1000th item SOLD!

WhoooooWeeeeee! I have sold my 1000th item on Etsy. This is a huge deal to me.
A day of celebration!
I have taken little bits of nothing and created little somethings and sold them 1000 times!

I heard of Etsy through a magazine - Somerset Studios. Then I read about it in L.K.Ludwigs blog ' Gryphon's Feather Studio'.
I had boxes and boxes of stuff just sitting around, from the days of flea markets and craft fairs.
So in an effort to make more room I started listing stuff.
It surprised me that the polymer clay experiments I've played with since 1993 sold the best.
I thought it was because I had them listed so cheaply.
I kept trying other stuff too, stuff I had made at home and gotten compliments on.
But only a sale here and there. And a whole lot of credit card debt.

We were so broke, I was about to start looking for a job outside of home, part-time in the evenings and weekends when my husband was home. The only time I had for creating! It made me sad because if I don't create I get very cranky. So I thought maybe there was a way to make Etsy my job. Can anyone relate so far?

I began researching, I read all the posts in the forums about selling. Photographing, marketing, buying statistics, shipping (lost a lot of money there), turn offs for buyers, listing habits from the top sellers, everything!
I also watched the recently sold items, noting color combination's, which photographs stood out, which buyers repeatedly showed up. Then I stalked them. I clicked on each and every link they provided, I read their store policies, poured over their Flickr groups, blogs, myspace (scary place), street teams etc.


I know they say to work smarter not harder which is why the next step will be to invest and create pieces that are more time consuming, which will bring in a higher profit.

So I guess you could call my Polymer Pendants my Loss Leader. The inexpensive items that bring in regular traffic, but you don't make a huge profit on.

If I were to break down my income from Etsy it would look pretty sad hourly. So I don't.
I just make sure I'm making more than what I've spent, for it is truly a labor of love.
And we don't have to live on soup until hubby's payday, you know what I mean?

I totally did not mean to ramble, maybe this will help someone?

I think it's important to remember the people like me, who appreciate the fine arts, but who simply can't afford to purchase them.
But that's a whole other post!

If I could I would invite you all to my Mom's cabin on the lake. Where we would sit on the deck, in the cool spring air, gaze upon the water, sip our beverage of choice, laugh, support, encourage each other, share secrets and tips and recipes (Evaaaaaa!) and celebrate the sales that have been and the sales that will come!

Thank you to all of my treasured customers!