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Growing up in an entrepreneurial focused family, AshleyMarie “Sey” Lively of the Etsy shop Sey Studios, has always had a passion and dream of becoming an entrepreneur herself. Her journey started as a name artist at Disneyland, where she worked for a year, and while her husband still works at Disney, her dream of becoming a creative entrepreneur shifted after attending art school and starting a family.
Sey’s first Etsy shop was opened while she worked at Disneyland, but she quickly discovered that the crafts she was selling in her first shop were not as worthwhile as she originally thought.
As an Etsy seller, you can probably relate very well with that sentiment.
Although she still enjoys making a variety of arts and crafts pieces, she has transitioned and found a niche product that she not only loves to create, but one which is also more profitable.
Sey Studios now focuses primarily on selling name art, where she creatively designs paintings using people’s names and incorporating a variety of characters into each painting.
Sey’s beautiful name art pieces are all uniquely handmade, and she has been able to incorporate a wide variety of characters – from Star Wars and Ghostbusters to My Little Pony and Legend of Zelda – into hundreds of name art pieces.
In this week’s episode, Sey shares her experiences of working at Disneyland, why she decided to quit working outside of her home and become and entrepreneur, as well as what made her decide to find a specific niche for her business. She also explains how her crafts have been feature
d in magazines and even on the Conan O’Brien show.
That’s right… THE Conan O’Brien Show 🙂
She also explains how she uses local events to help drive traffic and new customers to her Etsy shop, marketing techniques she has used that have helped increase her sales and conversions on various social media platforms.
Sey and I also discuss lessons she has learned about making the shipping process easier for her craft business.
[bctt tweet=”To have a sisterhood from creative support groups has been amazing @SeyStudios” username=”ConvoMePodcast”]
Sey Studios – Topics Discussed
- How Sey started working at Disneyland and why she transitioned into becoming a creative entrepreneur
- How she prices her handmade name art pieces – especially for longer names
- How local events, comic cons, and craft shows have impacted her Etsy online sales
- Managing her time while being a stay-at-home mom
- What social media tools she uses to promote her products
- Using the Etsy Seller Handbook to start and improve her business
- Sey’s advice to new or struggling Etsy sellers
Sey Studios – Resources Mentioned
- Podcasts: Etsy Conversations Podcast
- Tools: Cell phone calendar
Best Ways to Reach Sey
- Etsy Shop: Sey Studios Etsy Convo
- Email: SeyStudios [at] gmail [dot] com
- Social Media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook
Upcoming Event: Stop by and visit Sey at the Bakersfield Comic Con on November 12 & 13, 2016!
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For more help growing your Etsy-based business, check out these resources: