← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
Ep 211 | Secrets to Fast Success Selling AI Digital Products -with Becca Miller
01:06:56
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- [00:01]
A
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.
- [00:59]
B
Hey guys, welcome back to the how to sell your stuff on Etsy podcast. I am so fired up for you to hear today's episode. You guys went crazy for the last one that Becca was on, episode 189 in the summer. Oh, this is even better. I don't know how, but if you haven't listened to that one, you might want to go hear that. Hear about what it was like when she first opened up her Etsy shop and and what happened versus now. Holy moly. So I'm going to tell you about Becca and we will get into it here in just a second, but I want to let you know that I have an FAQ episode coming up here soon. So if you have a question for me that you'd like to ask about Etsy, about business, whatever, ask me anything. There will be a link below where you can submit your questions for that episode. Y' all love those. I'm so excited to record when I feel like it's been a minute. Like I feel like I shouldn't have waited this long. So make sure you've got your your questions submitted. I'll also make sure you jump in to the trendspotting membership if you haven't tried it before. If you want to start learning the trends, first of all, Becca's about to tell you good reasons why because it has helped her so much. But right now you can get your first month for just $17 with the code keep20 at checkout. Then it'll be 37amonth. But I'm about to launch seven weeks of the most crazy bonuses. You'll get a bonus every single week if you're in the membership before December 15th. You can see what the bonuses are below in the show notes. But like holy moly, now is the time. So let's go jump in. So you get every single one of them. And then finally, if you are new around here and or you're planning on getting really serious about Etsy in January of 2020, this is going to be your year. And I think after this episode you're going to be pretty fired up. So we're going to really motivate you today. But I really want to impress upon you how important it is to make data based decisions. Okay, so what that means is when you're deciding what to sell on Etsy, what listings to create, make sure there's probably going to be things that you're really excited about or that you really like, make sure that there is demand for them on Etsy. You want to go onto the platform itself and make sure that people are actually purchasing it. And I really, really like and recommend the tool Profit Tree. They have a little kind of like this chrome extension called Etsy Radar that will tell you for like let's say you do a search for cat T shirts, cat lover T shirts. The search results will populate and Profit Tree will show up below each single listing and tell you how old it is, which is really helpful. How much money it's making every single month, how much money it's made total, how many favorites it gets. You're going to get all of this data that Etsy doesn't give you on every single listing. And the reason that is helpful. So look what I do if I'm going to create something in my trendspotting membership. When I'm giving you guys opportunities, like listing ideas, I am looking for things that are new, like listing is less than six months old and making great monthly income. Because if that if a listing is a best seller and it's new and making really good money, then I know that you or I have a better chance of ranking for a similar listing for a listing in that niche. I know that if there's demand. The reason I really like Profit Tree, there's several reasons. There's a lot of tools out there, many of them are very, very good. But a lot of you are really on a budget. You don't have a lot of money to be paying for memberships, having monthly fee. I really respect that. Profit Tree will give you access to Etsy Radar this tool for a one time fee of $67. That's crazy because otherwise you can be spending 30 $100 or more a month on some of the others. But if you are just starting out you need Profit Tree because it's going to give you this data to help you make a database decision right out of the gate. So something that most people can afford upfront. So I'm going to go ahead and link it below where you can get that lifetime access. That's not something that's just available all over the place. I don't know when it's going to end. So I will link it below and then I'll also provide I have a tutorial that I did on YouTube showing you exactly how you I use this tool. I don't know about you guys but like I don't like sometimes I don't like learning something new, especially if it's tech related. I usually I'm the girl who goes to her husband. We just got one of those vacuum mop cleaners off of TikTok, you know where it'll like vacuum and mop at the same time. I'm super excited, but I haven't tried it yet because I don't want to figure out how to use it. I want him to figure it out and tell me how to use it and then I will use it and love it. So I will show you how to use Prophet Teresa. You don't have to go figure it out. You can just do what I do and love it. So enjoy that. Let's get into this. I want to tell you guys about Becca before we bring her here onto the podcast on the recording. So Becca, she is a wife and a mom to one wildly sassy little girl who keeps her humble and caffeinated by degree. She's a pediatric speech language pathologist, but deep down she's always had a soft spot for side hustles and creative chaos. Her first official toe dip into the online business world was teachers pay teachers, teachers making speech therapy and early childhood principles. But it started to feel like a lot of her day job with a fancier font. She's always designed party invitations and printables for family and friends for fun. But it wasn't until she stumbled across this podcast during a drive between patient visits that something shifted. I apparently I said there's room at the table for everyone. Yeah, I guess I say that a lot. And that line stopped her in her tracks. It felt like the sign she didn't know she was waiting for. So on March 8, 2025, she officially opened her Etsy shop, and she hasn't looked back, except for to laugh at how long it took her to just go for it. Oh, my gosh, is she the cutest writer or what? So let's get into it. Let's find out what's happened since July, when she came on the podcast as a new etsy seller to December 2025. Holy cow. Get ready to take notes, get ready for lots of details, and get ready to just cozy up around the fire with us. You need something to drink for this one? I mean, like, alcoholic or none. I'll let you decide. Let's welcome Becca to the podcast. Becca, Yay. Welcome back to the podcast.
- [06:28]
C
Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
- [06:30]
B
Oh, I'm so excited for everyone to hear everything, hear all the things. Because you were on the podcast back in July. You had a fresh. I'm gonna let you get into the details, but you had a fresh new shop using, you know, AI art to fuel this digital product machine, and you were already having. You were, like, off to a good start, right? You had some quick results up front, but, like, tell us what's happened since then, where you're at now. Maybe even. Do you have the numbers of where you were?
- [06:55]
C
Yes, I do.
- [06:56]
B
I. I knew you would.
- [06:58]
C
Okay, so I was on the podcast in July, and if y' all listened, that is when I made my 40th sale, actually, on the podcast. So that was very exciting after opening the shop March 8. So that was pretty quick for most, you know, for most people. And then in November 16, I hit my thousandth sale, and then today I'm up to 1600 sales, which is like, yes. So it has been growing, and it has been so exciting. And so, like, just like you say on your podcast, literally, there is room at this table for everyone, and it is not saturated. I spent so much of those first months, like, from March to when I made that first sale, you know, the sales are just trickling. They're just trickling. And I'm like, okay, is this gonna work? I'm gonna be one of those people. My goal was to make, like, $500 a month on Etsy, and I made that in October was my first $500 in month revenue, and last month, I made $1500 in revenue.
- [08:02]
B
Oh, okay. Wait, wait, wait. How many sales is that, though? Like, what was the total sale number for?
- [08:08]
C
Like, total 1600.
- [08:09]
B
Yeah, so. So 1600 sales of a digital product, and you're already Having a fifteen hundred dollar month, that's life changing income.
- [08:20]
C
Yeah.
- [08:21]
B
And it happened in less than a year. In less than a year. And it's passive. Like, okay, explain for people who are listening who don't know anything about it, how do these products work? Like explain the passive income part.
