The wonderful and talented Allison Strine opened herself up to questions the other day on the Etsy forums. Allison has been selling on Etsy for over 2 years and just hit her 3500th sale; Phenomenal Etsy success! Allison has always been an inspiration to me, I love her work, and after seeing her on TwoPeasInABucket.com and Ali Edwards' Blog, she was my inspiration to take the leap and start my own Etsy shop!
So today, for Motivation monday's, with Allison's permission, I've sifted through the nearly 50 pages of questions regarding art, life, and selling on etsy, and compiled my favourites, along with Allison's answers. We can all learn from, and be motivated and inspired by Allison as a person, Mother, Artist, and Estian!
What is the key to increasing sales? Do you sell locally? Do you offer referral treats? Anything like that that you think stands out as your best move?
I sell locally at Lola's Gallery in Roswell, and in about 70 shops across the country. ALL BECAUSE OF ETSY! I would NEVER have thought I could sell my art if I hadn't stumbled upon Etsy!
Did you ever have, along the way, a fear of success?
Oh my gosh, it's unreal how much fear can drive me if I let it. Fear of raising prices - "but what if they stop liking me? What if they all stop buying?" Fear of looking stupid - "they (who are these 'they' anyway) are going to think that's the dumbest saying. They'll know I don't know how to draw." Fear of the future - "Well, sure, the first batch of LadyBirds was a success, but what are you gonna do next, Allison? What if I'm a one hit wonder"
Fear - yeah, I think we all have it. F**k it! (I'm so classy sometimes.)
Do you sell the same things you did 2 years ago?
eep! That is the hardest thing of all, Debby! Remember, I don't really know what I'm doing - I'm not a marketing professional AT ALL! So, I have gotten rid of some of the lesser sellers, and I still have some of the old standards. But I don't know if that's right or if it will chase off old customers who are sick and tired of seeing that we're all perfectly imperfect!
I'm definitely my own bird... I feel like I'm sort of finding my style as I go. I think one mistake I made earlier is to focus too much on the business and not enough on the art. I hope I'm improving in that area (she says while typing on the computer and not painting)!
How do you keep the various balances balanced - work & promotion, generosity & business privacy?
I learned that one the hard way! A few years ago I was insanely into scrapbooking, and writing articles and designing pages for the industry, and I do emphasize the 'insane'. Thankfully my marriage stayed intact, and I wised up, and my number one priority is to keep family before Etsy. Man, that's hard though, and if you heard my ten year old sometimes you'd know I don't have it right yet. "Mom, you're always on the computer!"
Can I ask how long it took before you found your niche? You have such lovely quirky designs!
Thank you, Pease! I think I'm still finding and refinding and redefining my niche! I think that once I started to see that my customer is essentially me - 50, a woman, probably a mom, introspective, a little crazy, nuts for animals... then I realized that that knowledge could help me with marketing and creating new designs and stuff. It's kinda simplistic, but true.
What was the biggest business mistake you ever made when you first opened your store?
Oooh, do I have a few! Mostly they have to do with supplies (anyone want 50 pounds of solder?)... either buying too much (see previous) or not buying enough at a time... I also wish I'd started a newsletter from day one - kinda missed the boat on that one. The fear thing comes into it too... should I buy more than ten shipping envelopes? What if no one buys from me anymore? What else... I don't know if this counts as a mistake per se, but I think it's important to keep evolving, so I have pressure on me to come up with something new!
Do you get burned out?
Yes I do sometimes, but I confess this Etsy ride has lasted a long time without getting to be too burnout-ish. When I do get sick of it I take a bit of time off, and then try to get back to the basics... the art of what I do, as opposed to the businessey part. That helps!
Did you sell online before you came to Etsy? Did you sell elsewhere? Did you bring some customers WITH you to Etsy?
