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Maybe you’ve heard a story like this…
A seasoned “member” of Corporate America one day ends up out of the club… What to do?
It’s not typically the way or the most ideal circumstance a lot of us would choose to start a new business in but for a good number of people, it’s not a choice they had.
And that’s just the beginning of Jann’s story…
This week Jann and I discuss how she ended up starting her new handmade yarn business, an arm of which is her Etsy shop – Handmade Howlin Cowls. You can also find her ecommerce website at HandmadeHowlinCowls.com.
Jann is a fairly new seller, but she came on with a plan… After putting together her own destination wedding using Etsy, she understood the platform very well from a buyers’ perspective (and that alone gives any seller a solid basis for becoming a good seller, particularly in the customer service and product quality departments).
You’ll hear us discuss some of the following topics:
- Challenges of creating one-of-a-kind (OOAK) products
- Scaling a handmade business
- Selling on different marketplaces as well as an independent ecommerce platform
- Pricing formulas for handmade goods
- Product photography… (And a possible business opportunity…?)
- Getting paid as a handmade artisan & making a living wage from your craft
- Planning for future product lines
- …And so much more
Jann’s Etsy Shop Shoutout
- opPAWtunity – this Etsy shop is run by Jann’s sister-in-law Gina! Hear all about how Gina has been a tremendous help to Jann along the way with her Etsy shop and please hop over to opPAWtunity and show her some EtsyConvo Podcast love 🙂
Resources Mentioned
- Merch@Amazon – a great place to sell t-shirt designs if you’re a graphic artist or t-shirt designer
- Handmade@Amazon
– Amazon’s handmade marketplace and Etsy competitor (do check them out, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket)
- Attention Getting – Etsy shop I once bought a monthly social media planning calendar from
- Marmalead – SEO and keyword for Etsy research tool
Best Ways to Reach Jann
- Email: Jann [at] HowlinCowls [dot] com
- Etsy shop convo: Handmade Howlin Cowls
- Social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook
- Ecommerce website: HandmadeHowlinCowls.com
- If you struggle to keep up with the Etsy Success emails (and other educational materials from Etsy), OR if you’ve fallen behind in going through the Seller Handbook…
- Then sit back, press play, and get caught up one recording at a time.
- Get on the early notification list now at ConvoMe.com/ReadToMe and you’ll get notified by me once it launches.
- When you sign up, you’ll get immediate access to the entire library of audio recordings not available on the free ConvoMe.com site or anywhere else…
- Then stick around because I add new audio content to the library continuously.
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Connect With Me:
- Twitter: Follow @ConvoMePodcast
- Facebook Group: Etsy Conversations – This is where I’m connecting with you after the podcast. Lots of fun convos here too!
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- Instagram: @EtsyConvo
- Google+: Etsy Conversations Podcast
- Email: Use the Contact Form OR interview [at] convome [dot] com
For more help growing your Etsy-based business, check out these resources: