kind of came along for me is like, oh, not, not everybody likes the leather patch hats as much as I do. So I'm either going to lose those customers or I gotta figure something out. And so we. With getting this embroidery studio, I'm now I'm able to add another level of my customer base locally, which is kind of cool. And so it just kind of goes back to that whole thing that we talk about all the time. Don't necessarily make the stuff that you love, make the stuff that people want. That's how you make the money. And I think that the local economy has taught that. And I teach that to my people too. Like here, locally, the businesses, if somebody's having a rough go, we start asking like, what are you selling? How are you selling it? Have you considered selling taking a pivot and doing something else? You've got to stay agile in the local businesses. And I think that's Maybe kind of going back to that conversation about me being patient. That's kind of what I've learned is like you gotta hold things loosely locally because you gotta find that thing that works and go from there and see really what sells and then double down on that thing.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Are you brand new to Etsy, about to get started, or struggling a bit to find your groove? What I'm about to say is just for you, okay? I can completely relate to where you're at because I think I can help you achieve success faster. When I first started my Etsy shop, it was not one of those success stories that we hear, you know, on the big YouTube channels, even on this podcast where I just had crazy success and it took off right away. I all but failed for my first six months, just like a lot of new sellers. And so it's very relatable. And the issue for me was I didn't understand demand for one, I didn't understand SEO. I was way too broad in my search terms and I didn't know how to position my product so that customers just couldn't help but click add to cart. And so once I learned those things, I went from making about $25 a month in sales to $6,000 a month and up. And in the holidays, I would even have $13,000 months, like at my shop's peak. And the thing about me, if you've been here for a minute, you already know this. I'm a terrible gatekeeper, okay? When I figure something out, when I crack my code, when I get excited, I cannot help but tell everybody who wants to listen. It's like either my, my best asset or my toxic trait. I can't decide. But I put everything that you need to know to fill that beginner knowledge gap into a low ticket. Just under three hours beginner course that I have called Six Figure Secrets to getting started on Etsy. In it, I'm teaching you how to find what's in demand for your niche, how to find and use trends, how to start your shop. If you're worried about that part, SEO strategy to find the micro niches where the opportunity is, how to understand the Etsy algorithm and a ton more. The whole thing is bite sized videos, not long form, just small bite sized videos, zero fluff and to the point you could get the course today, go through the less than three hours over the next couple days, launch your shop this weekend and have sales coming in as soon as Sunday. So let's get you the few missing pieces of the Etsy success puzzle. Those Little tweaks you need to make so you can start making the sales that you deserve. Because I have no, never been more convinced that there is room at this table on Etsy for everyone. And the opportunity is so ripe right now. I am in the numbers in the data every day and my mind just keeps expanding on the possibilities. Okay, so as a special treat, use the code save50 to save $50 on the six figure secrets course today. That's $50 off with a coupon. Save 50. And by all means DM me or shoot me an email when those sales start popping. Because I want to celebrate with you. I always kind of when someone comes in with an Etsy shop and they're very like, this is what I'm going to do. I kind of go, okay, let's see. Like, because it could work. It could, they could have a 12 out of 10 idea. But more often than not people need to try a few things. So I like what you said about holding it loosely. I much prefer someone to come in and be like, hey, I'm really interested in, you know, print on demand. What should I try? And I say a lot. Yeah, you know, get out because there's very low overhead. Get up a lot of listings of a lot of things and see what hits and then go from there. Rather than coming in being like, this is my niche. I'm only doing, you know, vintage car themed T shirts and I'm just like, I know that you love that. I respect that. I get it. And let's pull up ever be and see how many searches there are per month and then calculate what the percentage of conversion is there's likely to be on that and look at how many other listings there are that you're then going to be competing for that small piece of the pie. So I, I love what you're saying.

