← How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy
Ep 228 | The POD Gift Strategy That Took This Etsy Shop to $75K -with Kelley West
01:00:53
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Hey, my name is Lizzie Smiley and
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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. I hope you're having a spectacular week. We are over here. There's so many fun things happening in the how to sell your stuff world. I'll tell you a little more in a minute, but there's a lot of like new people here, new Etsy sellers, people getting started. So I kind of want to like just drop one of my little trade secrets. Like you're gonna hear a lot of different Etsy coaches talk about a lot of different tools. Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming. Know what to what you need to invest in, what you don't need to invest in. Actually, earlier this year I did a, I did an overview on like exactly what tools I think you need and which ones you can pass and like for whatever it is that you sell. So you should go back and look for that episode. But in case you're brand new and you're looking at all this and you're feeling overwhelmed, there is one tool I think that you need to pay for as a new Etsy seller. There's one thing you need and that is profit tree. I have a special link where you can just pay 1, 1 fee, $167 once for lifetime access. Here's why you need profitree. I'm actually like peek at it in my little window. I'm like looking at it right now. It is going to analyze your niche, every all the competitor listings on Etsy and tell you so much data that' to help you make database decisions on what to create next. Okay, so like for example, top of the search results, it's going to tell you how much money total that product line makes per month. Which I think is really interesting and helpful because then you know where to like put your effort. Where not to. Under every single listing in the search results, it's going to tell you how many sales it's made, how much money it makes a month, how much money it's made total as a listing, average order value, how old the listing is, how many times it's been favorited, how many times it's been viewed, and the conversion rate. And having that data about your competition and niches that you're evaluating going into products you're considering making really helps you determine, wow, there's demand here. There's people who want this. I can enter into this space and especially that data about how old the listing is and how much money it's making each month that can really tell you like, wow, new shops are breaking into this. I can as well. So I just think it's a really important tool to have. Like I said, there's a $67 fee you can pay one time for lifetime access. I have a special link for it. It's like a temporary deal. I don' how much longer they are going to run it, but it gets you access to all of that data. The reason I'm such a profit tree fan is because the data is so fresh. So the data that they are pulling is only 12 hours old. Most of the other tools are like 30 days or more. So yes, you're getting data that helps you make decisions from them, but it's not as fresh. And so I think that's one thing that they do really well. I'm going to have the link below plus a tutorial on YouTube of exactly how I use this tool. So if you're new, you don't have to go figure it all out. I don't know about you, but I don't ever want to like read the instructions. I want someone to just show me how the dang thing works. So. So I've got that for you below. In other news you probably heard on a previous episode or on on my like Instagram at how to sell your stuff that we're doing. For the first time ever, I am doing a an Etsy seller cohort and it's already started. We already kicked off. It is going smashingly. We had, we, we actually sold out and then I added a few more, I added a few more coaches and added a few more spots. It this first round was for beginner sellers. And like, what, what you guys have been asking for and what my team, now that I have a team, has put together, is being able to walk with these people for seven weeks with an actual productivity plan. Here's what you need to be doing each and every day. Giving them the training that they need for where they're at in their business to scale it. Being able to get on calls once a week together to like, for more teaching, for actual like listing review, for audits, to get some feedback so you know what to do next. A private school group so that we are daily like in each other's lives, helping each other through it all. It's awesome. And they're gonna, they're gonna walk away with a scaling plan. So that was for. That one's for new sellers. We'll, we'll probably do one or two of those a year. I think that's gonna be a good thing. But here's what blew my mind. You guys reached out to me in droves and said, lizzie, if you would do an advanced cohort, an advanced Etsy seller cohort and help me. I've actually got listings up, I've got some sales. I just want, I wanna scale this thing. I need the accountability. I want the drive of a cohort to like push me into momentum. I want your feedback and your coaches feedback and other sellers feedback to be able to go faster, to make moves more agile, to have that feedback. We are putting that together. So I have a link down in the show notes and I want you to submit your name and email. If you would be interested in an advanced Etsy cohort, you're going to get information first about it and you're going to get first access. When we open up spots for it, it's going to be very limited. There's already. I've gotten so much interest before even announcing that I was going to do it, like I wasn't even going to do one, that my mind is blown. So drop your name down there if you want to be involved in the advanced Etsy cohort, if you at least want information about it. And I will get that to you soon. I'm super pumped. I was thrilled that so many of you asked for that. And then finally, last but not least, I'm working on an FAQ episode coming up. This is where I go in and you can ask me anything. You're going to submit your questions in the survey below in the show notes. Ask me anything about Etsy business, whatever you're struggling with. In your. In your shop and business. And I will answer it on an upcoming FAQ episode. Those are some of my most popular episodes because we just get to cover so much random stuff. It's like so fun. So I'm ecstatic you hit play on this episode. I'm going to wait until Kelly comes on for you to hear how this came to be, that I even found Kelly, that we ended up on this conversation. But if you're interested in print on demand, holy moly, my friend. This episode is jam packed and her story is going to inspire you. It's going to give you information. It's going to help you make decisions about print on demand. So let me tell you about Kelly. Kelly west is a former HR leader who turned to Etsy after becoming a mom of two and realizing she wanted more flexibility and more control over her time. She started her shop in the summer of 2024 as a side hustle and within 18 months generated over $75 in revenue. That success gave her the freedom to step away from her corporate life in 2026 and build a business on her own terms. She's currently preparing for a relaunch of her shop in summer of 2026 with a focus on elevated heirloom quality products and a more intentional brand direction. We are going to talk about, like, higher profit margin print on demand items. We are going to talk about how she found a, like, a special keyword niche that just helped her blow up quickly. We're going to talk about her fast success. We're going to talk about how she's only done this with a few listings. You're going to get so many aha moments out of this. I cannot wait. Cannot wait. Please help me welcome Kelly to the podcast. Kelly. Oh, my gosh. Hi. Welcome to the podcast.
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Thank you, Lizzie. So thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me.
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Anyone watching on YouTube, we both, like instinctively, at the same time, put our hands together under our chins. That was next level. So I, I had to like, hit play fast on this one because I knew how juicy it was going to be. You guys, this is how this happened. Kelly emailed me out of nowhere, literally asking for prompting help. Right? You were wondering about prompt. Was that what it was?
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C
Yes. With her ideogram specifically, yeah.
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But she's like, she sends me the cutest email. She's like, lizzie, I've been listening to you forever. You have no idea who I am, and I need help with this thing. But I also need you to know I have all this crazy results in Print on demand. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Back that train up. What? And so obviously, I answered her question in detail, and we've got her covered, but I was like, hey, girl, you want to come be on the podcast? And so I had to give them the context.
