← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
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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.
- [00:11]
B
The life they dream about.
- [00:13]
A
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.
- [00:58]
B
Welcome back to the podcast, my friends. This is a really fun one, this stuff story and just the way that Shannon talks about this in such a calm and balanced way, it is chef's kiss. I cannot wait to get into it with you. I just released a free training and every single one of you needs to watch it no matter what you sell. Because even if you're like in the handmade space, it's not always perfect. But it'll help you figure out what to sell later. If you're in print, on demand or digital, you need to watch this yesterday. It's called how to blow up your Etsy shop. And basically I took a super secret strategy that the mega sellers use to literally explode their sales and I just like gave it away. In this free training, they're literally gonna call me crazy. I probably created some enemies. But your girl don't gatekeep. So I roll. It's literally only 36 minutes long. It's no fluff. It's here's the deal. So check that out. There is a link in the show notes for you to watch the free training. And then some of you have been messaging me over the past year and you've been like, you know what, Lizzie, I'm really not a watcher. I don't really wanna watch videos. I'm a reader. Do you have an ebook? And so I am coming out with an ebook. It is called how to earn your first 10k on Etsy. It's coming out soon, so if you want to join the wait list for that I think I'm hoping by the end of January. It's literally at like the publisher right now getting formatted. And if you go ahead and let me know in the comments or in the, in the comments in the show notes that you would like to get on a waitlist for that, you will get a special discount when it comes out. So great resource for those of you who really like to be able to print something out and highlight and not necessarily watch a video. So let me tell you about our guest today. Shannon. Hi, I'm Shannon Davis. I'm a wife, mom of two adventurous kids and a firefighter paramedic from Kansas. I've spent most of my adult life working multiple jobs and doing my best to keep up with work, family and everything in between. I came to Etsy while looking for a creative outlet in a small way to help support my family. I didn't have a design background, I'd never sold anything online, and I definitely didn't have a big plan. I just knew I needed something that could work around my crazy life instead of competing with it. Within months, that creative outlet grew into a digital Etsy shop that now has over 2,000 sales. Etsy gave me an income that worked around my work and family schedules. As things started to come together, it became clear how powerful consistency and simply showing up can be. You really don't need perfect timing or even a plan, just the willingness to start where you are. I'm hopeful that my story can show others that building income online is possible even when time is limited, experience is minimal, and life feels chaotic. Are you already in love with her? Because I am. Let's get into it today. Let's welcome Shannon to the podcast. Shannon, I am so excited. Welcome to the podcast.
- [03:32]
C
Hi Lizzie. Thank you for having me.
- [03:34]
B
Well, thank you for being willing to get way out of your comfort zone and talk about what's been happening because you've only been doing Etsy for six months at the time of this recording and you've hit 2,000 sales. So I cannot wait for people to hear this story because you just didn't see it coming. So let's talk about, let's just start at the beginning. What are you selling and how is it going?
- [03:57]
C
So I am primarily a digital shop. I do a lot of PNGs. I do some printable stuff. I have like four or five pod items that, I mean they sell every once in a while. PNGs are my bread and butter with some, with some clip art packs. It's been it's been absolutely insane about October. My, my shop just exploded. I had two back to or. November and December were both fifteen hundred dollar sale months. I should hit, I should hit two thousand sales today. Exactly. So it's, God, it's been crazy. It took off way bigger than I expected it to.
- [04:34]
B
So a lot of times when people hear oh P and G shop, like that's so low profit mar, like low profit or whatever because you know we start out selling them pretty low and yet you're doing $1,500 months. That's life changing income for most American families.
- [04:50]
C
Oh yeah, absolutely. I price my P and GS anywhere between a dollar to 27 and my highest PNG at the moment I think is running like 377. But I mean it's just, it's thinking of the right word. I sell a lot. I mean I.
- [05:07]
B
You're moving volume, you're moving, it's moving. Is that what you're like? Yeah, I was going to say you are. And that is the way to do it. People don't think twice. It's a no brainer purchase. For the millions, billions of crafters, DIYers out there. How many listings do you have?
- [05:23]
C
I have 300, 355 listings currently.
- [05:30]
B
I'm chuckling because you've created 355 listings and you're bringing in more than a part time income, a solid part time income and it's mostly passive because once you create it you don't have to go in and do anything. There's no personalization, there's nothing you need to do. You've uploaded the design to Etsy, told Etsy what the design's about. People are resonating with it, they buy it, you just get paid and Etsy delivers it. It's basically passive income. This is completely crazy. So let's like, let's unpack this a bit. Why do you think the success has happened so quickly? Like can you kind of put your finger on it a bit?
- [06:05]
C
You know, I, I don't know. You know Preston actually made a post in the group a couple weeks ago and he talked a little bit about it. Sometimes it's luck and I think luck does play into it a little bit. But I'm super consistent. It takes some discipline. I do at least a listing a day and you know, if I'm, I'm feeling better, I'll get five, six or seven listings up a day. Etsy likes the consistency. I think that's helped a lot. God, I've been Knee deep in it since I probably, I'd say September, October. I just, I mean, it's just a head dive of following trends and watching the best sellers and Pinterest and podcasts and the group. It's just I live and breathe that. It feels like. I think that that plays a big part into it.