[Preston]

Learn from others. You know, like it's, it's the reason people pay you for coaching. It's the reason why I love local folks that are willing to mentor others in business because they've gone in the grind. They know they can see the bs, right? Especially those folks that have been selling in your town or community for a long period of time. They know, they know what they've been through thick and thin. And if you really want to get, if you're like me in a super rural area, go talk to the local farm store, the one that sells feed and seed and has been there for 40 years. We have one of those here in our town. You want to talk about pivoting and Staying innovative and being aggressive with your advertising. These guys, they know because it could be, it could drought one year and you're not selling any seed or you're not selling any feedback or you're selling like. So they've like, okay, we're going to sell coolers this year. We're going to sell coolers and cookers. We're going to become or they have a gangbusters year on chemical for their plants and crops. Great, that's perfect. What else can we, how else can we bank on this? And so look for those people and man talk to them. Like interact with folks in your town, in your city. It's really easy for us to stay behind our computers and just stay in the, stay in the Etsy world when there's local resources that are available to you.

[Lizzie Smiley]

I love it. This is such a unique conversation for me because I remember my sign shop days. I worked out of my house, right? We Chris built signs on our driveway and in our garage and I painted them. And we convert, we had a five bedroom house like back in the days when we had space. We converted one of them into my studio and that's where I did. And, and I remember I would, if I got a local sale, I would be like, oh no. Because they would want to come to the house to pick it up to save on shipping. Do you know what I mean? Like, I wanted to avoid, I didn't want the local community to even know I existed. I wanted to hide out online. So, so mad respect to anyone else who's like me who's like, this is really interesting, but. No, but there are some of you where this is literally going to be the thing, just like it has been for Preston. And I never, I always want to share those stories. I always want to. There's no one way, guys. There's no one way. It makes me giddy.

[Preston]

Yeah.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah. And actually, to be honest, we all just need to move to Stanford because if you had been our like local person, we'd all be cool with.

[Preston]

More people.

[Lizzie Smiley]

That's right. What else, what else did you want to make sure we hit on?

[Preston]

I just wanted to, I wrote down at the top of my list sales tax because I want you, I want people to understand what's going on with sales tax because it feels like the government is stealing from you and people get really mad when they got to pay sales tax. Like, oh, I got to pay sales tax on my stuff. Just go back to what we were talking about before and the percentages of stuff that goes to the good things in your community, I tell people all the time, yeah, you're paying sales tax and it sucks because especially if you're really successful, you're going to be paying a lot of sales tax. But that money, that money's come back to me. The sales tax that I've paid has come back to me through my community and my grants and stuff like that that I have available. It's come, you know, you're helping your communities grow, you're helping your cities stay strong. And like I said, if the government does its job, it goes towards good things. And so instead of looking at it as a theft from your business, I mean, it's an expense. It's an expense for you, but you're not paying it, your customer's paying it. And so, yeah, when you look at your profit margin and that extra whatever is that little sales tax, just know that that's going, it should be going to good things in your community and it might be helping the next person behind you. And I know that's kind of a woo, woo way to look at it, but it really is.

[Lizzie Smiley]

I love the woo.

[Preston]

Really. It's really helped me understand, like, okay, like, sales tax is important and this is why we want people to shop local, right? Like, that's why we talk about shopping local. In your Etsy shop, again, pays your taxes for you, or in most states, I think it does your sales tax. And so that money is, it's a. Where it originates or where your product originates is where the sales tax goes or what it should be. I'm by no means an expert on any of those things. I can just tell you what I've experienced here in Texas and in my little small town. But yeah, sales tax is important and when it goes up, yeah, it makes stuff more expensive, but it does come back to your community. It does make your state and your county and your community better. So think about it in the positive light, have full sort of view and maybe it'll change your perspective a little bit.

[Lizzie Smiley]

I think that's, I think that's a healthy perspective and I also think that's really good incentive that if you, if you want to seek out your local government for support, like through the chamber and all that, you should feel deserving. I'm not going to say I hate the word entitled. I don't think any of us should feel entitled. Like I said, I'm the one who's more likely to actually not ask for it so someone else can have it. But I think that lots of us should feel deserving of that support. You know, if we go through the proper channels and qualify for it. And, and like Preston, it can help us change things and help the local economy.

