Ep 189 | Beginner Real Talk About Starting a Digital Product Etsy Shop--with Rebecca Miller

Summary

Podcast Summary: How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy

Episode: Ep 189 | Beginner Real Talk About Starting a Digital Product Etsy Shop--with Rebecca Miller
Release Date: July 10, 2025
Host: Lizzie Smiley
Guest: Rebecca Miller (Becca)

---

Introduction

In Episode 189 of "How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy," host Lizzie Smiley engages in a candid and insightful conversation with Rebecca Miller, a budding Etsy seller navigating the early stages of her digital product shop. This episode is tailored for beginners and those currently struggling to find their footing on Etsy, offering practical advice, personal experiences, and motivational insights to inspire and guide new entrepreneurs.

Guest Introduction

Lizzie introduces Becca as a dedicated wife, mother, and pediatric speech-language pathologist with a passion for side hustles and creative endeavors. Becca ventured into the online business world with Teachers Pay Teachers, selling speech therapy and early childhood printables before transitioning to Etsy in March 2025. Inspired by Lizzie's encouraging message, "There's room at the table for everyone," Becca took the leap to open her Etsy shop, blending her creativity with her professional expertise.

Starting the Etsy Shop: Challenges and Motivations

Becca opens up about her initial struggles with imposter syndrome and lack of sales, reflecting a common hurdle for new sellers.

"The most challenging part is dealing with that imposter syndrome. At the beginning... I was like, I don't know what I'm doing."
[03:32]

Lizzie empathizes, highlighting the emotional rollercoaster of launching a shop—balancing hopes for success with fears of failure. Becca shares how Lizzie's supportive podcast provided the necessary motivation to persevere, emphasizing the importance of nurturing one's Etsy venture despite early setbacks.

Progress and Products

Despite a slow start with only a few sales and modest earnings, Becca has made significant strides:

• Listings: 80 active as of last night
• Sales: 39 total sales
• Products: PNGs, coloring pages, invitations, and party printables

Becca emphasizes her experimental approach, testing various digital products to identify what resonates with her audience.

"I'm testing different things to see what's going to happen."
[05:31]

Design and Mockup Strategies

A core discussion centers around the importance of design quality and effective mockups. Becca acknowledges her strengths in design but admits to challenges in combining elements like fonts and images cohesively.

"I have the eye and the elements to do the design, but to piece it all together is where I'm kind of struggling."
[07:10]

Lizzie praises Becca's invitation designs, illustrating how a well-crafted mockup can enhance the appeal of a product. They delve into practical tips for creating impactful mockups without requiring expensive software, highlighting tools like Creative Fabrica and Photopea as accessible resources.

Building Credibility: Reviews and Street Cred

The conversation shifts to establishing trust and credibility on Etsy, particularly for digital products where obtaining reviews can be challenging. Lizzie shares strategies for garnering reviews without overwhelming customers:

• Offering bonus digital files tailored to the buyer's interests
• Creating niche-specific freebies to enhance perceived value

Becca recounts her experience with encouraging repeat purchases through thoughtful bundling and personalized customer interactions, aiming to build a loyal customer base organically.

Resources and Learning

Both Lizzie and Becca emphasize the value of continuous learning and community support. Becca credits the Etsy coaching group and Lizzie's podcasts as invaluable resources:

"The group... your podcast... they've all been really helpful."
[44:46]

They also recommend various YouTube channels and online resources that provide tutorials and trend insights, underscoring the importance of staying updated with market demands and evolving Etsy algorithms.

Tips for Beginners

In a segment dedicated to new sellers, Becca offers actionable advice:

1. Set Balanced Expectations: Understand that success doesn't happen overnight.

   "Everyone overestimates what they can do in six months and underestimates what they can do in two years."
   [55:00]

2. Focus on Quantity and Quality: Prioritize listing a high volume of products while maintaining quality to increase visibility and sales potential.

3. Build Your "Brain Cash": Continuously study bestsellers to refine design skills and align products with market trends.

4. Celebrate Small Wins: Acknowledge and celebrate incremental milestones to stay motivated.

5. Avoid Desperation: Approach your shop with positive energy and creativity rather than desperation to foster better results.

Becca shares her strategy of batch working and maintaining a consistent listing schedule, even tackling three listings a day during challenges, to build momentum and increase her shop's visibility.

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with mutual encouragement and a celebration of Becca's recent sales milestones, reinforcing the essence of community and support in the Etsy selling journey. Lizzie promotes her "Six Figure Secrets to Getting Started on Etsy" course, offering listeners a structured path to accelerate their Etsy success.

"Think of your Etsy shop as a journey. It's not a get-rich-quick scheme but a path to sustainable growth and creative fulfillment."
[58:15]

Lizzie and Becca leave listeners with a sense of hope and practical steps to take, emphasizing that with dedication, creativity, and the right support, anyone can thrive on Etsy.

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Notable Quotes:

• Becca on Imposter Syndrome:
  "The most challenging part is dealing with that imposter syndrome."
  [03:32]

• Lizzie on Pricing Strategy:
  "Social proof in your shop... bestseller badges, star seller badge... these create trust."
  [17:40]

• Becca on Consistency:
  "I've been posting at least one to two listings a day. I'm going to kick it into gear."
  [32:08]

• Lizzie on Expectations:
  "Everyone overestimates what they can do in six months and underestimates what they can do in two years."
  [55:00]

---

This episode serves as a valuable resource for new Etsy sellers, blending personal anecdotes with expert advice to navigate the complexities of launching and growing a successful digital product shop.

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.

[Becca]

Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. Having such a different type of episode today, I feel like it. I'm talking a little slower. We're kind of, it's like a Fireside chat but super fun. If you're thinking about Etsy or you're a beginner or you're struggling, I think this is going to be a really good one for you. We're going to be talking with Becca. I'm going to read you her bio here in a second. But she is a new seller that I have been working closely with in the coaching group and just seeing her progress, sometimes it can really be helpful to hear someone that's in those early stages. You know, you hear from me and I'm like a multiple six figure seller and I've got, you know, all these sales and stats and sometimes I can talk about things in a way that just feels more out there. And so to have someone just in the trenches really early days, I think it's going to be really, really fun for you. So and really insightful as well. So let me tell you a bit about Becca. She's a wife and mom to one wildly sassy little girl who keeps her humble and caffeinated by degree. I'm a pediatric speech language pathologist, but deep down I've always had a soft, soft spot for side hustles and creative chaos. Girl should be a writer. My first official toe dip into the online biz world was on teachers pay teachers making speech therapy and early childhood printables. But it Started to feel a lot like my day job with a fancier font. I love her. Can you tell? I've always designed party invites and printables for friends and family for fun. But it wasn't until I stumbled across Lizzie's podcast during a drive between patient visits that something shifted. She said, there's room at the table for everyone. And that line stopped me in my tracks. It felt like the sign I didn't know I was waiting for. So on March 8, 2025, I officially opened my Etsy shop, and I haven't looked back except to laugh at how long it took me to just go for it. So we're going to talk about early days of Etsy, where she's at, what she's selling, what she's been learning, the best resources for you. You know the way to approach this. Her biggest aha. Is great Fireside Chat. Just talking about those basic early days. So please help me welcome Becca to the podcast. Becca. Hey, girl. Welcome to the podcast. Hello.

[Unknown]

I'm so happy to be here.