- [08:33]
C
So basically what I do is I do digital invitations. So what that means is I spend 20 to 30 minutes now because I've done some systems and stuff to get it a little bit faster. You create this template on Canva and it could be something like a Christmas party. It can be like a first birthday party. And then you would put it on Etsy to sell as a template and the customer would go in and buy it. And then Etsy automatically sends the customer this PDF that says, here is the template link for that customer to go in and edit their information themselves. So I am literally not putting in that. It's Baby Bella's first Christmas party. Come on to the party. That's everything that the customer wants. It's on them. I'm not printing it, I'm not shipping it, I'm not having to go to FedEx to drop it off. It's literally I spent 20 minutes on this invitation and I don't look at it, touch it, unless a customer has a question about it.
- [09:30]
B
So you create the design template for the invitation in Canva. You create the PDF that the customer is going to download, you create the listing in Etsy, and then if all of the pixie dust works the way it should, it sells and Etsy automatically delivers that file to the customer. That's, that's semi passive income. You're not, you've created something once that you can sell over and over again. And you have one that's sold a lot, Right. You have one that has sold how many times?
- [09:57]
C
So it's sold like 500 times. It's made 1500 dollars in two months. Yeah.
- [10:03]
B
So there's one listing. Wow.
- [10:05]
C
And this is like a $2.90 listing. It's not like I'm selling it for five, six dollars. Like my average sale is like $2 and 20 cents.
- [10:15]
B
Yeah, you've moved a lot of, you've made a lot of sales on one thing. And the, the gosh, it makes that such a no brainer for people to buy though. And the thing is, is that your profit margin is massive. Like you're paying $0.20 for the listing fee for Etsy, 6.5% for the transaction fee, and the rest you just take home because there's no expenses.
- [10:35]
C
Right. And I'm not paying any overhead. Like, the. Literally the only thing that's my quote Overhead is my AI subscription and Canva, which is like what, $20 a month. Which if you have a good month, it takes care of your whole yearly subscription very easily.
- [10:51]
B
So just because I want to back up, I should have said this before. I want you guys to go back and listen to episode 189 where Becca had just gotten started. She was just starting to get traction. That was the July episode. So many people loved that episode. I've gotten so many DMS emails. Like, all of the things. It's really, really good for you who are new to hear what it's like in those early days. And what was really interesting is so. So, Becca, you and I met for the first time because you came to one of my AI workshops. Is that right? Do you remember which one? Well, you've come to all of them now. But which one was it?
- [11:21]
C
The coloring book? One was the first one you came to.
- [11:24]
B
Did you do any coloring page listings?
- [11:26]
C
I did. I did like an ABC coloring page book and that sold probably like 50 times. Yeah.
- [11:36]
B
That was one of the first things you made, huh?
- [11:39]
C
Oh, and let me tell you, for anyone who is listening, that's new. Your first designs are gonna suck. Like, just, just. It's okay. Minded. They were awful. In our school group, I actually made a post a while ago that was like, look, this is my first design and this is where I am now. And to see the two comparisons, we're like, oh, that's probably why that didn't sell. It's fun.
- [12:01]
B
Yes. No, it's so true. Anytime we do audits in the, in the coaching group, which by the way, is open for anyone to join. If you guys are looking for like more one on one support, more like group feedback, you're trying to figure out what's going on. Most of the time, I can tell you guys right now, most of the time it's design quality. And the only way to do to fix that is to keep designing. You know, you go to art school, you're cranking out a lot of art. That's how you become good, you know? Yes. Can there be a savant? Sure. But I wasn't one. Becca wasn't one. We had to like, we had to work our way up. Now, I vaguely remember you were in the PNG and Tumblr rap workshop, right?
- [12:37]
C
Yes.
- [12:37]
B
With Jason, where Jason was like my wingman Jason. We haven't heard from him for a little bit, but. Oh, today's his anniversary. So happy verse anniversary, Jason. This is airing after that, but. Well, that's beside the point. But you started out trying to play with PNGs too, right?
- [12:51]
C
Yes. And I've actually, interestingly, the PNGs that I made back in the gap when that was all going on have actually sold, like, for this Christmas holiday. And I'm like, oh, maybe my PNGs don't suck.
- [13:06]
B
Okay. This happens to me left and right, where when I create PNG listings on Etsy, I feel like they don't sell for the first three or four months and then they become best sellers. It's kind of weird. Like, I don't. I kind of don't get it because someone the other day in the school group was saying, they listed something I made us. Okay. Yeah. We did a coaching call and I said, hey, you are killing it in, like, this particular niche and design style. Why don't you to trend combine? Yeah, it is trend. That's what I was going to say. You trend combine. So you're doing this one trend really well. Add this other trend, combine them together, you're going to kill it. She's like, okay. And so she went and did it in the same day it sold. So I don't understand why Etsy is discriminating against yours and my new designs and then just deciding later, like, oh, wait, maybe you are awesome and hers. But. But that was really fun to see that happen for her.
- [13:51]
C
Yeah. That's only happened to me once, and it was really.
- [13:55]
B
Oh, I didn't know that that happened. That's so cool.
- [13:57]
C
Yeah, it was actually. It wasn't a png. It was an invitation that I created. And literally three hours later sold. And I'm like, what? Like, this is awesome. But it was trend combining. It was the coquette trend that was really, really, like, blowing up. And then that watercolor one that we keep on talking about, that watercolor sketch image that Etsy is loving that right now.
- [14:20]
B
People are going crazy for it. And it's interesting. Like, it's not losing steam. I feel like watercolor, it's almost like. It's almost a little timeless.
- [14:31]
C
Well, I feel like with the new to 20, 26 colors, the tinted pastels. Yes.
- [14:39]
B
Kind of icy. Icy cool tone pastels.
- [14:42]
C
Yeah. That, with that sketch look is gonna be like chef's kiss. Like, I feel like if you're wanting a design for like, January, February, March, that's what the design skills we need to hone in on, because that's just gonna be. It's so Pretty together. Like I've been playing with it and those two things together for an image is amazing.
- [15:01]
B
So since you mentioned that, tell us what tools you're really liking. Like where is it working? Well, how you know, just talk to me about that because I feel like that's a real. Like some people are wondering how are you creating this stuff? And you're the perfect person to talk about it.
- [15:13]
C
Yeah. So I use Ideogram is one of my go tos. I feel like Ideogram is really good for people who are not good with prompting because of the fact that it's very user friendly. And you can also in Ideogram and in Mid Journey, which is another program that I use, they have a gallery. So if you pay the $20 because I don't think you can get it on free, the access to like the gallery you can actually. And this is how pro tip. When I first started doing this, I would sit and look at the gallery and research and study what prompts go to what image. So for example, if I wanted to do Valentine's Day is coming up. Coquette is a big trend. Combine Coquette and Valentine's. I would literally search that in the gallery. Coquette Valentine. And then a ton of images would pop up and I would be like, okay, well I like this style of this one. So I would click on it and see what prompt they used. So then I'm like, okay, well let me pull this specific word into my prompt and let me see how it works. So then I was able to teach myself. Okay, well if you want no shadows, you know, dark lines, if I'm doing a coloring book, you have to add that into your prompt. So that is very user friendly. Like you have to Jason. When I was first talking to Jason, Jason would be like, Becca, you have to talk to it like it's a toddler. And if you want to talk toddleries to AI, Ideogram is your go to. Now if you want to be a little bit more sophisticated and like my husband who like wants to talk aspect ratios and all of this stuff that I'm just like, I just want this image to come out. I don't care what the aspect ratio is, use Mid Journey. Mid Journey gives you a little bit more of a. I feel like it's more realistic than ideogram 100%. So like when I'm doing a scenery or if I'm doing Now Midjourney also does animations that you can't get on Ideogram yet. So if you're working with like animated invitations or if you're working on like, I don't know, animated. Somebody in our school group is making like, something for Twitch. It's like an animated Twitch.