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C
Of course.
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Of course. Okay. Also, Kelly, you know, I'm gonna go off script constantly here, but so Kelly is like me. She's in her, like, toddler mom life right now. She had to, like, pack those kids into bed for nap time, and we are trying to crush this out while her kids are napping. So I'm going rogue here. Kelly, when do you actually work on this massive Etsy shop? Like, when do you do it? When do you get it? How do you. How do you do it?
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Oh, gosh, right now, very minimally. It's very much on autopilot right now. So I would say early morning, if I happen to be awake before the children are up.
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How early?
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C
I would say if I am up at 5am oh, my word. Maybe between 5 and 7. Before. Before the kids are up, possibly. Nap time is obviously a crucial time if I don't have a ton of other stuff going on and then after they're down. So I'm really fitting this in in odds and ends. Hours throughout the day. More like minutes, honestly. Minutes throughout the day.
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The nooks and crannies.
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C
Yep, exactly. Right. When my husband gets done work, you know, as we're, like, getting, like, dinner ready and stuff, usually I can steal a few, like, to respond to some messages or that kind thing. But I'd say, like, the true for, like, print on demand. Like, the design piece that I need a little bit more, like, concentrated time. So that I would say early mornings are usually after the kids are down. But what's nice is throughout the day, as you're kind of going through the day, I just have ideas percolating. Right. And so usually when I sit down, I'm usually ready to go right into my designs or whatever. My next steps are for making a listing.
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Okay, we have to get into that more later because you would not believe how many people message me and this is their question. Like, they really are, like, how do I fit this in my schedule? And I say, like, in the nooks and crannies of your day. But I really love how you drew out, like, that design piece. It requires. That's the one thing that requires kind of bigger blocks of time. But I'll be curious. I'm gonna ask more about that later. The other thing I wanted to ask you about because you were saying, like it's a bit more on autopilot right now. Which your results, which they heard in the intro, speak for themselves on why that is. How did you do it in the beginning though? Because it sounds like, do you know what I mean? Like you had to, it had to have been different when you were really getting this going. I mean, we're also gonna talk about how you don't have that many listings that you've done this with and you're a freaking unicorn. But how did you get it up and going?
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C
It took a lot of time on the front end. And I also was in a different world then. I only had one child and that child was like one and a half years old, our son, who's turning a year and a week or so here. I started the shop when I found out I was pregnant with him. For me, I had even more time. Like I had a toddler that was sleeping for sure, given three hours a day. Plus we had at the time I was still working my HR job full time. So we also had a nanny that came in to help throughout the day part time. And so I was usually able to steal for sure like an hour around lunchtime while I was, you know, working my full time job for sure I had time in the morning because my toddler was absolutely sleeping until 7, 7:30. She's regressed on that now it's more like 6am but you know, such as life. And so I for sure had if I wanted two hours in the morning, about an hour at lunch. And then she was for sure going to bed pretty pretty much at seven, like clockwork. So I usually had up to two to three hours in the evening if I wanted to then as well. So on the front end it was a lot of time like experimenting. But it also, once I found kind of my product and once I found kind of how to approach designs, it became significantly easier from there. I kind of, I guess created a system for myself where it just became very formulaic.
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A
And so somebody could even taking that because it sounds like you were actually able to give on a really good day, five hours, two in the morning, one at lunch, two in the evening. That was a hard push day. But like early days, that's that was what you were doing. And then over time it's become less than that both by like life and by just necessity of what the shop's doing itself for sure. But someone could do the same thing, just do it slower. So if they could only put in maybe one to two to three hours a day, they could do the same thing because you. So this is the next thing. You did this fast. You did. You hit $75,000 in your first 18 months with only with under 35 listings.
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C
Yes.
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Which is honestly wild. Kelly, do you understand I need you to know. I don't. I almost was just like, I can't tell people this because it doesn't happen, but at the same time, I want. It's like the. It's like the four minute mile. Right. Like we want to tell them what can't. So like talk. Just talk to me.
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C
For what it's worth, though, those weren't the first 35. It wasn't like listing 1 through 35 as what's in my shop. Right. So like, that wasn't what got me there. The. I'd say those. Those five hours. Right. A week that I started out doing the shop, I was trying to get one to two listings up a day.
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Good.
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C
I burned the shop down like twice. I started.
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A
Wait, what does that mean? Yeah, tell us.
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I want the T T T. All of my listings I like. Yeah, completely changed direction. Like two different times. The first was when I started the shop because I think I can't remember which episode it was that you had posted, but it was just kind of like, I don't even care what you're selling. Just start a shop. Just open it, get something up. Just try. And I was all in, Lizzie. All in on hippie Halloween and I was putting my first designs up in July that were horrible designs. I think it was like these hippie dogs and said, here for the treats. Awful. Anyways, I just didn't know what I was doing, but I was working the muscle of I have a shop that's open. I'm, you know, creating every single day. Canva was where I created most of my designs. I dabbled a little bit with Kittl, but I honestly, Canva was just something that I was comfortable with a. From using for work anyways. And I just got into that groove before I really found kittl. So it was kind of a. I found that one first. And honestly, just trying to get up as many listings as possible. But then honestly, I would. I was quick to pivot in that I would let them work in the algorithm for like a few weeks and if they weren't getting views and they weren't getting visits. Nope, moving on. And oh, that was fast. I what I found because as the more that I listened to, the more that I learned Everview is Huge in helping me find kind of a key word set. Like it's, it's, it helped me find the niche.
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Ever found your niche? Yeah, which we're actually not going to share, guys, because you'd find her quickly. And I don't want copycats because literally thousands and thousands of people listen to this podcast. So I always want to protect my, you know, my. Right, my shop owners, we want them to share their story. We gotta, we gotta protect them. So we'll talk about some of the things that she has sold that have gone well, but we're not gonna talk about her niche. Just full transparency up front. That's why. But ever be helped you figure out the niche that you should attack it?
