Everyone loves to indulge in hobbies, something that they are passionate about. But what if I told you that it can be something more than your weekend project ? If you have a talent, or a skill that you are proud of, you need to show it to the world and let others who need your help know about it. And what better than turning your passion into your dream career? If you are thinking along these lines but are reluctant to take the plunge, starting small is the best way to go.
I am a business coach and helping female entrepreneurs is my passion. When I was unsure of how to pursue my passion, I started an Etsy shop to sell my clothing line. Looking back, this is one of the best decisions as it has propelled me to pursue my passion as a full time career. In my experience, Etsy is a great place to start your journey, and here’s why:
Marketplace is ready: With 20.8 million customers and 32 million Items for sale, Etsy provides you with a huge market for almost everything you would want to sell. The customers are already present and are searching. The only thing you need to do is set up a shop and start selling without worrying about finding customers who are interested in buying your products or services. The search functionality of Etsy is very helpful in directing the customers to the right shop.
No Shop Investment : Etsy charges a listing fee of $0.20 per item, but that is all. So starting a shop on Etsy costs you practically zero investment. Once you start making sales, Etsy charges 3.5% fee for each sold item, but considering that it provides you with a wonderful marketplace, it is a fair price to pay. Plus, For every friend that opens an etsy shop, etsy offers both 40 free listings, how cool is that?So you can get your first 40 product listings for FREE (& for me) if you open your shop by clicking HERE.
Initial Clients: For any business, getting those first few clients who trust your work is the hardest. People trust Etsy and are willing to buy from Etsy sellers without a second thought. So it is a lot easier to find clients at the beginning of your business if you start on Etsy. By doing a great job on Etsy, you can establish great relationships with clients and turn customers into loyal fans who would be willing to support your business even when you decide to launch individually in the future.
Business Technicalities are taken care of: Etsy makes it very simple and quick to set up your own shop. It provides a clean interface to list your products for sale, present them to the customer and to enable purchases in a fuss-free manner. Just sign up, set up the shop and start selling – its that simple, really. And guess what, it takes not more than a few minutes!
Learn: You can learn a lot about business while selling on Etsy. By running your own shop, you will learn quite a bit about branding, pricing, marketing, customer service etc. which will be very useful in the long run. You get the experience of running a business, without the investment of setting up a full scale business!
Community: Etsy provides a very close-knit, supportive community of sellers. I’ve found that sellers on Etsy are very kind and are willing to offer help and valuable feedback that will go a long way in improving your shop. Also Etsy offers a super useful guide called the seller’s handbook, which is an amazing resource for sellers and contains useful information starting from setting up a business to creating a great experience for customers.
Extra Income: Let’s look at this from a different perspective for a minute. What are you going to lose? Etsy provides a way to make additional income for yourself by providing a platform to sell your products. For minimum amount of effort if you are able to reap some extra cash every month, then why not? Do it, you never know how small things can change your life.
Click here to open your Etsy shop today and earn 40 free listings for you and for me
Have you thought about starting a small business any time? What are your thoughts on this?