- [06:56]
B
You know, it's interesting. And I've been working with PRESTON now since 2021, so it's, it's been a minute. And it's funny because he says it's a little bit luck and yet I, I get it. But I've watched him stay consistent and search for the luck for almost five years. So I'm just like, you know what? It's lucky. I might throw some luck at you because it's been faster. You've had a very fast Runway for it. I mean, you were three months in and making a lot of sales. That's unusual. But what I really want to tell people is, and I think I just said this on another episode, but I'm going to say it again because it's important for people to hear. I don't know if you heard the episode when I was talking about how we got a hedgehog.
- [07:35]
C
Yeah.
- [07:37]
B
My daughter and I decided to start a pet influencer account. We got a hedgehog because we needed a hook. Because apparently in my crazy brain, squirrel brain, seven cats and four dogs on a farm is not a good enough hook. So I'm like, we need a hook. We got a hedgehog. But I said on the podcast that by the time my daughter's 15, she's about to be 11, she'll have a six figure business. And people's jaws were on the floor like, what? And I'm like, yeah, I've got a five year Runway in five. You can like, our problem as adults is we want microwave fast culture. We want it now. We want it fast. So when I hear it's luck. Yeah. When someone's out of the gates, either they've got experience or they've got some luck on their side. But if you. I just want people to feel encouraged, like we're not all lucky. I wasn't lucky. It took me a while. It took me a while. And I had to learn and I, I had to fail forward. I had to fail a lot. Did you. So your, your designs are really strong. You, you, you've got a very good eye. Have you always kind of had an eye for, for design, for decorating, for anything like that?
- [08:39]
C
Absolutely not. I love it. It's been, it's it's been very learned, I guess. I've never been very good at outfits. My house is basically thrifted and not well put together. But I like it, so it's fine. My daughter's far better at dressing herself than I am. She. She has her own style, so, yeah, I've never been very good at that. So. It takes a lot of learning to learn the trends and how colors work together and what colors are in right now, per se. But it's possible regardless of your background. I want to say if I can learn it, literally anyone can, because it does not come naturally to me at all. It just takes time, it takes effort, and it takes consistently and some discipline to get there.
- [09:30]
B
Can you think about some, like, practical things? So I call this for people listening, I call this developing your brain cache. So just like on the Internet, a cache is where a bunch of data is stored for later usage. Your brain is where you're storing it. So it's building up the recognition, the place in your brain that can identify trends, that can identify colors that work together, fonts, designs, like paying attention to line weight, paying attention to little elements. It's called building your brain cache. It sounds like you've had to intentionally do that. And that's the most relatable thing ever. I was the exact same way. What are the, like, practical things you've done over time that have helped you do that?
- [10:04]
C
The easiest way to do it is following the best seller pages on Etsy. That is the easiest way to kind of get into the trends that are active. Pinterest is another one. Browsing Pinterest. I'm not a very good browser. Even so it's kind of hard. It's hard for me to, to focus even for several minutes on going through a social media site because I'll see something and read it and then the kid will yell and I'll move on and I'll never come back to it. But practically for me, especially a lot of other busy people just watching Etsy and seeing what's current and what's moving, and eventually it kind of all starts to come together to where when you find that niche that you like to work in, you can see a trend that's up and coming or is current. You're like, oh, well, I can pull that into my niche because now I know how and I know how to incorporate the colors that my niche likes to work with as well. And then you have something that will, that will move.
- [11:00]
B
It gets easier and easier, right? It's like at first it's kind of this hard drag, and you don't. There's so much to learn. But if you keep putting in the reps like you've done that, consistency has been huge for you. So again, on the luck thing, you're right. Your instinct there is so right, Shannon. It's it that consistency has really served you, but it's like, as you go, it almost becomes a game. Do you know what I mean? You have to absorb it all. In the beginning, it feels like I'm never gonna figure this out. I can't do this. And it's literally if you just do it long enough. And it's different for everybody. I'm gonna say that out the gate. Some people it's a few years, Some people it's a few weeks. Some people it's a few months. It just depends. Personally think it's worth it either way because passive income, especially in today's world, is so valuable. But it just. It eventually just clicks, like you said. And I was gonna. What was gonna ask you. Oh, I know. I didn't prepare you for this question. Typical. Classic Lizzie. So if you don't know, we can, like, we can chat through it. Do you know how many listings you had to get up before you made a sale? Like, have all of your listings been really good or did it take a minute?
- [11:57]
C
I wish I could say. They've always been really good. Definitely not. I think I opened. I officially opened because I looked back at this because I thought I opened in July, but I actually opened in, like, late June. I didn't have a sale until, I think, like, July 27th. So it was well over a month before I made one sale. And then I don't think I made, I think five or ten sales in August. And then it kind of started to climb from there. So. Yeah, so sorry, back to your original question. No, my listings were not great in the beginning. It was really hard to move them. But as it. As time went on, things got a little bit easier. Gosh, I think I went through last month and deactivated like 20 or 30 listings because, I mean, they. They were far below par. What. What my store needed. So. Takes time to learn. You're going to post bad listings, but it's okay because you'll learn from it.
- [12:54]
B
I guess is it's not like you make that really, really stupid social media post when you're in college and it haunts you the rest of your life. It's like. You know what I mean? It's like. It's like, no you can delete it, you can deactivate it. It's not going to matter. In fact, it's going to get buried. No one's even going to see it if you forget to deactivate it. I think, I think the Internet can feel scary that way. Do you think so? It sounds like you must have had at least 20 listings that you did kind of early on that just didn't work. Do you remember how many it was that you had up before one sold?
- [13:26]
C
So I started with seamless files and I think I only had maybe eight or ten seamless files up and that I had a pretty niche down like an EMS based seamless file. And there's like nothing out there for that. And so that was what sold at first and it only sold like two or three times. So I got like, I got kind of lucky because I had a passion for something that was also kind of niched on Etsy. So I kind of, I got under the wire with that. But after the seamless files and I really got more into PNGs, it was, I think I had like a really simple like line art flower design that sold it first that I made on like on Ideogram, which at the time and line, it's still pretty popular, but line art flowers were just crazy and so. And it just kind of built from there.
- [14:16]
B
You said something else that's actually another superpower that we all have that we don't really realize. So you said it was an EMS file, meaning like she works as a paramedic and firefighter. Guys like you probably heard that in the intro. So EMS being like that kind of ems, not a file type. Because at first I was like, what's an EMS file? I'm like, oh, wait, no. So you actually stumbled on. No, it was perfect. You actually stumbled on what I would call a micro niche. So you got your big niches, like occupations is a big niche and micro niche is an is ems. And you created a seamless file which could be used as a Tumblr wrap, or it could be used as kind of a wallpaper or something for a scrapbook or something like that. Seamless just means that both edges match up perfectly. So it's like, like a tumbler wrap. You want the, it's circular, right? So you want the ends to butt together and match up. That's actually something very easy to do now with AI. And so you took what you knew, your experience because you understand the cadence, the culture, the like, the elements that would be relevant to ems, the vibe, the quotes, the things they would joke about, the things that would, you know, that they'd be like, oh my gosh, that's me. That no one else would get. So that's called high emotional connection. You took your own experience and understanding your micro niche and you applied it to create a design that sold. And it gives you guys an edge because the design doesn't even have to be a 12 out of 10 design because there's so few choices in that micro niche. The downside is micro niches. One micro niche can't build a shop. She couldn't make 1500 dollars a month on just selling designs for EMS. She's have to stack other niches. And so it's still a strategy to do a whole bunch of micro niches. It does mean that you have to understand them and do the research. But it really can help guys to kind of break out to focus on something that you understand. Like. So for me, I would understand like knitting culture. I'm a knitter, right. I understand the homesteading culture. These are things that are part of my life. I understand the Christian culture because I have Christian background. So I just know the things that people would say that someone. My best friend is Muslim from, from Syria. She's incredible. She. I could make a. I could make a reference to something in the Christian culture. She'd have no idea. She doesn't have the emotional connection to it. Right. So we can take advantage of these things, these microcultures that we know. I think sometimes, Shannon, we don't appreciate the value in that. You may, you may. We think, oh, everyone knows that. No, they don't. That's like me saying everyone knows. Everyone new to Etsy knows SEO. Well, if they did, I wouldn't have hundreds of members in my, in my groups. Right. Because they want, they need to learn it. So anyway, super cool. Let's like, let's kind of hone in a bit on trends because it's something you've needed to learn, it's something you have learned, you have used brilliantly. What role has trends really played in building your shop?
- [17:04]
C
I mean, it's huge. Trends have been huge. Without trends, I wouldn't be making the sales that I do. And it takes a lot of time and patience to learn and kind of start to track them. Trend spotting obviously was a huge step up in learning the trends and being introduced to trends as they come out. Of course.
- [17:26]
B
You mean my transponding membership. Is that what you meant, is being in there? Oh, wow. So you learned a lot in there?
- [17:30]
C
Oh, yeah. I don't remember exactly when I joined trendspotting, but that, that was huge. Especially coming from a background where I don't know trends and so being taught, I mean, I needed that, I guess, hand holding to kind of to learn trends and kind of figure out where to go with it. But yeah, trends have been just massive.
- [17:54]
B
I think they're intimidating for people. Do you think they're, have they been overwhelming for you or has it, have you really been able to kind of bridge the gap?
- [18:00]
C
At first it was overwhelming, especially when you, you, you find a trend. I'm trying to think. So the Feral Girl or the Possum and Raccoon era? Yeah, I was like, okay, cool, I love raccoons. So I took, I took a raccoon and a possum and with I think ideogram, maybe made like a Halloween themed possum and raccoon. And I was like, oh, this is going to sell like crazy. But it didn't quite hit the mark. It wasn't it. It hit one mark of the trend, but it didn't have any of the other elements. You know, the, I don't remember, you know, maybe the more hand drawn look, it was more graphic, arty, you know, so learning to identify a trend but then combine it with your other trends to make it something that's marketable for multiple people. I don't know exactly where I'm going with this because I found myself on a rabbit trail, but sorry, I've got to have to.
- [18:58]
B
No, I'm like the exact same way. But you know what is. So I love what you just said. Like, actually this is such a cool teaching moment. I love what you said because the Feral Girl trend has a particular style and attitude to. Is very like, whatever, you know, it's very like sassy. And so it's probably not going to work to have a really light cursive font in the Feral Girl trend. It doesn't go with the vibe. So you could have the, you could be like, oh, I'm going to do my Feral Girl, raccoon and Possum, but I'm going to do it with like this prissy handwriting. No, that's not going to work. That would work great for Soft Girl era. Not for Feral Girl. We're looking for more distressed grunge or more bold or maybe even, maybe even like a slight western vibe on the font. Right. It's like a different thing. And like you were saying, the graphic design style works great for some retro things, but not nearly as well for like A monochromatic feral girl style. So you really touched on something so important you can know the trend or identify it, know when you see it, but then it's also being able to piece together the colors, the vibe, the design style, and then the font style.
- [20:10]
C
Right.
- [20:10]
B
Did I get you back on track?
