Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Susan Fitch - Open an Etsy Shop.

Hello All!  I nearly forgot to post today.  It is my 15th wedding anniversary.  How strange an idea time is.  15 years seems like a lot and a little all at the same time.  We aren't officially going to celebrate till next weekend, but I thought it was worth mentioning. :)

(back when we were still young and sexy.)

My goal for this past month was to get an Etsy shop up and running with eight items in it.  And I am proud to say that except for the fact that there are only six items in it so far - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!  I'm feeling really proud of myself for it too.  It was a big scary thing for me to do and I did it! 

I watched a series of You Tube videos on how to set it up and learned a lot.  I also asked some questions to other Etsy shop owners, and stalked a few shops that sell things similar to what I was intending to do.  I set it up once and have already changed the logo because I didn't like the first one I did.  
 This is the first one I did & decided that I didn't like.

This is the second logo I did.  I like it much better.  It feels cleaner to me and I think it shows better what my shop is about.

On the You Tube videos I watched, it said that 8 was a good number of items to begin with, so I aimed for that.  However, my products take an awful lot of time to make and post.  Several days for the drawing, then a day or so of scanning and cleaning up smudges & stuff in the computer to turn it into clip art.  I neglected my family a lot, and was kind of making myself crazy.  I wanted to do this to benefit my family, so six things was good enough in order to save some sanity and get my priorities back into place.  Here are a couple of my clip art packs:



I love my art and I'm having a lot of fun with this little shop.  So keeping it all in balance is going to be a trick.  I could draw sun up to sun down and not notice the Apocalypse if it came.  So If this venture of mine is  going to work for my family, I need to be careful to keep it a hobby.  Just take it slow and easy and focus on the important things in life. 

Several of the Etsy shop owners that I spoke to said that they didn't get their first sale for several months.  So, I wasn't expecting much.  I was pleasantly surprised to get my first sale about a week after opening.  I have now made 10 sales and made a total of about $50.  Not a super big amount, but I'm thrilled that I've made anything at all.

If any of you are interested, I'm doing a giveaway for the Chorister Flip Chart set on my blog.

As for next month's goal, I am torn between two thoughts.  I am going to be teaching some children's art classes from my home (it's something I've always wanted to try)  But I'm having a hard time making myself sit down and write out some lesson plans.  So that would be one goal. The other thought is that I'm really bad at holidays and occasions and such because I never pay attention to time.  They always sneak up on me, then I'm not prepared so they are all just a big stressy mess.  So I'd like to plan some sort of holiday or something in advance.  I will pick between the two before the new month starts.  But I'll be working on one of them.

And thank you to all of you who have left comments for me.  I love the encouragement and support I get from you.  Especially Julie Doherty.  You make me laugh and feel like I'm some sort of fancy person.  It's great for my self esteem!  Thanks everyone!  Good Luck with all your goals.


9 comments:

Becky said...

Wow Susan! I am so impressed! You are so talented and an Etsy shop was a great idea!

Unknown said...

Your shop looks fantastic! Way to go!

Nora Mair said...

I checked out your shop and was very impressed. And way to make some money for your goods. Don't feel guilty of the touch of neglect for the fam, they'll remember mom doing what she loved and finishing a goal she set. I want to come see your house.

Nora Mair said...

I checked out your shop and was very impressed. And way to make some money for your goods. Don't feel guilty of the touch of neglect for the fam, they'll remember mom doing what she loved and finishing a goal she set. I want to come see your house.

Erin Bee said...

I am continuously amazed by your talent. I like your shop and am impressed that you got it up in a month.

Erin Bee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Fantastic!! As always, I am jealous of your talent. It is fun to do stuff that scares us too.

Unknown said...

ps. Happy Anniversary!!

Meg said...

Awww... happy anniversary! And way to go on your shop! I love your artwork! I'm going to tell all my friends about it, seriously! You have great stuff!!!

P.S. I told my friend who lives in the pioneer house in your story about it... and showed her the picture. I hope that's okay. She thinks it's the coolest thing ever! She really wants a copy of the book and even a copy of the picture of the house she can put on her wall (she said she will buy if from you, she just doesn't know how to get in contact with you). So I'm going to give her your blog address. So if someone comes asking about it, that's who it is!