- [17:19]
B
Yes, yes.
- [17:21]
C
So if you do that, I would use Mid Journey for that because I don't think Ideogram would give you the realistic design piece that you would want.
- [17:31]
B
No, Ideogram for me is like, much better at kind of a cartoony, graphic, designy style. But here's another pro tip. Anytime I want anything that's text, text based, if I want some kind of pretty font and I don't want to add it myself, I use Ideogram. I feel like Mid Journey is still trash at actually creating lettering. Do you have that same experience?
- [17:50]
C
Yes. Mid Journey is not good for text at all. And it's also really not good for invitations. Like if you're making interesting. Yeah, like birthday invitations. Now if you want to do like wedding niche where it's like sophisticated old, like, embellishment that's really good for Mid Journey, not for Ideogram. Ideogram looks at that and makes it like a gold color.
- [18:15]
B
Like, it's just. No, it's like campy. Right. It's a totally different vibe. I only. And I know that you have cracked Ideogram and like getting watercolor, but anytime I want anything, watercolor, brushstroke, realistic looking, I am going to Mid Journey every single time.
- [18:30]
C
Well, the thing about Ideogram is it has so many different versions. So like version 2.0. And I know we've probably said this on like 18 Julian other podcasts, but.
- [18:40]
B
Repetition is our friend around here. Yeah.
- [18:42]
C
Version 2.0 makes the best watercolor that I found and that just. I've play a lot with the the versions now. I don't know if you know this. Mid Journey just made a thing where you can do a style reference. It's in the beta testing, so I don't know if everyone has it, but you can go through these. It has like a 9 by 9 graph and it has all these different pictures and it's like, okay, if I want to do that pastel, what do we say? The pastel hand drawn sketch that we were talking about a little bit ago, if I want to make that, it lets you click through a bunch of styles to get you what that prompt would be. It like hones it in. It is amazing.
- [19:21]
B
Really?
- [19:22]
C
Yes.
- [19:23]
B
That's some next level stuff right there.
- [19:26]
C
Yes. I love it. And the other thing is, it's really cool because if you click on one Picture. It refines your prompt to, to get you exactly the image that you want at the end. Yes. And it literally gives you prompts for every single selection that you make. So if you're like, okay, well I really like how this came out. It'll give you a prompt but then if you refine it to be a little bit more like, it'll more sketch, it'll give you that prompt for that one.
- [19:51]
B
Okay, so this brings up a whole different question for me, but related, tell us about your prompt writing strategy because it sounds like it has changed and just so you guys know. So Becca is one of our coaches in my coaching group. She's completely incredible. She's been working for me now for a few months because she's such an asset to like this whole community. Community. And I have to focus my efforts. I can't be great at everything. Right. So when I need really strong prompts written, I hit up Becca. And you guys, if you join the coaching group, you can do that as well. She's in there providing a lot of prompting support. But talk to me about, let me start here. Let me kind of tell you my prompt strategy and then you're going to tell us yours because it's going to be better, but it's going to, this is all going to help people. So if I'm, if I'm writing prompts, the first thing I do is I go to whatever platform I want to use and we should talk more about some of the others. But like, I especially like drawing my prompt references from mid journey because I can see the gallery which basically to expound on that. Guys, the gallery is just where other creators are published, like where you can see what other creators have created. This is why I personally like to keep mine on a private server, which I teach in the workshop, because I don't want other people, other Etsy sellers to see what I'm creating. I don't want them to be able to have access to it because nobody can own the intellectual property of an AI created image. So if you don't want people to be able to download your exact thing and then sell it, you need to be on a private server. But both Ideogram and Midjourney have these public galleries where if people choose to be public, you can see what they do. I'll go and I'll search the basic thing I'm looking for. I will find something that's close to the representation and I will copy that, that prompt from that other creation and I will take it over into chatgpt and kind of refine it a bit. I'll say, okay, Chat. I call her Gigi. I'll say, take this. But like, let's say it was for. We'll stick with Valentine's Day. A watercolor Valentine's Day xoxo. And I go over there. I'm like, okay, take this prompt, Gigi, and make it, let's say, make it neutrals from like the pinks or whatever. Make it neutrals and add this and maybe like add, you know, whatever else I want it to have. And then I will let ChatGPT refine that prompt for me. And that's how I end up with, with my prompts. And I will say, I also want to throw this out there. ChatGPT has been really great at creating certain types of images as well for AI, for who are like, don't want another subscription? You already have Chat GPT. It actually creates incredible things. To me, the limitation is not being able to see the gallery of what everyone else has created, because that's how I'm writing my prompts. But how do you do yours? Becca, tell us, like, the exact process you go through to write your prompts.
- [22:19]
C
So I kind of do what you're doing, but I take it a step further. So I will, I will go through. Okay, say if I want to do a Valentine's Day, I will. I don't even go in the gallery. I go to ChatGPT and say, ChatGPT. We call. I call mine Chat Easy. Because mine.
- [22:38]
B
Stop it.
- [22:39]
C
Yes. So I say, hey, Chad, Easy. I want to create a boho Valentine's Day PNG with a fox holding a balloon in a hand drawn watercolor illustrated style. Do that. I take that prompt to Ideogram. Do it. If I, 9 out of 10 times I like it. If I don't like it, what I would do is then I take a screenshot or a. Not a screen. Yeah, screenshot chat. I don't know what it's called for your Mac. What is it?
- [23:09]
B
Oh, yeah, it's still. Yeah, screen grab or whatever. Yeah, I got you.
- [23:13]
C
It's like a screen grab of what it created on Ideogram and I'll pull that into Chat GBT and I'll upload it as an image. And I say, make this image better by blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Give me the prompt for this and then it'll spit me out a second prompt. So then I pull that back into ideogram and I make it. And nine out of 10 times, that's like the perfect Image.
- [23:34]
A
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.
- [23:57]
B
Just you just want someone to tell.
- [23:58]
A
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 gonna get and I will see you on the inside soon.
- [24:50]
B
Okay, so I actually feel like yours you that you said you take it a step further. I felt like you made it a step easier.
- [24:58]
C
Yeah, but mine is like I'm using so I don't, I don't take the time to like look through the gallery so I know what I want to create. Put that in chat gbt.
- [25:09]
B
But that's the secret. You already know you've done enough of this that you need to go look at the gallery like amateurs. Me need to. You already know exactly what the qualities are that you want in it. That's a whole different level. Skill level. But that's great. I mean, that's the whole. The more you do this, the better. You know, she's sitting there creating these every day while I'm sitting here scheduling podcast guests for y' all and making YouTube videos. So like you've just refined the skill. It's sort of like how you're. When you sit down and make a new invitation now it's so much faster than it used to be because you've done it so many times.
- [25:38]
C
Yeah, well, that too. And when I'm telling you guys that are new to this and you're like, I don't have time for this, let me tell you, I have a three year old, borderline medically fragile child. I'm a speech pathologist that works eight hours a day and I have a fam, you know, I have a family.
- [25:54]
B
And you work for me and I work for you.
- [25:56]
C
Yes, I do that too. But like you get so much faster if you just put in the work in the beginning, y', all, I'm telling you, I used to spend like an hour on each invitation. Now I spend like 30 minutes. Because you learn the processes, you learn that, oh, I can create dummy listings in Etsy so I can just, just quickly upload what I need to from like changing back up.
- [26:19]
B
What do you mean? What do you mean by dummy listing? Someone was just like, wait, what? And you're about to change their life.
- [26:24]
C
So a dummy listing on Etsy is literally, you have a space in your, it's like a draft in your draft column of your Etsy listing. So what I do is I have one that's called a dummy listing and it has like the title for my invitations are like Edible Canva, blah blah, blah, blah, blah. So I have edible Canva at the top of my listing.
- [26:44]
B
So technical.
- [26:45]
C
Yeah, so technical. And then I have in every listing now they quit laughing at me.
- [26:51]
B
You're your honorary PhD is on its way.
- [26:54]
A
No, I'm really not.
- [26:55]
B
I'm like, I love you so much. So that was great.
- [26:57]
C
So every now Etsy likes that you have videos with all your listings. So I have a video that just says easy to edit in Canva. So that lives in my dummy listing so I don't have to keep on uploading that MP4 every single time I want to try to make an invitation. Then I have like I went to chat GBT and I said create me a listing description for a invitation to sell on Etsy and give me trending SEO terms and emojis. So it did that. It gave me like what the title would be, what the little fluff would be. Why would your person love this? All these things so that I have a shell of that now that I don't have to keep on going back and forth and changing that every single time that I try to do a listing. So that in itself right there saves you 10, 15 good minutes creating a new listing every time. Or like the click throughs at the beginning where it's like made with AI, I made this myself, blah, blah, blah. You know, all of those things that's already done so I don't have to think about that every time I go to do a listing. And I also have a dummy listing in Canva where it's like you have your nine listing photos. You know, one is my invitation blown up. The second one is an invitation with a foot with a phone next to it that I can just drag and drop my PNGs into them. So it takes your listing descriptions from taking. You mean your listing photos from taking you 35 minutes. Now it takes me five. So that speeds it up a lot too.
- [28:22]
B
Just to put it another way, she's created a listing template for herself on Etsy that she just keeps in drafts. So every time she's going to go in and create a new listing, rather than go create add a listing, she's just going to her drafts and she's copying that draft. The dummy template listing she wants to use, she's copying it and then she's filling in the details and then the original just stays right there. And the draft is a template. That is a great way to do it. That's something else that I'll do sometimes is I will like, let's say I'm, I've already got some listings for the sports niche. Like, I've got like a soccer PNG listing and I'm creating another one with a new trend. I've just created another one. I'll go duplicate that original soccer PNG listing so that most of my SEO is already there. The, the, all of the listing details are there. Both processes work great to save enormous amounts of time.
- [29:17]
C
And what I've also found is exactly what you're saying. Like, I've gotten to the point where I do I look at your trendspotting report? You do? I do. I do love that.
- [29:28]
B
Because you're already such an expert, but you still use the report. Can you tell me more? Because I obviously want to know.
- [29:33]
C
Yeah. So, like, I don't know, one week it was, I think last week it was like digital planner stickers or something like that was last week's. So I will go in and be like, okay, this week I'm focusing on digital planner stickers. So I create four or five listings of digital planner stickers and use the same SEO tweaking them. So that's five listings that I really only technically had to make one listing. So then you get five good listings of five different things very quickly, which helps.
- [30:02]
B
You're pulling from the opportunities not just the trend report itself that's helping you with your creations, but you're, you're using the opportunities we provide every week. I didn't even know that, Becca.
- [30:10]
C
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I look at the big trend report too. So, like, I use the big trend reports to help me with my invitations. So, like, if you're saying celestial stars is in, then I'm going to go create an invitation that has some celestial stars on it. Or like the latch hook. I was using some of the latch hook for some of the PNG designs that I was trying to do. So I kind of use like everything that you offer.
- [30:33]
B
I know we were talking, like, we were talking recently about it because we're, we're getting ready to do all of these bonuses starting December 15th. And you were saying that for you. Like I. And like I said, I didn't even know you use the opportunities for you. The most valuable part is the trend spotting video itself because you're seeing everything in context.
- [30:50]
C
Yeah. And then you can pull in, like, say if you're doing I'm not doing PoD, but if you were doing PoD, you could take what you say in your big trend spotting and you can pull that into, into, I don't know, I want to create a Christmas ornament like that or I want to create wrapping paper with a coquette thing because that's trending. Or what's another one that you said? The grunge theme I think is starting to like.
- [31:13]
B
Stressed grunge.
- [31:14]
C
Yes, Fresh grunge. It's like if you wanted to make a T shirt design, like, that would be a good trend that you can jump on because. Yeah, I don't have time because again, time is the one valuable thing that we have. You. That trend spotting gives me the time back to create because I don't have to go on Etsy and look at that every week. So it's very helpful to me.
- [31:34]
B
That's, it's like just super fun to hear that someone as experienced as you who's having the success you are is still using that every day finds it to be valuable. Like, that's, that's amazing. That means. That means I'm doing, I'm doing my job right right now.
- [31:47]
C
And Thursday is what my. It's my least Lizzy days in my car.
- [31:52]
B
Dude, you have. Every day's a Lizzy day. Now I am, I am in the DMS with you constantly. Poor thing. God love you. Okay. Do you know what people keep asking me? I didn't even warn you about this, but it's gonna be fine. People keep asking me and we really need to find a way to show this visually. I think I need to do like a YouTube tutorial. But I do feel like I need to crowdsource because I am not the most organized person on the planet. People are always asking me. Your smirk said it all. Thanks for that. People are always asking me for like, how do you organize your files? And so you're the perfect. Well, no, you're doing a lot of. You're doing everything in canva. Okay, well, let me, let me just. So when you're doing PNGs or coloring pages or anything like that, can you tell me what your process is for like, because you're having to download just to paint the picture for people. You're having to download the original PNG from the AI, then you're pulling it into Canva or whatever to upscale it to remove the background to put it at 300dpi and you're exporting that. And then you are having to make all the mock ups that are going to go on your listing for your listing images and your thumbnail and you're downloading all of this. Can you talk to us about how you're storing and organizing your files?
- [33:06]
C
Yeah. So what I do now, and this is something that I learned in the past month because I wasn't doing this originally, I have a folder that is all of my stores mockups. I have the thing me and you are working on in another folder. So like I have, you know, six or seven, I think. No, it's nine now because now Etsy gives you like 20 listing photo opportunities and it's just craziness.
- [33:30]
B
P S guys, you don't have to use them all. I use maybe five to seven of them. Don't stress about it. Oh my gosh. I promise you it's fine.
- [33:37]
C
Yeah, and I'm making money doing nine, so like it's fine. It really is fine. So I have those nine photos already pulled out. So I have a folder of that. A folder of what me and you were working on. And then I have, you know, when I download something from Ideogram, it goes into like if I'm doing. I did a camping PNG clip art thing. So I make a folder for whatever, you know, thing I'm gonna sell PNG's camping, everything goes into that folder. So then it's literally I work in a bunch of folders, to be honest with you. And some things I don't even save all the way because like You're. I don't go back to those downloads. Once it's done and upscaled and all those things, I gotta get rid of those old files. Maybe I should not do that. But.
