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What do Google, Apple, Amazon, Disney, Microsoft, and HSP have in common? Well, you’ll have to listen to my conversation with Ben Hegge to find out. 🙂
Ben runs the Etsy shop HSP Shirts as well as his own successful ecommerce site HSPShirts.com where he sells his own custom designed apparel.
Ben opened his Etsy shop in April 2020 and as you’ll hear in our conversation, he’s been on quite the rollercoaster ride.
At the time we recorded our convo, his Etsy shop had surpassed 700 sales of his screen printed t-shirts and the ecommerce website he built had over 400 sales.
He claims it came with a lot of luck and timing for sure, but as you listen to his story you’ll realize, like I did, that he has actually put in a lot of hard work to make all what he has accomplished come to be.
Topics Discussed
- Finding selling success through traffic from Twitter
- How Ben generated more sales in one hour in August 2020 than he had made in the preceding four months
- Learning a rope by doing an internship
- Creating products around current trends and individual interests
- Using influencer marketing to generate sales
- Comparison of the costs of selling on Etsy vs. independent ecommerce site
- Dealing with less-than-stellar feedback and reviews
- And so much more…




Ben’s Etsy Shop ShoutOuts
- XOXO KC Design – run by Kendra where she sells her own graphic design items
- Heatless Curler – run by Whitney and she sells her heatless curlers, an alternative to using to curl your hair. Be sure to check out the demo video in her listing and the photos submitted by her customers!
Resources Mentioned
- SquareSpace – platform for building a website, including an ecommerce site
- ShipStation – platform for handling shipping, especially if you sell on multiple platforms and marketplaces
- AirTable – product pricing and inventory management tool mentioned by Ceanne and Colette of Ever Blooming Originals
Connect With Ben
- Etsy shop: HSP Shirts
- Website: HSPShirts.com
- Social media: Twitter, Instagram
- Email: Ben [at] HSPShirts [dot] com
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Connect With Me:
- Instagram: @EtsyConversations
- Twitter: @ConvoMePodcast