← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
Ep 227 | Squirrel Syndrome Can Lead to Massive (Repeated) Etsy Success -with Hanna McComish
01:13:03
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Lizzie Smiley
Hey, my name is Lizzie Smiley and I absolutely love helping people connect with
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their calling and all the tools they
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need to kick roadblocks and excuses right out the door so they can cultivate
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the life they dream about.
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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.
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Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. Today we are having one of our classic fireside chats. A little slower pace than a normal episode, but still jam packed with so much. Hannah is the third student that I ever coached on Etsy back in 2021. Yeah, I had to think about it. It was 2021 when I first started the podcast. I first started doing one on one Etsy coaching and we actually both learned so much from each other and she went on to build multiple successful Etsy shops. But I wanted to bring her back so you can hear about the evolution of what she's gone through. I think it's going to really encourage a lot of you who maybe feel multi passionate, maybe feel like you get bored easily, like to change gears. And also just her ability to look at culture in the marketplace and make really, really strategic decisions about what to sell. She's mostly done handmade products. She's played with digital and print on demand, but mostly handmade. And I love her insights. She's also going to talk about it at the end. She's actually the way this conversation went was so like organic and unusual and we like hit all the topics but didn't go through the questions. It was so strange. And the best way at the end she's going to talk about her actual stats for her current shop and she's going to talk about how she's building an email list and how that was one of the first things that she wanted to do this time. So just make sure you know that that's coming as we go. We're just covering a lot. Let me tell you a bit about Hannah. This is her bio. She says, I'm Hannah, a multi passionate, stay at home, homeschool mom of two. I am a practicing community herbalist who specializes in mother first herbalism specifically for those years after postpartum. I started my apothecary. Shut up. My apothecary on Etsy in November of 2025. It's been what I would consider a success, but it wasn't my first shop or my first niche. Did I mention I'm multi passionate? I adore Etsy's platform and I'm here to say I love to share my journey ideas and help others grow too. I'm an open book. That is all completely accurate. So we are talk through all of her Etsy shops. What has made them successful, what she is doing now, what she has learned not to do. This is just action packed. So please help me welcome Hannah to the podcast. Hannah. Hey. Welcome back to the podcast.
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Hannah
Oh my gosh, it's been so long.
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Lizzie Smiley
Insanely long, Insanely long. But, but we've kept up on Instagram because I secretly. My dog's jumping on me. I. I just, I just told you he was going to be good and now he's not. I secretly like have always wanted to just adopt you and like, just like take you in ever since the beginning. So you guys have to know Hannah was my third ever coaching client. So you guys hear from Preston all the time. I've mentioned Jamie. She's awesome and I still keep in touch with her. But Hannah has been kind of a jet setter. She's been like, she's been moving back and forth between Idaho and Alaska. But you were on episode number 34. This is like number 220 something. Can you. How crazy is that?
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Hannah
Wow. Yeah, that, that's a, that's a lot.
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Lizzie Smiley
It's a lot. You have to catch us up because you. I. Okay. I was so excited to do this again with you, Hannah, because you are like a lot of our listeners. You like to change things a lot. You don't like to keep things the same. You've iterated through lots of businesses. I'll be curious to see if you ever really pick somewhere to like stay. Take us on the journey with like a little, a little recap of where you started on Etsy and what you're doing now. You've had success with every single shop, right?
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Hannah
Okay, so first of all, I've probably said this with everything that I've done, I plan to stick with this one. But everything started with I had come across a print on demand video on etsy or on YouTube, sorry, years ago. And I, I liked the idea immediately. So I started an Etsy through a couple shirts up and then very quickly thought it was boring and started baking instead. And I was already like really good at sourdough and baking locally. So I was like, what's wrong with putting all this on Etsy? And then kablam, it went insane. I mean, I shipped to all 50 states. I think in my first like three months of baked goods, I was doing sourdough cinnamon rolls, gluten free sourdough cinnamon rolls, sourdough crackers rolls. You name it, I was selling it. Oh, and my starter, like my starter who had a bestseller badge on Etsy forever because of that photo where like
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Lizzie Smiley
it was like that tattooed arm holding the sourdough was so lit in all my businesses.
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Hannah
One thing that remains consistent is my images with my tattooed arm. The contrast. It's the contrast, girl.
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Lizzie Smiley
Those sourdough cinnamon rolls were insane. Like some of the best things I've ever put in my mouth.
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Hannah
People absolutely loved them.
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Lizzie Smiley
You burnt out fast on that one.
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Hannah
Well, kind of what happened with that was at that point we had our house in town, we bought a house in town. It made the kids, I had two babies, it made them both sick. Found out it was mold infested, ripped it apart, remodeled the entire thing, lifted it up, put a foundation underneath of it, and then sold it to move off grid. So when we moved off grid, that was nearly impossible to bake. So then I went and shifted back to the print on demand and like digital download thing. So I just turned off, deactivated all of my baking listings actually on that Etsy. I still have all those baking listings in my deactivated. Because the little thing in my brain says, well, what if you want to do it again?
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Lizzie Smiley
It worked really well. Right. So yeah.
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Hannah
And it was kind of like a trend setting thing. I feel like I was one of the first on Etsy to start selling baked goods or sourdough. And now lots of people do it.
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Lizzie Smiley
Yep.
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Hannah
So, yeah, anyways, turned off the baking listings, started kind of picked up back on Print on Demand, was making some sales here and there. I made sales pretty quickly with Print on Demand. I think I got a bestseller. It was a Zach Bryan T shirt, which obviously now in hindsight, yeah, I
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Lizzie Smiley
literally bought like 5 of those from you. We all still wear them. It was a whiskey weather. I didn't know, we bought. I bought at least five of them. I've given them to so many people I did not know. This is back when we were so green, Hannah. We didn't know what we didn't know, and we didn't know it was an intellectual property violation.
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Hannah
I'm like, I like his song. Whatever.
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Lizzie Smiley
Also, she, like, sounds like an everyday phrase, like, oh, yeah, whiskey weather. I didn't know it was. I didn't even know it was a song yet.
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Hannah
No, no, me neither. And then I saw a burnt hat. Like a pie.
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Lizzie Smiley
Oh, my gosh, I forgot about the hats.
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Hannah
I saw a pyrography burnt hat inside of a store somewhere. I don't even know. And then I started doing that, and it went crazy. So I still had my print on demand listings up. They were, like, very western. So then I just added the hats into the Etsy and I was my. I was making like 10 to $12,000 a month doing that.
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Lizzie Smiley
I have one in my closet. This, like, I got, like, I told you guys, literally, Hannah is like my daughter. I have one in my closet. It looks so bad on me. I usually look really cute in hats. I. This, for whatever reason, Hannah, I look like a troll in that hat. But it's gorgeous. So she had one of those little hand burners, and she's like, hand. I mean, you are a true artist hand drawing, like, designs on these hats. It was insane. It's gorgeous. It just looks terrible on me.
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Hannah
And then I was painting them and embroidering them too. Oh, my gosh. I forgot I was doing all of it. And at this point, we lived off grid, so, I mean, I'm saying off grid, guys, not like I have solar panels and WI fi. Like, I'm a hillbilly on the side of a mountain 20 miles from the nearest town, and I can only take a snowmobile to my house in the winter.
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Lizzie Smiley
She packed those kids up on that snowmobile, bundled them up in their little sled in their little, like, snow outfits and with boxes. I remember seeing you had, like, bungee cords tying boxes to the back of that darn snowmobile.
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Hannah
Yep. Literally, I would package use my hotspot on my phone to connect to my laptop, print off labels on a label printer that was hooked up to a generator, so it was, like, really loud. And I'd pack all my boxes. Oh, and my. My burner was also hooked up to the generator when I was running it. So I had to burn on the porch in, like, minus 20 degrees because the smell of burning wool. And then I also had some polyester hats. Was like, yeah, can't have that in the house. And then, yeah, I would load them all up in the snowmobile trailer that's hooked up with a little bolt and then you tie them on and you put a big cover over it. And then you go all the way to town, load your truck, drive your truck through a crazy road that's not plowed that you just keep open with tire tracks, take them to the post office and ship. And then. So my shipping time was every other two weeks and people were, I had it in like my descriptions and everything and I made it sound, you know, cool. Well, it was like. But I let them know how cool and unique it was. Like, this is where I make your hat. This is how it gets off the mountain.
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Lizzie Smiley
That's the way to do it, you know.
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Hannah
And people didn't mind the two week wait time. And then in the summer because like they're okay. So there's like mud season, then there's winter, then there's mud season and then there's summer. And you can only drive out good in the summertime because mud season's literally impossible. So then during the summer time I would keep my time frame the same two weeks, but I would add a rush shipping and. Or a rush production. And everybody would click rush production. And I charge them 15 because instead of getting it in two weeks, they would get it shipped out in like three days. So that was that. That was really the start of me seeing how big something could be on Etsy. Especially when you start like layering in things.
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Lizzie Smiley
Okay. And so. And then tell us what you're doing now because you've iterated again because now you're spending half the year, like it would be a lot. You're spending at least half the year in Alaska.
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Hannah
Yeah, more than half. We've already been here. Yeah, we've been here since August at this time. So pretty much like the school year in Alaska and then the summer is like 10 to 12 weeks in Idaho where.
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Lizzie Smiley
Oh, that's it. Okay.
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Hannah
Yeah. Where we just hunt and live in our cabin like crazy. But yeah, so that was a big. Stopping hats was like the most difficult decision I had ever made because it was making me a more than full time income, but it was taking an insane amount of time. I was really burnt out on the whole having to get everything off the mountain and stuff like that. And then I was also just like feeling this. Yeah. Honestly, this was probably my first like burnout season where I knew that something had to Change. And I ended up putting that Etsy shop on vacation mode. Deleting social media, which I had only like, 5,000 followers at that point, but they were the most engaged following ever. I mean, I. I was making like 10,000amonth or so on Etsy, and I was probably making another three to four through my Instagram and Venmo just because people were messaging me on Instagram. Or I would, like, make a hat, put it on stories, and it would last three minutes. Like, they would seriously just sell like crazy if I had any idea I could just do it. But I was just so burnt out and tired of it. And I also thought, like, when I'm 40, I don't want to be burning and selling hats on Instagram anymore. So it just. I don't know, I guess after like, a year and a half of doing it just didn't feel like it aligned with me so much anymore. But in hindsight, that was a good business.
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Lizzie Smiley
Would your hands get tired?
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Hannah
Yeah, my hands would get tired. And then I honestly, like, I would get freaked out of, like, burning polyester and wool all the time, like, you know, right under your face kind of
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Lizzie Smiley
thing, because you're inhaling all of those
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Hannah
fumes and we're a fancy mask. But it was also just, like, very, very uncomfortable. I can make every excuse in the world, but honestly, it was mostly the burnout that had just. I just. It had to be done. And so I took an entire year off of doing anything after deleting social media, putting that Etsy off took an entire year off. And that was our first time in Alaska. So it was just really, really a really good time for me, honestly. I spent tons of time with my kids. They were homeschooled, or at least my son was. My daughter was too little to even consider it homeschooling. But I just took a year off to kind of see what I wanted to do, you know, I don't know. Like, thought about all kinds of different ideas, and I would tell myself, like, give it a month. If you. If you still want to do it in a month, then maybe it's something, and everything would just kind of, like, you know, kind of, like, go by the wayside. So I was. I spent that year learning things that I didn't sell, which is.
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Lizzie Smiley
Wow.
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Hannah
Yeah. Which is really cool. I taught myself to crochet that year. I know. Yeah. And of course I wanted to sell that. But when you realize how long it takes to crochet something, not for me, not for my patience.
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Lizzie Smiley
And then. And, like, how cheap they are. Like, you can't really sell them for that much. No, you have to use really thick yarn, small patterns. You have to do, like, loveies, like, she's amazing. Or like, and then. And then end up selling patterns. Ultimately move into selling patterns. You'd be really good at that. That might be a fun thing to add to your shop.
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Hannah
Don't say that.
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Lizzie Smiley
I know. No, but it's a big money maker and that community would love you. But anyway, I digress. So what are you selling now?
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Hannah
Okay, so little tiny bit of backstory. In high school, I was assigned a mentor. Like, like freshman year. Her name was Sue. We still talk to this day. I'm 20. I'll be 29 this year. So we still have a relationship to this day. She was an herbalist, and she used to take me out and, like, take me herb picking. And I wasn't that interested in it. I thought it was, like, fun to go do something. But I didn't have, like, a huge interest in the herbs. But we've kept in touch all these years. She's kind of been. I don't know, I guess she's been like a sort of mentor mind since I met her, you know?
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Lizzie Smiley
Yeah.
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Hannah
And we always kept in touch and she always kind of was talking about herbs with me. And I started getting into it when I had my kids just because I didn't. I was never like a crunchy mom, but I didn't want to use a bunch of chemicals. Like, I. I know there's a time and a place for that kind of thing, but I really liked the natural route more and I wanted to pursue that. So I started using herbs with my kids just on like, basic things, like skin conditions, you know, trying to get them to sleep or if they have an upset tummy, stuff like that. Like all the little basic things you can think of. And then the immunity, like, you know, let's. Let's drink this or take this because it helps with immunity. We won't get sick as much. And then I kind of started going into my skin care. So I make all of my own herbal skin care. It would be. And I had thought about selling it, but the regulations on it and then having to put, like, preservatives in it and all the things, I was just like, it would be too much. I would go crazy. And then I just started getting really, really into it. About three years ago, mid living off grid because there's so many plants out there. And I would get so bored. And I would like, Google stuff to do with your kids when you're bored and stuff like that. And it would be like, go on a nature walk. And so, like, we started going on these nature walks, and then all of a sudden, I ended up with this app. And then all of a sudden, I'm buying all these books and all these plants, and I can name all of these plants. And I kept telling Jesse, like, hey, I think I want to start, like, making teas. Like, wouldn't it be so cool to make teas? And he's like, there's too many tea businesses out there. Like, there's too many teas on the shelf.
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Lizzie Smiley
This is just Jesse. We. We know he will.
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Hannah
Yeah, he's such. He's so practical.
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Lizzie Smiley
Yeah, he is.
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Hannah
And I was like, yeah, but mine are going to be different. You. You'll see. Well, fast forward, mess around, find out they're different. But when I first the. The kind of catalyst in all of that, of, like, learning herbs and taking courses, and I. And literally going on these walks with the kids for hours with our books and our app and figuring out what plant is what and why and what it does and all this is. I have always suffered from major anxiety bouts of depression. I was diagnosed with postpartum depression. I was on the brink of an ADHD diagnosis, which was something that I just didn't want. Like, it was just. It was just something that I. I didn't want to think of having an ADHD diagnosis and. And ultimately having to end up on pharmaceuticals and all of that. And I had remembered there was this place, it's called the herbarium. And I paid $100 a year to be part of it, and has all these little herbal cores. Horses. And there was an ADHD one in there. And so I was like, you know what? If I'm gonna have this diagnosis, like, I. Then I need to see what other things I can do. And the first herb it taught was lemon balm. And I took lemon balm on the morning before I had to have my blood drawn. And I pass out every time I get my blood drawn. I'm not even kidding. I will force myself into a panic attack. All the things I hate.
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Lizzie Smiley
Anxious.
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Hannah
I didn't pass out. Like, it just. Nothing. And I was like, was it the lemon balm? Like, am I calm? Because I literally raw, ate lemon balm. Like, picked, grew right on the side of our deck and ate it. And then I just. I started using it every single day. I started adding nettles. I started really, really nourishing myself with herbs and Big mindset changes started coming along with everything. And I just thought to myself, other moms need this. Like, there's so many moms with anxiety. There's so many moms that struggle with overstimulation. We use all of our nutrient reserves while we're pregnant to feed the baby, and then we never replenish those. And then we wonder why we feel like crap and have no emotional bandwidth, and we need to be nourishing ourselves. Like, at the most basic level, just giving yourself nourishment. You don't need to make this big fat meal plan. You just need to give your body minerals and vitamins that it needs. And then I was just thinking, like, if this helped me change my life in all of these different ways, even if it wasn't the main thing, other moms need it. So I was just thinking, what kind of teas could I make? And the first T blend I ever made was Sensory Serenity. And it was just for calming the heck down as a mom. And it was for the moms that were yelling at their kids too often or the moms that were wanting to put them to bed early because it cannot take anymore or feel like they need to have all of this me time alone time because they need a break from the life they created. I started an Instagram around it. Within six months, I think I had, like, 25,000 followers and a membership community of moms that were paying a certain amount every month to, you know, be in there and chat with me and make their own teas. Now I launched teas, and it just went crazy. And I'm still doing that. I'm just doing it in a different way. My Instagram's gone. I got rid of Facebook. I got rid of Instagram again. This was. I got rid of them back in August when we moved to Alaska. I just woke up one morning and said, like, there's got to be a better way than burning myself out on Instagram. Being in a group, the group I had created, was amazing, but it was a bunch of moms that were struggling in the same ways that I had been.
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Lizzie Smiley
Yeah, it's going to pull you right back.
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Hannah
It was kind of putting me right back in the same position that I was where I felt like I was, like, reliving all of these emotions that I had felt around motherhood. And so I just woke up one morning and said goodbye to everybody and that I was going to refund them for their last month. And the membership is going away. If you want to get a hold of me, here's my email address. And then I took about a month kind of figuring out, like, I know this is what I want to do. Herbs are my calling. Herbs truly changed my life. They were the trajectory for all of these different mindset shifts and everything that I had. I just, I need to figure out a way to do it that doesn't send me back into, you know, bad feelings and stuff. And I was just like, Etsy. Like, Etsy is so simple. It's so simple. It's the perfect place to start if you're a person that hates social media, like me, even though I'm like, oh, I can do it, I can do it, then I start doing it and I hate it every time. It's perfectly. For somebody that, that hates social media, it's a perfect place to begin. It's so simple to learn. And I mean, honestly, it's pretty hard to mess it up if you're like living in fear because people's Etsy shops get shut down and stuff like that. They're doing something like, just do your due diligence and do your.
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Lizzie Smiley
They're breaking rules. Yeah.
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Hannah
Making rules. Do the right thing. And you can seriously have, as long as Etsy stays around forever, a forever business on there without burning yourself out on all these other avenues. Yeah. Was that a long explanation?
- [21:46]
Lizzie Smiley
Well, no. You know what, I'm glad you took us on the, on the journey because there's a common thread that I wouldn't have even been able to tell before. And you've always been someone. You kind of have that Midas touch. Everything you touch turns to gold. This is like, just like a blessing on you and your life. You have a brain that just gets it. And that's why you can build a 25, 000 social media following and turn it off overnight without even flinching. Because you're like, I could rebuild it if I want to. It's so you're like, you're an anomaly. But the common thread that all of us can learn from you is that every product you've picked has been at the beginning of a trend cycle. So sourdough cinnamon rolls, you started right at the beginning of the sourdough craze, like the hats and then the, and the embroidery and the painting. You were literally at the very tippy beginning of that trend. Not just the burning, but like the embroidery and all of that. Let me think that the, the teas and the herbs you like, you're right on the cutting edge of. And I mean, I know that more natural living has been around for a while. But the way the apothecary take that you're. You're using for that is very cutting edge right now. And like in five years it's going to be what sourdough was, you know what I mean? Like it's going to do the same thing.
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Hannah
Yep. I was first.
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Lizzie Smiley
Yeah, so what? I actually, I'm going completely off script here as I'm famous for doing. Hannah, how do you anticipate what these. Because we're not talking like I am. You probably don't even know this about me right now. I'm an Etsy trend expert. I know how to look at what's happening design wise and teach people what they need to create for what they can make money on fast. You are studying a different type of trend. You are studying more cultural trends as opposed to design trends. How are you anticipating or. And is it on purpose? Are you thinking to yourself like, I know this is going to be huge or is it just total instinct?
- [23:38]
Hannah
No, not on none of them did I even notice a trend or that. On none of them that I know that I notice that I was like the first or one of the first. Obviously there was probably hundreds even, you know, now there's probably thousands of people doing these things that I was doing. But I didn't ever realize it until midway through. I mean, sourdough, see, I didn't even think of it that way. Sourdough. I found out instead of learning sourdough because it was trendy and I was seeing other homestead moms doing it, but I didn't think of it in terms of, ooh, this, I can see this coming up as a trend. I need to start selling it or teaching it to ride that trend. So I learned about sourdough because of a trend. And then I saw that burnt hat in a store for the first time. I'd never see it anywhere else, but it didn't occur to me, oh, I've never seen this. This must be a trend, you know what I mean? With what I'm doing now with my herbs and teas. I started doing that because it's something that I love and I tied it into, I guess a, a trend or a product that I know sells a lot because if I just sold, I knew that if I just sold my teas that I would probably hit a cap where I would need to be doing something outside of Etsy to be bringing in customers. But I tied it with gift boxes because gift boxes sell so well on Etsy and gift boxes are Something that's very trendy when. When they catch on, you know, in different niches and stuff like that. So, no, I didn't. With the hats and with the sourdough, I didn't ever correlate a trend with this. I kind of purposely tied. I wanted to find a way to make it work, so I was willing to bend and break it until I found a place that it fit.
- [25:24]
Lizzie Smiley
See, it's this Midas touch thing. You've got this just natural instinct. And the other thing about you is, you know, how to position things to make them look and feel irresistible in a way that I haven't seen again. Do you know what I mean? Like, when I think back to. I still have it screenshot on my phone, the picture of you holding. I was never going to sell sourdough starter, but that picture of you, your hand holding the bowl, the way that you just. And you probably snapped that shot so, like, secondhand. You know what I mean? Like, you weren't even. Like, you probably didn't. You know what I mean? It was so just, like, instinctual. You're just one of those people who has. Who has, like, the gift. I. We need to figure out how to learn it from you. We need to figure out. We need to have you be like, what are you? Like, what are you? Because you're not even really big in social media anymore. I do think you. You followed the homesteading culture and that was about to peak as well.
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Hannah
Yes.
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Lizzie Smiley
So it was almost a little bit of luck.
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Hannah
Yeah, I would say there was definitely luck within it for sure. Especially on that sourdough wave. Like, who knew sourdough would ever get that big? And it's still there, like that sourdough trend and that sourdough wave is still there.
- [26:31]
Lizzie Smiley
So it's like, I think of it this way. So I started in the farmhouse signs kind of in the middle, because, you know, Chip and Joanna Gaines had been doing their thing for a few years. Farmhouse was pretty big, so I was a little bit late, but not too late to make a lot of money. And then when I left signs, that was phasing out and the whole trend was evolving. And so that was like the back end of it. Not people like signs. Although I would argue things with words are a little less common now. Or there's words incorporated into a design. It's not. The focal point is words. Like, it was when I started. You started sourdough on the earlier end. Do you know what I mean? Like, yes, it was already trending. Okay. So it's like things do this, they become popular in culture, kind of in an indie type of a way. They're like a grassroots movement that we start hearing about. Then the marketers, the salespeople, we get wind of it and we monetize it. Then we hit the middle of the cycle and it's starting to explode. And everyone everywhere is getting it because we've now like mass produced it. Right. And then it starts to tip out over the end. I think we're at. We're past the midpoint on the sourdough.
- [27:38]
Hannah
Oh, yeah.
- [27:40]
Lizzie Smiley
Even if people continue to eat it or want it or use it, it's gonna be. There's the next thing, the next thing is coming. Or it's like yoga in the 90s, how yoga was just like this weird, quirky thing that that Buddhist did. And then it became like, so mainstream. And now I know people still love yoga, but my next, like, the next thing is going to be sauna. Sauna culture. You have to say it right? Finland sauna culture. And the cold plunging and all of that. So it's just interesting. You have to like, watch what's happening in kind of grassroots cultures popping up.
- [28:07]
Hannah
Right. And so. And that's the thing is I don't think that I could. I could teach it necessarily to somebody because I do feel like. I don't know, like, I feel like it's just me. But if somebody came to me and like wrote me a list of their interests and the things they could do, I would have a blast putting it together then finding keywords that are good
- [28:32]
Lizzie Smiley
for it, actually seeing if.