- [34:19]
B
Really?
- [34:20]
C
Yeah, I don't keep the. All the originals. Okay, well, and too like, it take up so much dang space on your computer and it's so many files. Like, once I upscale it, I get rid of the. The non. DPI one.
- [34:33]
B
I mean, I'm. I'm over here admiring your commitment to minimalism. I just. I think my brain is just, like, afraid that I will need it again. But you're completely right. Like, to be honest, I'm like, how much more could we get rid of? I don't know. I just have a terabyte and I save everything. And I've got my gaming computer, like, I'm a freaking. Some, like, hiding in my mom's basement, whatever. So I could store all my files. No, but that's really smart. Are you also. P.S. i use Dropbox for all of my. All of my files. And then for all my business stuff, I use Google Drive, like, for anything that I'm sharing customer side or I'm working with Caroline on you. And I don't really use Google Drive, do we? Yet. Yeah. Do you have anything like Dropbox or Where do you. Where do you. Are they just. It's just on your desktop. It's just on your PC.
- [35:22]
C
So a lot of it. Yes, I do use. Yeah, I have a Mac, but I do use Google Drive for like, the customer transaction when I have like a very large file. Because Etsy doesn't let you have, like, I don't know, the 50 PNG clip art bundle that I just did. All of those are on Google Drive for the customer to get. But yeah, other than that, it's all on my. My desktop or my.
- [35:46]
B
Since you just mentioned that. How does it work if someone. If you. If you sell a bundle of clip art, how does the customer. How does it work with Etsy? And how does the customer download it? Like, Kind of spell it out a little bit.
- [35:59]
C
So basically, if I make a 50 PNG bundle, Etsy, I mean, once you upscale those images to 300dpi, I like the 5000 by 5000 pixel. It makes a huge file. Like you're talking about megabytes. Like, it's crazy. So what you do is you upload all those things into Google Drive. It gives you an option to create a link, like a URL link for the folder that you made on Google Drive. So Then I would take that link and I have another tip is that I have several PDFs that are called customer template links for PDFs. So it'll have like a picture of my initial thumbnail and then I add that link that the Google Drive gave you onto that PDF. So that is what I'm uploading to Etsy for the customer. So they don't get a PDF of the 50500 whatever PNG bundle, they just get the link to the actual Drive folder for them to use.
- [37:04]
B
Super simple. So you're just. And the reason we recommend Google Drive is because the majority of people have it. Majority of people have a Gmail. If you use any other platform like it's you, you can, but you're going to have more customer questions and people having issues because they're not as well versed in it as they are. People just know Google Drive. So that's why. That's why we recommend that. Also, I just did an updated tutorial on this, but I found out recently from some angel who walked me through it on YouTube that you. Because. So the big question is, people are always looking at like, how do I get 300 dpi within canva, like from a. From a Canva document or project? And it's confusing because unlike other platforms, there's nowhere where you can tell it that it's just going to export at what it's going to export at. But I found out like. So I usually do my PNGs on a square, like a square art board in Canva. If you start that project at 1600 by 1600 pixels, so it's a square. Don't do it at the 5000 by 5000 you want. Start it at 1600 by 1600 on your artboard. Create your PNG there. So bring everything in that you made with AI. Do your text on the 1600 by 1600. When you go to export it, you're going to take the toggle for the sizing for the pixels from 1600. You're going to move it all the way to the end and it'll say the biggest size is 5,000 by 5,000 pixels. Hit your transparent background, turn it to turn it to a png, and then when you export it, it's going to be automatically 300dpi. I finally figured out it's because I started. Because otherwise, let's say you start at 5000 by 5000, you're going to get some other weird DPI. I don't know why, but if you do 1600 by 1600 for your. Your to start the project and you just toggle it all the way to the 5,000 by 5,000, it'll be 300 dpi. I. I don't know why, but it fixes it. We no longer have to go out to another tool like we used to use Clydeo. It's been a game changer. So hopefully, if that didn't make sense, I will link the tutorial to show you guys step by step how to do that.
- [39:02]
C
That's a game changer.
- [39:04]
B
Did you know that one already?
- [39:06]
C
Did I tell you that I saw the YouTube video? I just haven't. I forgot in my brain to do that because I've been using, like, High Compress. I've been using Clario. Jerry found this one, and it's like, AI Upscaler. But the thing about this, it, like, it changes your image.
- [39:21]
B
Yes.
- [39:22]
C
And I'm like, no.
- [39:25]
B
Plus, how annoying to have to go to a whole other platform. Like, it's so unnecessary. So unfortunately, and fortunately, my original video about the 300dpi, where I was just teaching people, you have to just go and take it in. Like, do your 5,000 by 5,000 go into another program. That one has been one of my, like, biggest YouTube tutorials. And I mean, I have, like, a note at the top of it now. Like, I have a better process for you, but it's just such a game changer being able to just stay in Canva.
- [39:49]
C
Yeah, I agree. For sure. Because, like, it gets overwhelming, especially if you're new and you're like, oh, my gosh, I'm going from Ideogram to, you know, Canva to Letsi to, you know, all.
- [40:01]
B
Exactly.
- [40:02]
C
And it'll streamline your process to make your listing actually faster, too. So that'll be helpful for people.
- [40:09]
B
How did you figure out that invitations are your jam? Like, we started with coloring pages. You had success. You did some PNGs. They took a minute and then they did well. How did you figure out your. Your sweet spot was invitation?
- [40:22]
C
Honestly, it's because I create Addie's invitations, my little girls invitations. And, like, even before I had her, people would always be like, hey, can you create this? Hey, can you create this? And I'm like, if my friends are asking for this and I'm giving it to them for free, like, at least I can make $2 giving it to someone else. That's just kind of how. And I mean, like, guys, I don't have any, like, design background. Like, none. Like, I. My background is in speech pathology. And, like, yeah, I liked Art. When I was younger, I took like a couple art classes here and there. But when I would sell, I would show my friends stuff, they'd be like, yeah, yeah, you could sell this. Yeah, yeah, you could sell this. And I'm like, okay, well, I never knew I again, I always thought Etsy was saturated. Like, I didn't think I could make money doing this. And look, here I am, like, I've already hit like 5:45 this month and it's like, what, the eighth of.
- [41:15]
B
Oh, my word.
- [41:16]
C
Dude, I'm so excited.
- [41:18]
B
You should be. You have been. So how many listings do you have?
- [41:21]
C
That's the kicker. I have 150 listings.
- [41:24]
B
You got there quick. Like, not as. I mean, not in the sense of. I know those listings took time, but I'm saying you got to your income level quick. Now here's going to be the next hurdle for you is your best seller that's been making you all this money is a holiday related thing.
- [41:37]
C
Yes.
- [41:38]
B
You're not going to have to go now. She is going to be, she is going to be on my case about trying to get. She's gonna be so mad come January. So it's gonna be a matter of getting those listings up to make that. Make it up. Like, holidays are great, guys, but it's in the evergreen.