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C
Well, and specifically because I had also decided on the product and so ever be helped me then? Yeah, it helped me find kind of both at the same time, if that makes sense. So like the search terms that I was seeing was kind of both. And I think for me what was helpful because I had such little time, you know, the further along in my pregnancy, you're tired, you're, you're not. You just don't have the same energy that you do at the beginning. And honestly even the beginning, you're also not necessarily the most energetic either. So the further I got in pregnancy, also, you know, you have a toddler running around. I was working full time, so the pockets of time got smaller and smaller and I very much knew that I had essentially like, I don't even want to call it a full nine month Runway, but like a seven month Runway of like this. I need to make a, like a run at this to get it up and running so that when this baby comes, like, I don't have to worry about it. I can be a little bit more hands off and just focus on processing orders rather than like, you know, getting listings up and all of that good stuff. So really I think I just tested, pivoted very, very quickly. And then when I found kind of that product and that niche from there I used like product research like outside of Etsy. So essentially what I would do is go to different retailers, different and like in the kind of home decor space that like matched the essentially where like my ideal customer would, would be shopping and I just looked at their products that would be like mine and I just kind of copied designs. Not copied as in like took exactly what they were doing. But for example, I saw that checkers were a thing. And so checkers were something that I, you know, incorporated into a different design. Frankly. I had a Stroller. The product that I tended to focus on is blankets. So I had a stroller blanket at my own house that I loved and I loved kind of the pattern of it. I made one like that and it's one of my best selling blankets now. So it's very much for me it became formulaic of I locked in on that product, I locked in on that niche and that's just where I focused all of my time. I would go search down all of these different sites or search their newsletters for what's new, what's upcoming. I would search FTB to see if it had kind of a matching keyword or a matching kind of like niche to target. And then I would sit down and design and it would be so fast because I had kind of the pieces of like here's the design that I'm looking at that I want to try to kind of emulate or at least like I call it stealing like an artist that I want to kind of create. And then here is the demand that I'm seeing from ever be. How can I put this together and then get it up as quickly as possible? And because I was really focused on the same product, I didn't have to go find a million different mockups I could reuse. And you know, I would use different ones for like listing photos here and there, but I could use the same mockups I could use, you know, that like in my canva files, like they all stayed the same size. I didn't have to go recreate, you know, new things. Like it just made it very, very systematic of and plug and play. So then what I did throughout the day in pockets of time, looking at Pinterest, looking at these different things, getting these ideas, making, doing a couple searches on Everbeat in my free time so that when I sat down to design after my kiddo went down for the night and I had two hours, I could crank out two to three designs. And then the next night I would sit down and then I'd create the listings and make all of my mock ups and then get that posted. And then it just became very formulaic. And even then once I found that product, there are still more that I pulled out of the shop because I was very adamant if it, I think I usually gave listings about three weeks and if it wasn't moving or getting views or favorites even, I just deactivated, put a new one in its place and kept moving. So I very much pivoted quickly from ones that weren't working.
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A
I think that's Amazing. And that you were just focused on moving forward. But you know what? I'm sitting here kind of. I was like, just soaking in everything you said because what you just did was teach what it means to build the most epic brain cache that has ever existed. So, like, this is what we always talk about in trendspotting and we provide, like, the weekly trend reports. You did exactly what I want my students to take to the next level and actually in their niche, be consuming the content of their perfect customer to find out what trends are just going to, like, knock that emotional connection out of the water for that exact customer. You talking about looking at catalogs, looking at newsletters, going to the exact retailers, like, holy cow, you're a poster child for this. And have you heard me talk about that before? Braincash, have you talked about that before?
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C
I think I can't remember if it was one of. Because I know you do. You do trend episodes all the time. Braincash, I definitely am familiar with the term for sure. But I also know, like, I tried to not use Etsy as much as my brain cache because I was finding that, like, I would see things and I wasn't really able to connect with it in the same way.
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A
If that makes sense for your niche. Yes.
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C
Because what I was doing was filling a gap. I don't know if you've seen my shop. So you know what I mean? What I was trying to do was create what wasn't on Etsy. And so for me, going off of Etsy to look for that inspiration and to look for kind of that. Well, if this. And I think the other thing too is with Print on demand, I really wanted to go quality over quantity as much as I possibly could because, frankly, I didn't want to deal with the customer service. I didn't have the time, didn't have the time to deal with, like, a bunch of things that. So I picked a product that was pretty. Pretty proven at the time.
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A
Yeah.
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C
And pretty. There weren't. I mean, there's still issues, right. That come up. There's still mistakes that happen, and you kind of navigate those as they come, and it's usually not a ton of your time. Printify is great and the different providers in there, they are great at kind of helping you work through some of that stuff. But, yeah, I knew going outside of Etsy to find at least the design inspiration was going to help me get ahead, get early traction, and which is also why I felt comfortable pivoting as quickly as I did, because I was like, I'm putting something out here that's different. And if it's not getting traction, especially with SEO, that was the other thing. I really tried to lock in SEO on the ever be terms that I was seeing, on overlapping those keywords and my titles, on really putting in my descriptions. And so I was getting views, I was getting visits like early on. And so if it wasn't getting favorites and it wasn't getting a purchase, I moved on after a few weeks. Because it was the same product. I just reused the same listing. I didn't have to repay for the same listing. I just pushed a new design to it.
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A
Really? You didn't even.
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C
So instead of deactivating it entirely, what I would just do is go into printify, upload a new design, change out my SEO, change out the description, change out the photos, and just push an update to Etsy so it didn't actually charge me for a new listing.
- [21:11]
A
That is crazy that. See here's so there's like so much I want to unpack about this. We need four hours. So many things to say. So first of all, with that, why that worked for you is because you had a unicorn niche and product that typically would cause a real delay because basically you're confusing the algorithm. You kind of weren't. Because it was the similar. It was the same niche. Right. So you were still kind of saying the same thing, just changing up the. You know what I mean? But, but usually that would mean. Yeah, yeah, that it would take longer. Like Etsy sitting there, like, what the heck do I do with this updated? You know what I mean? It kind of muddles it. But because you were like. So for example, anyone listening, let's say you sell Bachelorette sweatshirts. If you were going to do what she said and take a listing that didn't work and then be like, you know what? I'm going to put a like cat mom sweatshirt in this thing so I don't have to pay for the listing fee. You would not have the same. The listing wouldn't work for you. It would work if you maybe pushed in a different bachelorette design. Do you know what I'm saying? But actually you're kind of. This is. But I love. You're like actually doing what I would suggest not to do. But I love that because I love people hearing that there's different ways. There's not like a. If only people would stop putting so much pressure and control around themselves of like, I have to do it exactly like this for it to work. Like, no, please be free, Please Be organic, please. Like you will move faster if you don't try to constrain yourself on every little thing. Right. Just like you did. I would usually say just leave the listing up and duplicate and create a new one. Because I have some that sell like six to 12 months later and then they become bestsellers. Right. So that's why I want people to hear all of that. Like there's no wrong way. The other thing is you. So like the Brain Cash thing, I love that you went off Etsy because that's actually the advanced play. Like what I ultimately want everyone to get to is they are so good at spotting trends, they are so good at seeing patterns, they are so good at knowing their customer. But they will look and they will know what's going to hit well on Etsy before it hits on Etsy. Do you know what I mean? So you're literally like, you're like top A plus, not like 1% student. Right. You're doing the advanced thing. Here's where this hangs people up and I love that it didn't. I actually kind of want your thoughts on why it didn't. Usually what it means is your listings sit there for like three to six months before they gain traction because people aren't searching for it on Etsy yet. That's what happens in like the PNG space and in the T shirt space. But for you, I think it was still so on a hot demand niche and aesthetic. What are your thoughts though? Like what do you think? Because I think it wasn't on Etsy yet. But the searches were there.
