← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
Ep 218 | How a 66-Year-Old Mom and Grandma Built an Etsy Shop Using AI – with Rose Thomas
00:44:33
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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.
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B
The life they dream about.
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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.
- [00:59]
B
Hello my friends. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm so excited to talk to Rose, to get let you meet Rose and hear her story because in a time where a lot of people feel overwhelmed by technology, feel overwhelmed by AI, her attitude and approach to it have been so inspiring, so magnificent. You're going to love every second of it. If you clicked play on this episode, there's a chance that you haven't really played with AI yet. Maybe, maybe you feel like it's for the younger sellers or maybe you feel like it's just overwhelming. And if that's the case, I have a free resource for you that could be a big help and I think, I think Rose is going to talk you into this as well. But I created a free product picker and so if you have not dabbled at all with a free version of ChatGPT, this is your, this is your time, this is your sign is what I'm looking for to go to Google to type in ChatGPT and open a free account. And then once you do that, you can use my free product picker. So there's going to be a link down in the show notes that you can click and when you click it, it'll take you into a special place in ChatGPT that I have trained on over 10 years of Etsy experience. It's like you can talk to her like me. Okay, so it's like we sat down for coffee and you're like, lizzie, I'm thinking about Etsy. I don't know what to sell. And I'm like, oh, let's talk. You are on my favorite topic and you can literally tell it that and it'll walk you through like the same questions I would ask you and give you actual suggestions of what you could sell on Etsy, give you listing ideas. It's like literally people rave about this and so this is a way for you to get out of your comfort zone and play with a little AI and have it actually do something really productive for you and help you come up with Etsy ideas if you've been thinking about it. So check that out. The other thing that is coming really soon is I have written a book. It's just an ebook. I shouldn't say just it's an ebook. It's called how to make your first 10k on Etsy. A lot of people have been asking for like reading versions of things rather than just all the videos that I put out. So if you are someone who loves to read Overwatch and you're going to want a copy, go ahead and drop your name. There's going to be an interest list down in the show notes and I will send you a coupon code when it comes out. So you'll get a bit of a discount for letting me know you're interested and I will let you know when it comes out. So let's talk about Rose, because she is for sure the lady of the hour. Rose Thomas is a mom of three and a proud grandmother, Oma to six, who retired to Southwest Virginia in late 2019 with her husband John, her partner of 45 years. Their flock of sheep came along for the journey and today John cares for the animals while Rose enjoys baking, creating and learning all she can. At 66, while looking for ways to create illustrations for her woolly children's book series, Rose was introduced to AI as a creative tool. That single step sparked a new passion for digital design and led her to open a successful Etsy shop, blackridge Designs, where she sells cohesive, kid friendly digital designs for every season and celebration. Rose believes creativity has room for everyone and that learning never expires. Her story is a reminder that every big shift begins by saying yes to a challenge. Okay, we're going to bring her right on. I just want you to hear her attitude and mindset of taking small steps, of being willing to stay curious, of just believing that there is no such thing as being too old or too late or too anything to start new and to keep learning. It's literally she's such a breath of fresh Air. Please help me welcome the lovely Rose to the podcast. Yay, Rose. Welcome to the podcast.
- [04:36]
C
Well, thanks, Lizzie. It's so fun to be here. I'm very excited.
- [04:39]
B
You have been so much fun to watch and work with over the past. I mean, it's over a year now, right? How long. How long ago did you find me?
- [04:46]
C
Well, I've been listening to you for quite a while on the podcast. I found your Facebook group, you know, and I kind of follow along in there. But I actually joined your coaching group in May. May have. Yeah, just last May.
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B
But I feel like you've been in my DMs for a while.
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C
Oh, yeah, yeah, I've been around for a while. Yeah. Getting in your courses and stuff. Yeah.
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B
No, this has been so fun because you've been very. Just like courageous and curious and open to explore. And I think. I just think so many people. We're going to be getting a lot of dms after this one, Rose. People are going to be so tickled to hear, like, the progression of what's happened. So I'm going to be super general with you, which is a little unusual, but I just. I just really want to get you talking, tell us what you sell on Etsy and how it's going.
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C
Well, actually, I'm selling digital products that, you know, because of your course, I decided in the coaching group, I thought digital products were the way to go. And I started In June, and June 20, I opened my shop and it just turned over about seven months, I guess. Yeah. So it's been good. It's been really good. Yeah.
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B
Are you making regular sales?
- [05:53]
C
Yes, my first. I see. I. I opened my shop June 20th. I have my notes here. I. My first sales were July 13th. I had a couple sales on July 13th, three weeks, which I was very surprised about. And then August each month it's been a few more and a few more. And so right now I am at 395 sales.