- [41:53]
C
Yeah. And I mean, I'm starting to do more like evergreen stuff. But yeah, that was. Yeah. I was thinking that I'm like, I just want this every single month. Like, how in the heck am I going to keep this momentum up in the first. But you know, it's literally just finding that sweet spot like we talked about. Like, you know, invitations are selling. Let's do more invitations of different niches or like, I don't know, Ax chat easy. I want a hundred invitation. Like, go at it.
- [42:23]
B
Yep.
- [42:23]
C
And even like getting into just like printables in general. Like recipe card sell, like other things for party sell. Like what I've. Welcome signs. Like, I've been researching welcome signs lately and they make a killing. Like for literally you could do something in five seconds. That's a welcome sign.
- [42:42]
B
So I made like that is an exaggeration, ma'. Am. But I love your confidence.
- [42:48]
C
Seriously. You could probably sit down for 15 minutes and make a welcome sign. And they're selling these things for like 10, $15 for a digital download.
- [42:55]
B
Becca.
- [42:56]
C
Yes.
- [42:57]
B
You have built your brain cash. You have developed it. You have, you have been, you have been working on this almost every single day since March. You, you know, like, like think about it. People get an associate's degree in college in two years, right? You've got a semester and a half at least. No, because you did the summer, too. You've basically got almost a year under your belt of being in this every single day. The reason your stuff does well is because you've built your brain cash. And what I mean by that, guys, is she has studied and she has spent more time studying the trends that I send her, looking at the competition of what she wants to create on Etsy, paying attention to the details and the aesthetic. Do you know the same exact listing with two different fonts? Like, if your font is just a little off, it's the difference between a best seller and something that never sells once. So while I, you know, me, there is enough room for everyone at this table, a lot of people listening are going to be like me, and they didn't have the eye. And it took me years to figure out the eye, to figure out what fonts would be good, what aesthetic would be good. What you have done a really good job of over the past year is paying so much attention to what those details need to be. Where do those celestial stars need to go? What is the placement that makes it look really on trend? What font do you pair it with that makes it not look awkward but enhances it? What design style does? If you're going to do any kind of graphic with it, what's the design style and what are the colors? Are they on trend? What is the aesthetic? Like? Is it watercolor? Is it graphic design? Is it doodle? Is it. What is it going to be? And does that work with design? Like, does the line weight match the. The celestial stars? Does the line weight work with the font? I know I'm probably, like, beating a dead horse, but this is what you have become very, very good at. And do you have any tips? Like, how have you refined that?
- [44:43]
C
I'm going to be honest. ChatGPT.
- [44:46]
B
Like, really?
- [44:47]
C
Yes. So for anyone who is new listening, and you're like, listening to what? The spiel that Lizzie just went on and you're like, oh, my God, what the heck? Breathe. It's okay. Come back to me now. Like, if you're multitasking, come back. But literally. Okay, so let me just simplify this for you.
- [45:04]
B
I love it.
- [45:05]
C
I make a design in Canva and I'm like, something is not right about this. Like, I don't know what it is. I'll take a screenshot of it and I'll upload it to ChatGPT and I'll be like, what fonts could go better with this design? And it gives you a whole list of fonts that compare with the design, and nine out of ten times, they're really good. So. And it's like. Or if I say, like, oh, I want to make an elegant invitation, what type of graphic design would be good for this? ChatGPT will be like, oh, it's this type of lithographic design. And I'm like, okay, sweet. I'll go to Ideogram and use that.
- [45:40]
B
What you just said was worth $10,000.
- [45:43]
C
Literally. Yeah. Or colors, too. Like, the other thing that you can do in ChatGPT is like, okay, I want to make a circus theme invitation. Give me four colors to use. The hardest thing about this in general graphic design invitations. This could be for pod. It could be for anything you create is knowing that you can't use 16 Joanne colors in one design. Like, it just doesn't happen. Like, if you are same thing with fonts. Like, people are turned off by more than three fonts in one design.
- [46:11]
B
Yes.
- [46:12]
C
So, like, if you literally go to ChatGPT and say, like, hey, I want to make a teacher shirt for teachers who love coffee, what three fonts are appealing to this niche? Bam, you got it. Or what colors? Bam, you got it. Go create it.
- [46:29]
B
I love you. And I also love how you just kind of gently schooled me.
- [46:34]
Yeah, you're like. You're like, actually, guys, Lizzie just made this way harder than it needs to be. Let me just. Let me just fix this for you. No, I literally, like, iron sharpens iron. I love you so much. Like, that is. I'm gonna use that. Like, that is brilliant. I didn't actually think sometimes. This is what's so great about collaboration, you guys. This is what I love with the school group, is we're, like, giving each other cheat codes left and right of, like. Like. Like what Becca just did. Just literally something's not right. Upload it to Chat GPT and ask it what's not right. It will tell you that's. I never thought to do that.
- [47:03]
C
Oh, yeah. And if you say like, it even goes as far as, like, hey, I want to make this more trendy. Hey, I want to make this more minimalistic. And it give me five variations that make this design more, you know, minimalistic. It will give you those prompts to make your design more minimalistic.
- [47:25]
A
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.
- [47:38]
B
Stories that we hear on, you know.
- [47:40]
A
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. 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 a month, 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, my best asset.
- [48:27]
B
Or my toxic trait.
- [48:28]
A
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 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.
- [48:45]
B
To start your shop.
- [48:46]
A
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 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.
- [49:29]
B
Okay?
- [49:30]
A
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.
- [49:44]
B
Start popping, because I want to celebrate with you.
- [49:49]
Dude. Do you know what I did recently that I was, like, so proud of? So last year, I created some cute chicken because you and I always goof about chicken chickens, chicken fall design. And they had these. They're all, like, holding their little coffees, and they've got, like, ridiculous fall hats and scarves on or whatever. Well, it, like, did pretty well. And then someone DMs me, and they're like, hey, can you make this for winter? And I'm like, oh, you know, they literally just want me to, like, change it out. And I'm like, oh, this is not over in, like, Illustrator, where I can just Change it to 1. So I went back and, like, tried to prompt it in the same. I think it was. I think it was ideogram over an ideogram for winter or whatever, and obviously got something completely different. I was like, well, this could work, but this isn't really what they wanted. I took my original design, I uploaded it into ChatGPT, and I said, please take this exact design I created and switch it for. For winter. And it created the exact same thing for winter. I couldn't believe. And literally, I didn't have to go back in Enneagram. ChatGPT gave me the graphic. It was all that. I like. How bananas is that?
- [50:45]
C
Yeah, I. The thing about CHAT GBT that you have to be careful of is a lot of people that I've seen on YouTube, and it's not you, because we at our school group do not. You know, we do not. No.
- [50:55]
B
No IP infringement. We're no copying.
- [50:57]
C
Yeah, yeah. You have to be very, very careful because Chat GBT has gotten so good when it's. When you say, like, create something that if you put something like a screenshot reference image, it will literally copy that exact thing. So definitely, if you're listening, don't do that. There's ways around it. Take it in an ideogram and ask it to describe the image. You could do a chat GPT and say, describe this image. But, yeah, CHAT GBT is getting very good at, like, changing something out.
- [51:27]
B
Like, that becomes an integrity issue. Right? Like, that's where we draw the line. Like, that's one of the reasons I got into this space was to teach it with integrity. And we're not stealing from artists. This was something that I had created from a separate prompt I wasn't taking someone else's and said, make this winter. I took my own, but please carry on.
- [51:43]
C
I had a invitation that was, it was a woodland themed baby shower invitation and this woman didn't like the deer. She wanted a bear on it and I put it in a chat gbt and it's scary crazy how it just took my, my deer out and put a bear in. But like, if somebody would take that and do the same thing, they would literally take my artwork. So just be. Guys, be careful, be careful, be careful. Like do try. You can copy the. I don't even want to say copy. Like you can get inspiration from other people, but be careful when you're taking it to all these different platforms because again, a, it's an, it's an integrity issue. And two buyers are not going to buy something that looks the exact same thing as somebody else's. Like, they're just, they're not. Like, you're not going to get the wins that you want. You're not going to get a bestseller selling somebody else's work. It's just not going to happen.
- [52:30]
B
I only use a reference image from someone else's work if I'm trying to understand what, how to prompt for the design style. So if they've got like a specific aesthetic that's working really well, I'll use it. But then I completely like recycle it in a different way. I'm not like asking it to copy the image. And here's the problem. No again, no one can own the IP on intellectual property. So there is no way for you. So someone else could own what you're copying and you could get into big trouble. Anything that you make or like, anything I make with AI, you could go copy it and I have no recourse. You can't protect your stuff. So I do think there's actually a mindset discussion to be had that there. And what it comes down to is like, don't sit around and obsess over it. Like, just keep, keep creating the next thing. And if you ever become an Etsy Coach or a YouTuber, never share your shop. This is why we don't share our shops because I've had at least three friends who did. They were trying to be an integrity and like, kind of show the receipts of like, yeah, I have gotten the results. I've said I had. People then went and did this kind of thing and ripped off every single, like their, their shop. They weren't able to keep up with the degree of copying. I've Only heard of that really happening in a bad way when it was shared on YouTube and went viral. Like, the everyday copycats is typically. I haven't heard of that being a big problem. Like, it'll happen here and there, you know, like, some of my designs are over on team you or whatever, but. But just like, a word to the wise. I know, right?
- [53:46]
C
Yes.
- [53:46]
B
They wanted to come on the podcast. I'm like, you guys are trash. No. They're like, we'll pay you a lot of money. I'm like, yeah. And I'm not selling my soul to the devil either, so have a good day.
- [53:57]
I know.
- [53:58]
C
Yeah. But I mean, I use inspiration. When I was first doing this, I was doing that a lot. Like, looking at the inspirational for prompts and doing all that. But again, take it into ChatGPT and be like, make this better. Give me five variations of this design. There's so many ways to, like, circumvent copying somebody and get in our school group. I'll help you all the time. I'm there probably eight hours a day helping people.
- [54:21]
B
That group has exceeded every expectation. I knew it was going to be great because we were going to make it great. But that community. And can I just say this? I am the person who will not join a community. I am the loner who is like, not just like, no, I don't want to be social. So if you're like me, you also might want to try cruising. If you think you're gonna hate cruising because you might end up loving it. No, but I'm just saying that group is so special. Like, we all are getting so much better because we're together. I. I can't believe that. And then also the other day, the transbonding group, the results people are getting the testimonials that are coming out of there. The people like you who've literally this, like, let me all of that to say, Becca, a year ago, could you imagine you'd be where you are today?
- [55:03]
C
No.
- [55:03]
B
Like, if I asked you a year ago.
- [55:04]
C
Well, no, absolutely not. Like, I was literally talking to my husband about that this weekend. We're like, we're sitting at dinner on vacation, and it's like. And he's like, what the heck is that? I'm like, it's. It's my Etsy shop. And he goes, are you serious? And I'm like, yeah. And I told him. I was like, telling him all my stats, and he's like, becca, I didn't even think you'd be able to make a hundred dollars a month? Much less 1500, like I made in November.
- [55:30]
B
Like, yeah, with 150 listings, dude.
- [55:34]
C
Listings. Yeah.
- [55:35]
B
So when you blow this up and you're making 5, 10,000amonth, are you still going to be working full time?
- [55:41]
C
So that was another thing I wanted to mention on this podcast, too, because in July when you asked me, and I'm like, yeah, I'm never going to quit my job. Like, I love my job. No, I'm okay to quit my job.
- [55:52]
I. I love y'. All. I love doing Etsy. I love being on the podcast. I love being in the school group and, like, helping people just like me who thought this was freaking impossible. And I love creating things. Like, it has been such a. I originally got into this because, you know, at 30, I've turned 32 this past week. I was working my tail off. I have a kid who's a freaking tornado, and I needed. Look, tornado out. Addie is at my house 24 7. I don't need to move to Tornado Village. I have one here.
- [56:29]
B
Just put our two together and we're gonna let them deal with life.
- [56:32]
C
Like, don't break any bones. It's fine. But, like, I needed an out. Like, I needed. I've always been that creative person. And I was like, look, if I can even make $5 so I can get a coffee, it's fine. Like, like, I just needed something. And the more. And the more I do it, it's like, dang, I'm really good at this. Dang. I'm getting really good results. Like, you know, I'm helping people in the group and they're like, you know, making money off of. And I'm like, dang, this is really good. So I just wanna. It's a. What do you call them? A dopamine dopamine hit.
- [57:04]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [57:05]
C
Like a huge dopamine hit for me. So I'm like, yeah, let's go. Like, let's do this full time.
- [57:08]
B
Let's blow this up.
- [57:09]
C
I'm so excited.
- [57:10]
B
What changed? Because you're really passionate about what you do. Like, yes, you're a speech pathologist, but you're. You're literally. You're not just teaching kids how to say Ls you're helping them swallow food and not die. Like, wow, that's a really big deal. So tell me, if you can, what shifted for you that made this. So, like, what changed?
- [57:30]
C
This is gonna sound really.
- [57:32]
B
Woo.
- [57:32]
C
And, like, Jenny's gonna be patting me on the back because she's like, yeah, go, girl. Woo.
- [57:36]
B
Woo. Woo.
- [57:37]
C
But you know, I feel like things happen in life to change your perspective on life. Does that make sense?
- [57:45]
B
Yeah.
- [57:45]
C
Like, I was, I was knee deep. I'll go back into my story a little bit because I didn't go in the first podcast. I was a NICU therapist and I taught breastfeeding. I taught, you know, 32 week old babies that were like two pounds. Like, I taught them how to eat and do all these things. Then I had a NICU baby and I was like, okay, that's no longer going to be my priority because I have my own NICU baby that I'm coming, coming home to. So I shifted. Now I do home health and I go to people's houses and I do all these things with the birth to three population, helping them eat, helping them swallow, doing all those things so that, you know, having Addie shift in my life, meeting you shifted my life. I'm going to be completely honest. Like, I no longer, like, I love my job and I love helping people, but now this has given me another realm to help people in and it's to help people make money for their family. So it's still like helping but. But it's literally just a shift. Like I want to be home more. I want to, you know, if I want to take a vacation, I don't have to ask to take a vacation from anyone. Like, I can just do it and just talking to people. Like, I feel like I spent so much of my life talking to people that don't talk back to me. This is giving me like another, I don't know, like another thing in life to be like, oh, it's my dopamine head. I can talk to Lizzie about business or I can talk to Ro.