- [23:46]
C
The specific search terms for sure were not maybe necessarily on Etsy. And I would say not all of my designs were trend forward in the sense that like I like some of it is like for example going to like whether you want to go to Target or looking on Pottery Barn Kids, Crate and Kids, you know, looking at all of those. I didn't necessarily pick the most trend forward designs. A lot of it as I was trying to create what's a classic evergreen design. Like why, why does this work?
- [24:19]
A
Yeah, what's.
- [24:20]
C
What about this is something that's maybe new or that I can kind of make work with the blankets that I'm designing for. Right. Like what. How can I make this work within the search term that I was seeing on Etsy which. Which gave me. Or not on Etsy on Ever be, which gave me kind of like the, the subject or the theme, if you will. So I was getting that data from I guess Etsy technically through Ever be if that makes sense. So like the search term, you got Magnolia too.
- [24:47]
A
You've got to look at Magnolia if you're not already looking at.
- [24:50]
C
Exactly right. So looking at like all of those different retailers and honestly you don't even look at that many because most of them, they all use the same product research people, they're all doing the same product research. So a lot of it's going to start looking the same. It's going, you're going to start picking up on patterns even across them. Like you can see what's like gingham is huge right now. Right. That's a huge trend that I think is, has been for a little while, but is for sure coming into, into Etsy. And so I think you start to see it a little bit in advance so you can catch the trend wave if you want, but you can also find like the tried and true, like the. A lot of these retailers have been around a lot longer certainly than my Etsy shop has been. So yeah, there's some classic styles and kind of like, I don't want to say do's and don'ts but just classic like compositions if you will, for what people are looking for in a product. And so I just combined that with then like the subject of the theme that I was finding in the ever be search terms and then just put it out there. And because it was unique and the esthetic wasn't really, and it didn't really exist in that niche on Etsy already, I think it just, it kind of took off a lot faster certainly than I was hoping or I mean, I shouldn't say hoping. I was definitely hoping it would take off that fast, but we got nine months, girl.
- [26:08]
A
Oh my gosh. Do you post on Pinterest?
- [26:12]
C
No, I started to, so I do. No social media. I didn't tell a single person. Didn't tell. I think I told my husband and my mom told nobody that I knew. Honestly, people started slow solely finding out about it and were like appalled that I didn't tell them like friends and family. But at that point it had already been established. I was pretty, pretty adamant. I told, I swore both my husband and my mom to secrecy. Like I don't want to tell people because I want the market demand to tell me if what I'm putting out is good. I don't want, you know, supportive sales from friends and family. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends and family. If you're watching.
- [26:48]
A
Hi.
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C
Yeah, but, but I don't, I didn't, I didn't Want that to be inflating, you know, my success or not success. Right. I wanted it very much to be. And I think one of the first episodes of yours that I listened to, you're like, you don't have to tell anyone. And I was like, yeah, I don't have to tell anybody. Nobody's gonna know. I'm gonna start. I think sometimes it's easy to think that you're gonna start something and just because it's a huge moment to you, that all of a sudden it's gonna ping the world. And it really doesn't.
- [27:14]
A
You just.
- [27:15]
C
You do it in your little corner of the Internet. Nobody has to know. And unless you tell them. And that's fun, too. But I very much wanted the. I wanted sales to kind of dictate what I was doing, as opposed to kind of having to weirdly worry about people I knew, like, what they thought of the shop and what I also just didn't necessarily want. I wasn't looking for support and input in that way. I wanted to kind of figure out how to get traction. And then now I tell people about it, and it's a fun, like, hey, yeah, I have a shop. But, you know, in the beginning, I was very much. I swore both my husband and my. My mom to secrecy, and they kept my secret, which was lovely.
- [27:54]
A
Good, good. Or we'd have to have some words. So do you have, like, a design background?
- [28:00]
C
No, no, not at all.
- [28:02]
A
Do you like home decor? Like, are you. Do you have a good eye for, like, interior design? Like, is your home kind of Pinterest?
- [28:06]
C
Y. Not right now, it's not. I'd say I. Half an eye, maybe. I don't know that I'm the most, like. I know how to put together, I think, some colors or some mixes patterns, but not. I'm not an over designer, if that makes sense. Like, I say, I have. I enjoy it, but I'm not particularly good at it. Lizzie, when I tell you I am, literally would look at a blanket that I found, let's say off of, like, Pottery Barn in some cases. I would download the image because it had not necessarily what I wanted to create on it, but the way that the pattern was spaced out, I really liked it. I would upload it to Canva, put it on my. So that I could see where to put my hands.
- [28:48]
A
Yeah, because.
- [28:49]
C
So that's. So I very much am still, like, an artist of. I know how to kind of, like, visually put it together, but when it comes to actually, like, the doing of it, I'm very much a step by step girly. It took a while to kind of figure out something and then once I figured out the spacing and like the sizing of stuff, I am very much a copy and paste, copy and repeat. A lot of my designs. You've seen like, there's maybe three or four, like, patterns and then it's just swap and replace across all of them.
- [29:20]
A
That's brilliant though. That's using templates, which is what we should all be doing. Design templates are like the secret to scaling Etsy. I like freaking love that girl. I'm like, okay, let's talk us through your first few months. Because I know you said you were experimenting a lot, throwing things out. Like, talk us through, like. And how did it feel? Do you know what I mean? Because, like, how many listings do you think you created that you trashed? And talk us through like the roller coaster, right? Yeah, talk us through the roller coaster of those first few months. Because people hear, oh my gosh, 18 months. She did this so fast. She only has a few listings. Like, she, like, she all. Lizzie's telling her she's like a straight A student advanced brain cash builder, and they're thinking, I can. You know what I mean? So talk us through the messy middle of it.
- [30:05]
C
So the messy, the beginning. I again, I was all in on hippie Halloween. Like, well, well too late to be starting designing from the scratch.
- [30:15]
A
And was it decor? Was it shirts? Were you doing like apparel?
- [30:17]
C
At first I was doing shirts. I was doing totes mugs, I think some of like those sipperglasses. Like, I kind of like was. I was just playing. I was doing a lot. And what was nice was it was just practice of create design. Put on a mock up, put on a listing. Like it was practice at that. Right. Understand how Printify connects to Etsy. See how, oh, when I do this in Printify, this is what it looks like in Etsy. Oh, this doesn't come over from Printify. I need to make sure I change that in Etsy. So it was very much like that kind of practice. I was getting views here and there. I sold one hippie Halloween mug. I think it was called Witch's Brew. And it was very like hippie esque. One woman bought it. She's the only. It's a. It's a one of a kind mug. Nobody else has it because I deactivated the listings. So whoever, whoever she is, she's got it. It's the only one. And I'm pretty sure I lost money on it because I didn't have my margin set up, like, appropriately with, like, shipping. So it was very much like that learning. But I just knew that I had to keep, like, I just had to keep posting and keep putting listings up in order to get better at it. So. So once I got kind of through, I'd say. So I started it in July. I probably got to, like, end of August. Really still like, kind of focused on this, like, you know, hippie holidays, and was kind of thinking about going into Q4 with that. And then I was like, you know what, Kelly? You're not going to have. I didn't have the longevity of, like, the inspiration because I was sitting down and I was like, I don't even know what to create. Because hippie Halloween, frankly, I'm not particularly overly hippie. That was really not really my design style. And so I found that because of that, I was struggling then to create new designs. I kind of came off of that. I was thinking, Q4 is around the corner, so maybe look into Christmas ornaments. Let's see, like, what we can find. And I made. I did Christmas ornaments. I also did mugs, some journals, candles. Like, I tried. I tried to pivot the whole style out of the hippie stuff to just more. I'm an English lit major. I love books. And so I was using, like, public domain book quotes. Like, let's see if I can get something up there. And there's a Winnie the Pooh quote that I used on a memorial ornament that did really, really well. But it was an ornament. And, you know, you make a dollar an ornamen, right? It's not. You're not, you're not selling them for a ton. And it was funny because I was like, oh, maybe I can use these AI image generators. Because that's where midjourney was starting to get really hot. At least where I had found out about it. I was like, maybe I can generate an image of Winnie the Pooh. And this is where I learned about copyright infringement. So with Winnie the Pooh, the original book by AML is what's in the public domain and not obviously the Disney version. I didn't realize that Disney was the one that put the red shirt on him. He is not in a red shirt in the original book. And so when I was trying to generate images of Winnie the Pooh and I asked, I asked ChatGPT, hey, can you help me create a prompt to give to midjourney to generate images of Winnie the Pooh specifically in the public domain? And it was. And chatgpt quickly told me, you're not gonna be able to do that because midjourney's always gonna probably try to pull from the Disney one. And Disney put on the red shirt and all of this. And so quickly told me, oh, okay. So that's definitely something I want to stay away from. So I kind of pivoted off of that idea and then I just started. I went back to really just the demand piece of. Okay, why did the ornament work? The ornament worked because it was a really meaningful quote, but it's one that people recognized. Right. And the reason they recognized it is because it's an established name. And so it dawned on me the way that I need to make this work. I've got the practice doing the listings. I understand how Printify and Etsy communicate. I understand how all of that works now I need to find a product that I can just focus on and try to make. I need to get the demand piece right. And so that's where I started looking outside of Etsy for what to look. And I also found again that kind of the niche and the product term, it was kind of a gold. My opportunity within ever be figured out. My product went outside of Etsy to look to start finding like designs that I could make. And I just started running full speed at blankets and putting up those designs and they got traction fast. I was getting favorites like day one, day two of them being listed and. And the funny like. And so that's why when I would put one of them up, if they didn't have any visits or they didn't really have any traction within three weeks, I moved on because I was getting such quick traction with the other ones.
- [34:48]
A
You were getting fast feedback. I really like the profit margin on blankets for sure.
- [34:53]
C
I think I probably could have increased mine, to be honest, but I liked where I put it because for my niche there's a. There's kind of some common thresholds of what you're going to. Yep. I wanted to be just under happy to share it. Just under that $50 threshold for a gift. And the. So I think my margin on the blankets was about 40% to start. But that's before over wow. Subscriptions and everything. And honestly, Lizzie, I never ran sales in the beginning. I just left it up there.
- [35:24]
A
Yep.
- [35:25]
C
And then I would. I once I had some good traction, I think. And these I launched all in January is when I started with the blank is January 2025. And then yeah focused on that. I think I did My first sale, March, maybe it was around Mother's Day, I feel like, in 2025. And then it really just took off from there.
- [35:47]
A
Oh, my God. Are you. And so, like, Printify has been a good supplier for the blankets. Have you, like, ordered some samples and you put your hands on them? How do you feel about the quality?
- [35:56]
C
I really like it. There was definitely some trial and error. I did not order any samples before listing any of my products.
- [36:03]
A
Lizzie, really? Oh, my gosh. I love that. That type B moment is next level.
- [36:08]
C
It was. And I'm not gonna lie, there were definitely a couple designs that did not go so well and that I definitely had customer service issues where colors or.
- [36:20]
A
Okay, yeah, yeah. Anything you can say that doesn't reveal, like. But colors or things that you learned about what doesn't print well on blankets, we would love to hear that.
- [36:28]
C
Sure. So woven blankets in particular, what I was finding is because the thread was, like, a natural off white. Like, it wasn't a true white.
- [36:37]
A
Yeah.
- [36:38]
C
Any neutral colors that were kind of close to the actual color of, like, the blanket, like, white, for example, doesn't show. Like, in my. In canva, if I had, like, a really, really, like, let's call it like, a tan. Almost like that's gonna show up as white to the blanket. So then when. If I put white on that tan, the blanket's gonna come out, and it's not gonna recognize the difference between white and tan. And so. Okay, well, people maybe get, like, a blank blanket because the design just, like, didn't really. Or, like, certain spots of it, like, just didn't. Didn't show up.
- [37:13]
A
And so you needed more color contrast, Correct?
- [37:17]
C
Yes.
- [37:17]
A
Okay. Okay. Wow.