Oh, that's the best part of my Etsy story! I had NO THOUGHT of even calling myself an artist, or of selling my work until I stumbled onto Etsy. So from that humble start, I'm so grateful to Etsy and the community here. If it weren't for you all, I wouldn't be who I am today - really - it's dramatic but true! All of my first sales were fellow sellers in the beginning... I'm not sure I had a 'buyer only' for quite a while! I'll always be grateful to EmotionalBaggage for her first purchase of one of my (hideously soldered but I didn't know that) pendants.
What one is your #1 peice of advice?
I suggest you do what YOU love. Make yourself happy somehow with this whole Etsy thing, even though it's fraught with the ups and downs that are so tough for our sensitive little artist souls. If you're not happy, do something different to make yourself happy. This whole thing is for you, right? Do different things until something succeeds ... didn't Edison do like 500 experiments until one worked? (exaggeration for effect...)
I am interested in how you got the word out about your shop?
For my first year or so I think Etsy was small enough that I got myself known simply by being in the forums and hanging out in the chat rooms and treasuries... Now, I rely on word of mouth (my favorite) and a few ads in blogs, and for my wholesale I advertise in Gift Shop magazine, as a coop thing with other wholesalecrafts.com artists. I am by no means an expert in advertising, having tried a few unsuccessful campaigns. I think mistakes that I've made are not having a recognizable branding of my work, having an ad that wasn't crisp and clear and short and to the point, and the worst culprit - advertising in unsuitable places. I've learned that if I don't like the online site, then my work won't be a good fit for their customers. Thanks in part to this thread, today I decided to be brave enough to take out an ad in Mary Englebreit's Home Companion mag - my biggest venture yet. Scarryyyyyyy....
How do you dedicate time to watching your shop, sending out newsletters, creating our crafts, talking on the phone, attending craft shows, eating, sleeping, etc?
Oooh, the all important question, Sista! As I said before, there was a big hunk of time when I forgot to do art, 'cause I was so busy trying to run a business - I think the balance is much better now. I've gotten MUCH more organized in the last year or so, and that has helped. One - buying the supplies that I use a lot in bigger quantities - that helps save on shipping, and also on spending time reordering. Since I print a lot of my own artwork, I made an investment in a bulk feeding ink system for my printer. The outlay of $ was a bit hefty, but I don't have to buy new ink cartridges every week anymore!
I also had to decide what's important, and what can keep. I tried the art show thing, and then realized that I really don't like it much. So I'm only doing that a tiny bit now. I'd see someone who's really successful at art fairs, and then I wanted to be them, and that would drain my energy. Then I'd see someone being successful at another aspect of the biz, and then I'd want to be THEM. Finally I figured out I gotta be me (hey, I oughta write a song).
Also, figure out what sucks the lifeblood and energy out of you, and fix it if possible. I talked earlier about fixing my shipping system, and that has made a HUGE difference in my happiness.
Finally, if necessary and if it works for you financially, get help. Get a housekeeper, or a shipping helper, or a babysitter, or whatever it takes to make it work. My kingdom for a minion!
How did you come up with your pricing formula?
Ooooh, that is a juicy one! When I started selling, I priced my pendants at 12 or 15 each, and was scared to death that no one would pay that much. (I'm sure they cost more than that to make, btw.) As the demand grew, I had to bump the prices up, and I remember debating and asking on the forums whether I should just do it, or tell everyone in advance. I ended up just raising the prices as needed, since I didn't want to seem blackmailish (buy it now, 'cause tomorrow it's going up!). Then, when I started wholesaling, I really had to adjust the prices. It was at that point that I realized that the price of my 20 dollar pendants was nowhere near realistic in the 'non-Etsy' world. In order for a brick and mortar retailer to purchase from an artist, especially one who sells online, they must be able purchase the items at less than half the price that they will be selling them for. So, I would have had to wholesale a 20 dollar pendant for 8 bucks, and it certainly cost more than that to make! That was the scariest part for me - making a leap in price. I was so sure that my customers would think I was a greedy gus, and that no one would buy from me anymore, and that they'd be laughing their ass off at my thinking I was good enough to charge so much.
Think of the it: - paint, solder, glass, cards, computer, printer, printer ink, printer paper, shipping stuff, business cards, postage, etsy expenses, paypal expenses, a small pittance for your work, your helper if you have one ... I don't have it figured out yet, or I'd be more profitable! For me to charge 5 bucks for a greeting card seems a tad pricey on Etsy, but the costs involved are hefty.
Oh, shipping is an interesting one. I don't know if this is the right way to operate, but for me, I charge what I consider a reasonable shipping/handling fee for the first item, and all subsequent items ship for the same price. My hope is that this system encourages purchase of multiple items, obviously, and although every once in a while it costs me more to ship than the customer paid (magnets are heavy), I think in the long run it's worthwhile. As a shopper, I hate paying a huge amount for shipping!
Allison, when you are doing craft fairs event, what type of credit card machine do you used or what is the best way to add a credit card services to your craft show events?
JB, I am a member of Propay, an online service that takes care of all my credit card needs. It was so scary when I first signed up, but truly it is such a no big deal thing. With Propay, I can take someone's cc # at a show (I handwrite it on a sales slip, from one of those $2 sales books you get at office depot). Then, at my convenience, I log on to Propay and enter the pertinent info - cc#, exp date, zip code, like that. It takes a day or two to process the transaction, and then I can transfer the $ to my bank account.
Oh, I should talk for a sec about finances. I'm not the best at keeping organized with money usually, so the best thing I EVER did from a tax paying point of view and a how much money am I making or losing point of view, was to open a separate credit card that I use only for business stuff. So, if I go to Michaels to get something, I only pay with that card. All my online purchases are made with that card - it just makes things so much easier. And I remember how professional I felt when I decided to get a credit card for business - just like a real business person! hee hee
Also, I opened up a separate checking account for my biz, so it's a little circle. Checking acct, credit cards (I buy as much as possible with cc and PAY IT ALL OFF EVERY MONTH), Propay and Paypal - all just for my business
Love to hear how you made it through the slow times...or didn't you have any?
Okay, here's the thing that I've learned, about me anyway. I totally and completely remember the first day that I was on Etsy, and found a seller with many thousands of hearts and hundreds of sales. (Might have even been blackapple!) I was so blown away by what I considered an astounding level of success - I literally could not imagine how anyone could do that. And now, although I definitely still get a THRILL at each and every sale, I'm not satisfied. There is no satisfied - there's just 'okay fine, I got that many sales, now how about that many plus ten?'
... hmmm... why did I bring that up... I guess 'cause of the mention of 'slow times' - yes, I definitely have slow times but even fast times aren't fast enough. Okay, how to deal with slow times. I remember littleput.etsy.com once sharing some of her tips, and one was to keep cranking out work during the slow times, kind of trusting in the fact that it is going to get busy later. So I try to follow her advice, and use that time to work on a new product, or some other NEW development. Also, that's the best time to stay away from the forums! I've sucked so much time out of my day during slow times by dawdling here - hee hee! It IS fun though!
Who is Allison Strine
I’m a wife, a daughter, a sister and a mommy, and mostly I’m one of the luckiest people on the face of this earth. It’s a bit ironic, considering the fact that for first 30-odd (and they were odd) years of my life all I wanted was to be someone else, anyone else. I never thought of myself as having a single creative bone; instead I delivered pizzas, worked with horses and later became a television editor.
If you’d told me five years ago that I’d become an artist, and create collages that actually speak volumes to people, and sell my work to lots of women all over the world, well… you better believe I would have thought you were crazy! I’m learning so much about myself during this phase of my life; chiefly that I really do have my own voice, and that lots of people feel the same way I do, and that that I’m not the only one to go the whole day without putting on a bra!
Related Links
Allison's Website and Blog
Allison's Etsy Shop
More Questions and Answers from Allison Strine on the Etsy Forums
Mixed Media on Wikipedia