[Preston]

And. Yeah, and. And I want to kind of go. Not undercut that. That view, just kind of not even push back on it a little bit. I respect your empathy for other people to be able to say like I want other people to deserve it.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Oh yeah.

[Preston]

But because I believe that too. I believe that there, there are people that need it more than me in a lot of respect cards. And then also it's a yes and situation where a lot of times people don't ask. And so that money goes away. And this is the part that surprises people about my local economy. It's like that money is available and if more people asked for it, it's their job to decide who's deserving, not yours. As a business owner, does that, does that yeah sound right? I mean like, and, and not to say like you're trying to eat the other people down. Yes, let's build each other up and let's all take advantage of it. But the, the ground is more level than, than what a lot of people realize when it comes to that because people, people don't ask. And so start, start by asking and go there and certainly if you have other ways. There was one gal that I follow online, she has become very successful and her and a business partner start. Started a small business granted program which I love. I think that would be something that I would love to be able to do for. I mean they're vendors and Etsy sellers and that sort of thing. And so they, they give back some of their money to deserving folks that, you know, you have to write like an essay and send all your stuff in. But like that's, that's cool. Take advantage of those things because yeah, you're a business. You're deserving. Your value is. Is high enough where you should be able to receive those resources as well.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Well, and I think so many more of us could even do that. You know what I mean? Because we only think of the big numbers like, oh, it's got to be 10, 20, 50, 100k to make a difference. And there's probably a lot of people listening who like a 500 investment changes their entire landscape of being able to launch their business. Yes, we should work on that. P. You and I should put our heads together and any. Some of your other leaders in my community, we should put our heads together about doing a little grant together. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. Would that be cool?

[Preston]

Yeah, I think it'd be great. I mean, thousand dollars goes along like a long and so. Yeah, I would love to be able to. To spearhead an idea like that because I think it's so valuable and it's like I said, you're giving. It's give an opportunity for us to give back that we don't normally get.

[Lizzie Smiley]

So I. I'm down. Y' all watch out for future episodes with Preston. We'll. Let's hope we'll cook something up. That's cool. We'll cook something up. I mean, that made me excited. All right, Pete. We got. We hit all your. Your points, but I'm glad we hit the sales tax again. We're good episode. So good. It's good stuff. Where's. Where are the best places for people to find you and connect?

[Preston]

Yeah. Instagram is my favorite. 277creative is my Instagram. You can go to my website, 277creative.com if you like raccoons and funny videos and that sort of thing. That's. I post a lot of stuff on Instagram that raccoon themed. I don't know why I absorb.

[Lizzie Smiley]

You're in your Feral Girl era, Preston.

[Preston]

I am. My Instagram feed thinks that I'm a boss girl and so I'm so excited about that because I get some great business tips. I'm boss lady for sure.

[Lizzie Smiley]

You need to know how desperate I am to meet Sarah. I will be there this weekend. I've got to meet Sarah. You're a hoot.

[Preston]

Yeah. I always appreciate being on and talking. It's. This is so much fun and I'm certainly any folks can reach out to me if they get on. Get on the school page. Let's do that. Let's talk there. DM me on Instagram. Love talking about local business and stuff like that. So local business, vendor markets, all that sort of stuff holler at me. Let's see if we can come up with something.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Yeah. You're a great resource for our handmade community. That's one of the main reasons I wanted you. You to be a leader in there. So thank you. Thank you for always being willing to share, for being such a good friend. Preston's one of those people that I reach out to when stuff's stuffing and likewise, he'll be like, well, I get to hear all of his wins first. Those are my favorite DMs, so. So thank you, my friend. This is extremely helpful. I would have never been able to cover this subject without you. You are a gem.

[Preston]

I appreciate it. Thank you Lizzy.

[Lizzie Smiley]

All right guys, thanks for hanging out with us. Hope you learned a ton. Until next week, go make something awesome. Bye guys. 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, coaching and more. If this episode was helpful to you, awesome. The greatest compliment 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.