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B
Oh, my gosh.
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C
And 234 listings.
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B
Yeah, that was gonna be my next question, so. Okay, you know what? That just, like, takes me down a rabbit trail. Rose, how do you feel about that many. No, what should. What do you want to tell other people about that many listings in the digital space? Because some people are going like, oh, my gosh, that's a lot in six months. So talk to us about that.
- [06:38]
C
Oh, it totally sounded, like, not achievable, you know, when I first started. But the more you put up, the more ideas you get. It's just amazing how it Just kind of grows and take, you know, being part of that group. Caroline had a challenge in September, which was only a few months into my, my shop opening. So I took on that challenge. I'm big on challenges, so. So I took on that challenge. And it's funny because I had. I have it right here. I. When I started the challenge, I had 59 listings. I doubled the listings in September, so I, I got an additional 59. I tried to about two a day, which it sounds crazy, but it's really doable, you know. But what was more interesting is my sales doubled at the same time. So you've always said that the more listings you put up, the more sales you'll get. And it's so true. It's so true.
- [07:32]
B
I think. And sometimes I actually get hate mail about that, Rose. But it's because people are thinking I'm talking about a handmade shop and that that's not sustainable. And as someone who had a handmade sign shop, you're right. You don't need to go after the volume. You can, you can do this with a lot less. But when we're talking about digital products, I also would argue print on demand is another one. And especially because you're making, you're creating products with AI, Right?
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C
Right, right. I'm using AI.
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B
What kinds of products do you focus on?
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C
Well, what I focus on is mostly a lot for, for kids, for moms. They're in like animal type things. We live on, on a small farm, we raise sheep. So I kind inspired through that. A lot of like homes, homesteading type things like that. And it's funny because one idea can just generate so many more. If you just are ready to open up your mind to it, it's just pretty amazing.
- [08:26]
B
So yeah, you and me, kid. But what I'm. What I'm also getting at is like, what file type are you selling? Like what is the end product?
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C
PNG files.
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B
So Rose is selling PNG files. What that is, is it's like an image graphic file that has a transparent background and they're used a lot by crafters who maybe want to, you know, put them on, like use sublimation to put them on a craft or they want to, they want to cut it out or they want to use it in a digital scrapbook or even print on demand. People, people who want to make their own products will buy PNGs to put on them. They can be used as digital clip art. Sometimes people are like, what's a png? And so I got an email the Other day she said, I heard you on the podcast and you kept seeing the words P and G. And I'll tell you what, Rose, I sat there for a minute. I didn't click. I was just like, P and G. And do you know what? I don't know if anyone ever saw Aaron Brockovich. I'm thinking PNG Electric, like the company that killed all those people. Do you know what I mean? Like, my head. And it's so funny about like, oh, P N G. It is a new.
- [09:26]
C
A new language to learn. But like anything, you know, any hobby or anything you get into, you have to learn the language, you know, you really do.
- [09:34]
B
Okay, so since you sold this episode to me in the best way, you're like, I want to come at this from. I am a 66 year old mom and grandma. Basically, I'm using AI to build an Etsy shop. It's growing. I've got the receipts and I want to encourage others who may be like, seeing that as a barrier. That's. I'd really like to, I'd really like to take that approach because I think you're going to help so many people. A lot of people think that AI is for younger sellers. Like, that's. Yeah, I don't, you know, that's overwhelming. That's too techy. That's young. What made you decide to lean into it instead of letting it, like be a barrier?
- [10:04]
C
Well, I think, you know, like everyone else, you see a lot of ads about it, you see a lot of articles, you read about it. And I thought, well, maybe this could help me kind of. I was trying to put together a children's book because we raise sheep. And I thought lambing season would be fun. You know, kind of based it on that. So I was trying to get my thoughts actually collected because I think any age, and especially as you get older, you want to write things down, you want to, you know, collect your thoughts. And I just started. I opened up ChatGPT one day and said, I'd like to write a children's book. Can you help me organize the thoughts I'm going to give you? So chat, which I call mine just Chat. It wasn't like they were, you know, discovering a new book or anything. They took my ideas and put them together in a kind of a organized pattern is what I needed. Yeah, so it was great.
- [10:56]
B
So you started with just a free ChatGPT account?
- [10:58]
C
I did, I did. I didn't really turn. I didn't really go to Pro until. Or, yeah, the Pro account, the paid Till probably mid summer when I was trying to get all these prompts done. And you're kind of limited on your. How many prompts you can do. And then I, as I saw where I was selling my products, I thought, you know, that's could really help me out. So that's when I decided to do the paid subscription, the monthly bill.