- [37:18]
C
Contrast with that. Learn that the hard way a couple times, but found my groove. A lot of my early ones didn't have that issue. This was. So it was something. It was the kind of thing that off the first couple purchases, we did a couple. A couple refunds. No harm, no foul. And I just deactivated the listing and just took it down entirely. So, yeah, definitely did some trial and error. But honestly, some people, too, it's been tough, at least with Print on demand, because it's all personalized, because that's the selling point. Right. That in a lot of ways, people are choosing that product not just for the design, but also because the ability to personalize it with a name or with.
- [37:56]
A
With some personal detail.
- [37:58]
C
Exactly. And so if somebody didn't understand especially, like, the difference a woven blanket versus, like, the printed ones, like, the woven ones, they don't come out as crisp because it's woven, and so it's not like a crisp design. And so I definitely had to do some trial and error with learning how to communicate that in the listing, especially when I didn't have any samples. But once I was getting sales pretty consistently, I ordered. Actually, I didn't even have to order a sample. There was one that was completely sent to the wrong customer. And I just. I sent the customer USPS prepaid label and said, hey, just send it to me. And so I got a free. A free sample. Well, one that kind of. I paid for, but. And then Printify sent them their replacement. So that's kind of how I acquired my first few samples that I could then incorporate into into my listing photos. And. And then also people would put them. Put pictures with reviews, and that was another way that I was seeing kind of the quality. So I took the riskier approach. I would probably recommend ordering a sample
- [38:58]
A
or two, if you can. It's usually a good idea.
- [39:00]
C
Lauren. I definitely wouldn't recommend. My approach definitely gave me a lot of heartburn, especially when I was pregnant in the beginning. But, yeah, I just. I let it rip, Lizzie, and just put stuff up and just tried it to see what would work out, and I ended up. And then I removed things over time. So I would say the original question you asked me before I went on this dietribe was, how many did I probably create? And then I've probably created probably not as many as 200 listings, but definitely.
- [39:30]
A
Probably in the ballpark.
- [39:32]
C
Yeah, between 100 and 200, probably. My shop never had more. I think the high point, I might have gotten close to 50 listings, but it's never had more than 50 listings in it at a time.
- [39:43]
A
Okay, so since this is like a different approach, what prompted you to be just, like, culling them out rather than just letting them ride? Because you don't seem very type A about other things. So I'm just curious.
- [39:54]
C
I think part of it was because I was just approaching, like, different. Like, I was pivoting the design style. Right. So, okay, you were dealing on the hippie thing. And then I went, okay, memorial ornaments. And I was like, I don't know if I want a hippie. The Halloween mug next to a memorial ornament. I don't know. For me, it just logically didn't necessarily make sense because I figured. And maybe I'm not right, maybe I'm wrong on this. I figured Etsy is evaluating not only my individual listings, but also, like, probably needs to understand My shop as a whole, like cohesively, kind of like what it is that I'm selling because what I'm putting in my bio, what I'm putting in, like shop announcements, what I'm putting in, like the about me, like all of that is also probably contributing to SEO, right? And like, so for me, it always made sense of I want what's in my shop to at least kind of look semi cohesive. And because I was just pivoting from such stark different things.
- [40:47]
A
Yeah, it makes sense.
- [40:47]
C
It made sense to just completely kind of start fresh. But once I landed on again those blankets and I relaunched in January, it's been a cohesive style. Like I haven't, I don't. The only things that I let deactivate because I think I started the year with 35 listings. I think I'm down to like 26 or 25 because if it doesn't, because I have some duplicates in there and if it doesn't really get sales on it and the other one is just doing better, I just kind of let it, let it lie instead of reactivating it.
- [41:19]
A
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. So here's the thing, here's just my like 2 cents, because what's happening right now are people's brains are going crazy and they're like, okay, wait, so which is it? Like, which what is the right way to do it? Okay, so I'm going to set some people free here for a second, please. I love what you did because you ended up deciding you wanted to go hard on one niche. And at least so far, we'll see if it stays that way. That niche is able to produce enough income for you to be very happy with your results and to see how you could scale it. Right. Like you don't feel limited. What I want people to know though, is that you don't have to do it that way. There's nothing, there's no right or wrong way. I love how you did it. You have created such a boutique experience that I think really serves your particular design aesthetic and your particular niche. And that is one way to choose to build an Etsy shop. The major print on demand sellers that you guys see on YouTube, they don't necessarily do it that way. It's not, there's no right or wrong, but they instead are niche blasting. So they're taking, they're. You know what I mean, They're. I know you do, but I'm gonna make sure everyone else is. They are, they have shops full of every niche that has opportunity. And like high converting designs weren't under the sun, so the SEO part wouldn't have really mattered. I do think the fact that you were like leaning your branding so far into it, like you were putting your, like your shop name, your shop, like welcome message. All of your, all of your copy was so specific for your niche. I think, like, I totally get where your brain went and I think you were, you made the right call for you. I just want other people to know that you could also, like, most people are not interacting with your shop. They're interacting with individual listings in the search results. And I know people who you. This is, this is how crazy people are. They don't care about, like, they just want to make sales. Right. So they may have some, just to give you a stark example, like super liberal feminist T shirt design in their shop and a super trumpy MAGA design in their same shop. And it's not a reflection of what they believe. It's a reflection of where the demand is. And they don't care. And it doesn't, it doesn't hurt them. It doesn't confuse the algorithm. So I just want people to know that having different listings that have completely different niches is completely fine. You've just got to decide on the approach for your shop. Walmart makes billions of dollars catering to millions of different people. Billions of different people with millions of different products. Pottery Barn also makes ridiculous money catering to a very specific person in a very specific price range. With a more narrow lens of products, you can do either. So I just want people to know, like, no, it would not hurt your SEO or hurt your shop ranking to have a hippie Halloween mug next to a. Oh, an ornament, a Winnie the Pooh ornament. But Kelly is building an aesthetic brand. She wants to be known for a specific aesthetic, for a specific product type, for a specific person. So she is very wise. Yeah. Yeah. So that was like. Wanna talk about a tangent girl? That was. But I knew people were freaking out, right? People. It's a question I get all the time. Okay. Because you chose print on demand and you've done so well so quickly and you've gone so niche. I love it. What would you say to someone who feels like they'd be like, I, I don't know, like, Etsy feels too saturated right now. Or like, I think maybe people say it's too saturated. Why should I even try it?