[Becca]

Well, thank you for being willing to spend time with me and chat about Etsy, because it's a commitment on your end, so I appreciate it. We're gonna have so much fun.

[Unknown]

I am so excited.

[Becca]

Okay, well, people don't know you yet. They're going to, though, because one day, you're going to be just like me. I can already see it. Talk to us. Let's just, like, start. Let's just start. Really fun. What has been the most challenging part of se so far for you?

[Unknown]

I think the most challenging part is, like, dealing with that imposter syndrome. At the beginning. Like, my first couple months, I was like, well, no, I've only been doing this since March, so probably March and April. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I hadn't found you yet.

[Becca]

Like, you're four months in. You're only four months in right now. Okay, keep going. Yeah.

[Unknown]

Yeah. So that first month, I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, I put up, like, a listing or two and got crickets. And I was like, etsy's not for me. And then I found your podcast, and you're like, scooch on in every. There's room at the table for everyone. Like, and that line that I keep hearing in my car when I'm in between patients, like, gave. Fired me up and was like, no, keep on doing it. Like, keep on nurturing and, you know, watering your seed of your Etsy shop. So that Was. That was hard at first, but it's.

[Becca]

Gotten better, I think. It takes us so much capacity to get those first couple listings up and just to decide to take the risk. And then you sit. You're kind of braced for impact, right? You're like, okay, this could change everything. This could go crazy. And you're kind of ready for that, especially for people about to ship out a physical product and not knowing what's going to happen. And then the other side, you're like, what if this could not work at all? This could never work. And to be honest, the majority of people, when they first launch, they think the same. They put up just a couple listings, and they're like, okay. And it's either going to work or not. Oh, my gosh. And like, lo and behold, I mean, same with me. My first six months on Etsy were crickets, right? I made, like, maybe $25 a month, and I. It was like my mom's friend who bought a sign, right? And there's so much that we still have to learn. So. Okay, so because you're in these early stages, kind of give us a lowdown because this is a different type of episode. Give us a lowdown of where you're at. So how do you know how many listings you have up?

[Unknown]

Yes, I have 80 active listings of last. Like, last night.

[Becca]

Okay. How many sales have you gotten so far?

[Unknown]

As of this morning, I have 39 sales.

[Becca]

39. Okay, amazing. And what type of product are you selling?

[Unknown]

So I'm kind of all over the place because I've done a lot of your workshops, so I do PNGs, I do some coloring pages, invitations, and, like, printables, like, for parties.

[Becca]

So all digital products, but you're testing different things?

[Unknown]

Yes, absolutely.

[Becca]

You know what I love about that is that there's a lot of people listening, and one of the most common questions I get is like, is it okay to put this and this in the same shop, or do I need to start a new shop, or is it okay to try this together? And I think for someone listening who's in the digital space, like Becca, totally fine. To be testing a lot of things, you need to figure out what your thing is. In fact, you're in the. In the. In my coaching group, and so I get to look at your stuff a lot because we're active in the group and we have our calls, and I think. Are you in trendspotting as well? You're in trendspotting? Yeah. You were on that call as well. So I. So I look at your stuff a lot. What we need to do is we want to test different things to see what's going to happen. Would you. Do you see that one of all those products is starting to stand out as the thing that does the best for you?

[Unknown]

Definitely my invitations, but I will be fair to say I do a lot. I've posted a lot more invitations than I've had anything else. Because, like, the most challenging part of this whole thing is kind of what we talked about in the group is, like, my eye for design, I feel like is okay, but when I'm putting, like, pictures and text together, sometimes I don't get all the elements. And I think it's just because my brain cache isn't great yet. To look at a design and be like, oh, this is the type of font that would go great with that design. I have the eye and the elements to do the design, but, like, to piece it all together is where I'm kind of struggling.

[Becca]

Yeah. So the other day we were doing. On the coaching call for the whole group. We do a group, group monthly coaching call, both for trendspotting and for the coaching group. And I did a shop audit for Becca, and her invitations are insane. They are so good. Like, they look so good. And that's when I was just like, oh, girl, you're going to make it. But it's really cute. Cause then I look at her PNGs, and I'm just like, who designed this? Because this is just a whole different and. But it's interesting to me because to me, invitations are text and elements as well. So why do you think it works differently in your brain?

[Unknown]

Because I think that the, like, I feel like in an invitation, the words is the most important part, and the background is just like, it's adding to it. It's like a frill versus in a png. Like, that image is what needs to stand out more. And I feel like the wor. And that one is frill. So, like, merging the two, the images and the text in a PNG is very hard for me to see.

[Becca]

What if you tried to do PNGs the same way you do imitations? Like, I wonder if what's. What's catching you up on your PNGs is that literally you're trying to be different. You're trying to. Oh, I need to put more emphasis on the design. Like, what if you just did them the same way as the imitation?

[Unknown]

Yeah, I could probably. That would change my brain thinking.

[Becca]

But, yeah, try it. Try it. Because you. I want to. I wanted to laugh. I didn't, because I didn't want to interrupt you, but I wanted to laugh, like, cackle at you. And you said, I'm okay at design. I have an okay eye. She has a spectacular eye for design. And this is what I. This is actually another thing. Some of you out there are listening because this is like an ultra beginner episode. You're listening and you're thinking, like, I don't know if I. Oh, I don't know if I'm going to be good at this. I don't know. Here are some interesting things. People who are really good at curating wardrobes, like, putting together a cute outfit, tend to do really well at designing for print on demand or digital products. People who are really good at decorating a room, like, they can see a concept for a room come together. They tend to be really good people who are really, like, crafty, and they're always, like, putting together gift baskets and they're curating things for people's birthdays and whatever. Like, they're the. They're the person that people go to to be like, how would you assemble this? Or how would you put it together? You will be very good at this because it's. That's what Becca's talking about. Her eye is so good. And my guess is she's got a good eye for decor. Do you have a good eye for decor?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Becca]

Yeah. You're usually in a T shirt because I'm seeing you after work. But do you. Or do you have a pretty good eye for. Yeah. Is that comfort colors?

[Unknown]

It sure is.

[Becca]

Yeah. Okay, so, yeah, those of you listening, that's the. That's the tea. Okay, so. So talk to us. Like, you just started in March, April. I've got my. My dates right.

[Unknown]

March 8th is when I opened.

[Becca]

You did start March. March 8th. Oh, that's right. We actually said that in the intro. My bad. And then when did you. How soon did you find the podcast after that?

[Unknown]

I really. I've been listening to you for, like, months in my car. And then, like, I found the pod. Literally. I will tell you. I know, like, I feel like I know you because, like, every day you're in my car listening. Like, I'm listening to you in my car.

[Becca]

Well, that's an honor.

[Unknown]

I went back to, like, day one and, like, have been serial listening to your podcast.

[Becca]

So literally, you, like, launched your shop, or before you launched your shop, you were searching, like, podcasts. No.

[Unknown]

Yeah, because I got so. Yes, because I got so, like, I traveled to people's homes for my job. And I got so tired of listening to the radio, I was like, I've got to find something else to listen to. I'm driving myself crazy listening to the music. And I was like, oh, I've always liked the idea of having a side hustle. Like in grad school, I would do upworks and I would like, type for children's stories and like, what? I don't know, categorize. Yes, yes.

[Becca]

Tell me exactly what you did. What?

[Unknown]

For my degree, I have to go to grad school for two years and I wanted to make extra money while I was in school. But, like, having a full time job or a part time job in that degree is just not doable. So I got on Upworks and there was a guy out of like New York that was like, hey, do you want to write children's books? You can be my ghost writer. And I did. I did that for two years. Yes.

[Becca]

Okay. So for those. So Upwork and Fiverr are two websites out there. There's others as well where you can like hire gigs. Right. Like, it's actually somewhere where I. Before AI and all that, I would hire people to. What is it called when they type down what. What's being said?

[Unknown]

Transcription.

[Becca]

Thank you. I pay someone to just transcribe videos for some of my clients or even now. I found my video and podcast editor on Fiverr. I found my graphics designer on Fiverr. So it's like that. It's like that's where you can hire gigs. But what. But, Becca, so what was his contribution to the children's book that allowed him to put his name on it? If you wrote them, he was like, do.

[Unknown]

He got the person to illustrate it and then he was publishing it.

[Becca]

You are joking me. You're literally a children's author. Is your name on those books?

[Unknown]

No, they're not.

[Becca]

Oh, my word. Okay, I'm offended. Like, really offended. Okay. And then you did a stint on Teachers Pay teachers.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Becca]

So what is that for people who have no idea what. What is that?

[Unknown]

So Teachers Pay Teachers is a lot like Etsy in that it is a marketplace, but it is a marketplace that's geared toward teachers, administrative people, speech pathologists, like I am that do worksheets. It's different from Etsy because it's just printables and like slides and all of those things. It's not like a fit. You can't do a physical product on there. And I did that. And honestly, the reason why that didn't go as is because I didn't put a lot of listings up because it just felt like more of my work, my day to day. And Etsy is just so different because I don't sell like speech related materials or I don't really sell like printables for children. I sell my invitations or I sell my PNGs because I think they're funny. So it's given me like a creative outlet that teachers pay. Teachers really did give me that.

[Becca]

So yeah, it makes complete sense. I didn't realize, like, as teachers pay teachers supposed to really be like for digital. Digital products that will help support them in their teaching role.

[Unknown]

Yes. So like a bunch of it is like first year teachers that are given like a curriculum and they'll go on teachers, pay teachers and be like, oh, I need curriculum help with this certain topic. Like there's a math teacher that sells like a bunch of math worksheets for teachers to like go get or like reading comprehension stuff that you can get online.

[Becca]

So I have, I have so many feelings because I'm just like. So I'm thrilled at the teachers supporting each other and helping each other both. Like, here, I'm gonna pay you for this, but also like, here, let me give you the content you need. But I'm also offended that the teacher has to pay for it and the school is not providing that material. I suppose sometimes they're given a budget, right? Probably sometimes they're given. They're given some budgets, but I know teachers have to spend ridiculous money to build up their classroom, right?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Becca]

Okay, so you were creating for you.

[Unknown]

Go ahead, go ahead. No, I said, oh, that's an ad. ADHD coming from both of us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, a lot of my friends that are in the school side of it, like, they get it from like other speech pathologists because they want to work on like certain sounds. Like when you're in a speech world that you're in the school system, you work with kids that can't say like R sounds or D sounds or K sounds. And they'll get like other resources from other speech pathologists to, you know, help their kid out. Because sometimes kids are in therapy for a long time and they get bored of the same things over and over.

[Becca]

And over again for sure. That is so cool. Okay, so you were creating, you were creating printables for that. I like what you said though, that it felt like your day job with a fancier font. I'm like, you belong in sales, girl.

[Unknown]

Thanks. Yeah, it was just fancier.

[Becca]

Okay, so when you're talk about your Goals with Etsy, like what do you ultimately want it to do for you?

[Unknown]

So originally I wanted to early steps, which is like the government program that I work for to do speech therapy was like, you know, we're gonna cut y' all's pay because we're doing all these things. And I was like, oh, I, that gave me a year. And I was like, oh, well, I can do Etsy to supplement income now that's not happening. So like now this is just free range. Let's get some income. Maybe get a bigger house down the line. Like fun money to do. Eventually I would like to stop working. I'm 32. Like eventually I would like to retire when I'm like 50. That would be great if I could like build up enough to retire early. But we shall see where this takes us.

[Becca]

Okay, but for you, it's not like how fast can I get to replacing my.

[Unknown]

Mm, yeah, I love my job.

[Becca]

That's, that's important for some people to hear because you know where some, some of the listeners are just like, no, I don't ever want to work. You know, I want to work for myself. I have to create this. This is my goal. There's plenty of others who have other reasons that, that they want to build a shop and it could still even be a full time income, but they're not wanting to leave their job. So I love, like, I love that you have that. What would be an ideal income level to be able to get this to? Because the nice thing is it's pretty passive.

[Unknown]

Ideally right now it's a thousand dollars a month is where I would like it to be now. Upwards. I would like it to be like 5,000amonth and I cannot take as many patients and spend time with my little girl. But we'll like, there's no. And I'm glad you said that. Like, there's no pressure. There's no pressure on me to be like I just lost my job or like I knit, you know, or like I need the extra income. Like, this is fun. And I feel like that is kind of why I've had such success so early is because it's fun to me and I'm not, oh my gosh, I gotta put up an Etsy listing today. Or like, oh my gosh, I gotta do Etsy research. It's like, oh, I find it fun to do that.

[Becca]

Do. Are you, are you being really consistent?

[Unknown]

Yes. After. So May 13th was the first trendspotting call that I listened to you and you were like, that was when I had 25 listings and I had five sales. And you looked at me and you said, becca, you've got to do the volume. Since that day, I have posted at least one to do listings. Unless like, I was sick, like I had a stomach virus a couple weeks.

[Becca]

Ago, like, you know, obviously.

[Unknown]

But I did two the next day.

[Becca]

So, yes, let's actually talk through this. This is great. And I love that this one. Something I love about you is your follow through. So if you want to make a thousand dollars a month right now, what are your listings priced at?

[Unknown]

So my PNGs are like 90 cents. My invitations are like a dollar 27.

[Becca]

Okay, great, that's. And, so, and, and so here's what I suggest. I know you've heard, you've heard this before, but others who are listening haven't necessarily before you have social proof in your shop. Like, like before you have bestseller badges, before you have even a star seller badge, before you have hundreds or thousands of sales reviews. All of those things that make a shopper look and be and immediately trust. Right? You can see these marketplace indicators that create trust. Like, okay, if I put my money here, I'm going to get a good quality product. I'm going to get the customer service I need, Whatever. One of the ways that we can compete pricing. When I first started my PNG shop last fall, I kept my prices really low. So like, I even started at like 77 cents for my PNGs. And then once I got my first review and I got a few sales, I put them up at 97 cents. And then once I had at least 100 sales, I put them up at A$97. And then once I started getting badges and lots of reviews and there was like, there were ways that my shop had credibility. I bumped it up to 297. And then if I get a bestseller badge on something, I'll bump it up even more. Just depending on what the market is, it kind of will vary. Put it up even to 4. 97. It just depends. Is it a bundle, is it one individual PNG? That kind of thing. So I love your price point right now for where you're at at 36 sales. If you want to make a thousand dollars a month. This is just like to teach people how to think about this. I'm going to need my handy dandy calculator. You would need to make, let's see, a thousand divided by A$27 is 787 sales per month. And obviously you're going to be able to bump up your price by then. But just for the sake of the example, if you need 787 sales a month, write that down because I've got to see it. About 10% of our listings that we list will usually sell, especially in the beginning. You can't expect everything list even for me. Not every single listing that I put up ends up selling. I probably maybe 3 to 4 out of 10 will sell because I'm a technically a beginner PNG designer as well. Even though I have like bestsellers and things like that, it's still I'm not 10 years deep. So now typically like a really, really good png. Invitations objectively could do better than this, but I don't know the data about it. So a really good PNG might make $100 a month, sometimes will be more, but at a, at a 90 cent or a $27 cent price point, you're maybe going to make $100 a month per. Per like best selling PNG it could be higher, but I'm going to keep the numbers easy. So based on that you need about eight of them making $100 a month each to get to your thousand dollar goal, you need 8 best selling making you at least $100 a month PNGs to safely get to that number you would need if we're going to say 10% will convert. And again, these are averages. We all have to look at our own numbers. You're going to be able to figure this out for yourselves. But you would need 800 listings. Mm. So hopefully someone's brain is clicking because I don't, I don't usually automatically think that way. I have to hear it talk through. But you guys need to look at. If I list 10, how many of the 10 sell? If it's still zero, don't talk to me until you have a hundred listings up. You know what I mean? Now, now, if you're not getting views, the problem is either what you're trying to sell doesn't have a market on Etsy, it's not going to sell well on Etsy, or your SEO is the problem, you're not getting seen. If you're getting views but no sales, there's something wrong with your listing. Either the product isn't good enough, the listing image isn't good enough, or there's the price is too high, it's not competitive, or there is something about the listing that is not answering the customer's questions and they're clicking away. Okay, so for you Becca, once you get to 800 listings, you're going to be closer to that thousand a month goal.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And I will tell you at the beginning my listings were awful. Like I would and it's funny because what you're saying is true and and the fact of like I just did a simple thing of like going on Creative Fabrica and getting a mock up or like doing my own on Ideogram and that same design sold with a different mockup and now it's one of like one of my higher. It's not a bestseller, but it's one of those ones that are selling way frequent.

[Lizzie Smiley]

Are you a print on demand or digital product Etsy seller who sells 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.

[Becca]

With where you're at.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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.

[Becca]

Just you just want someone to tell.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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.

[Becca]

Monday I'm going to send you an.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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.

[Becca]

Off of your table.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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.

[Becca]

Doesn'T have to hold you back anymore.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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.

[Becca]

So talk through for the talk through what a mockup is and why they matter and what we've learned about it.

[Unknown]

So a mock up is basically your gift wrap of your present to your buyer like it is how they see your product. So for example mine for an invitation I have some where it's like two hands are holding the invitation on like a white or a marbled background. So it's like that first interaction that a buyer gets with your listing and you can Create them yourself on Ideogram, which I've learned how to do. Or you can go to Creative Fabrica, which is an amazing website that you got me hooked on. That's like a super low ticket monthly expense. And you get like everything from mock ups to fonts to clip art to. They have like so much stuff on that website.

[Becca]

Yeah, it's crazy.

[Unknown]

It's crazy. And as. And a lot of the mock ups, everyone is so people that I talk to and my friends are like mock ups. Like, don't you need Photoshop? I use Photopea, so I don't even pay for Photoshop and the PSD file, which is like the, I don't know the technical term for it, but it's whatever. They use Photoshop, the Photoshop file. You can get it in Photopea and just drag and drop your file into it. And that's what I use as my mockups, my listing mockups.

[Becca]

Well, and you're being fancy because I just use Canva. So to add a little. Yeah, I mean, seriously, to add a little more to that. A mockup is the base photo that you demo your product on. So that first impression, like she was saying that first Etsy thumbnail picture. Sometimes when people are selling T shirts, for example, they don't actually make every single style of T shirt they're going to sell. They take their design with a transparent background and they show it to. They just take it into Canva and put it onto a blank T shirt to show a customer what it would look like. I even did this for physical products with my signs, guys. I took pictures of blank signs in really pretty settings, just my own signs, so that I could test the product before I even sold it. This is the great thing about when you have the same base product every single time and you're just going to test different ways of customizing it. So you can get blank T shirt photos, you can get blank wall art photos. She has blank invitation photos that then she can take the designs that she creates. That's like the, in the, the style of an invitation and she can put it on that mock up and show the customer what it will look like when they, you know, when they get it, whether they're going to print it or send it digitally. Now a lot of times in the beginning, people want to save money when they're starting on Etsy and I totally get it. But that first impression photo can make or break you. And a really, really good mock up can sometimes sell a mediocre design for you, which Is why wait.

[Unknown]

I just got a new sale.

[Becca]

You did, right now.

[Unknown]

Morning sale.

[Becca]

Oh my gosh. This is magical. That's so special.

[Unknown]

All right, I'm cut you off, but that your changes came in.

[Becca]

Please cut me off when you get a sale. Like, that's your rule for this entire. I wish we could do shots. That's your rule for this entire call. You've got to interrupt me every time you get a sale. That's five for today, right?

[Unknown]

Yes. That's the most I've ever gotten.

[Becca]

This is what happens, you guys. You prime the pump. You keep adding listings, you keep getting better. You improve everything. You start in the beginning. You're just trying to figure out getting views right. You're trying to get the basic listing put together looking good, a decent. A decent quality product, good SEO, good listing. But then once you start getting it, you start paying attention to the details. And that's how we got into mockups. Because if you're just using like for some things for like digital products, AI mockups are great. If you're trying to sell a PNG design that someone would put on a T shirt via sublimation, or you're trying to sell print on demand, you need to get high converting mockups. You cannot just use AI mockups. And that's why you found that your design, it wouldn't sell on your AI mockup, but it sold when you bought one. Did you? Is it selling on a flat lay?

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Becca]

Okay, so I actually just flat lay a comfort colors flat lay. But yeah, she's laughing because this is. I'm a freaking broken record in this group about. These are the. So here's what I'm going to do, you guys. I'm actually going to put a link for. I have. I made a resource like a PDF file that has links to all of the best mockups on Etsy, the ones that convert the best. Is it going to sell a bad design? No. Like, at the end of the day, even, like a spectacular design can sell on a cruddy mockup, but a mediocre design can sell on an awesome mockup. So look in if you guys need better mockups, if you know yours aren't strong enough or you haven't really invested in it yet, I'm going to put a link for. With a PDF of all of my favorite mockups on Etsy, and it's going to make it easier for you guys because this is, this is where it's at. Okay? So details, details, details. Like from the mock up to how we Were talking about this the other day, how it's, like, placed on the shirt, for example. Like, let's say you're doing a PNG file and the shirt is tilted just a little bit, but the design isn't. What were we talking about?

[Unknown]

Yeah, like, you don't want someone who's like this. You want someone who's straight.

[Becca]

You want a straight.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Yes. Straight on. And no wrinkles.

[Becca]

And wrinkles, yes. And no shading. Like, you don't want. You want them in full, natural light because the shading makes the design look weird. And then it's also, like, curving it a little bit. Like, is it perfectly centered under. Because what people are going to think is, oh, wow, if this is the way this design, is it going to print like that? Like, is that the actual shirt? I'm going to get where the design's a little bit cockeyed. This is where you have to start paying attention to the details. Like picking really good fonts. Right. We talk about that a lot. Like, you cannot. You have to take the time to find the perfect font for the design. Like, that's where we do need to get perfectionist. Right?