- [11:22]
B
I think so many people can start for free and I think they think they've got to be really techy. Like, literally, it kind of walks you through it. You just go to ChatGPT on Google. Go, stay where you're comfortable. It'll let you create a free account and you could just start typing to it like it's a friend. You don't. I know because like, prompting can get very technical in other spaces if you're doing programming when you get into design. But literally, like she said, she's just like, I want to write a kid's book. This is my idea. How can you help me? And it will literally just talk back to you. And, oh, we were talking about this before we hit record Rose about how, like, it's so crazy that I can literally chat with something that's got like a thousand PhDs.
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C
Oh, it is crazy. It is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. You get all this information, but you.
- [12:05]
B
Get what you want. It's crazy because Google, it's like everyone's just put stuff out there, right? And I understand, like, I could get technical. ChatGPT is pulling from. From Google and all of that. Do you know what I mean? But. But it has a smarter way of filtering through to really good information than just me trying to surf, like, Google results, trying to decide which one is legit. Like, can you. I mean, I can't even.
- [12:25]
C
Oh, I can't. Yeah. Yeah.
- [12:27]
B
I love how curious you were. I love. And, and it sounds like you kind of were thinking too. Hey, if this thing is coming, I actually want to get my arms around it a little bit. This might be a playful way to do it.
- [12:36]
C
Yeah. I always told myself I didn't want to be afraid of technology. There's so many people my age that don't want any part of it. I still know people with flip phones, but besides that, you know, people are afraid of technology instead of being afraid of it, just be more curious, you know, just ask the questions and things like that. And I think it's good, as we get old to challenge ourselves for things like this or anything really, you know, to do anything. Challenges are good as you get older, I think.
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B
Did you find it intimidating at all when you started like playing with it.
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C
A little bit, you know, because you're not sure what's going, what's going to happen. And you type in this little, you know, phrase, you know, question or something, and it spits out all the stuff and you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute, you know, but then you realize, oh, this is going to be helpful. So then you just take the next thing. It's almost like you said, sitting down with someone and saying, okay, you gave me these ideas, but can you maybe just make bullet points of what you think I should do in the right order? So you're just talking to someone right there on your, you know, on your phone or on your computer. So it's really good as far as organization focus sessions, things like that. I do a lot of that. I do a lot of that. It's really helpful.
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B
It's really good at synthesizing ideas. So I'm someone who's got a. It's really great for me. I have, I have a lot of ideas. I can just give them all to it and it will make it tidy kind of thing. It will help me organize that. And that's for someone like me who's strong on the ideation, less strong on the organization. That's like such a huge deal.
- [14:05]
C
Oh, me too. Me too. Yeah, because once, you know, like this first book started, it's like, oh, well, I could do one on this and I could do one on that. But it's like, okay, wait a second, let's keep these all separate. And what's nice is chat will keep all your chats in, you know, on the left hand side you can go down and back through and double check things, which I really like to be able to go back and double check things or kind of remind myself sometimes of what was thinking about doing that I haven't done yet, things like that.
- [14:30]
B
Do you want to show us your book that you made with it?
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C
Yeah. So this is Woolly, Woolly's Big Adventure.
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B
So she's holding it up and it's got this really cute little baby lamb on there.
- [14:41]
C
Yeah. And there's the different.
- [14:45]
B
Look at that owl.
- [14:46]
C
Yeah. And see, Chat. Chad actually helped me with the images too, because I couldn't do this. I mean, I would have loved to have hired an illustrator, but it wasn't in, you know, the budget. And so I think with me using there, there's a chicken I thought was really cute being able to have ChatGPT. It opens up so much more for people who can't who wouldn't have the chance any other way. I think that's how I look at it. I don't feel like I'm taking from someone. I feel like I'm giving more out there. Because I know that's a big question in some areas that ChatGPT is taking jobs or taking, you know, things away from people. You know, you hear that a lot and. But I don't. I don't think. I think it's a tool that you can use and it helps bring out some of the things that maybe you've always wanted to do and weren't able to do it or be able to put it out there, like the illustrations. I mean, I couldn't have illustrated that book on my own.
- [15:41]
B
So the. Yeah, what it can do now with image generation has been absolutely, absolutely incredible. How did you kind of make the pivot from. Okay, so you started using AI for this adorable children's book, and then you moved into actually monetizing it and turning it into, like, your Etsy products?
- [15:58]
C
Because I used it in the book, I really got interested in it. I thought, well, this is really something that I could maybe get into. And at the same time, I was following you on, you know, on. In your podcast, listening to your podcast in the Facebook group, and one of, I think it was Jason mentioned something about you having this coaching group starting back in April and May. So I jumped on it. And then the first couple ones I read the posts and the different things I listened to. I signed up for your coloring page class. You know, the coloring page.
- [16:27]
B
Yes.