- [20:12]
C
Yes, go for it. So once you start, well, trend combining, like we talk about a lot in trend spotting in the group, once you start learning how to trend combine, that's when things will really start to take off. I do a lot of work in the western niche and so learning how to combine the really thick palette knife brushstroke trend with the western niche has given me, I think I, I had one just hit bestseller yesterday from using that niche and several that are, that are trailing very closely behind just from learning to, to combine those trends into those smaller niches. Like, I love the western niche. That's something I understand. So it's easy, like the emotional connection, it's easy for me to build that plus pull in those other trends. We were, I was talking with, I think it may have been in the trend spotting. The, the trend spotting call last week, couple weeks ago, there was a girl there that wants to use a trend that she's familiar with. I can't remember exactly what it was now because I've slept since then, but.
- [21:19]
B
Maybe a bit of niche, like, because we got friends and then like, like western would be kind of more of a niche or like, and then the trend would be the feral girl. Yeah. So like, maybe so she had, okay, so she had one she wanted to work with.
- [21:32]
C
Yes, it was, it was a niche. And we talked a little bit about how well that selling just that niche probably wouldn't be able to support her shop, you know, as an isolated niche. But pulling those trends in would, you know, give her a lot more avenue to work with. And so starting to piece that together, I mean, it was going to be, it was going to be great for her and it's been great for me. But it takes some time to get there because you want to just do, just, just do the niche that you want to work in. But when you learn how to pull those trends into, you know, things just take off. So I had one that I listed. It was sort of trend combined with western and the postage stamp niche. And it got a ton of views, it got favorites, but it never sold. But then once I started looking more into the trends and pulled in more of the grunge effect, distressed it, and then it started to sell and that was probably One of the biggest learning points in my experience so far to try to put not just, not just a niche and a trend, but trying to pull multiple in together to where it makes that connection with the buyer, to where they're. They'll. They'll hit buy.
- [22:46]
B
Shannon, I am feeling giddy right now. I am like, you're. You're tickling all the right spots. So let's like unpack this. So the, the, the niche was western. The trend was postage stamp combined with the grunge. Distressing. So what you did was you took a niche that, you know, well, this is what I suggest everybody do. Everyone gets so wrapped up around, wrapped around the axle about rules and are. You're supposed to do this and you're supposed to do that. Here's, here's what I want you guys to do. Pick a niche that you get just to start with, like Ems for you. You got it. You knew it. Pick one, you know, a niche, a micro niche, and then look at the different trends that are happening. Grab my trend report if you just want to see it at a glance. Not to do the research. I will literally train you and. Or it's like done for you. Look at it. You know, you already know your niche. It's already your thing. You're a doodle mom. You get those people. You're a twin mom. You get those people. You're a special ed teacher. You get it. You pick your, your thing that, you know, you look at the, at the trend report and you look and you say, which Trends? Maybe there's three, maybe there's 15 that work well because you know the vibe that work well for your people. And then go create three to five designs for each one of them. And what's going to happen is just like this is exactly what happened with Shannon. What's going to happen is a few are going to emerge as the winners. Now, you may have, don't get me wrong, it might take longer than that because your designs might not quite be there. There's a couple of layers, things we have to learn. But what you have done so well is you took this, this niche. Apply the trends, one will emerge or a few will emerge as those work really well. Then you can take that trend and the trend combining that you understand that you do, you design well, and you can apply it. You can niche blast it, you can apply it to 50 other niches. Then you're not just. You're not. Because like I was saying to Shannon earlier, Ems would not have been enough to carry the shop she'd have to add others. Now you could go from there into medical very easily. You might be able to go into nursing very easily. You might be able to do some adjacent things that help. Or maybe she, oh, what she did, she, she's ems and she really gets that, but she also gets western and that's really big for her. So these are two totally unrelated things. But you then take these trends and you apply them across a whole bunch of niches and this is, this is where it goes crazy. But everyone over, over analyzes it, like, oh, I'm not supposed to do more than one niche. Yes you are, it's totally fine. Or I don't understand like what trends like, well, if you know your niche, if you start with one, you know, you're going to figure out, you're going to know which trends fit. Does that all sound fair to you? Like, does that sound like exactly what you did?
- [25:15]
C
Oh, absolutely. Because like right now I'm working on some Easter designs and so they're not, they're not super western and they're not, they're not, you know, they're not super niche down, but they're, they're more Easter based. But because I've taken the time to understand the trends and how to prompt the brushstroke and how to distress things on my own, it makes it so much easier to branch into these other niches and not be, for lack of a better term, like caged in to one niche or your comfort zone. It's a lot easier to start trekking out and exploring other areas of Etsy.