[Unknown]

I will say, like, I have no degree in graphic design. Like, I. I'm doing this without a marketing degree, or, I don't know, whatever degree you get that you are an artist. I don't have that. I am literally learning this myself. So moms or people who are listening that, like, oh, yeah, she's having all this success. Maybe I learned it myself on YouTube or, like, I, you know, can put things together. I don't have a degree in it, so don't use that as an excuse like, oh, I can't do this because I don't know art. You don't need to know art. You just need to do it.

[Becca]

So, and here's the cool thing, how we were talking about how you have an eye for design. I don't. Like, I am not the person who can pick anything. I'm getting better because I have had to slowly train myself over the years. So that's. If someone's just like, well, I don't have an eye for anything. It's going to be slower for you, most likely, but you can still learn. And so what you mentioned earlier is we have to build a brain cache. A brain cache is just where. Just like we learn anything else. How do we learn a new language? We repeatedly. We use repetition to speak and hear the same words over and over again until we build new neural pathways in our brain to remember the language. My toddler right now is like, what? Learning colors and shapes. How by looking at them over and over again and building neural pathways in his head to remember that this is what a triangle looks like. This is what a circle looks like. If you want to become a better designer, you need to study the best sellers on Etsy over and over and over again. In fact, before you sit down to design anything you need to spend at, I would spend half of your time allocated to design. I would spend staring at the best sellers. Pay attention to what fonts are they putting with, what kind of design? Oh, this is kind of a, we were talking about this the other day, remember? This is kind of a goofy design. This has kind of got a silly, light hearted feel. We don't want to have a real stuffy, elegant font with that. It doesn't make sense. It needs to have the same feeling and the same weight as what we are designing. Where do those bestsellers put little elements? Like sometimes we'll see little extra stars, right, that are placed in the design. Or we'll see like some of the trending things like a little coquette bow or some leopard print or a lightning bolt. These are kinds of, some things that are on trend. So it's paying attention to the trends. I paying attention to the, the, the font, paying attention to the design. And is, are the lines of the design similar to the lines of the font or is the font too clunky to go with the design? These kinds of details, I don't know how I got down that rabbit hole, but it's like really, really important as you're growing. Oh, I know this is not related at all, but the point is, is that you have been doing this consistently now for four months. You've been taking feedback in the group, being able to get, you know, eyes on your stuff regularly. You've been building your brain cache and then what happens is there's this momentum. So you've got five orders today, which is the most you've ever had. Your shop is growing, growing, growing in reputation. Etsy is starting to see. Oh, when we send people here, they buy stuff and you're gonna, it's like this, it's like this waterfall effect that happens. Did I already ask you the adhd? We are terrible because neither of us can. We're the adhd. What a team. What a team. Girl, are you doing one listing a day? Is that your goal right now?

[Unknown]

No, for July. With our July challenge, it's three listings a day.

[Becca]

Oh my gosh.

[Unknown]

I was doing In June one to two. So I'm gonna kick it into gear. But I have, like, 15 that are ready.

[Becca]

Oh, that's so smart.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Becca]

Okay. And so then, yeah, I've been really.

[Unknown]

Trying to batch work.

[Becca]

So.

[Unknown]

Yes, I'm trying to, like, by not using, like, the ideogram batch thing.

[Becca]

You are using that.

[Unknown]

I'm not using that.

[Becca]

Okay.

[Unknown]

So I'm doing this all myself. But, like, I will spend time, like, going and looking at, like, creating designs well, for my invitations. So I'll do the designs, and then I'll go back and, like, fix the stuff, like, the date, the time, all those things. So I have 15 that are ready for me to go in and, like, fix.

[Becca]

That's so smart. And you know what else I love about that? And this is something I was going to say that I forgot I was going to say about the brain cash. If you go back and you look at, like, your original designs, like, the first 10 listings that you did, or even if I created a design four days ago and I go back and I look at it a few days later, and I wonder, this is why it's so smart that you're doing that. You're going to be able to improve it. You're. If you take time away from something and come back, you'd be like, oh, wow. Or you look at your older designs. Oh, wow. You can see how far you've come. And that can really help for people who want to grow and get better is like, go back and look at older ones and then, like, or come back a week later and say, what could I do to improve this? After building your brain cash? Mm.

[Unknown]

Yeah. My first designs are awful. I'm gonna be honest. They are awful. They've gotten a lot better.

[Becca]

I should actually. I should, like, do an expose and show, like, my first. I've shown my original, like, sign pictures. I should do that again, though. But, like, my first PNG file, so you guys can just see, like, what it is. And you. But you. Like, this is the thing. It's like learning a new language. You have to go through the muck of stinking, of not pronouncing it correctly or forgetting the words, of using the wrong words. You have to go through that with the. You know, with the designing, with the creating listings in order to get good at it. Wow.

[Unknown]

So, I mean, it was me, too. Like, the. I can do the pic. Like, that picture I did. It was great. The word sucked. But, like, once I. I feel like after I took your feedback and, like, went back to It. I was like, yeah, duh. Like, that wasn't supposed to go like that. And then I found a F and it hopefully looked better.

[Becca]

You know what? You probably would have thought the same thing yourself. Like, oh, I could improve it after you had just taken a few days away from it. Like, you do. So I think that's super smart that you're batching like that. You had a question you wanted to ask me?

[Unknown]

Oh, yeah. So, okay, so I got my 40th sale today, and I've only got one review. So, like, I know in the last episode, Carrie with Sweary Carrie. I think that's her. She's amazing. I love her.

[Becca]

She's awesome.

[Unknown]

I love her in the group, dude, the group is where it's at. If y' all are on the fence, get in the group. Be our friends.

[Becca]

It is like a group of friends, but actually tell us why you think it's good. Like, what? Like, specifically why is it. Is it worth it?

[Unknown]

First of all, it's like, there's room at the table for everyone. Like, I know that sounds cliche, but, like, I came into Etsy thinking it was super saturated. It is not. There is a lot of room at this table for everyone and scooch on in and that.

[Becca]

Stop making fun of me.

[Unknown]

No, I love it. It's like family. Like, howdy, y'. All, Scooch on in, have some sweet tea.

[Becca]

You just made it worse.

[Unknown]

Well, you know, whatever. But I'm also from southern Louisiana, so scooch on and have some crawfish and some. You know, it's fine. But, like, everyone is out to help each other. Like, I know there's several people in that group that I can direct message and be like, hey, I need help on this, and they're not going to gatekeep. Or, like, I am very active in that group. Like, this weekend, someone was asking, how do I prompt this better. Got an ideogram prompted for her, gave her the prompt and was like, here, use it. Like, I don't want it. It's for you. So everyone's wanting to help em better each other. Like, iron sharpens iron. And that is exactly what this group is doing. Sharpening each other.

[Becca]

Thank you for saying all of that. A. Because it's true. It's like a little family. It's actually. It's actually ended up even better than I expected. I was just trying to help people who wanted the one on one and provide a place for them to get it. The actual group collective community is shockingly phenomenal. Like, unexpected Benefit, to be honest. But I also asked you that to kill time while I looked up Carrie's episode was number 186 for anyone who wants to listen. Okay, so you listen to Carrie's episode.

[Unknown]

Yes. And Carrie sells stickers. For anyone who hasn't listened to the episode, she sells these like really funny, like hearty, hard, feminist like stickers.