- [16:28]
C
Yeah, that was so fun. It just kept got me thinking. It's like, well, you know, I could take this concept of Wooly and all the farm characters and things like that that I kind of take for granted that everybody knows about, you know, and maybe put those on PNGs, try to sell digital products. So, yeah, so it's been. So that's what I just. Why I kind of zoned in on that. I thought, why not take something I've kind of learned a little bit about and excited, expanded. So that's. That's how Woolly and his friends and the products I have came kind of came into being.
- [16:57]
B
I love how that evolved. I love. And gosh, isn't that how it works as an entrepreneur? It's literally like one idea literally germinates the next one. It's.
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C
It really does thing ever.
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B
What about, like, in your Etsy shop now? What is AI helping you with the most? Like, I'd love for a little Breakdown from you of here's where I'm using AI depending on it, it's a huge deal. And here's where I'm doing this other piece that's keeping it very human.
- [17:21]
C
Well, I try to generate, I come up with the ideas, thinking I look on Etsy. Like your trend setting in your scaling society now shows the trend spotting going on Etsy. Seeing what's kind of out there, but not just taking that idea and using it, but kind of molding it to my shop sort of is what I'm trying to do. So I try to take something I see and say, how would this be able to fit into my shop or what I have in the vibe that my shop is. So it basically helps me with, with the images first. And then we, you know, I might have to tweak it quite a few times because sometimes the first one isn't what you really want. So the more you tweak it and the more you ask and stuff, it comes out with pretty good images. And then I upload those to Canva and do a little bit of, you know, the work there and get them to the right size and stuff. And then I also use the AI to help kind of write the descriptions because I know what I want to say, but it's like I might just babble on and on but I want it concise. And they're again coming back with AI being able to organize your thoughts. And it does. If you put in your prompt that, you know, help me use trending keywords or, you know, trending what, what's going on in the Etsy world, you know, trending things, it definitely can give you a good description. You still want to do the, you know, the keyword research. You know, I have Profit Tree, I love Ever be and things like that that you encouraged for people to use. So you do have to think of it chat as a chatgpt as a tool in addition to it, like in your toolbox, like all the stuff you need are in your kitchen, all the stuff you need to bake and you're, you know, but you can't just use one thing. So it's good to have everything in there.
- [19:00]
B
So, so mostly so you're using ChatGPT for like descriptions. We always talk about don't use it for SEO. You want like an actual tool connected to SE Etsy for that, but for descriptions that's absolutely perfect. And then you're using AI to help generate your images. Do you have a favorite tool for that?
- [19:16]
C
Well, I've been using Ideogram. I do like Ideogram but it's amazing how different the versions are, you know, because you've. You. I think on Becca's podcast she told, you know, was talking about the 2.0 ideogram version. It does great coloring pages and then you know, each every so often they'll come up with a new version. I think right now ideograms 3.0 or 3.6 but then I was, I was introduced to Artistly here not too long ago. Really fun. That's. That's a very cool too. It can be a bit overwhelming because there's so many choices and sometimes we don't need all those choices. So I, I would say Artistly with a little bit of caution so you don't get kind of down the rabbit hole of what, you know, creating and creating. Creating and not listing I think for.
- [20:03]
B
People because I think who. People who are going to listen to this episode are going to be thinking about AI and so I love, I think you took the perfect progression and they should follow in your footsteps. Start by talking to ChatGPT if you want to do. If you want to be selling some digital products on Etsy. Ideogram is so great for beginners. There's a free or for sure very low cost version of that where you can start generating a lot of different graphics and things like that. It's very user friendly. You were talking about there's different models so every time that they upgrade it, they still leave the old models because each model tends to have different strengths and weaknesses and so you can play with that. And then Artistly I've actually not played with. So it sounds like that has a lot more just choices and functionality for as you get more advanced in image generation. What, what kinds of creations are you finding that it's really good at? Like so for example, we know Ideogram is great for coloring pages. It's the best one I think also if you want to generate text, Ideogram is the least likely to give you a jumbled word. You know, it'll actually spell things correctly compared to some of the others. Tell me all about Artistly.
- [21:12]
C
Well, artistly is interesting because you can put your prompt right in the basic one. You know artists, I think it's version six right now, but across their dashboard they just keep adding more and more things and there's an area where you can. There's multi. I forget what it's actually called but it's a multi different player ways of doing things. So you can take your prompt and you can click on whether you want it to be retro, whether you want it to be 3D, whether you want it to be watercolor or clip art or something. So what I did was I took some of my. My new listings. I was. I was thinking about doing for Valentine's Day with this lamb, and I did crayon image. So it's like a crayon drawing. And they. They came out really cute. Yeah, really cute.
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B
It looks like the crayon kind of texture.