- [28:33]
Hannah
Yeah. Fit those keywords and being like, this is your business. This is what you need to do. And if, if this doesn't work, then there's this, this, this and this to add to it until something off. Like I can. I have like a very visual brain like that and can think of it in terms of that. And that's what I've done with all of my things too. Like with the sourdough thing, I would go look at keywords for it and I would find sourdough cinnamon rolls. And then I. The gluten free baked goods was like a really big one. And I was like, that was sourdough.
- [29:06]
Lizzie Smiley
Is that gluten free?
- [29:07]
Hannah
It's the gluten free sourdough cinnamon rolls. When I added those, that was one of my best sellers, I'm sure. Yeah. And sourdough is mostly gluten free. Like a lot of people don't have, like, with gluten sensitivity. If it's long fermented, which all of mine was. It wasn't yeast and sourdough. It was actual true sourdough. Long fermented for 24 hours. Most people, the gluten sensitivity would be fine. If you have celiacs, you might have an issue. But that's where I would, the actual gluten free dough. So I wouldn't even start with a base of regular flour. I would start with a gluten free flour and do that. So it was, it's really just a lot. I've only done things that I'm interested in even if they don't last long and I become not interested in them. But I always find a way out. I'm fine with molding it into something that I know will sell. So I, I, this is what I like. This is the research that I did. How can I put them together to make a business out of it? You know what I mean? So like, I don't know if I became, what's an example? If I wanted to start selling digital products tomorrow, I would be, I would think of all of the things that I like, I would go find good keywords or gaps in the market and I'd combine the two. And I don't know why, but I can do that really well. Like I feel like I have that down pat. Like niche combining is my favorite thing. Keyword research is my favorite thing. I will waste days. Days I have notebooks full where I write them all by hand.
- [30:28]
Lizzie Smiley
So it's not accidental. You're just digging into the research and you're, you're finding opportunities. You go down a rabbit hole and you don't just go with what you feel. You go and you corroborate it in the research using the keyword tools. So guys, it would be like ever be, you're going and you're looking at, okay, what's got a really good keyword score, what's got really high demand and still really low competition. And then that's how you are positioning your products is through the lens of where that opportunity is.
- [30:53]
Hannah
Exactly. I could sell immunity tea, right? Not a good keyword, not a lot of searches, pretty competitive. Also, if you go to the grocery store, there's a million of them. I think my tea is better. So I could just sell immunity tea and then watch it not sell on Etsy. That's fine, you know, not fine at all. Or I can be like, okay, well cottagecore is trending. HIJ is trending. Oh, hij Gift box or Hugo, whatever you say.
- [31:21]
Lizzie Smiley
Hugo. Yeah.
- [31:23]
Hannah
All these different things are trending. So I'm going to put my tea into those and make a cottage core gift box. A hygge gift box, whatever it is, you know what I mean? And that comes naturally to me. I can do that with almost anything. I have friends call me all the time, like, I want to sell this and I'm like, okay, well, well, let me start with some keyword research on it. And then what else could it be called and what else could we put it into kind of thing. I've sold a lot of stuff too. Not on Etsy, just on Facebook groups. Like I was in an oddities Facebook group. And at that point I was teaching myself to trap and tan heights because we lived off grid. And I enjoy all the things outdoors. I'm a hunter, I'm all of these things. And I started trapping and I started. Started tanning my own hides and I started making things from them. I was making purses and I was selling them in an odd. In oddities group like crazy. And I just. You gotta find your little niche and you gotta do the research on the back end of it to find out what people are looking for and how your product can fit into it.
- [32:30]
Lizzie Smiley
You know what else, though? I just thought of something else that's really, that we can take away from you is you have a determination and a resilience. Like you don't stick with the same thing, but you are. And I actually have this with you, Hannah. I get the dopamine is so high for me learning something new.
- [32:47]
Hannah
Oh man, it's.
- [32:49]
Lizzie Smiley
I am willing to spend weeks, months going down a learning rabbit hole. And I do not. That does not burn me out. I love that. And I will stick with something long enough to figure out how to make it work. In fact, if I'm going to get bored, it's after it's working really well.
- [33:06]
Hannah
Exactly.
- [33:07]
Lizzie Smiley
Because I love the puzzle of figuring out how to make this thing sell. And so I think that's something like people otherwise, they just want a fast, quick fix done. I'm just like, listen, if this was super easy, nobody would have a job. It becomes, it becomes easy because once you learn these skills and you stack skills, you know, you can print money, you can, you can turn water into money because you've learned how the market works. But you gotta have the staying power up front of like, I. Everything is figureoutable. And I am going to figure this out and I'm not going to get burned out when my first 20 listings don't work. And I'm not going to get burnt out because I just spent 20 hours doing keyword research and I'm not going to get burnt out because I have to pivot to something new and scrap it. Like you, you're. You are at a whole nother level of that, of the ability to do that.
- [33:55]
Hannah
Yeah. The dopamine rush of starting new things is something else. But also I'm naturally a learner.
- [34:00]
Lizzie Smiley
Yeah.
- [34:01]
Hannah
You know, like you put me in a situation like Juneau, for instance. Juneau, Alaska. For me, there's not a lot to do here, but you know how much I know about the ocean now and the animals inside the ocean. And if I could sell the animals inside the ocean, you, I would be, I would be okay.
- [34:20]
Lizzie Smiley
But there's a lot of nature, right? You can do nature there.
- [34:23]
Hannah
Yeah. I'm a natural learner. And Juno is the home of my best listing images. I couldn't even duplicate them somewhere else.
- [34:30]
Lizzie Smiley
Really?
- [34:31]
Hannah
Oh my gosh. Yeah. Like I. Over last summer when I was selling all my teas and stuff still on, but on Instagram, I had so many new tea ideas and I didn't. I just made them and put them in a box because I knew I was not going to do photography until I got back to Juno.
- [34:47]
Lizzie Smiley
Wow.
- [34:47]
Hannah
You only replicate the landscape here with AI.
- [34:52]
Lizzie Smiley
Like I was gonna say, I would take your original photos, put them into ChatGPT and say, use this setting, but put this new image in it. I've been doing that lately and getting the most incredible mock ups that look completely real.
- [35:04]
Hannah
You gotta catch the first image being AI right or something.
- [35:07]
Lizzie Smiley
Not that I'm aware of.
- [35:09]
Hannah
Okay. Me and AI, we, we, we.
- [35:11]
Lizzie Smiley
I'm sure you have a conflicting relationship with AI. I and I naturally would too, but because it's going to take over, I feel a responsibility to be on top of it. I would usually be the one avoiding it. And like I would be like turning off all electricity over it. But because I want us to survive and because I'm raising two kids that are going to have to live in this world, I am choosing, I'm choosing to like, I wouldn't say embrace it, but I'm choosing to learn it and understand it. But so here's the thing with AI and Etsy, first of all, the first product photo has to be actually representative of the product. That's the, that's the important thing about the photo. You can't have something that like, let's say, like, this will make most sense to the print on demand people. Let's say you are selling a comfort color shirt, but you use an AI shirt mockup that just looks like a generic shirt. That's what Etsy doesn't like because it's not representative of what the product actually is. You need a picture of a comfort color shirt. I would argue now, probably, I don't know, I haven't actually tested this. I'll be doing it soon probably. Now ChatGPT could get the comfort colors, vintage look, really capture the color, the texture and all of that correctly. And then the other thing is if you're doing a product that was made with the help of AI, you have to, in the setting, in the listing setup, you have to disclaim that and you have to disclaim it in the listing description that this product was made with the help of AI or however you want to say it. Those are the rules with AI.
- [36:31]
Hannah
Okay, so this is how I'm not like against AI by any means. I use AI. I use ChatGPT all the time. I modify everything for myself, I use it for ideas, I use it for outlines, all kinds of stuff. But it first occurred to me on Pinterest when Pinterest gave me the option to not see AI images, I immediately clicked that. Then weeks later I sent my friend a photo of my kids and all the crazy snow that we got and she said, wow, that's the first AI or non AI photo I feel like I've seen in weeks. And I just see this thing happening where people are given the opportunity to not be shown AI. They will. I'm going to start, for instance, I'm going to start Pinterest soon and I will not be using AI to create my Pinterest pins.