[Becca]

She's very sassy. Yep.

[Unknown]

Yes. And she does it. What? Print on. She does print on demand stickers, right?

[Becca]

No, she has a third party company print them for her, but she ships them herself. So she's basically buying wholesale. It's like if we designed a, a product and then had it manufactured and then, and then we shipped it out, you know, we like wholesaled it and then shipped it out. Does that make sense?

[Unknown]

Yeah. Yeah. So she's doing that, but in her like say, I think what she did was like 10, like you can buy 10 stickers and then depending on what niche the stickers in, she sends free stuff out. But like for digital, like, how do you like. I feel like I need to get street cred and I feel like that would be a way to get street cred on Etsy and get reviews. But like, how do you do that for a digital shop?

[Becca]

I'm laughing at your street cred. And anyone who doesn't get it, look at a picture of her cutie. Okay, couple of things I'm going to say. First of all, digital products are the very hardest to get reviews for. Business owners are buying them, they're busy, they don't care. Whatever. In the beginning I tried what I had done in physical products which had worked really well and actually in print on demand as well. And I sent an email or a DM via Etsy Conversations. Why don't they call it Conversations? Can we just call it messenger or DM or what everybody else on the Internet calls it? I'm sorry, I don't usually dog on Etsy, but this bugs me. It's so long to say on Etsy Conversations, stop it. Okay, so I would DM every single one, every single one of them and say, hey, thanks so much for your order. Like, you know, I hope it works perfectly for your project. Please let me know if you have any issues accessing it. Whatever, whatever. Basically my whole thing is if you provide great customer service, you'll get good reviews. Well, I actually found in the digital space I felt like I annoyed them more because they all have Etsy shops too. And because I DM them, they had to DM me back. So they don't lose their star seller. So I kind of feel like, isn't that interesting? So I kind of feel like it's a bad look, you know, a little way, like a little bit. Now plenty of people buying them have brick and mortar stores or they go to events like, not. This is actually a misnomer that the only people who buy Digital products like PNGs are other Etsy sellers. It's not accurate at all. There are literally millions of people who buy them. But the point is these are busy people who don't really want the dm. So I actually don't really recommend doing that. Part of it is we just have to wait it out and it takes a minute to get them. However, you're just asking, well, what could I do as a bonus, since Carrie can throw in more stickers or something like that, that's a plus. We can do that with digital products. Like, I've seen this a lot. So for example, Bailey, we've talked about plenty of times Bailey digitally purposed, right? Is that what her. I want to say that's her YouTube. She's awesome. And she's one of the first like OGs in the Etsy kind of like AI digital product space. So she, her big thing was initially Tumblr wraps and so someone would buy a Tumblr app and then she had, she gave them like six extra. Everything came with a bonus. So when someone goes in there to download their Tumblr app, they get and, and you could do it. Let's say you have several different niches. Like let's say you've got some things, you've got stuff for teachers and you got stuff for people who fish and you got stuff for people who play pickleball or whatever. I'm just making it up. You could create like a few different bundles of freebies for each of those so that it's like Carrie and she's looking at, okay, this person loves horror. They bought horror stickers. I'm going to throw in a few other horror related ones because, you know, if someone liked horror and, but like they don't care at all about cats and she throws in cat ones, that's just not as related. So you could be, you could be generic and just create 10 digital files that would be a little like appealing to everybody and whatever. And that's a great way to start. I think it would be an even bigger flex though to make them specific to the niche. Everyone who buys a funny, you know, sticker. A funny sticker. A funny like dog related PNG from you gets like 6 more or 10 more free dog related PNGs. And they're not ones that you list in your shop. They're just that bonus.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Or even like invitations. I guess you could do like a thank you note. Like a thing like say if I do a birthday invitation, I can do like a thank you for coming birthday tag that fits what the invitation would be.

[Becca]

That's completely brilliant. Or like, I don't know, have you for your daughter. Like I remember when mine was little and we'd have birthday parties and then you send a thank you note. A lot of us I guess don't in 2025. But it would be like mostly filled out. So it would be, it would say already saying a thank you for the. And there would be a line. I'm excited to line. And then love line. You could create some of those that match the invitations and they could send those digitally after the party. If they don't use it, they don't use it. But I love the gift tag. So you could create a bundle to go with it. But I'm also just thinking like, okay, so invitations, what are some other things? Like why, what about like, like let's say they buy a mermaid invitation. Why couldn't you give them mermaid PNGs? It's still just the thought that counts. You know what I mean? Like people. Carrie's sticker. People might not use the extra stickers they gave them, but they're going to be like, oh, you thought of me. This is total related to what I bought and this is just extra. Or you know, it's like when they give you like the crappy mint at the restaurant, but it's like, you're not going to eat the mint. I don't want the mint. But I'm. But thank you for giving me the mint. Really sweet that you thought of me, but you're like, I'm not going to eat. You're like, literally cost you 0.001 pennies mint. Now you can be a really good mint. I'm going to be even happier. But it's the thought that counts.

[Unknown]

That would work too, because eventually I would like to. So I did. Did I tell you this? I had an invitation.

[Becca]

Wait and fear.

[Unknown]

No, I had an invitation that sold. And like, you know how when you're on Etsy it says like, oh, repeat buyer.

[Becca]

So I'm like, what?

[Unknown]

Like in invitations it's not very, I guess normal for like a person to buy two of my invitations because like I casted a Wide net of my niches. So I'm like, what did she. What did this person buy? Two of it was the same invitation. So I messaged her, and I was like, hey, like, I saw you bought the same invitations. It's a digital download. Like, did you mean to do this? It was a pregnant mom. And she's like, oh, my gosh. Like, no, I didn't mean to. And I was like, oh, no problem. Like, I'll reimburse you, but, like, I have a bundle for the invitation. Like, do you want to take a look at that? That has, like, all this different stuff in it. And she's like, yes, and bought it in, like, a second. So, like, I'm. I want to do more bundles for my invitations. So, like, I would hate to give out, like, free stuff that goes with my bundle, because I sell that.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

So the PNGS would work.

[Becca]

The PNGs. Do the PNGs or. Can you hear the cat? We literally had this conversation before. You can't hear him. Okay, so the mic's not picking him up. We literally had a conversation about my cat and asked him to be a gentleman during this recording, and it's not happening. He's over there yowling like he's in heat. And he's a male, although he's actually technically not a male. He's a they. Them. Because he had so many urinary tract infections and blockages that they had to actually remove all of that and create a whole new situation. I know you all really wanted to know that, but it is kind of funny. Anyway, his name is Zeke, and he. I got him from the Humane Society, and he has. What do you call it? Piercing blue Siamese cat eyes. But he's a mix. Oh, he's coming over here. There's a 10. There's a. There's a 16 chance he'll jump on the desk, which would be. You know what? You know what? He's right here. Let's just. Let's just do it rough, committed. Don't scratch me. Here's Zeke, everybody. Show them your eyes. He's being squinty. Oh, he's being squinty. Show them your eyes. They're piercing blue, but he won't show you he's feeling okay. I love it this episode. People are either gonna fall in love with us forever or they're never gonna listen again. It's gonna be fine.

[Unknown]

Sorry.