- [21:57]
C
Yes, it looks like a little kid's crayon. Yeah. Yeah, it's very cute.
- [22:01]
B
So what it sounds like it's doing is it's just making the prompting process more simple. So when people don't necessarily know the words to use for prompting, they can be clicking some of those buttons to. To tell it what kind of effect that it wants. That's actually really nice.
- [22:15]
C
Yeah, I think that is what it. Yeah, that seems to be what it's doing. Because each one. Each time you drop that prompt in and click, you know, if you have one basic prompt at the bottom and click the different versions or the different things you can do, you can see the difference in them. It's kind of amazing.
- [22:31]
B
I'm so curious, like, what has been the biggest learning curve for you in all of this? Because, I mean, Rose, when we first started talking, you were focused on your cookie shop. You were selling the cookies. You took this big jump into all of this AI stuff. There was a lot to learn. I know you had a lot of encouragement. We were supporting you a lot. Right. We were in there all together in the coaching group now the scaling society. But where for you personally was it just like, okay, I gotta really just stay curious on this and go after it?
- [23:00]
C
I was doing the cookie business and I was using AI just a tiny bit for descriptions there because I have a Shopify site for physical products and stuff that I sell. So I was trying to kind of, like, we all do branch out and pivot a bit. And I think when I started with the book, the biggest learning curve was understanding the language. And we, like we said earlier, okay, everything you learn new, there's always a new language you have to learn. And I think just. And don't, don't give up after the first time. I mean, that's one thing you just can't. You might step away. I mean, definitely step away from your computer if you're having, you know, like, anxiety or something, you know, but never, never give up because it's just. It's so exciting when it finally it's like, oh yeah, like the light bulb moment, you know, and it's like, I think I'm getting it. So yeah, that's what makes it fun.
- [23:51]
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 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 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. Okay, so really just kind of the vernacular of it all. Yeah, I got. I get it. You know what? That's the case in, like anything in a sports, in a new job, in a new hobby. Like when I learned how to knit. And I'm learning, okay, this is knit and this is purl, and this is. This is you. What are they. How do they say it? This is like a cable stitch. And this is. This is the, you know, a cable needle. All of these different. You know, we. We find them scarier because they are tech related. But really, you learn how to bake. I bet there's a whole bunch of different terms you've got to learn there, right, That I would just not even know a thing about.
- [26:36]
C
Yeah. And that's one thing as we get older, like you said at the beginning, I'm 66. We don't realize how much we know at our ages. I mean, we have so much that we can give to people and so much that we've learned over the years, and so much wisdom and things like that that I think sometimes we sell ourselves short because of a little bit of fear. So I saw a quote and it says, always let curiosity beat fear because that's what keeps you going. It really does.
- [27:05]
B
That is. I love that quote. I've never heard that before. And that just like hit me right in the heart. That's really good. You can use that for anything.
- [27:12]
C
Well, any age too, you know, don't. Don't be afraid to. I mean, like you said, starting knitting. I mean, you know, and several years ago, I, I decided to take.
- [27:23]
B
I'm.
- [27:23]
C
Like I said earlier, I am big on taking challenges. So my daughter and I, we did half marathon in Raleigh where she lives. And that was a challenge, believe me, you know, taking that on. But everything's steps, tiny steps. And as long as you take those tiny steps, you're always getting better. And everything you've learned before, you've gotten to the place you are now. It kind of layers like one upon the other. Almost like an onion, you know, has the different layers of the skin, everything. You use one area, you'll be surprised how it comes back to you again. It's really interesting.
- [27:58]
B
Was there a point with all of this AI stuff and building this new shop where you kind of just went, oh, oh, wow, I can, I can do this. And got excited about, like the possibilities and maybe went from just, I'm dabbling and playing with this from a cure, but like a. I can really build something here. Was there any kind of shift like that that ever happened for you?
- [28:15]
C
There was I think it was probably the end of summer. I, like I said, I opened my shop up in June and I was just kind of dabbling in some listings, you know, trying to figure out where I, which direction I wanted to go when people started buying them. I mean, like, no people, like I didn't know who they were. And I was waiting, I thought, okay, let's. I was just waiting for the email saying this did not work. You know, I was so ready to think, okay, how am I going to explain this? You know? But people kept buying them and one. And then I started getting reviews and it's just Amazing how many 5 star reviews I've got. So. And each time you get that review, it's just like a little bit of confidence built. And I just want to tell your listeners that I didn't advertise this at all. Nobody in social, I never didn't use social media. None of my family, other than my kids even know I have this Etsy shop. So I wasn't out there, you know, cheering myself on. I thought, no, I really want this to be organic and see if I really can do it. And I tell you what, when I hit that first hundred sales, which was, I think, where did I first. I guess I hit 150 in October. And that was so exciting. I mean, it's just like, this is really cool. This is actually working. So in that momentum keeps you going on days that you think, oh, I don't know, you know, but.
- [29:32]
B
And it just, it'll. It stacks up, you know, I have listings that sell that started selling a year ago. So even though in the, in the digital product space we have a smaller profit margin, you've got to have more listings to get there. It takes longer. The reward is so great. Let me tell you what, when I did handmade signs and I got that cha ching, I was grateful for the, for the income and for the sale. But I knew now is when I have to get to work right now is when I've got to go break a sweat. Do you know, take time away from my kids, whatever it was. Whereas in the digital space, like, yeah, you're built. It takes a little longer to get the income there. But when I get a cha ching, all I get to do is go, yay.
- [30:08]
C
Because there's nothing else like that kaching. That's what somebody in the group yesterday posted about getting a kaching. And it's like, it doesn't matter what number kaching you get is always a good, exciting.
- [30:18]
B
It's always, it's so much fun. Well, how has being like, inside the coaching group and scaling society helped? Like, what do you think did that? What difference would that gen, like, genuinely make? Like, no, no holding back rows. Like, honestly, what difference has it made?
- [30:32]
C
Oh, it's made a huge difference for me at least. Your Facebook group's great. You know, just the regular how to sell a Facebook group. But I tell you what, when you get into that scaling society, you get right down into questions asked and I mean, the coaches and the members are just incredible as far as their answers and how they help each other out and. And somebody might ask something that you didn't even think about and it's like, oh, that was a good question. So the support in that group is, is amazing. It really is. And of course.
- [31:01]
B
And now are you using Becca's daily prompts? She's posting them every day now. Aren't they? Is that crazy?
- [31:06]
C
They are so fun. They really are. Well, Becca's an amazing asset to the whole community, I think.
- [31:11]
B
You know what tickled me so much? I think it was the last couple days. Sometime I saw a notification come through and someone was posting one of their, like, goals. Like, I had just asked, you know, where, asking people where they're at on the Etsy success roadmap. It's like a special formula that I've created to help people have clarity. Because that's the biggest thing that happens to Etsy sellers. They get confused about where am I at? What do I need to do next? What do I focus. The squirrel syndrome, especially because I tend to attract a lot of ADHD women. You are not one of the. Interestingly, you're not like that, Rose.
- [31:40]
C
I feel kind of like I am sometimes. I think it depends on the day and the amount of coffee. But yeah, it just seems like sometimes I feel like I am. And that's again where chat GPT has kind of reigned me in. And I've asked for, like, focus sessions. Give me a two hour focus session on what I need to do and how I can get this listing up, you know, so it's been good that way.
- [32:00]
B
I, I feel like, I mean, yes, we all have. I feel like just like, like being female means sometimes we have those moments. But you are, you are one of like the clearest thinking people that I know. But someone, someone was saying, okay, so it really helps with clarity. And someone was saying, they were answering their. They were answering their question about it. And they said, they said, oh, my gosh, I can't believe how much experience and expertise is in this group. And it really hit me.
- [32:27]
C
Yeah, I saw that and I thought, does she know I've only been here six months, you know, but. But yeah, it's so true. True, though. It's so true.
- [32:36]
B
Rose, you need to know, in my first Etsy shop, In the first six months, I think I had two sales. You have how many again?
- [32:43]
C
395. Right today. Yeah.
- [32:45]
B
You. You have two years worth of experience.
- [32:50]
C
That's good to hear. Yeah, that's good to hear. Because, you know, you get used to the sales. And January has been kind of quiet because basically when I started, I would kind of embrace the whole seasonal thing, you know, was. It was into summer. And then we started doing, you know, back to school and fall. And then of course, how, you know, fall and Halloween and all that. And then Christmas is just so fun to create for. So it has slowed down a bit. So that's one thing I want to be able to learn with the. With the Scaling society is to embrace and learn how to do those Evergreen listings, you know, and have it going all the time, you know, like that.
- [33:24]
B
Yes. Okay. So for those listening who don't know, Evergreen are things that sell year round no matter what, and they'll also sell in the holidays because people will buy them as gifts. But what you want to do is focus most of your time, like, 80% of your design time should go towards Evergreen things that always sell. And then 20% of your time should go towards seasonal or like, holiday specific things because they're going to come and go. Right. And you don't even know if that trend is going to, like, be a thing next year. So you don't want to focus too much on that. The other thing too, with January, because here's like, it just depends on what you design for. When I was at home decor, January was a huge month. It's like you. We were hoping we'd get a break after Q4. We did not. Because people are doing spring refreshes. They're wanting to. They're taking down their cruise of holiday stuff. So I think it's just in the digital space, we need to just figure out what are the things that people are focused on in the new year. Like, do you know what would be really cute for you for next year is if your characters. Like, what if you did? And I don't know, I haven't actually looked at your listings in a little bit, so this might be off a little bit. But, like, I'm thinking about your cute little lamb or your. Your home study stuff. If you did, like the, if you did clip art with, like, the sheep, like, lifting weights with, like, the little headband, or they're like on a stationary. What if you did, like, New Year's stuff? That's more like New Year's resolution related. Like, it's like fitness related.