- [25:53]
B
You guys know I am constantly testing strategies and frameworks on Etsy so I can tell you what's actually working and what's just noise. And one thing I have noticed over the years is this. Most Etsy sellers aren't selling stuck because they're lazy or they're not doing anything. They're stuck because they're second guessing everything. What to work on, what matters right now, whether they're even on the right path. I hear this all the time and that feels exhausting. So after years of teaching Etsy sellers through courses and workshops, the trendspotting membership, coaching and this podcast, I built something that brings everything together in one place. It's called Scaling Society. Scaling Society is my all inclusive Etsy membership for sellers who want clean clarity and a clear plan without hopping between programs or wondering what to focus on next. Inside, you get my Etsy seller roadmap so you know exactly what to work on and when with direction on what Resources will help you master it. You also get every single one of my courses and my workshops. You get access to trendspotting and the weekly Trend reports my template drop, which means a weekly template that you can resell in your own shop. SEO training, a bunch of done for you resources like prompts, SEO and branding templates. You get a coaching group with real support and that's where the magic happens. You also get access to two live coaching calls with me every single month. You'll also get automatic access to all of the new trainings and resources I have planned for this year, including special guests. It's designed to meet you right where you're at, whether you're brand new or you're ready to scale and help you build intentionally instead of guessing your way forward. And honestly, the biggest feedback I hear from members isn't just about sales, it's relief. They finally know what to focus on. So if Etsy feels harder than it should, if you're putting in effort but you want more clarity and direction, or if you're ready to treat your shop like a real business and have actual support behind you from people who know what they're doing, you can learn more about scaling society at the link in the show notes. There's monthly and annual options and you can cancel anytime. So just pick what's right for you. I'd love to support you inside. Talk to me about this isn't on the list either. Shannon, I'm totally doing this to you. Again, talk to me about the AI tools because are you, do you design any of it just by hand or are you using all image generators?
- [28:11]
C
So I started out hand drawn, but it takes a lot more time to draw everything by hand and I wasn't scaling very quickly. Like I said, I think in the first month I maybe. And it was, you know, summer break and I was home with the kids a lot more. We went on vacation once and my poor husband, I sat on a beach chair and just drew all day, you know, so, so it was a lot easier for me to scale, you know, five listings. But still, five listings in a month is what I can do honestly, in a day with AI. So right now, sorry, I kind of went off track again. So right now I'm focusing on some hand drawn. That's usually, especially with the holiday, maybe one or two hand drawn designs a month and I spend a lot more time on that. But I'm generating, I'm generating all the rest of my designs. But with that I'm using either midjourney or kittl I mean, kittl has been great because there's so many generators within KITTL that I can. Once you kind of start to get a hang of which generator prompts each trend the best you can. I mean, kittl's great because you can just kind of go from artboard to artboard with those different generators and kind of figure out what you're wanting. Then I typically will pull it into Photoshop. And I've said this in the group too, a lot of people, Photoshop's a little higher end, but I use or I use the Adobe suite for work all the time. So I've had Photoshop for years.
- [29:35]
B
And guys, I don't use Photoshop basically at all. So you don't have to like, this is the beautiful thing.
- [29:39]
C
Keep it. Oh, no, not at all. But it's something that I had and didn't think about it for months to even use Photoshop. But like, it made it a lot easier for some of the designs I was doing. Especially like Tumbler Tumbler Wraps, because I've done a few.
- [29:52]
B
One thing I do use it for is, yeah, you have to for Tumbler Wraps.
- [29:54]
C
Incredibly easy to do that. So then I'll pull it into Photoshop or even procreate and do usually my own work, either distressing or hand illustrating parts of the design to make it a little more unique, to kind of flesh it out a little bit more than not generic prompting, but adding your own twist to it can usually help it stand out in the market a little bit more as well.
- [30:18]
B
Was there a big learning curve for you with AI tools or did you find them pretty intuitive?
- [30:21]
C
Oh, such a big learning curve. I mean, I went, you know, when you start with AI, you have like a one or two sentence prompt and you have this vision in your mind that you want to come out on the page and it looks horrible compared to what your vision, you know what your vision is. And it can get frustrating. When I first started, I bounced from generator to generator because I was getting so frustrated with what was prompting. My designs were really poor, especially my initially my initial ones. But that's part of the learning curve. ChatGPT has helped me a lot because I'll have a design that I have a vision for design. And I keep prompting something that's weird. I can usually take it into ChatGPT, drop it in there and be like, I call mine Patch. Be like, Patch. What am I messing up on this? Or this is what I'm wanting. And he'll usually give me another word or two to Add into the prompt to and that you know, to create what I want. And then over time, you start to build that brain cache for prompting to where if, you know, you want a certain style. Sorry, my dog walked up and he's very distracting.
- [31:30]
B
We're very welcoming to the four legged critters around here.
- [31:33]
C
You start to build that brain cache to where, you know, you want a certain style or a certain effect. Then you just kind of plug those little words in. And instead of taking me hours to build a certain prompt, now I can, I can build a prompt in five to 10 minutes, depending on the, on the intensity of it.
- [31:49]
B
How do you find or come up with your. Your base prompt?
- [31:54]
C
Chat GPT helps a lot.
- [31:56]
B
Okay.
- [31:56]
C
But then once I start to get into like a certain style, I'll normally reuse that base prompt and then change out, you know, direction prompts or paint stroke, you know, colors, theme, et cetera, to wear. And then it kind of helps my shop stay more cohesive. Not that that soup, you know, matters a lot, but it helps stay more cohesive for a brand.
- [32:21]
B
And so. Okay, KITTL is. Kittl is amazing. And this is so interesting. I actually made a note that you're using kittl because I was just emailing with someone today who was asking me, asking me about kittl and I haven't used it in about a year. I have, like, I use a lot of ideograms, the standalone and I use Mid Journey quite a bit and I use ChatGPT quite a bit, even for image generation. Do you know if, like, kittl's ideogram is the same as the standalone ideogram or like, can you. I. I know what I really want to know in kittl. Can you toggle between which model you use of ideograms?
- [32:55]
C
Yes. So I'm not a. I don't want to put any hate on the ideogram users. I'm not a big ideogram fan.
- [33:02]
B
It's not your favorite? Okay.
- [33:03]
C
Yeah, it's not my favorite. I primarily will use Mid Journey, especially if I'm doing watercolor or more like sketchy design.