- [46:34]
C
They're 100% right. It is saturated. There's so many people on Etsy. But I think for me it was. There's so many people on Etsy. But that doesn't mean that it's all high quality. Because you can look at the depths of Etsy and there are definitely some not so great things on there. Right. Like you're Not, I don't know. I'm also a shopper on Etsy. Right. And you know, when I'm looking for gifts, it's not like I'm seeing, oh my gosh, it's an endless catalog of thousands of things that I for sure am gonna buy. It's, I'm looking maybe for something specific. And so I think something specific and usually something of a certain quality level for whatever price point I'm searching for. Right. And so I think there's room for everyone in the sense that to steal your, to steal your phrase, Lucy. In the sense that if you are going to put in the reps and you, you're going to care about the quality and actually putting something great out there and learning on how to maybe anticipate trends or how to kind of find, you know, that inspiration or find that unicorn niche. Like you're gonna, you're gonna figure it out, you're gonna find your way to it because there's plenty of opportunity because it's not, it's saturated because there's a lot of people doing it. And the barrier to entry, frankly has never been lower. Right. Like, I mean, it's what, 15 bucks to open a shop?
- [47:50]
A
15 to 30.
- [47:51]
C
15. 30. 15 cents per listing.
- [47:54]
A
I think 20 cents per listing. And then otherwise you're just paying transaction fees.
- [47:59]
C
And then on top of that. Yeah, transaction fees. So it's, and especially if you're going like digital, like, yeah, it's, it's easy.
- [48:04]
A
Transaction fees you're paying for, you're paying like a percentage of your 6.5% of your sales. Yeah, that's what I meant. Like, plus the transaction fee.
- [48:11]
C
But never been easier to just throw things.
- [48:14]
A
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
- [48:15]
C
And so, and, but because of that a lot of people just throw stuff up there. And so I think when you're really doing research, I think for me the what worked and kind of how you put it so nicely about really lasering in on kind of one niche, one product to create kind of an esthetic experience. For me, because of that it was kind of a no brainer that it was going to be successful. It was just a matter of when. Do you know what I mean? Because I just like, I just had to keep putting in the reps because I would figure it out because the esthetic that I was delivering or the customer I was serving didn't have any other options or many other options on Etsy. And so I think if you're looking at Etsy, you're like, oh my gosh, there's so many things. You're absolutely right. There's so many people on Etsy. You just have to find your different and what's going to make you different and more importantly find what you're actually going to care about so much that you're going to put in the reps to actually make it the best it can be. Because I think that's also what I learned as I was pivoting kind of from like hippie Halloween to the morning of just like I didn't really care enough to actually make it a high quality product and so I was quick to let it go. Right. Whereas a lot of my other like blanket design like I've, I've tweaked and worked on over time and frankly what I really found the most wild is people would reach out to me and say, hey, can you actually do this blanket with this different theme? Half the best blankets in my shop are from customer ideas. I didn't even come up with them, they just asked for it and then not only did they buy it instantly when I sent them the listing of hey, here it is, four people behind them bought it like within like the next couple days because it had such a quick sale. And so one of my best selling blankets actually in my shop right now, I didn't even create like it came, a customer asked for it specifically. So it's, I think yes, Etsy is saturated in that there's a lot of people on there and a lot of products on there but they're not all good. And there's certainly room if you find, you just have to find your space and I think find the lane or at least what you are going to care about the most to actually work at. Because it does take, it takes effort. It's not something that you can just, it's not like an overnight success. I mean I know it sounds like, it sounds like it for me but I was Putting in what, five hours a day translates to 20 hours a week on top of a full time job, on top of having you know, a two year old. Like I wasn't really, I was at capacity at the time and even then it still took a good bit before I saw really, really good traction. I'd say January, end of January is where things really started taking off for me.
- [50:58]
A
And you had launched in what month you had started?
- [51:00]
C
I started in July 2024. January is when I launched with those blankets right after Christmas. Yeah.
- [51:06]
A
If I had to like kind of summarize what has made Kelly so successful. The biggest thing is you were willing to fail forward fast. You were willing to put in a ton of work, not knowing what was going to, in fact, literally deleting it all weeks later. You were willing to iterate change, like just really quickly and, and, and put in the time. And I think what I hear from you is like, you just trusted yourself to get there. You're like, it may not be this, but it's going to be something like, gosh, we could have a whole other discussion about why you even chose this. It was a question on my list that we didn't get to. But then the other thing is, I think you be. You did a really good job of becoming obsessed with a particular type of customer and a particular type of aesthetic. Once you kind of stumbled on that as an opportunity. And then you just became the best in the game at getting to know them. Like, you didn't just say, this is my customer. You then literally went down all of the rabbit holes of what they consume. Look at purchase, love aesthetically, and are you your perfect customer?
- [52:06]
C
Out of curiosity, Honestly, I actually don't like some of the blankets that I have in my shop. One of my best sellers. I wish I could deactivate it, but people just keep buying it. Yeah, but I am adjacent. I'm close. There's. So, yeah, there's definitely some overlap there. One of the things that was actually most helpful in really trying to understand who was actually buying from me is when they would favorite, I would click on their profile and look at what else they favorited.
- [52:31]
A
Brilliant.
- [52:32]
C
And that's actually how I came across, like, gingham for the first time. So anyways, like, relatively early on, it was because I was seeing it in, like, other wall decor and things that they were. So anyways, that's girl. So I would do that on, like, especially, like, if my toddler was watching something on the tv, I'd be like, on the phone, like, looking, like, looking at people's, like, favorites on Etsy and looking at, like, you know, Pinterest and outside of Etsy. Because again, when I did have that pocket of time to actually sit down and design, I didn't want to have to think about it. Like, that was not my time to actually go do research and figure it out. When I sat down to design, it was okay, I have three different, like, I don't know if you want to call it subject theme ideas and four different, like, pattern ideas. This is my time to try to make two of them work. And then I would have the time the next day. Now I Get to try two more and just try to do as many as I could.
- [53:23]
A
Okay. So I. Because we can have so many more conversations. You're. You're so awesome. So, like, looking back now, what do you think? Is that the main thing that most sellers are overcomplicating? Like, they're making it too hard on themselves? You're the perfect person to answer this question.
- [53:37]
C
Ironically, brand is something that I thought way too hard about in the beginning. And the reason I say that is because I should have opened a shop a year before I did. I should. I have been listening to you, Lizzie, for years at this point. Three, you know, three some years. I should have opened a shop. My daughter was born in October 2022. Once I kind of got out of, like, the mess, I should have opened my shop probably after the holidays, like, January of 23. I should not. It should not have taken me until July to get there. I was very much, like, learning and watching, and I was so concerned, frankly, about the people, like, in my life and, like, putting something out there of, like, what are people going to think about me?