- [58:57]
B
Another one of us, we would never. Ro is shout out to Ro. We love Ro. She's crushed it this year.
- [59:04]
C
She's come from, dude, I'm, I love talking to her. Like we talk probably every other day at least, but like I can talk to her and it's like hit filling up my cup for the day because I'm talking to an actual adult about things that matter. Not, you know, talking to myself to a 2 year old or, you know, a 1 month old that I'm trying.
- [59:22]
B
To get to eat.
- [59:22]
C
So it's different.
- [59:23]
B
Well, you're recession proof either way. Not just recession proof. Like I'm paying a lot of attention to what's happening out there with AI and one of the reasons, one of the many reasons I've kind of grabbed the bull by the horns is Because I want to know what's going on. And my concern is that more people are going to be out of work than we can even fathom. And not to say I don't think what we're doing right now is going to work in three to five years. I think everyone pretty much under the age of 60 or who doesn't live under a rock, maybe even, I mean we have lots of 60, 70, even 90 year olds who are making money on Etsy. But people are going to be able, like ChatGPT people, it's going to be very mainstream to go create your own stuff. Will there still be crafters and things like that who'd rather craft and don't want to do the. Yes, there will still be. There will still be people who are buying the things we're creating right now. But what is so important for us is to understand how these tools work and what they're capable of to stay fluent as much as we can in what's happening with AI so that we are not left behind when all this happens happens so that we are, we have the skill set to understand how to run a business so that we can pivot when it's time. I'll tell you what, one of our things that we're really trying to work on is building. Is Robbie building a handmade side of this again? Because I think in three to five years when digital maintenance, right now digital works great and people want to learn it. So I'm going to keep teaching you guys everything I know that's working and making us money. But it's going to be experiences and handmade craftsmanship and how you make people feel that is going to sell. When this thing goes on its ear, you're still gonna, people are still gonna buy a simple Christmas present that's something handmade and that's gonna be that. So I'm just telling you guys now, if you've stayed this long on this episode, there are so many reasons you need to be paying attention and you need to be learning these skills. Even if it's just so that in a few years if you or your spouse or whatever doesn't have a job, you know how to create income for yourself. And if I've learned anything, you know what I started? Let me think. I started in network marketing. I took the skills I learned there of communicating and starting conversations with people and selling. I became a social media manager and I started running social media accounts. From there I became a blogger and started making money from ad spend ad revenue on blogging. From there I launched the Etsy shop because I couldn't sell my signs on my website, wasn't driving enough traffic to the sales pages. I learned Etsy. I learned SEO. I learned positioning a product. I learned the photography. From there I learned print on demand. From there I learned digital products. You know, somewhere in there I learned how to start coaching you guys and helping other people. My point is your skills. You don't learn one thing and then it becomes useless. Becca is going to take the skill that she's learned here and she's going to turn it into lord knows what else, some kind of dynasty online. Ideally working with me, but God knows I'm going to support her no matter what she goes out to do on her own. All of these things are cumulative, the skills that you build. So please, up against like anything, protect yourself. If you're sitting, if you're hemming and hauling about starting on Etsy, please. It's the easiest way to start learning business. Don't do it. To try to become necessarily like Becca, making 1500amonth, although you can, you can make that and more. At the very least do it so you've got some skills under your belt in case one day you need them. You need to be able to survive on your own. That was quite a monologue. Any follow up thoughts?
- [62:30]
C
I think I agree with you. Like, I feel like AI is going to take off of the world one day. I mean, but also in the back pocket of my mind, I know how much I've worked on how to like learn ideogram, learn all this stuff. I don't know if people are still gonna want to, like, you're still gonna have a market for digital things. So I don't want people to listen and be like, oh, why should I start digital if it's gonna be gone in three years?
- [62:54]
B
No, we got five years at least.
- [62:55]
C
Yeah, like, I feel like there's still gonna be a market now. It won't be as huge maybe as it is now, but I feel like they're still going to be like. Because I don't know, the 30 year olds in my life hate AI. Like my best friend, literally. I sent her this cute little Mardi Gras, huge in Louisiana. So I sent her this cute, like little doggy Mardi Gras thing. And you know what her response was? You used a lot of water, created that dog png. I'm like, are you, are you kidding me right now that I made your dog?
- [63:27]
B
Okay, explain what that means. Why? What does she mean? She didn't actually mean because you were painting watercolor. She was being. She was talking about environmental concern, concerns over cooling all of the servers that are used for AI. Yeah.
- [63:37]
C
Yes, yes, yes. So my best friend told me that I was using too much water to create this ideogram AI prompt. Because apparently that they cool. I don't know, they use water to cool these computers or. Yeah, I don't know.
- [63:52]
B
No, yeah. It's very energy and water expensive. The issue is it's not going anywhere. So I. I thank goodness. I do think the AI is going to be smart enough to help solve some of our. Our climate. I do. I do care very much about the environment. I'm, like, obsessed with nature, and so I do care about these things. But that was. That was the most supportive thing a friend could have said when you were trying to share your. Your creation. But hopefully the AI will at least fix that problem. But, no, she's gonna want nothing to do with it. But at some point, it's gonna be, do I put food on the table or do I not?
- [64:23]
C
Yeah. So, I mean, like, don't let that be a kick. Like, a kick to you not starting Etsy. Like, do digital. It'll be fine. And then, like, what Lizzie said, like, we could take our knowledge of what we've done and change it to something else. Because, I mean, it's. When I'm telling you, this has been the greatest experience of my life. This has been the greatest experience of my life, doing this and learning and, you know, all of those things. Like, I had been thinking about doing Etsy for the longest time, and I just thought, oh, I would have to do a physical product. And I was like, I don't want to deal with post office. I don't want to deal with shipping. I don't want to deal with this. Yeah. And then I found Lizzie, and she's like, digital. Like, you can do digital. You can do these things. And then I started. I'm like, why in the hell didn't I start this, like, you know, 10 years ago, five years ago? To think of where I would be now is, like, insane to me. But, yeah, just start. It's the easiest. I mean, it's. It's a ride, but it's a ride that's great, has a great reward at.
- [65:18]
B
The end, and we're doing it together.
- [65:19]
C
Yeah, absolutely. Bestie.
- [65:22]
B
I know. We have the best community. Becca, I'm. I hope you're so proud of yourself and what you've accomplished. I'm so proud of you and what you've accomplished. You are a tremendous inspiration to me and so many others. And I also want to thank you so much for your generosity and just sharing literally your secret playbook here on the podcast for thousands of people to hear.
- [65:43]
C
No, I'm happy to do it and literally get in the school group. I'm there every day if you want. If you like how I help, prompt or whatever, like shoot me a DM1 of my email. I think my email address is on this too. You can shoot me an email. I'll get back to you.
- [65:56]
B
I will link the school group and everything else that we referred to, like that 300dpi video. Everything, everything I referred to. I will go ahead and link for you guys. But thank you, Becca. Until next time. Thank you guys so much for yes. Yeah, okay, let's do that. Let's do that. Okay, so until next week, go make something awesome. Take care guys. We love you. Bye Bye.
- [66:19]
A
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 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.
- [66:56]
B
You for your support.
- [66:57]
A
Have a great day and see you next time.