In times of high unemployment and businesses closing at an unprecedented rate, many people turn to their crafty talents to carve out an income. If you ever thought of hanging a shingle and opening a shop for yourself, the global creative marketplace of Etsy is a reliable place to explore. Millions of buyers flock to the site each year looking for unique handmade and vintage items with a personal touch instead of mass-marketed products.

If you’re a stay-at-home mom who is trying to balance your art and home life, one of these shops might be great for you. So, if you have a talent for making jewelry, stuffed animals, knitted items, or the like, you need to know the steps to open an Etsy shop of your very own and grow your customer base.

Choose Your Product and Name

The first thing you need to do before setting up an Etsy shop is to decide what you want to make. Do you have a talent for crochet, knitting, or needlepoint? Maybe you write in beautiful calligraphy or can draw personalized comics. 

Jewelry making is another popular genre on Etsy, so maybe you could make clip-on earrings, antique pins, or wire-wrapped necklaces. Whatever you decide, remember you can expand and change, but you have to settle on where to start. After that, you want to pick a name that people can associate with your shop so they can keep coming back for more.

Set Your Price

Next, you have to decide how much to charge customers for your product. Setting the price too low will cost you money, and setting the price too high will cost you sales. So, calculate how much it costs you to make your product, including all raw materials, then double that number. Is that a reasonable price you would pay for a similar and uniquely handmade item? If the answer is yes, try using that as your price for that product and see how it works. Remember, you can always adjust things later and tweak as you go.

Get Your Camera and Build Your Inventory

Once you have your product, name, and price, it’s time to open an Etsy account by simply registering and following the instructions. Then make some samples and take beautiful pictures to upload into your Etsy shop. 

With your shop all set up, you want to make some products to build up your inventory. Don’t make too many until you know about how much you sell each month, but have a few on hand, so the time between ordering and shipping is relatively short.

Keep Your Customers Happy and Deliver

The last thing to do is share your Etsy store with your friends and family and ask them to spread the word for you. Be sure you also start a social media account for your shop to showcase your products and gain a following for future customers. Once the orders start to roll in, just be sure to keep the customers happy by delivering a quality product.

Make adjustments to your shop based on feedback, what works, and what doesn’t work. Also, familiarize yourself with Etsy’s fee schedule, and don’t forget to charge for shipping, or it will lessen your bottom line.

The First Step Is to Start

Sometimes when you consider a new business, it doesn’t get past the planning stage because the idea as a whole seems too big. But all you have to do is take the first step, and then another, and another still. Before you know it, you’ll see your idea come to life so you can nurture it and watch it grow. If it doesn’t grow, you adjust until it does, but none of that can happen until you take the very first step.