- [34:38]
C
Oh, I love that.
- [34:40]
B
Or like, like every single one of them in, like, a different sports thing. And I don't. I don't know. This could be super silly. It may not work at all. But I'm just saying, like, what we all need to do is we need to look at what we do really well, and then we need to think about what are people doing in the new year that this, this is specifically related to. So I think some of the things that have been selling well for me in January have been my coloring pages, especially, like, books that I've made because people are wanting to refresh hobbies. They're like, oh, I want to start coloring again. I want to do some, like, meditative stress relief coloring. The other thing is my scrapbooking clip art. So things that, like, people want to, like they're pulling out their scrapbooking hobby or they're pulling out their planners and they're wanting to use, like, clip art in their planners, things like that. And then also I would say, like, if you could start next fall designing for, like, the 100th day of school. I don't know if you do. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I think what we need to do and we can do this inside, inside the group is start talking in, like, August about what can we create now to prevent a bit of the. It's always going to slow down a little bit in January compared to December, because even still in my signs, January was super busy. But it wasn't November. You're not, you know, but it was. But everyone else was like, everything's dead. Etsy's dead. And I'm just like, no, I'm still super busy. Do you know what I mean? Back in the. So it's all about just making sure you're doing. You're creating stuff that, that will be specific to January.
- [36:05]
C
Yeah, those are great ideas.
- [36:06]
B
Yeah, we all just need to do that for our, our little space and like, what does. What does? Well, what else? I want to ask you what, what tips do you have for people who think maybe they're too late? Like, okay, this has already gone too fast. I'm overwhelmed by AI. I'm too old to learn this. It feels like too much.
- [36:21]
C
First of all, I don't think Anybody's too old to learn anything and just take it one step at a time like we talked about earlier. Just open it up on Google, just type in chatgpt. Just ask it a question. You might not be ready for your design mode or to do Etsy yet, but just ask a question about what, you know, say you want to learn how to bake something. Yeah, I always go back to that. Just say, you know, what are some good ways of organizing my kitchen or how I can get my pantry organized and then just kind of get used to the chat and how to, how to prompt it and things like that. Because the more you use it, the more it become. It knows what you're like basically. Not in a creepy way, but it kind of, you can kind of. It learns what you like and your dislikes and things like that. So I would say start out small and anything you do, start out with tiny steps. Just go forward. Yeah.
- [37:14]
B
Where do you see your own Etsy shop a year from now?
- [37:18]
C
Well, I'd like to of course get a lot more listings up. You know, June will be my one year anniversary, so I've got about six months and I'm hoping to have double the listings that in it by then if I can, you know, so definitely png. I might branch out a bit and do more coloring pages. And I was even thinking of possible downloads, PNG downloads for like placemats for kids with the, the whole farm scene on. I thought that would be fun.
- [37:45]
B
So. Well, like every single active activity for every single holiday. Yes.
- [37:50]
C
Yeah. And you know, things like that, mazes for kids. I've got grandkids nearby, you know, young ones that they can test out the products for me. So yeah, I think just more kind of venturing out a little bit more on not just PNG but also other digital items that they can and download. Tap into possibly the homeschool. Homeschooling is big around this area, so tap into the homeschool market and things like that.
- [38:12]
B
I think that's a brilliant idea. Well, like ideally, pie in the sky. What kind of income do you want from your Etsy shop?
- [38:19]
C
Well, my husband and I are both retired and you know, we're fine. But it would be so fun to make enough to get those little projects done. You know, everybody has a wish list and a project list and stuff like that. So if I could, you know, scale my shop up to 2, 3000, 4000amonth, I would be thrilled. It would be so exciting. And that way it'd be a little bit confirming too that you know. Yeah, this is, this is doing okay.
- [38:41]
B
Yeah. Not, not a hobby, a fun way to learn anymore. It's, it's a, it's a legitimate, a legitimate very life changing type of income that can allow for, for some people, that's, that's a mortgage, that's a vacation, that's paying for Christmas, that's paying for paying off debt or in retirement. That's so fun. Like all. Oh my gosh, all of the projects that I could list for our house too. I totally hear you.
- [39:03]
C
Yeah, everybody has a. Yeah, the list would be fun to be able to check things off of for sure.
- [39:09]
B
Well, I'm completely confident you'll get there and we'll have to, we'll have to like revisit this when you, when you do. You're such a wealth of information and experience. Rose, what, what else did we not touch on that you would love to share? I know you've got a list of notes there and I just want you to like, I mean, you've been very succinct so far. So please feel free to talk to us.
- [39:29]
C
I guess the big thing is to let people know not to be afraid. We've talked about the courage, taking those first steps and just kind of play around. You don't need social media to make it work. I'm kind of not done with it, but I like looking at pictures on social media. Get to catch up with family and friends and stuff. But you do not need social media to make it work on Etsy. Don't be afraid of trying Etsy. There's a lot of people out there saying that, that Etsy's, you know, not worth and stuff. It definitely is. They do so much for you. Your group has just been wonderful. But yeah. So I'm hoping that things keep going along. I have some other ideas, like different things that I can do with the books and possible seasonal boxes. You know, you always see those boxes going out and I do have a Shopify site so that's physical over here. But I do, I want to continue my Etsy journey with the digital products.
- [40:26]
B
Wow. Okay. What do you want to do with the books? Like what do you see that turning into.
- [40:30]
C
Well, I've got a few already started. I didn't quite get Christmas ready to go because I was still trying to work on. Because that's a whole other thing as far as a challenge. Getting it uploaded to Amazon, that KDP and getting the template and stuff like that. So that's kind of a big thing too. But yeah, so I have A few more book light lined up for this spring and summer and then a Christmas one next year. So yeah, so it should be fun.
- [40:53]
B
Do you do them differently now that you have all the experience under your belt with the AI than that first one?
- [40:57]
C
I think I do. I think I do. The pictures seem to be better. I can tell it what I want more as far as in a book and things like that. But yeah, ChatGPT has come a long way. Just in the last probably eight, nine months that I've started using it, it's become quite a tool to use. So, yeah, I think it's going to be fun.
- [41:19]
B
I can't wait to see what you do. I know that there's going to be people who want to be able to connect with you after this. Rose, where is the best place to find you and connect?
- [41:29]
C
Well, I'm on Instagram. We have. My pages are Blackridge Croft Farm store. Our place where we live here. My husband named the Blackridge Croft. The sheep came from Pennsylvania when we retired. So we do have. I have Blackridge Croft Farm store. They can find the books there. I also have a link below. I think you're going to link it below. And I made all of it. Yeah, I made up a PDF for people who might be afraid, like where to start? And it's just a small little. They can open it up and it's on Canva, just how to use Canva a little bit. And I'm hoping that I can maybe get into that a little bit more with people who are afraid to take those first steps and just explain to them that tiny steps are better than no steps, you know, so that way people don't get discouraged with the new language and all the things out there.
- [42:16]
B
I love that you did that. Oh my gosh, that's awesome.
- [42:19]
C
Well, you know, Canva is such a fun tool and there again, it's one of those ones that if you open it up, you would just look at it and say, I don't know where to start. So this is just a little step by step guide of what to do and I'm hoping to maybe increase that later down the road if people are interested, give them a little bit more to. More to offer and a, you know, some kind of little course or pack or something like that. We'll. We'll figure out something.
- [42:42]
B
Okay, so give Rose a follow on Instagram. Shoot her a dm. Let, let her know what you thought. Let us know because, I mean, there's definitely Gonna be a 2.0 episode on this She's. She's. I. I cannot believe how fast you have scaled this puppy. And we're gonna need, like, a definitely another one down the road. So y' all let us know what else you want me to ask Rose. I feel like there's so much we can learn from her.
- [43:02]
C
Yeah.
- [43:02]
B
Yes. No, a hundred percent. One hundred percent. Thank you so much for your time today and your. And your vulnerability and being willing to share about this.
- [43:11]
C
Oh, sure, Lizzy. Oh, I was thrilled to be asked by you because this is, like a big moment for me.
- [43:20]
B
You have tickled me to no end. I have enjoyed every single minute of knowing you. My face lit up every single time I got that dm. It would be about once a week in the beginning and you'd have, like, some insight or encouragement. You're always so kind. You're. Honestly, you're such a huge asset to our community as well, Rose.
- [43:36]
C
Oh, thanks. Thanks. I try to help out whenever I can.
- [43:38]
B
Yeah, you for sure do. You guys, thank you for listening in and hanging out with us today. I hope you enjoyed every minute of it as much as I did. Shoot Rose some love. And until next week, go make something awesome. Thanks, guys.
- [43:50]
C
We love you.
- [43:51]
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 you for your support. Have a great day and see you next time.