Oy Vey!
Well I was just sitting here on my butt doing nothing and all of a sudden realized that yesterday was my 1 year anniversary of being on Etsy (you can read why I started on Etsy HERE)! I know it's not really that big of a deal, but I can honestly say I'm just happy to still be going at it after so many months. I remember when I first opened shop and I ordered shipping envelopes. I bought a huge box... 230 envelopes (hey, it was a good deal!). I remember thinking at the time that I would just be happy if I even used 10 of the envelopes.I didn't actually list my first item until the 18th of December (I spent a few weeks lurking in the forums to learn as much as possible), and I was thrilled when I woke up on the 19th and saw a little "1 Sale" on my shop page. I had made my first sale in less than 24 hours! I'd read tons of stories in the forums about people who had waited months to get their first sale, so I'd been mentally preparing myself to have to wait a long time for my first sale, if I ever had one.
My first sale, to an extremely patient and kind customer:
I know people thought I was pretty silly for thinking I'd never get a sale, but I really am my own worst critic. I didn't think people would like my jewelry, or they would think it was too expensive (boy was I wrong about that... I had numerous people write to me on Etsy at first telling me I was too cheap!)Another shocker for me was how soon I got to the Front Page. On January 29th at 8am, I woke up, got on Etsy, and almost died. There was large amounts of jumping up and down, medium amounts of repeating "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh" over and over, and even a small amount of crying. Again, this is something that many Etsy users have waited months or years for. Click the image to see it full-size:
It did not transform me into a super-seller overnight, and I now think that being on the FP is somewhat overrated, but at the time I was over the moon.In my time on Etsy:
-I've made 186 sales. That's very close to an average of 1 sale every 2 days.
-I've been on the FP a total of 5 times. Check out my other features HERE.
-Two of the treasuries that I have created have also made it to the FP. Click HERE to see those.
I can't believe how well everything has gone. I'm so thankful for each and every one of my wonderful customers that have put their faith in me. Here's hoping that next year is even better!