- [37:09]
Lizzie Smiley
Mm, that's really interesting because they can opt out of them.
- [37:11]
Hannah
You're losing market share and I believe that people will get to a point that your spoken word and your, your brand, your brand will shine through AI. And people will just get so tired of seeing nothing but AI content all the time. They'll be like, where's the real stuff? And they'll want to come back.
- [37:33]
Lizzie Smiley
You guys know I am constantly testing strategies and frameworks on Etsy so I can tell you what's actually, 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 trendspuding 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, well let me ask you this though. Like, genuine, genuine, like learning opportunity question for me. Why can't you? So like I create pins in Canva. I generally don't use AI for that, but I'm exporting it. So like let's say I use AI and then I'm putting the text over it and I'm exporting it from Canva as a JPEG or png. How would Pinterest know that was an AI? Image versus not. Or do you think it can? At this point, I'm sure it will be able to, but what it says
- [40:07]
Hannah
is that it's so like if you were to be. If you Say you're making like a birthday blog post for. For birthday decorations, and you're coming up with decorations you can do and you go to Nano Banana or Chapter, and you're like, hey, make this birthday, you know, thing. And then you're taking that AI image and putting it into Canva into the pin, and then you're putting it on Pinterest. Pinterest says that they have the capability of scanning it and marking it with AI. They're also requiring people to say that it's with AI.
- [40:38]
Lizzie Smiley
My daughter and I started this Pets Pet, Petstagram Pet Talk account back in November. We got a pet hedgehog. I'm really curious. Like, first of all, I'm like trying to teach her some things, like about how to build a brand and all of that. But I also think I'm like, don't know what's going to happen with AI, right? So I want to have multiple streams of income. And I also think it would be really cool to teach people how to build these kinds of accounts. But anyway, there was a big hubbub about one of my posts that people thought was made with AI. And interestingly, it. So let me think. It wasn't. It was actually a photo that I took, but I had. What was it? I had chat GPT. I didn't realize that TikTok would literally like, flag my content. Let me think, where is it? Oh, okay. So I had these two. I had these two pictures of my cat before and after the Vitiligo completely changed his color. And I asked Chachi BT to put them, to crop them and put them one on top of the other. I literally could have done it myself. And I don't know why I didn't, but I was like, so stat these because they were. Otherwise I had the picture, they were next to each other. So I was like, reorient it. And then TikTok labeled my picture as AI and people got mad like that I was. And I mean, I totally get why, right? Because they think I'm providing these pictures inside my home and it looks like I'm not. So. But then I used that picture again for something else. But I first pulled it into Canva and then exported it as like a PNG or jpeg. So I thought I was like, maybe I was just testing to see if I am. I basically like reclassifying this photo.
- [42:07]
Hannah
See, maybe, maybe. But what Pinterest says is that they're so like, they want you to obviously say if you're using it or not for anything at all. So Even like you would say that you did that even though you only stacked two images. If you're being, if you're listening to this, truly compliant.
- [42:23]
Lizzie Smiley
Yes, exactly.
- [42:25]
Hannah
Now whether you need to be or not, morally that's up to you. But they're scanning them and so Pinterest is their, their scanner for them I guess is so hardcore right now that it's marking a lot of images that are not AI as AI.
- [42:39]
Lizzie Smiley
Wow.
- [42:40]
Hannah
That tells me that whatever scanning they're doing is serious. Like they're actually images and maybe you can get away, away with it like that. But I can also see someday, like if that's the case, they're going to find a way to end that.
- [42:56]
Lizzie Smiley
The demand is only going to increase for authentic photos and for technology that tells us what's real and what isn't.
- [43:02]
Hannah
Exactly. So I'm just trying not to. For images.
- [43:06]
Lizzie Smiley
I love it. And that's so on brand for you.
- [43:08]
Hannah
It is. And when I go to like herbal blogs. Cause that's where I spend a lot of time too is, you know, in this natural, earthy place where I like to learn. And these women that I like to learn from, that's obviously, that's a plus for me when they're real. And I prefer to read their blog posts and watch their YouTube videos when it's not all super aesthetic and stuff like that. Like, I feel like that super aesthetic kind of started going away. Yes. For AI, you know, I like reading blog posts where the text is a little bit different and the images aren't like it's just like a tea kettle. It's not like a tea kettle with steam in the background and herbs sprinkled all about, you know.
- [43:49]
Lizzie Smiley
Yeah.
- [43:50]
Hannah
Like just this, this realness that says this is my experience and I'm a mom and it's not pretty all the time. So here you go. Put it on a silver platter. It will still look ugly.
- [44:04]
Lizzie Smiley
Like the best post, I think it was like a day or two ago and it was talking about aesthetic pictures on, on social media and it was saying like the same house that you love that looks like this and it's basically showing it made me think of you actually it was these like, because you're so good at like the close up image. Like you're so good at capturing it. Like I'm, I am so obtuse about this.
- [44:26]
Hannah
Right.
- [44:26]
Lizzie Smiley
Like if I'm taking a picture of these glasses, I'm like centering them in the photo and making them perfect because that's just, you know, and you Would, like, have this crazy setup where you were coming at an angle and part of the thing was cropped off, and it would look like the most professional, beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life. So she was showing how, like, these things are just, are just like corners of people's homes and they're literally still lived in. So she, like, then scan, she, like, shows the picture, then scans the room and it's, you know, trash. Like, like all of our houses are. I think you've hit on something that is, is going to be very sustainable for a lot of brands, is that the more you can keep things super authentic and real, especially in the handmade space. I love that you're. And this is, this is, again, your instinct to stay as true as possible, to just that earthy, that earthy feel, that earthy vibe.
- [45:11]
Hannah
Yeah. And, yeah, I mean, that's what I like. I think it. Because we were conditioned so long with aesthetic this and aesthetic that, that it feels like work to be authentic. Like, you have to ask yourself, am I being authentic? You know how much that sucks. You should never have to ask yourself, am I being authentic? You should just be authentic. But because we've been image and video brainwashed with aesthetic stuff all of this time, it's, and we're going through this phase now where that's going away. It is raising all of these questions of, like, am I authentic? How do I be authentic? Who am I? What does my stuff look like? Is it too dirty for other people? Or, you know, it doesn't look how hers looks, but hers probably doesn't really look like that.
- [45:57]
Lizzie Smiley
You know, it's such an interesting conversation. I'm like, where do we want to, where do we want to go from here? I know, right? Well, why don't we just. I mean, we have done a good job. What, what tips do you want to give for someone new starting out?
- [46:10]
Hannah
Be consistent with something.
- [46:14]
Lizzie Smiley
Yeah, you'd be making like 500k a year right now if you'd, if you'd stayed the first thing.
- [46:19]
Hannah
I would have kept that first blog.
- [46:23]
Lizzie Smiley
Right.
- [46:23]
Hannah
I'm not even kidding. Be consistent with something. And honestly, my best tip on doing that, because I truly feel I've been doing this for, I've been doing this for 13 months. Herbs. Well, more, actually. I, I, I started selling teas 13 months ago. I, I started kind of when I started the Instagram and everything. It was probably almost two years now where everything. Where, like, I had the plan and was putting it into motion. And that's the longest I've lasted with really anything. And I think it's because instead of everyone's like, pick a business you like so you stick with it. And, and that's really good advice. That's the first step. And then the, the second step would be, how do you want to run that business? You see everybody on TikTok, you see everybody on social media, and for me, I hate those things, but I'm like, I'm gonna do them anyways because that's what's important in business. And I can grind through it and just, this is what I gotta do for my business. And that's what I would tell myself. And then I would burn out and hate it. So pick the thing that you like, and then you pick the things that you like doing to show people the things that you like. Don't put yourself in any sort of corner doing something you don't like, because you're either going to burn out and quit like I did over and over and over, or you're going to start hating what you're doing and burn out and quit like I did over and over. So I feel like that that would probably be my biggest tip, is finding the thing that you like and then picking the things to show it that you like doing. And if social media is not one of those, then so be it. If making an entire website of your own is not doing that, don't do it. And maybe someday I'll be making enough money where I can hire someone to do an Instagram for me, but until then, you won't find me on there.
- [48:04]
Lizzie Smiley
You won't like how they do it. I know.