- [33:12]
B
That makes perfect sense. Yeah. So it's like this is part of the learning curve, right? Is figuring out which tools do which style better. Because they don't all. Because, like, let me tell you what, do you use Mid Journey for any word generation?
- [33:25]
C
No, I.
- [33:28]
B
It's still trash.
- [33:29]
C
That is a monster. I have not figured out with, with. With Mid Journey is the text. If I need text, I will usually do Nano Banana.
- [33:37]
B
Oh yeah, they Also have a pro.
- [33:38]
C
Version of that in Kittl. It does excellent for words. And C Dream is also in Kittl and it does a pretty good job with. With word generation.
- [33:48]
B
I actually hadn't heard of that one. Sea Dream. Like sea like under the ocean sea I believe.
- [33:54]
C
I think it's S E E like sea as in vision.
- [33:58]
B
That's so funny. I definitely knew about because Nano Banana I feel like people have liked that because it was a. Was it free for a while?
- [34:05]
C
Yes and I think over just like the Christmas period. It was free for. For that period of time too.
- [34:13]
B
But I hadn't heard of the Sea Dream.
- [34:17]
C
Trying to think.
- [34:17]
B
Have you ever done Dolly3? Have you ever used Dolly at all? Shannon?
- [34:20]
C
I have. I use that a lot.
- [34:22]
B
Oh you did?
- [34:24]
C
For Tumblr wraps. Certain aesthetics for Tumblr wraps. It does a very good job. I haven't quite cracked because it gives it a more like a digital art feel to it. It's hard to get that realistic especially you know the. The knitted or the brush stroke trend. It's very realistic and I feel like whatever you just. Dolly3 it struggles with that but it does great for graphic art and tumblers. I that was usually my my go to when I was prompting tumblers.
- [34:50]
B
Have you done Canva AI at all?
- [34:51]
C
A little bit. Trying to think. I did a custom design before Christmas and I think I did most of my prompting for that in Canva. For some it was. It was very clip arty like hand drawn clip arty style and Canva did a pretty good job for that.
- [35:11]
B
Do you know what people ask me all the time and I now since I know you use these different tools that I don't use. People always ask me if I can just get one image generator to start with because budget I'm just trying to get started. You guys are talking that all of these memberships add up. What would you recommend that someone get if they can just get one?
- [35:33]
C
That's hard. Kittl is great because you have so many generators within one. I do think it's kind of pricey per generation depending on what generator you use. Because I know especially if I get in if I get down a rabbit trail of trying to prompt something very specific I can use my tokens up pretty quickly. Mid journey is does a really good job for most designs and I feel like it's a little bit cheaper per generation.
- [36:00]
B
Yeah.
- [36:01]
C
If I had to pick one. If I had to pick one today to keep it'd probably be Kittl because I can do so much within that one space. And because, I mean, with Mid Journey, you have the one generator, which is great, but kittl, you have a lot more options.
- [36:19]
B
I think that's really smart. And then also potentially with kittl, you wouldn't need. You wouldn't need a Canva Pro as well. So you've kind of got one place as well. Kind of like for efficiency purposes, I think. Like I. This is the kind of thing where I'd much rather be able to sit down with someone and have coffee and talk it through rather than be like, here's the one size fits all. Because I think that for me, if someone comes to me like I'm a total beginner, I know nothing. I'm like ideogram. Because it's cost effective, it can do a lot. It'll give you the words and you can learn prompting by looking at the community, like seeing what people have already created. And it can teach you how to prompt. But if they were like, well, I really want to do wall art or I really want to do watercolor style, I'd be like, mid journey 100% Hondo P. So it's like so interesting. And then, and then again, the Kittle is great because of the choices, but you're paying more for the gener, you're paying more tokens. So it's like so interesting, right? It's not like a one size fits all. It's always just like, what would you say? I think, I think, I mean also chatgpt. But what I don't like, and maybe this is a settings thing, is you don't get the options. So when I generate an ideogram or Mid Journey, it gives me four options for what I. And then I can go from there. Chat GPT just like spits one thing out and it's like taking early and so. And it takes a while too. It's like slow. Anyway, I didn't mean this to be like a debate, although how fun. Like how like, like how fun to have. Okay, I want to talk about this, the journey side of this for you. What has surprised you the most about this whole process?
- [37:44]
C
I think we talked about a little bit earlier, before the, the podcast started, but it has been so much fun. I think that's what's kept me attracted to it and, and it drug me through the tougher days when I first started is there's so much to learn. It's always something different. It is a blast to, to learn these different trends and to kind of see your. Your progress as time goes on. God, it's just been, it's been fun. I really enjoy it. That's been what surprised me because I would have never. If this time last year you would have said, shannon, you're going to be selling on Etsy and you're going to know how to use all these different AI generators and you're going to learn how to, to draw things by hand and you're going to know how to do some basic marketing. I would have been like, you're crazy. But I never believed it. So it happened very quickly. I've had a lot of fun doing it. That's what's surprised me the most. And the fact that Etsy existed surprised me. So was. And it's just lack of a better term. It, it's been fun.