[Becca]

It's not your fault. It's my fault for being a terrible host. What resources have been helping you the most, though? Like, what do has really helped you move the needle? Doesn't have to be related to me at all. Like, seriously, just spill your heart out. What's been helpful? I'm gonna be honest.

[Unknown]

The group. Like, the group. Your podcast. Like, I listen to Jenny, like, with all of her mindfulness and all of those things. Like, I talk to Jason a lot. I carry around a notebook now, like he does in one of his podcasts. He mentioned. Like, he'll carry around a notebook and whenever he, like, gets an inspiration, he'll write it down. So I've been doing that. So that's a boomer.

[Becca]

I don't even know if he is a boomer. But to write. Put it in your phone, Jason, for crying out loud. I mean, that's adorable though, both of you. Also, you are 32 years old, Becca. But whatever. Shout out to Jason. Pegs. Okay, what about you had mentioned earlier, YouTube. Are there any channels that have been really helpful?

[Unknown]

Bailey's. I mean, I look at Bailey's all the time. Same Ever Be is one. Another one that I've been looking at. What is her name? It's not. It's the girl.

[Becca]

It's With Ever Being.

[Unknown]

Is the ever YouTube. Yes, but it's. Is that Cody who does the YouTube videos?

[Becca]

I mean, I think so. It's a girl. There's a girl. There's a girl. But she works for, like, the brand, so we just. I can. I can reference the Ever Be channel. It's not her channel. Right. It's like, I've seen it. It's like everybody's channel. But there's a girl who does the videos.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Becca]

They're so good at putting out, like, content like that. Okay, Ever Be. What else did you say? You said, oh, Bailey. That's the one I need to write down. Bailey.

[Unknown]

And then Jenny's.

[Becca]

Jenny's YouTube. They're good, right? Yeah.

[Unknown]

She makes me super jealous because I went to Greece, like, when I was in high school, and, like, I want to go back and I did my honeymoon there. I would live with over there. Yeah.

[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 on, you know, on the big YouTube channels, even on this podcast where I just had crazy success. And it took off right away, right 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.

[Unknown]

And.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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 a code, when I get excited, I cannot help but tell everybody who wants to listen. It's like either my best asset or my toxic trade. 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 BE 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.

[Becca]

To start your shop if you're worried about that part.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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 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, 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.

[Becca]

Are you gonna be Jenny like 2.0 and you guys are gonna move to Greece? No. You want to keep your job no, People in Greece need speech pathology. It's a different language, but, yeah, it would be.

[Unknown]

You say that, but, like, a lot of, like, countries don't do, like, it's frowned upon to do speech therapy over there.

[Becca]

I thought you were gonna say there are a lot of expats, and I was gonna be like, you're right. They need you. Let's go. What? Wait, what do you mean they don't want to do speech pathology in other country? What is it frowned upon?

[Unknown]

Especially people with, like, speech impediments or, like, stutters, like, you would try to do. Like, in the United States, we try to do just, like, stuttering therapy and, like, speech impediment therapy to get you to talk. Right. Like, in certain cultures, like, they believe that's how you were born, and they don't want that to get fixed.

[Becca]

I have. I mean, I. So here's the thing. If the culture is really respectful and the person can have an amazing quality of life and it doesn't make it a lot harder for them, that's fine. But if they're actually beating them up and having terrible things happen, then I. I struggle with that.

[Unknown]

Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. I'd have to do my Etsy shop full term if I wanted to just go into another country.

[Becca]

Oh, you could be like me, and you could spend part of the year somewhere else in Greece, and you could just see your clients remotely. Look at me making up your life for you. Tell your husband I'm sorry.

[Unknown]

My husband is like, yes, because he works from home, too.

[Becca]

Really?

[Unknown]

He's an engineer.

[Becca]

He's just an engineer.

[Unknown]

Yeah, he's just an engineer, works from home, but he's like, yeah, let's go move to Singapore. Like, baby, I am not moving to Singapore. Like, LA girl. Here. Like, no.

[Becca]

Okay. That would be so cool. Or Hong Kong. Okay.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Becca]

Back to the point. Do you. Have you had any, like, really big aha moments in the last four months? Is there have there been any things that have just, like, a one concept that was just, like, caused some breakthrough?

[Unknown]

I feel like me kind of breaking ideogram was my aha moment.

[Becca]

Okay, tell me everything.

[Unknown]

I was a mid journey girl for a long time, and then, like, I found ideogram through you and Jason. I think because y' all were like. I think it was the coloring pages workshop.

[Becca]

Yes, coloring pages. Ideogram. 100 every time.

[Unknown]

Yeah. You were like, oh, ideogram. And that night I got on and I was playing with it and I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, I can actually prompt a lot better in this programmed in mid journey. So, like, me, I feel like. And I've talked to Jason about this, and we've actually got on a call and we were like, prompting back and forth, but I feel like when you. Your. My big aha moment was like, I want this image to look like this. And I did it. And I was like, yes. Like, I got it. So that was. And like, I'll show my husband and I'll be like, jerry, look like, look what I just made. And he's like, yeah, okay, that's great. Love you.

[Becca]

They don't get it.

[Unknown]

You're, like, wanting to pop a bottle of champagne. Like, oh, my gosh, I just made. And it took me, like, one roll instead of, like, 18.

[Becca]

This is why I have to DM you guys instead of show my husband. I mean, my husband's the biggest support. He's like my biggest cheerleader, but he doesn't get it right. Like, he. Yeah, the. The. The response is not appropriately ecstatic.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Becca]

That's so interesting. I love mid journey for anything more like watercolory. To this day, I can't get the same look on every image in ideogram for, like, a watercolor illustration. You have good luck with that.

[Unknown]

So at first I was not. And then I put, like, hand drawn watercolor illustration because what was happening is an ideogram. If you put watercolor, just watercolor itself, it would, like, only do the edges.

[Becca]

What? Oh, like, kind of splotchy.

[Unknown]

Yes. And I'm like, what the heck is this? So then I started playing with, like, hand drawn watercolor illustration, and it makes it. It so much better.

[Becca]

Then you're right. I didn't use hand drawn.

[Unknown]

I have watercolor style. Yeah.

[Becca]

Okay.

[Unknown]

And then if you style it down to 2.0 instead of 3, it also makes it better.

[Becca]

Okay, so there's different. All of these different AI tools have different. Well, how would we call it? Like, additions or models? Basically, like, as they have improved, you know, like. Like as they have grown or the new release has come out. But you can always set them back at other model levels or other. I'm calling it the wrong thing, I'm sure. So if we put ideogram back at 2.0, it does a better job with watercolor.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And 1.0 does better with doodling, like, if you want that.

[Becca]

What?

[Unknown]

Yes. 1.0.

[Becca]

Okay. You just gave us. Thank you so much.

[Unknown]

Is that your aha moment? Because it's mine.

[Becca]

That's so fun. I was using hand Drawn for coloring pages because I like that effect. I feel like it's more what's on trend. But I hadn't done it for like my watercolor illustrations or my clip art. So super interesting. What tips do you have for like, new folks? Maybe people are thinking about it or just getting started. I mean, please encourage them and give them some practical, like maybe, you know, three steps or something.