- [48:07]
Hannah
Yeah, that's a really. I feel like that's the hardest thing to delegate would be a social presence, because stories, I was so active on stories, that's where I sold everything in all my businesses. How can you replicate that?
- [48:16]
Lizzie Smiley
This is why I'm always telling you guys. And I know a lot of people come to Etsy and they're like, I'm going to build a brand. And I'm like, yes, you are. And please start with Etsy. Like, just no social media. Know your own website. I know, I understand the dopamine is real right now, but if I could get you to go create. Now, Hannah's in handmade, so 20 to 50 listings to start of different products, because that's a lot that's going to take a long time to do if you're in print, on demand or digital products. Like, if I could get you to get 500 to 1,000 products up. I know that sounds crazy, but after working with thousands of students, that's how long it takes most people to get good enough to be making 2 to 5,000 or 10,000amonth. Some people are f. Great. You can then tell me I did it faster. And then you can come on the podcast, because that's going to be amazing. But, like, if I could get you guys to not go. Go ham on all the social media and all of the aesthetic and all of this and that and just focus on getting really good at making. Etsy has 90 million active shoppers. Find out what's in demand, what are they already buying. Leverage that. Bring in trends. If you want to do it faster and keep getting the listings up. Get so good at creating designs and listings that will sell.
- [49:31]
Hannah
Yep.
- [49:31]
Lizzie Smiley
That this is. It's. It's the. It's. I'm trying to prevent the burnout. I'm trying to make it so you don't get. So you don't get so tired of what you're doing and so discouraged that it's not producing at the level that you've heard all the, you know, and I don't mean this as shade, but like, the big YouTube stories where you're like, I'm gonna go make $50,000 in my first six months on Etsy. Like, does that happen? Yes, but it's rare. I. And it's not happening because they're so busy getting five posts out on social media every day. It's happening because they've gotten so good at emotional connection to their customer and creating designs that people see and they're so attached to. They have to have it, whether they're putting it. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, I have to buy this.
- [50:07]
Hannah
Right.
- [50:08]
Lizzie Smiley
It's. I know I'm on my. On my soapbox a little bit, but, like, you. You teed me up perfectly for that, Hannah.
- [50:13]
Hannah
Like, perfect. And. And I'd like to come back and say that you're completely right. And this time I feel like I've done it mostly how you just said I would say the only thing. Like, yeah, you pick one thing. Pick or pick one platform. Don't try to spread yourself thin on making this aesthetic and all of this on all of these different platforms. What I did was, obviously, I picked Etsy and I opened an email thing with Flodesk.
- [50:40]
Lizzie Smiley
Yes.
- [50:41]
Hannah
Made a landing page to get people 30% off. I run a 25% off sale in my shop. They can sign up and get 30% off. I'm going to up that to 35, just so that it's more enticive. But I have been getting a lot of email subscriptions. So in a bottom of all of my listings and in all of my listing images and in my description in my shop announcement, it says, place this link into your browser to sign up and get an email delivery of a discount code. So I'm getting emails and then inside of my box, I created a postpartum herbal freebie so that. Because a lot of people buy these as gifts. So I have the person that's buying the gift getting on my email list for the discount, then the box being delivered to the new mom and. And she's signing up to get that herbal thing in my email. So I'm collecting these emails for the future if I want to go do something else. I am sending them random, cutesy little emails now, but I'm not. Those are the only two places that I'm in right now. And next is going to be Pinterest.
- [51:38]
Lizzie Smiley
Yep, Very smart. Oh, yeah, Pinterest would be huge. So first of all, I haven't used Flodesk. Can you build the landing page in flodesk?
- [51:46]
Hannah
Yeah, I love Flodesk.
- [51:48]
Lizzie Smiley
That's great.
- [51:49]
Hannah
And in like in the beginning, you don't need all those fancy stuff that they have so you can get them or whatever. But I got into Flodesk when they weren't charging per the amount of people. So I only pay the $39 a month no matter how many people in my email list I have.
- [52:05]
Lizzie Smiley
I'm gonna go ahead and link. I need to look up because I used to say mailchimp and now there's a different. Mailchimp isn't free anymore either. I don't think so. So I will link for you guys a free email service up to your first. Usually it's up to 500 subscribers. You can use Flodesk if you've got the money. But a lot of you guys I know are like, no, I need the. I need the budget version of this.
- [52:26]
Hannah
You don't have to have Flodesk by any means. I think convertkit is free up to a thousand. Forgive me.
- [52:30]
Lizzie Smiley
Isn't it that. Because ConvertKit's a really good one. Okay. The point is, I suggest that you start collecting emails on or before 500 sales. You know, Hannah tends to be more advanced. She's built lots of shops before. She knows the value of the email list. I think it's really important. I just think a lot of times, again, people get bogged down like you know, okay, now I've got to email these. It feels like one more weight on their shoulders. Um, how often are you sending an email?
- [52:54]
Hannah
Okay, so for the people that opt in and get the discount code, I send an email like once every two weeks. And it's super simple where I'm just like, hey, I'm running another sale kind of thing.
- [53:06]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay.
- [53:07]
Hannah
Or hey, I have a new product I don't worry about sending to them. I don't think they want to be inundated with products. The moms that sign up through the ebook that I offer for free inside of their gift box, I email them once or twice a week and I'm sharing. I have a, like a my3small thoughts email where it's like just three small thoughts on motherhood or it's, it can be anything. So I'm not going to get into that. And then I send them one email of like postpartum or early motherhood education. So I'll pick one and barely teach them about it a tiny bit and be like, that's why I put it in this blend.
- [53:43]
Lizzie Smiley
So you're basically, you're selling more of your product through story by connecting the dots of here's why this is helping
- [53:49]
Hannah
you with X. Yep. And I gave them the option too, you know, because there's the mom that just wants to keep buying the tea out of the gift box that she was gifted, so she just wants to be taken care of. And then there's the mom that wants to learn about why and how they work. And she gets sent to like my other ebooks and my affiliate with Star West Botanicals to buy herbs. I have like a two.
- [54:12]
Lizzie Smiley
You have three lists that you're building. Then you actually broke the moms up into two.
- [54:16]
Hannah
Yeah, so I broke them into two. So there's the ones that just want to know about my shop sales and stuff. And then there's the ones that want to know more about herbs. Because I don't want to be sending the women that don't care about learning herbalism a bunch of herbalism stuff.
- [54:30]
Lizzie Smiley
How did you, how did you set that up? So like, are there different opt ins?
- [54:35]
Hannah
Well, so when they go in, when they get into my email list, they, I have scheduled three emails that they get. They get like the welcome one with the discount code. They get a reminder and then they get an email list that says gives them two options or an email sorry that says if you want, if you're a mother who wants to learn about herbalism and why herbs help postpartum in the postpartum years and stuff like that. Click here. And I have a trigger that immediately puts them into my main newsletter. And if you want to be the mom that just hears about shop updates, sales and new products, do nothing. You're already there. Okay, so that's my 35% off email subscribers. And then I have my newsletter. So they stay in that 35% off discount line if they only want shop updates and they go to the newsletter if they want my full newsletter. My full newsletter has like 1100 in it. The just discount people is like 60 or something. A lot of those unsubscribe because you find a lot of people going on and just ordering a sympathy gift or a postpartum gift and then that's it. Yeah, like they, they're not a mom. They might be someone's grandma, grandpa, and they're like, I don't want any of this lady's emails unsubscribe. It happens. You know what I mean? They're just in it for the discount and then they're out.
- [55:56]
Lizzie Smiley
I think that's, this is so helpful because people are always wanting to understand how to set all of these things up. So any email service will allow you to set up multiple lists like that, you guys, and have little triggers where. And, and let me tell you this as well, because I haven't never really gone deep into the email. I want to do that hopefully later this year. But you can always go to YouTube and whichever one you're using, like, like Mailchimp. How to set up a, like a landing page, like anything you want to learn how to set up multiple lists, how to, you know, what do I want to say? Like how to send a welcome email, Any of it. You can find all of that on YouTube for literally any email provider. So if you guys want to go down that rabbit hole, I will hopefully later this year be able to get more specific. But honestly those companies are going to do it even better because this, that's what they do.
- [56:43]
Hannah
So and for the Flow Desk one, because I, when I did that, I had no idea how to segment people or how to get them, you know, like internally. And I didn't want to have to rely on them clicking. If you want my newsletter, click here and then have to rely on them putting their email in and doing the whole thing. So I wanted it just done automatically. I actually just asked chat GPT.
- [57:03]
Lizzie Smiley
There you go.
- [57:03]
Hannah
That what I wanted. And I said, I'm using Flow Desk. How do I do it? And it literally knew. Yes, So I don't know how it knew. Maybe somebody wrote blog posts on it before and they scanned that or I don't know if it scans YouTube videos or whatever, but me and my chat GPT are besties, so.
- [57:19]
Lizzie Smiley
Isn't it so funny we have this, like, love hate with the AI because it literally helps me figure out any tech problem I ever have. I don't even really go to YouTube
- [57:29]
Hannah
anymore,
- [57:32]
Lizzie Smiley
but I don't mind reading it. I'm a person who doesn't need to see the video.
- [57:35]
Hannah
Yep. Yeah. And if I. Yeah, I use chat for tech stuff and clarity. I'm like, These are my three eBooks. One's free, one's paid, and one's high ticket. But I'm having no clarity on linking them together. Who wants what? And it will literally just, like, tell you, like, this is what you're doing. This is why it makes sense. Because I lose clarity all the time. I get, like, overwhelmed. I got too many things going on, and I'm like, what is happening here? And so it really just helps me, like, realign often. So I use it a lot for just, like, personal stuff. Not for, like, obviously I don't even create new content anymore.
- [58:10]
Lizzie Smiley
But, you know, no, for organizational anything, it is literally, it is the best.
- [58:15]
Hannah
Yes.
- [58:15]
Lizzie Smiley
We have to be careful trusting it for, like, business advice. I'll tell you guys that, like, it will steer you. It'll do you dirty. You got to be careful and kind of cross check what it suggests. But for organizing any kind of thoughts. Oh, my gosh. It's the best.
- [58:28]
Hannah
Yeah. Sometimes I think it gets bored and just starts blowing smoke. And you have to, like, text it back and be like, okay, no, like, you're wrong.
- [58:36]
Lizzie Smiley
Because I say that all the time.
- [58:39]
Hannah
And then it's like, oh, sorry.
- [58:42]
Lizzie Smiley
No, it's like, it's like, you're so right to flag this.
- [58:46]
Hannah
Like, or like, oh, thank you for going back and linking those together for me. And it's like, I shouldn't be having to do that. This is what you need to do for me.
- [58:57]
Lizzie Smiley
Oh, my gosh, I'm so glad we did this.
- [59:00]
Hannah
Did you want me to say what I've made in sales, or do you want to? Yeah, or I can do it in the bio. Go.
- [59:06]
Lizzie Smiley
But yeah, tell us. What? Tell us.
- [59:08]
Hannah
Okay. So I just checked this morning. So I opened at the end of October, and I, I, I'm gonna be honest. I did it messy. I wasn't ready. But the thing that motivated me to do it was Christmas was around the corner, and I thought my gift boxes would be perfect as Christmas gifts. So I opened at the end of October, like the last week. I had my first sale November 1st, but it was from your group. I had posted in your group. Hey, I made an Etsy because before that I asked should I put all these gift boxes in my print on demand Etsy or should I make a new one? And everybody was like, girl, make a new one. That's dumb. So I listened to everyone.
- [59:41]
Lizzie Smiley
No one told you you were dumb. No one said that stuff.
- [59:44]
Hannah
But I made a new one and then I posted in there and it was a digital download. I made like a tea party thing, like a tea party game thing, and somebody from your group bought it, which thank God she was the first one to buy it because it did not deliver correctly. Anyway, like I said, I did it messy. And then my first box sale was November 13th, so I would say about three weeks into being open.
- [60:06]
Lizzie Smiley
Yep.
- [60:07]
Hannah
And I pro it, like I posted the digital downloads first and then I started doing my gift boxes. So my boxes were probably only live on Etsy for like two weeks when I got the for sale, and then the 14th, then the 15th, and it was like immediately every day I was making a sale and I would have like one day a week where no sales would happen. And then it just started picking up, picking up. So since my first sale, November 13th, from Boxes, I've made 8100211 sales and I have 55 listings. Oh my gosh, the majority of those are all duplicates. I only have like five products. I have the postpartum, Sympathy, Inner renewal, Whole Woman, something else I don't even know. And I literally duplicate everything like three to six times. And then when stuff starts selling really well, I will go into my stats on that listing, pull from the keywords that I'm being found for in that listing, and make a duplicate again using those.
- [61:05]
Lizzie Smiley
How often are you trying to add a new listing?
- [61:07]
Hannah
I haven't in like a month. But I was doing it quite a bit like every, because, like, you don't get any stats right away. You know, it takes time. And now I'll do it again here pretty soon. But I have some new boxes that I want to add in that are simpler to make because I'd say my biggest hurdle has been inventory because I have so much stuff, like so many tiny little moving parts inside of these boxes that I didn't realize, like. So, like, keeping inventory in was a nightmare. But I'm making the same amount month over month right now. Like I think it's like 50 to $100 off and that's coming out of December. So I didn't have a single drop after December. So in my head girl math, that's saying I'm actually making more because.
- [61:50]
Lizzie Smiley
Absolutely. Right. Yeah, you've grown.
- [61:52]
Hannah
Yeah, I've grown because I would have expected a big drop off. I started running ads and then I made a couple ad sales and then I got scared and turned the ads off and then I just recently turned them back on on again and they've been on for long enough to tell me what keywords they're using for each. So you can click in to the ones that are getting clicked and Etsy comes up with those keywords and so a lot of those are different. So now when I go and make duplicates again, I'll use the keywords in my organic listings that are being found and then I'll go to my ads and go find different keywords that Etsy has found and I'll combine those to make new listings. So then I'm only using words that I'm already being found for unless I make a new box.
- [62:32]
Lizzie Smiley
Are there other little micro niches in there that you want to go after that you want to create boxes for? Have you found?
- [62:38]
Hannah
I would love to go into. My favorite product that I personally have is Herbal Cocos and my kids love them and other kids that I've gifted them to love them. I would love to go into like a cutesy mommy and me type of gift like thing or in spa days like I really want to get into like the spa day gift box for because I have herbal teas that are. I have bath soaks like a bath tea. So I would really like to just do that and go more into. Because right now I'm in mostly postpartum and sympathy. So I would like to go more into just like overall moms because those postpartum's obviously very niche. But I would like to go, yeah, more into just like mom gift kind of thing. I guess I don't have any. I feel like, like super targeted ones right now.
- [63:24]
Lizzie Smiley
I would do perimenopause.
- [63:26]
Hannah
Oh yeah, that's a good idea.
- [63:27]
Lizzie Smiley
Just be really careful with all of this stuff and anyone else listening. You need to be really careful about making medical claims, about doing your due diligence with the legal and the disclaimers. Just make sure you know exactly what you're doing. Guys. If you do any of this stuff. But that would be massive.
- [63:43]
Hannah
Yes. If you want to go into teas I spent so long in courses and stuff. Like, you want to make sure that whatever you choose, you learn about GMP guidelines.
- [63:52]
Lizzie Smiley
Talk to an attorney.
- [63:54]
Hannah
Yes. And you have business insurance because somebody could literally drink your tea and be like, oh, my God, I got a rash. You got to pay my doctor's bills.
- [64:02]
Lizzie Smiley
Or much worse.
- [64:04]
Hannah
Much worse. So I have product liability insurance. I have really killer disclaimers if my disclaimer scares somebody away. Good, Good. Knowing your laws, just knowing what you can and cannot say. Etsy, I would say, is pretty strict about that. Yeah.
- [64:27]
Lizzie Smiley
Which is good.
- [64:28]
Hannah
So is the fda. You know, it's really good. I did. I don't make any. Like, this is going to make you lose weight or this is going to take away headaches. Like, everything is for recovery. And it's all a vibe, it's all a feel. Even though I know in my head what my herbs are used for and why I combine them a certain way. And on my blog, I can talk about that. So stuff, you know, but not in your Etsy listings. You don't want to be saying. You don't want to be making medical claims.