- [38:52]
B
Yeah. I really want to like emphasize and tell people that in the beginning it is overwhelming, as you said, and for some people. So for someone like me, I love that I am like, I get hyper fixated on things. I love solving the puzzle. And so it's really energizing for me to have something where I get to go in and learn something new. It gives me a lot of dopamine. But for some people, the capacity isn't necessarily there. And it's just like, is this going to last? It's almost like the newborn phase of having a baby and you're like, oh my gosh, is it always like this? This is awful. And so it kind of depends on, you have to know your, you have to like, know thyself, know your personality. And if you know, you get overwhelmed in a bad way, make sure you've got some extra capacity for the early learning thing. But to your point, if you don't like that learning part, if that part feels like a lot to you as a person, it gets really fun. And if you spend the first couple months really like sitting down with it every day and going through the reps, the overwhelming goes away. And it just, you know that you've got, you know you've got it on lock, you know your strategy, you know your steps, you know your process. It's efficient, you're not wasting any time. And it's just fun. It's just fun.
- [39:57]
C
Yes.
- [39:59]
B
Yeah. So I like love that you said that because there were several learning curves, but you get through them. Just like the newborn phase ends. And, and I remember though, I remember being like, Hunter had such bad acid reflux and he wouldn't, he like screamed and I was nursing, but he actually wanted my husband and it was so hard. And I remember someone Saying to me, we were like two months in. Someone saying to me, this gets way better after three months. And I wanted to kick them in the face and be like, I am struggling every. Every two hours because that's when feeding is that to you sounds like a really small amount of time because it's just a month away. That's four more weeks of. Of help. You know what I mean? So, anyway, know thyself, right?
- [40:42]
C
Right.
- [40:42]
B
What about. What about, like, what has been the biggest learning curve for you? Talking about some of the overwhelming pieces.
- [40:47]
C
What.
- [40:47]
B
Where was that part for you?
- [40:50]
C
I'm not a very patient person.
- [40:52]
B
Really?
- [40:53]
C
Yeah. I like. I like results. And that was the biggest struggle for me because I. My very early days in the coaching group, it probably would have been that. I don't know, August, September, period. I posted this long sobby story on in the group because I was like, I'm getting like one to two views a day. I'm getting fewer sales. Like, what am I doing wrong? I was like, is it my designs? Is it me? It was just like this. This. I was an emotional wreck because I, like, I wanted this to work so badly. And I think we talked a little bit earlier about when you start to piece those trends together and you're like, okay, this will sell. This will work great. And it doesn't. And you're like, well, what did I do wrong? And you were in. You're in those. The. In between time when you're just messy middle. The messy middle.
- [41:50]
B
You've. Yeah. You're past the first excitement of launch, but you're not getting the results yet. And you can't. You can't tell where you're missing it and where.
- [41:56]
C
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it was Becca. She's like, you're. You're like 50 listings in. You're. You're doing fine. You know, don't. Don't jump off yet. And listening to a lot of mindset episodes to really kind of get back into that groove because you get kicked out so often and you gotta. You gotta work your way back in. You know what I mean? Not mentally, I guess. I guess I should backtrack there. You. You. You work and you work and you don't see the results. And so it's easy to kind of jump out of the process and let it go. So taking those times when. When things were tough to, you know, scale back if I needed to, maybe. Maybe take a break from prompting for a day, which I really didn't because I. I'm also very stubborn. So Doing whatever you need to, to kind of reset, listen to some mindset stuff, dig into the podcast, make a savvy post in the group to kind of refocus and learn how to work through it. Because I know that's not gonna be the last time I have a down week or a down day with sales. The trends are gonna change one day, and I'm gonna have a hard time tracking it or have a hard time learning how to prompt something new. And so building that toolbox to recenter and stay motivated. It was a. It was a. It was a big learning curve, especially for something I'm not naturally adept to. I mean, this is something I had to learn from the ground up. Because sometimes it's easier when you have. If you have someone who has a design experience or an eye for it naturally, or feels like they have an eye for it naturally, it can be easier to work through those harder moments. But when you feel like this is. You were lost in the desert of not knowing what you're doing, it can be hard to just stay on top of things.
- [43:54]
B
Well, I. I love that you like, like, that's what I always call the messy middle. Everyone hits it at some stage. And the difference is, do you keep going and pushing through it, or do you quit? And I can literally guarantee every single person listening to this that if you stay with it, you cannot fail. That is literally the secret of life. We all just want things too fast. So it's like, just stick with it and push through. But I love that you've also shared how you did that, because actually, the same thing works for me. If I'm feeling discouraged about something. Going to listen to mindsets, to stuff like, gets me back on there, you know what I mean? Or like, getting some feedback, not just practical feedback about the designs, but also just like, someone talk me off, talk me off a ledge here. Do you know what I mean? Like, just that community factor of people who get it. Like, so, so important. I. It's the beginning of the year, and so a lot of people are listening who haven't even started yet. They're just thinking about this. Brand new to it. If you kind of rewind a bit to just six months ago, Shannon, what tips do you have for beginner beginners? Like, what should. Like, what things would you rattle off for them?
- [44:56]
C
Find a support group. I'm. I mean, I was super foreign to me when I first started because, like, I. I had never even thought of doing design. So if someone had told me to go find a support group, I would have been like, do they meet at the library?
- [45:09]
B
Or like, how do I like aa? Are you, are you introverted?
- [45:15]
C
Very. Yeah.
- [45:16]
B
Because if someone tells me to go find a support group, I'm like, no, I'm not social. I don't, I want to be alone. So, okay, I love that we're talking because so many people are listening and it's actually to them, they're like, ew, no groups. Why? And, and how has the group that our group that's in scaling society helped you?
