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Tess has been selling on Etsy since 2008. She now runs two successful Etsy shops – Tessyla and JewelByTessyla.
She has grown what started out as a hobby to while away the time while her husband was watching sports, into an empire that has allowed her to quit her waitressing job and work solely on Etsy full-time since 2011.
Tess has a degree in Fashion Design from The Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. She also studied Textile Design at FIT and Graphic Design at The University of North Carolina.
Prior to running her two Etsy shops, she was a bank teller and a waitress. You’ll hear her dramatic “quit your day job” story in our convo 😉
Tess originally sold her art and jewelry in the same shop, but decided to open a separate jewelry shop in 2013 to differentiate the two types of items. Her jewelry and art have been featured in a number of blogs as well as national magazines like Southern Living, Brides, and Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine, to name just a few. Her art has also been featured on Netflix in the set design for the series Dear White People.
We also talk about how and why she turned down an art feature on The Today Show… You’ll really want to hear this story 🙂
Over the life of her Etsy business, Tess has earned almost $1.5M, yes, that’s million in total sales on Etsy, and her print shop which rakes in 141K monthly views on Pinterest is ranked in the top 1% of Etsy shops. Her Etsy income has built two houses and allowed her to be a stay at home mom to her son.
Tess is truly an Etsy success story. She and her husband Jon currently reside in North Carolina with their seven year old son, Zavian.
Topics Discussed
- Finding new niche clientele accidentally and organically
- Time management and a look into a typical “day in the life of” for Tess
- Differences in determining pricing for artwork vs jewelry
- Dealing with disputes and negative feedback
- Tess’s strategy for handling shop orders when going on vacation or taking breaks
- Dealing with the loneliness of running a solo business from home
- Tactics around sales and pricing psychology
- And so much more…
Tess’s Etsy Shop ShoutOuts
- Mailed It Packaging – run by Mackenzie where she sells fun and unique packaging tape designed for small business owners to add that extra-special touch to your customers’ packages.
- Tat’s Digital Art – run by Pinar where she sells high quality art prints including sophisticated Pokémon art.
Connect With Tess
- Etsy shops: Tessyla and JewelByTessyla
- Social media: Facebook, Instagram
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