- [64:54]
Lizzie Smiley
Yep. Always get. Always get professional legal advice when you're selling something. Especially when you're selling something consumable. I mean, I personally, I like. I'm very cautious, so I like to get it no matter what. But especially if people are putting it on or in their body, you want to make sure you cover your faces, guys. Legally.
- [65:12]
Hannah
Yeah. I never sourdough, but that's another one of those things.
- [65:15]
Lizzie Smiley
It's just like, we didn't know what. We didn't know.
- [65:17]
Hannah
Didn't know.
- [65:18]
Lizzie Smiley
Yeah. Because some state, to sell in some states, you've got to have, like, a certain kitchen license or whatever. You've got to be, like, inspected. I don't know, all kinds of craziness.
- [65:26]
Hannah
Yep. Yeah.
- [65:27]
Lizzie Smiley
I'm so proud of everything. I hope you're. I hope you feel proud. I think you are so inspiring. You are so amazing. I'm, like, so grateful that we met so early on and got to keep in touch.
- [65:37]
Hannah
It's been a whirlwind, and I'm glad that we keep in touch, too. I. I love being in your group. I feel like it. I don't know, it makes it not feel like such a slog, you know, Like, I can go in there and pass time because I don't have Instagram to pass time anymore. So I go in your membership to Pastime. And the biggest takeaway from it is that, like, I'm not the Only one struggling. And also I've learned a lot of things of like, questions I would have never asked that I've used to used in my shop that I think have made my shop better, you know.
- [66:06]
Lizzie Smiley
Wow.
- [66:07]
Hannah
Especially there was one member in particular that like, went and looked at my tea and then went and like sent me a message on how amazing and beautiful it was. And she doesn't know which one she wants, but maybe I should do this. And she gave me like this list of things that, like, were questions that she had when she went to my listing and stuff like that, you know, and it was just like, oh my gosh, like, it was literally just from a perspective of somebody that genuinely went to my shop looking for a product. But because she was in your group, she had that mindset, that growth, you know, Etsy shop mindset. And she gave me tons of tips and stuff and I think it really made my listings a lot more well rounded.
- [66:44]
Lizzie Smiley
It's such a, like a, like a team environment, you know what I mean? Like, we all help each other fill knowledge gaps. Like, like I'm. It's my group and I learn from you guys, you know what I mean? Because I can't do it all. I'm still raising kids and doing it. You know what I mean? Like, Becca is handling, you know, certain things that I can't learn at all. And then she comes and debriefs me and Caroline's doing that and Laura's doing that. And then you guys come up with all kinds of craziness, but it's like you stop doing it alone. And instead of being in a group where everyone's competing like that, that ugly girl energy that you can get some places, it's like, it's just like a group full of lovely people who want to see you win and who will gently, like, help you with whatever you need. And I just think that's like, I wish I had that when I started.
- [67:26]
Hannah
No kidding. Yeah. I mean, and when you land on your landing page to get into the group, it's like, you know, you get this, this, this and this, but if only you had the ability to read between the lines because, yeah, all of that stuff. But I, I guess like the real value has been reading the comments on posts and like learning different types of things that you would have never learned before, you know?
- [67:48]
Lizzie Smiley
Yeah. And knowing you can ask, knowing that you don't have to. Like, like, like you said you listed your stuff in October. It took three weeks before you got feedback from Etsy. You were sitting on A on a bestseller, but you didn't know. And you. And people sit there and if they're new, they are terrified and they think they're failing and everything. And so now what they do instead is they post in the group and they say, hey, feedback. And we all go, oh, my gosh, this is incredible. We love this. Or we say, hey, I think if you did this, you know, Rebecca's like, check your SEO. This here will help you get you more. You know, here's. Here's a list of keywords to use to help you get.
- [68:21]
Hannah
I literally got given keywords at one point. I'm not even kidding.
- [68:26]
Lizzie Smiley
Yeah.
- [68:28]
Hannah
If you're one of those people that will start something and then don't see any immediate sales so you burn out and like quit. You need to be in a group like Lizzie's. Absolutely. Because it's going to fill all those scary mind gaps that are in your brain until you make a sale. Like, it's going to give you something to do, it's going to give you something to read, it's going to give you people to talk to, to keep you going.
- [68:50]
Lizzie Smiley
Yep. We are all about reducing the overwhelm, making sure you know what you should be doing, what you should be focusing on, where you're at, what you need to work on. It just, it makes it so much. It just takes a lot of the unknowns out of the equation, which is really, really nice.
- [69:04]
Hannah
And I'd say 75% of us have shiny objects Object syndrome is really. I'm not alone.
- [69:09]
Lizzie Smiley
We all. Yeah, it's a group, basically. It's a group full of you people like you and me.
- [69:14]
Hannah
Yeah. Amazing.
- [69:17]
Lizzie Smiley
Are they going to love us or hate us again? I know.
- [69:22]
Hannah
Okay.
- [69:22]
Lizzie Smiley
Hannah, I know you're nowhere where. How can people connect with you? Is there any way we can connect with you? With you? Yeah, in the group, obviously.
- [69:28]
Hannah
In the group. Yeah. If you're in the group, feel free to message me. I love getting on the phone and talking through your stuff and helping you as a friend, obviously. And I love sharing ideas. You can also message me on Etsy if you want. If you wanted to put my Etsy in there. It's Wild Nettle Eco. I also have. I'll. I'll leave my email and you can put my email down there. So, yeah, I mean, if you're in the group, we can chat. You can find me on Etsy and message me if you want. And yeah, I'll leave my email.
- [69:58]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay. So I will link scaling society. For those of you who Want to jump in there? Her Etsy shop and her email address if you guys want to follow up with Hannah. This is such an unusual episode. I don't even know what I'm going to call it yet.
- [70:08]
Hannah
Yeah, I don't know either. Honestly, all those like questions that you had, I don't know if we covered them or not, but I wouldn't mind.
- [70:14]
Lizzie Smiley
It was better. Oh, you do a part two.
- [70:18]
Hannah
Another one that's more logistical if you need.
- [70:21]
Lizzie Smiley
You know what though? When I look at the questions, we hit them. We just didn't hit them. We hit them more organically rather than in order. Uh huh. Totally. Yeah. Cause I was looking through, I was like, we really. There were very few we didn't hit. But thank you so much. You've always been a delight, first of all, but also an open book and such a great resource. Like I, I remember you were the one who told this is crazy, y'. All. So I talked to Hannah like the first three weeks of launching the podcast. Okay. And she came and did a coaching call with me. She gave me ideas for this business, like she's really good ideator to help me develop it. But also you were the first person who told me about keyword research tools. I didn't know they existed before you.
- [71:02]
Hannah
Oh my God. Keyword research has been my number one obsession since I beginning of everything. I love it.
- [71:07]
Lizzie Smiley
You were like, you need marmalead and sale Samurai. We do not say that anymore. That is not what you want now. But back then that was what you told me and that was how I found out about all these things. And now I'm like, I'm all about ever be. That's my favorite. I use Profit tree.
- [71:22]
Hannah
Oh, that's so funny. I came from the SEO blog world though. So like, I was writing blog posts that were popping up on the first page of Google when people would type in like how to start a sourdough or how to raise chickens, you know? So like, I came from that keyword research SEO sort of world. That's my favorite.
- [71:39]
Lizzie Smiley
I technically did too, but we're not going to talk about that because that would be embarrassing.
- [71:43]
Hannah
Jesse told me me, he was like, because you burn out so quickly and you have shiny object syndrome, you need to be doing a business where you're helping other people do this, not you, because you can get the rise from them and then move on to the next person. And I was like, no, I can't do social media.
- [71:57]
Lizzie Smiley
And that's what I was gonna say. You did that helping people with the herbs and it burned you out.
- [72:02]
Hannah
Can't do all of the other stuff it takes to get clients, you know.
- [72:06]
Lizzie Smiley
Okay, my love you guys, thank you so much for listening. I hope that you enjoyed our conversation. Talk about a fireside chat like this was as or this is as sitting around the coffee table as we can be. But I love you all. Have an amazing week and until next time, go make something awesome. Bye guys.
- [72:21]
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.