- [45:31]
C
It's been great. And even so, you know, even before the group, because I was a couple months out before I, I took the jump into trendspotting, and I'm not sure if the group existed when I first started, but it took me a little bit to invest in that, honestly. So the group has been crazy finding like minded people because I think, sorry, another rabbit trail. Like, my daughter is very artsy and I don't know how to handle that because I'm not, I'm not naturally artsy. So I turned to the group for stuff like that. Like, she wants, she wanted to start crocheting. I'm like, okay, artsy friends, I don't, I don't know how to crochet or like, how do I start her with that? So finding that, that group of people in the, in the group or the, the coaching group was crazy because otherwise I wouldn't have had that base. But then finding that steady support and like the podcast, I mean, that's where I started. You know, I, I love listening to podcasts. And so one day I was like, I bet there's stuff on here about Etsy. And that's how I found how to sell your stuff on Etsy. And so even having that, you know, you guys, the people you have on the, the podcast, you sit there and you talk like friends. And I'm sitting there listening to that conversation. I'm like, okay, I've been there and okay, I understand that. And then it kind of, it was like a building block, you know, because I was like, okay, so then I wanted to get more into trendspotting and I got into trendspotting and. And then you get more hungry for that community. And I got into the coaching group and that honestly, that just blew the doors wide open because you have that constant feedback. You're talking to people that are right where you're at. You're talking to people that have been where you were and trying to help them to get through those, that messy middle to get to that next stage has Been. Has been incredible. I think I went a little off track there again.
- [47:21]
B
But you did. And you know what I would love for you to tell is the story of you had that grunge distressed Western thing blow up. And then you came on. On the coaching call, on one of the live coaching calls, and you were like, lizzy, shop audit me. Tell me what's going on. And I was able to look at what you were good at. And do you remember what I. What I told you? And then what happened? Tell them because it's so fun.
- [47:44]
C
So you. I do a lot of Western and you said to try to pull that into the Christian niche. And so I have a religious background. I'm like, okay, I kind of. I can build that emotional connection there as well. I made a really simple. It took me, like 20 minutes to make a very simple brushstroke design because that's. That's really big in the smaller niches still. I mean, it's hard to push in the major niches. But yeah, Western Christian niece has been. Has been great. But I digress. I did one and it sold the same day, and I think I hadn't had that many at that point that would sell the same day. It was like a Christian cowgirl brushstroke design. I was blown away. It sold a few times since then, but I was like, oh, well, you know, once again, Lizzie was right.
- [48:31]
B
So every once in a while. No, but it's like that feedback and it's having somebody who's steps ahead of you be able to look at it and say, oh, my gosh, like, that's my favorite is being like, go this direction. Try this. Okay. Also, you haven't seen this yet, but. And it wasn't there when you were available, but in the. In the group now there's daily prompts. So we're picking a trend of the week. And Becca is doing a design video inside Scaling Society, teaching how to do it. And then within the coaching group, she's dropping daily prompts. So it tells you exactly how to prompt and then shows you what. How. It comes out in several different image generators, which I think is going to, like, change the game for people who are learning, prompting and just, like, be able to have a bit. Because, like you were saying, once you've got one that's really good, that does a certain thing. You can take it and use it over and over again by just tweaking some things to hit, like maybe a different niche or a different aspect of it. So I don't know. I Think that's going to be super fun because that prompting part is such a big part of the learning curve.
- [49:27]
C
Oh, yeah, that's going to be great. That'll be a lot of fun.
- [49:31]
B
I can't wait to get your feedback on that. We should rope you into some of this stuff, too, because you've gotten so good at it, Shannon. Okay, you know what? You. I cannot wait to get the feedback on this episode because you've just helped thousands of people. So I just want to thank you so much for your willingness to share and your vulnerability and for being such a joy to know and work with. Like, I. This year wouldn't have been the same without you here with us. So thank you so much.
- [49:58]
C
Thank you for building such a wonderful community because it feels like home. I've really enjoyed being involved.
- [50:04]
B
Yeah. And now you're like. You're like a mini mascot. Everyone's obsessed with you. Like, you're coming up on separate phone calls. People are talking. Hey, Shannon. She, like. I know. She's incredible. So well done, ma'.
- [50:15]
C
Am. Terrifying. But thank you.
- [50:17]
B
I did want to ask you, for anyone listening, is there somewhere that they can find you and connect if they wanted to follow up?
- [50:23]
C
I guess I. I mentioned socials, but I don't. I'm not a very social person, so I never. I have people that, I mean, I'm. I'm friends with, and I want to say real life, and they're like, oh, do you see what I sent you on Facebook? And I don't check it, so the best way to contact me would be my email. I sent you the wrong one, so I'll send you a different one, too.
- [50:43]
B
Okay. So it'll be in the show notes for people to contact you. Okay.
- [50:46]
C
I'm in the coaching group all the time, so feel free to tag me or message me or whatever. I'm. I'm more than happy to help out. Email me. I will do my best to help you work through the messy middle, even though I'm pretty awkward and struggle with that.
- [51:02]
B
But, I mean, no, you're so fresh out of it, too. Do you know what I mean? Like, it was, like, four months ago for you, so this is. This is spectacular. Yeah. You're a huge resource in there, and you've been helping people a lot, so thanks for that as well, you guys. I. I literally just want to go generate images now. She's got me so fired up. So thank you all so much for listening. So show Shannon some love, because, holy cow, what an amazing story. And, like, such practical tips and just this is just a really, really solid story. So thanks you guys for hanging out with us. We have loved every single second of it. And until next week, go make something awesome. We love you guys. Bye Bye.
- [51:41]
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 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 you for your support. Have a great day and see you next time.