#8 | when the inspiration hits a bit too much... and selling on Etsy
Balancing Excitement and Routine + My Journey on Etsy and Lessons Learned + AI Prompt to Create Product Titles and Descriptions + Bonus: There's an AI for That
If you'd like to see me more, follow me on Instagram. And if you're new here, I wrote a book. If you've already read it, I would love to receive a review on Amazon. p.s, Visit my Etsy Store and use the code NEWSLETTER to get a 10% discount as a thank-you gift for reading my newsletter. Thank you!
💡 If listening to music helps you focus, you can listen while you read:
In a creative mood - [ Chillhop | Lofi HipHop | Jazzhop mix ]
Everyone talks about the importance of a healthy routine, but honestly, my life is a sequence of passions, inspirations, and moments of great excitement that completely disrupt the healthy part of the routine.
Let me explain. Every now and then, I try to establish a healthy routine with small daily habits. However, I've found that I'm more productive when I dive headfirst into projects or interests that I'm passionate about. At least, that's what I believe.
YouTuber Elizabeth, whom I admire, explores this characteristic in many of her videos (you can check one of them here). Even though I know this intensity isn't so unusual, it's sometimes challenging to balance this passion with daily obligations and healthy routines with set limits.
When I'm excited, I find myself working late into the night on my current passion, even with important commitments the next day. When I'm more relaxed, I spend hours watching shows like "Love is Blind" and keep only the essentials moving.
In recent weeks, I've been immersed in one of these waves of inspiration, my new obsession: Etsy. My Etsy shop has been the epicentre of my excitement, so it makes sense that this edition of the newsletter has a slightly different format to share more about my experience in this world.
My adventure on Etsy started as a simple experiment earlier this year. It was after releasing my first book. I wanted a new project, but I wasn't ready to start another book. So, I began creating templates, things I had done before but always wanted to try selling, this time targeting authors, thinking they could be useful for when my passion for writing resurfaced and more books came along (which will certainly happen, but these passions have their own timing).
Etsy is a platform for small producers, featuring handmade and unique items. You can set up a shop quickly and sell almost anything, from physical products to digital items, like your own book or templates. There are fees, but they are more user-friendly than Amazon KDP, and the Etsy community suggests that by offering a variety of products, you can establish a solid income source.
I started by creating one template and sharing my creations. Surprisingly, I got organic sales in the first month. This initial success motivated me to create more and more products.
This experience reminded me of a previous attempt back in 2014. I tried selling various things, including crafts - I remember making little nebulae in bottles, which were very cute. Looking back, things were going well, but for the 18-year-old version of me, who lacked patience, a few sales in two months seemed like a failure. I remember crying a lot, and my family buying things to help me with the store - I had no experience in marketing or sales back then, so I gave up.
But the desire to try again emerged, and surprisingly, I didn't even remember my previous attempt until I started writing this newsletter. It's amazing how life comes full circle. In 2023, I returned with more knowledge about my skills and a better understanding of what's working. Of course, there's still much to learn, but I like to believe that I'm more patient and optimistic today. After all, I've realised that great things take time to build and maintain.
My online store called ALOT Creative (a combination of my initials and my passion for creativity), is an amalgamation of many of my small obsessions and passions.
I'm happy to report that, since the beginning of this journey, now spanning five months, things have been happening with patience and resilience.
I started with just one template to help authors promote their books. But after a month, I had already added another. In a short time, I reached five sales and decided to experiment with ads. However, there was a period of about a month when I didn't update anything. But my excitement returned in full force. Currently, I have 12 products and a track record of 68 sales. I hope to reach 100 sales soon. As Jasmine Star suggests, the goal is to double it. I've learned that progress is more effective when it's constant and steady. Even if I stop for a while, the products are still running, and they don't have days of lower excitement like me, they are always trying, which seems like a good deal to me.
But my journey on Etsy is not just about momentary excitement but also about life lessons. I've discovered the importance of patience and the need to maintain realistic expectations. At many moments, it's a challenge to determine when it's time to stop or move forward, when working long hours is justifiable, and when only the essentials are needed to keep things moving. It's a delicate dance between believing in oneself and accepting the uncertainties that entrepreneurship brings.
Every now and then, insecurity creeps in, especially when a few days pass without any sales. Yesterday, I spent several hours optimising some things, but immediately, doubt crept in: was I really optimising or harming what was already working? I still don't know, but I've understood that this phase is part of the process.
This journey is teaching me that in the world of entrepreneurship, patience and resilience are essential (and quite challenging to maintain). But I've also discovered that finding the balance between passions and daily life is challenging. Every now and then, I have to admit that finding this balance seems almost impossible (here I am writing the Sunday newsletter on Sunday night when I wanted to do it earlier to be able to rest on the weekend), and I know I'll have to give up something at some point. Soon.
Every now and then, I still find myself in moments of panic, working late into the night. That's not what I want for my life. So, even though I know it's normal to be like this, I still want to find more balance in all of this.
Amidst all this, this week had its ups and downs. I was productive with freelancing and my store, updated products, and added new keywords, but I also sacrificed nights of sleep and neglected my social media... You can't have it all.
And we come to the reflection that always making decisions will imply making choices and sacrifices, and all of this becomes even more challenging when the world seems to be falling apart around us.
But despite it all, I feel that every day I learn a new lesson, and in this journey of building a "feel good business," finding balance is our constant challenge. I want to seize opportunities but don't want to lose my way in the process. And as I always say, good luck to us, we're going to need it.
For inspiration! Things I've come across...
→ On building your "feel good business."
→ A Soft Murmur for creating a personalised sound atmosphere, combining different sounds like rain, coffee, and nature noises.
→ This reminder.
→ This Is Sand for stimulating creativity and sculpting, mixing colours, and turning virtual sand into beautiful works of art.
My Experience with Etsy: Lessons Learned on the Journey 🚀
As I mentioned at the beginning, I've been living an intense adventure with Etsy, and as I mentioned earlier, achieving success on this platform requires a lot of testing, resilience, and learning. However, I want to share some personal tips and lessons I've learned over these initial months.
Starting tip: You pay a few cents to list a product (put it online), so it's more worthwhile to create a product and edit it than to delete and put it back.
Quality Product Photography: Important everywhere, and not different here. Make sure to present your creations with clear photos, showing details and even how the products can be used, like using mockups. Test, and try different images, different colours, and different videos; testing is crucial to see what works for you. To get an idea of what to create as product images, take a look at what other stores are doing, or use Pinterest to find some cool inspirations.
See what's going on out there: If you want to dive even deeper into the world of Etsy, do a Google search or check out experiences shared by other sellers on Reddit. I learned a lot from the experiences of real people (very Yahoo Answers vibes in the good old days), and that helped me improve my products and strategies.
Email Marketing and Discount Coupons: Activating the email marketing option and creating discount coupons can be a great way to build relationships with your customers. My store improved a lot in performance when I activated these two items.
Personal Offers and Promotions: In addition to seasonal promotions, try creating personal or audience-focused promotions. Offer discounts on specific products for loyal customers.
Conscious Pricing: Etsy is testing a cool AI tool that analyses your prices and offers suggestions, but when you start, it's worth taking a look at the average prices that other stores are applying. The goal is to combine taking a look at what's going on, trust your intuition, and find a balance between competitive prices and the value your work deserves.
Advertising (Etsy Ads): When it comes to advertising on Etsy, a personal tip I can offer is to set a test budget. For example, set a low budget and limit the ad to a few items. Evaluate the results after a month or when you reach 100 clicks, whichever comes first. This helps determine which ads are worth keeping or pausing.
Despite everything, Etsy is a competitive marketplace, and whether you succeed or not also depends on dedication, flexibility, and a constant attitude of learning and improvement. Good luck to us!
AI Prompt of the Week: Create Titles and Descriptions for Your Etsy Products 🛍️
Ask the AI for help in creating engaging titles, descriptions, and keywords for the products in your Etsy shop. Use ChatGPT or your favourite AI.
Start the conversation by writing:
"Hello chat, I need your help to create engaging titles, descriptions, and keywords for the products in my Etsy shop. The titles should be no more than 140 characters, and the descriptions need to be informative and appealing, with emojis and a unique tone of voice - ( ). I'll share the product details in the next message. Please confirm if you understand and ask if you need more information."
"Product details: Provide information about your product, what it includes, who it's intended for, and the key points that should be included in the listing and description."
If you need help with content, I also have some items in my shop that can assist with design.
Bonus - THE SITE: the question that didn't want to speak finally has an answer, There's an AI for That? To see if there's finally an AI to help.
Latest Updates on My Social Media 🌟
I created a website in less than 1 hour.
Explore the new products that have been added to my Etsy shop's catalogue - new sites, book mockups and social media content for authors! And use the code NEWSLETTER to get a 10% discount as a thank-you gift for reading my newsletter.
I'm enjoying maintaining this bi-monthly frequency, one every fifteen days (more or less), usually on Saturdays or Sundays. How about you, what do you think?
And this time, the newsletter is coming a bit later than I intended because, as I've mentioned several times here, I dived back into the Etsy universe. Besides, today, I spent some time visiting the family around here, and when I got back, I delved into the world of PS5 with my bf to finish the game Astro Playroom, which surprisingly turned out to be more fun than I expected, even though I'm not exactly a gaming enthusiast.
However, I want to thank you for reading this slightly longer and different newsletter and for your patience in respecting my moments. Thank you for being on this journey with me.
If you received this edition and have any comments to share, please don't hesitate to reply to this email or comment on Substack. I would be very happy to exchange ideas with you (and apologise if I take a while to respond; I have a little issue with messages, even on WhatsApp).
And if you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with your friends and anyone else who might also like it!
Until next time,
With love,
Amanda Oliveira-Telò
My book (: • Instagram • TikTok • Etsy