- [54:24]
A
What.
- [54:24]
C
What brand do I want to put out there?
- [54:25]
A
What's. What's my name gonna be?
- [54:27]
C
I was so, so hung up on the name of the shop to the point where it doesn't matter. I know. It doesn't matter at all. I've changed it.
- [54:35]
A
You're gonna change it later.
- [54:36]
C
Anyway, I changed it three times. I'm about to change it again. Lizzie and I already have a successful shop. Right. So, like, it was something that I really, really overthought until I can't remember what episode it was that you kind of set it free of. Just like, you don't have to tell anybody. Just open a shop, get a listing up, and just start. And so that was really freeing for me was to kind of let go of being hung up on that. I've changed my name a couple times with each of those iterations. I changed my name, really, of my shop name. Yeah. If you can believe it. And the one that I have right now with that last iteration, because I was like, I have no time for overthinking. I literally generated it with an AI name generator. It was like the fourth on the list. And that was that. And so that's been my shop name ever since. I am going to be pivoting my shop slightly come summer. I'm going to start taking it in a slightly different direction and incorporating. I bought myself an embroidery machine. And, yeah, I did that last year. So I've Been dabbling with that and still going to stay kind of in the same niche, but a slightly different take on it. And I'm going to pretty much incorporate handmade Print on Demand and source all into the same shop. So I'll be pivoting it again later this summer.
- [55:42]
A
You're gonna have to come back on the podcast and tell us how well that goes.
- [55:46]
C
I hope it goes well. We'll see. It will.
- [55:48]
A
It is just gonna take the same iteration. You've already got. You've got the grit. That's the big thing. If I could just get people to believe in themselves that if they just don't quit, they'll get there. It might take longer than they want. It might be harder than they want. But, like, literally, you can't fail if you don't quit. You literally are proof of that, and you're gonna be fine.
- [56:05]
C
You have to decide what's important to you. And I think for me, it was making this work on the side.
- [56:11]
A
Yeah, was.
- [56:13]
C
And, you know, I could have picked something else, but I think what attracted me about Print on Demand is, oh, I don't have to carry any inventory. I get to do the fun design side of things. But as I kind of dug into it, I actually enjoy, like, the business side of it more than I actually thought I would. Into the point where, like, I actually haven't added a new. I haven't added a new product to my shop since August.
- [56:32]
A
August.
- [56:33]
C
Last August. Yeah. And even that, I only added two products for the most part. I haven't really. Those were a couple mugs that I put in my shop for ahead of Christmas. I haven't added a new. One of my core products, which is blankets, since before my son was born in April. So about a year. When I say my shop is on autopilot, I'm literally only processing orders, answering customer requests, and doing troubleshooting. That's all I'm doing and have been doing.
- [56:57]
A
Do you use hello Custom for the customization or no, you do it yourself?
- [57:01]
C
No, I actually go in and manually do it. Every single one.
- [57:03]
A
Canva. Okay.
- [57:05]
C
Oh, no, just in Printify. So I have them set up where when I review the personalization in Printify, I just swap out whatever my placeholder text is for what they submitted.
- [57:16]
A
So you can upload a font on Printify now?
- [57:18]
C
You can. There's. I think Printify has its own set of fonts, and a lot of them overlap with canvas. And so I would do my design in Canva and just make sure that my fonts Matched. And then I would just use. Yeah. The font and printify so I wouldn't have to. I didn't know that.
- [57:32]
A
Seaweed.
- [57:33]
C
So that way I wouldn't have to do that every time.
- [57:35]
A
Was there anything that you were really hoping to say or touch on that we didn't?
- [57:39]
C
Oh, gosh, I don't think so.
- [57:42]
A
We did a good job, didn't we? Even though we didn't hit them all, we did a really good job.
- [57:47]
C
I have more time if you need. If there's more. No, no pressure.
- [57:50]
A
No. I mean, here's the thing. Like, we're at the. We're at, like, usually a typical episode length and like, I think we just will have a part two at some point. It's going to be so fun to hear what happens. Like, we're not done with you at all. You can't get rid of me now, baby. Like, I. I hope I lived up to the hype because.
- [58:05]
C
Oh, my God, for sure. This has been so fun.
- [58:07]
A
I just. I really want to thank you because I don't. I just need you to know how many people are going to benefit from your words today. Like, this has been a really, really helpful episode. Your story, your approach, your gosh, your just your precious spirit. Everything, everything about this has been unbelievably giving and valuable. And so, I don't know, I just. I hope it all comes back to you a hundredfold because I really appreciate you.
- [58:31]
C
Thank you. No, I appreciate. This has been so fun for me and I hope it is helpful to other people. I definitely. It was a lot of trial and error for me. And, you know, you don't always feel like you're doing it right in the moment.
- [58:43]
A
You just gotta keep going, keep going.
- [58:47]
C
Something's gonna click. It's just a matter of A matter of time.
- [58:51]
A
Sometimes I think some people are gonna want to maybe like, shoot you a note.
- [58:55]
C
Sure.
- [58:56]
A
Connect, maybe anything like that. What's the best way for someone to find you or connect?
- [59:00]
C
Yeah, email is the best way. I think I gave it to you. It's just my name with some initials afterwards. So find that in the show notes.
- [59:08]
A
That's perfect. Yeah.
- [59:09]
C
Yeah, email's the best way. I'm not really on social media, otherwise I'd give you a handle, but I'm a pretty, pretty private person.
- [59:16]
A
I think that's actually really wise.
- [59:20]
C
Well, I'm freaked out, frankly, by the. Because I don't post any pictures of my kids online. Ever since I saw that, people can just take a photo and then like, create a video of your kids with like an AI generator. It's wild. So anyways, it's getting a little bit.
- [59:34]
A
Well, it's been scary and it's getting scarier. Yeah.
- [59:36]
C
Yeah. So I'm not really on social media, but email is great.
- [59:40]
A
Email's perfect. It'll be down. Everything that we talked about will be down in the show notes, all the stuff from the intro, her email. You guys make sure and submit your FAQs for the upcoming episode if you want to do that. But I just want to thank everyone for coming along on the ride with us today. Send me your DMs and your notes about how amazing Kelly is because I think we're going to need to have her back and you guys get to vote, right? So let me know how awesome she is. And thanks for spending your time with us today. Kelly, thank you again so much. And for everyone out there, until next week, go make something awesome. Bye, guys.
- [60:11]
B
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 few days 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.