[Unknown]

Yeah, so I mean, the first step is you can do this. And you've said this multiple times on your podcast. Like, there's two type of people. There's one that has time. If you have time and you want to, like, learn things, YouTube University is the way to go. Like Bailey's YouTube, your YouTube. If you do pod, which I have not dove my toes into because I like am so far into digital. But, like, they have phenomenal resources that you can just go and listen to. Jenny's is like, I don't know, 15, 10, 15 minutes each video. So it's not like long form. Like you have to sit in an hour to learn this one piece. Bailey's is like 20, 30 minutes. And like yours are short too. So like, think of like, hey, I'm about to get, I'm brushing my teeth. I can like watch one real quick. But if you don't have time and you like, want to get started, like your memberships, like, you have the, what is it, the free masterclass. You have the six figures to success. Like, those are all great resources that if you want to learn information in like a short form, here, give it to me all at one time. Those. That's the way to go, 100%. But just go for it. Like, it's going to be scary. At first I was scared. Like, I thought the imposter syndrome is like so real in anything that you do. But I guarantee you once you start and you like start nurturing it and nurturing it, you'll get to where I was, where I got my four year sale today. And like, we all have a party, but it's also like, you have to find like the little. I think Marina said this in her podcast when she was like wrapping up and she said her biggest thing is you have to celebrate the little things. So, like, I have a big calendar on my wall and like I put, like when I opened my first shop, when I did my first sale, my 10th sale, my 50th listing, like, those are all written down on my calendar. So at the end of the year I can like reflect to be like, like, oh, yeah, I did the Dang thing like it just took, it maybe took a little bit, but I did it to celebrate the little things because it's not, it's not gonna be like you open it and then like hit the ground running and you just have $10,000 just sitting in your back pocket. Unfortunately, sometimes that's not how it works. But it's not on. It's not too saturated for you not to get started.

[Becca]

I love what you said. I will link Marina's episode cause that's another awesome one for digital products. I think one of the biggest things and you have alluded to this left and right and so I like love it.

[Unknown]

It.

[Becca]

I think coming in with balanced expectations is the best advice for someone new. Like number one, open the shop and get some listings up. Number two, don't expect those listings to sell. Number three, obsess over. Spend so much time looking at the best sellers in your niche not to copy them but to learn from them because there are going to be some consistent threads that you're going to notice. And then number four is continue to learn and build your brain Cash. Because I don't. Did I say brain Cash twice? If I did, it's actually good. You need to do it twice. But like having the expectation of you're not. You're gonna feel like you did a ton of work putting up 10 listings and it probably, you're probably gonna have to get more like a thousand up before you're gonna get the kind before you're gonna have the, you know, full time income and you're gonna have to get a lot better as you go. So like just that expectation of like give yourself time. You know. When people message me, I get dms. I think I've said this before so I'm sorry if I'm being grandpa and telling the same story again but this is really important for someone who clicked on a beginner episode. I get messages all the time of people who just lost their job or they're like they're getting a divorce. They've got to make money right now. Like they have got. They are in a pinch. How do I do this right now? Just tell me what to do and I tell them I am going to tell you what to do. Don't do Etsy right now. Get, you know, do daycare out of your home, drive for uber or do UberEats or delivery. Get a part time job. Do something where you are not going to have to learn a whole bunch of new skills and take a whole bunch of risk to get food on the Table and take care of yourself. Once you're stable and you have the capacity, you don't just stay in that situation forever, but you need to create balance and stability in your life to be able to take this on. Because it's going to take capacity, it's going to take time. It is not get rich quick. But every. I said and again, broken record. But everyone overestimates what they can do in six months and underestimates what they can do in two years. So expectations is everything.

[Unknown]

The other thing about that is, like, if you come to the table, like, with desperate energy, like, you are gonna be creating things that are desperate. They're not. You're not gonna be sitting there and looking at, you know, oh, this font or this style or this. You're just gonna be putting up, like, listings after listings, and then you're gonna get upset because they don't sell well. Go look at the energy and the quality that you put up. So desperation is never a place to be creative. Think about it. Like, if you go to a party and someone's desperate, like, you don't want.

[Becca]

To be around that person.

[Unknown]

They're not. They're, like, bringing down the energy. You got to bring your energy up if you want people to, like, look at your stuff and be like, oh, yeah, like, I want. I want to wear that T shirt on vacation. Or like, I want to, you know, wow my friends with this party invitation. You want happiness to, like, grace your presence of Etsy.

[Becca]

Yeah. The top sellers, like, figure out how to get into flow state. Right? We get into a place where it's fun. And Brittany Lewis, Be a Wolf Biz talks about this a lot. She's really great for print on demand as well. Especially if you're, like, cutthroat. Like, you want to go. Brittany Beowulf is. But she'll. She'll say, like, you. Who cares? You have to. You have to throw the results out the window. Stop looking at your stats. It doesn't matter. You need to build your brain Cash. She calls it a mental archive. And you need to just have fun. And even when I got to interview Printify, maybe even two years ago now, and that was so fun. The people, the people that are on their channel, they're really awesome. And they were like, it's so much about that energy that you bring and being, like, fun and curious and open and be. And that's where creativity can flow through flow from. When we're coming at it desperate, we're going to get up 2000. Really, really crummy listings that don't have emotional connection and aren't going to get us the results that we want. So be ready to take the time. The shortcuts are. Yeah, paying for the help as opposed to the YouTube university, but it's still going to take you. It's still going to take you time to sharpen the skills. Unless you're coming with some kind of, like, in, you know, incredible illustration background. Okay, so where can people find you and connect? We're going to share your link to the group. So if anyone wants to join the group and they want to coordinate, come through your link. You'll actually get credit for that, which is a nice way to support you. Where you can you send me your email address? Right. People can shoot you an email.

[Unknown]

Yeah, shoot me an email. But if you get into school, like, I'm there all the time. Like, it's connected to my phone. Like, if you have a question, shoot me a text message or, like, direct message, whatever it's called, and I'll get back to you.

[Becca]

You did DM me back surprisingly fast the other day. I was like, what? She's doing?

[Unknown]

I didn't have any patience. I was just, like, chilling on my couch, doing stuff for Etsy and I was like, oh, yes, I would love to be on the podcast.

[Becca]

It's perfect timing. Well, this is definitely a different kind of episode, but I think actually it has a. It has a resonance and it has a speed and a tone that's gonna really, really help some people who are in those early stages. So is there anything we left out that you wanted to make sure you get to share?

[Unknown]

No, I don't. My conversion rate is a 4.6%.

[Becca]

That's awesome. Good job for E Commerce is rock. I was just talking to someone today and they were. They, like, have a better conversion rate than me. They're like, I'm thinking about quitting because this is my conversion rate. And I told them mine and I was like, stop. Mine's worse. This is why we've got to move volume, right? This is why we're talking about. Okay. 800 listings will get you at your level of quality at your, you know, assuming a 10%. 10% of the ones that you create will sell. Yeah. Will sell, like, at a very high level. So thank you so much, Becca. Thanks for being able to share. Thank you for being such a valuable, like, just delightful member of the community.

[Unknown]

Oh, well, thank you. Hey, I'm only there because of you, so I really have to thank you for letting us come and like, have fun and, you know, be on your coaching calls even if they cheat.

[Becca]

I know, right? I have no boundaries. Two peas in a pod. All right, guys, thank you so much for hanging out with us. We hope you took away value and practical. And I mean, at the very least, you know to set ideogram at the number two model if you want hand and use hand drawn if you want good watercolor images, good green. All right, love y'. All. Till next week. Y' all go make something awesome. Bye now.

[Lizzie Smiley]

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, 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.