2019 was kind of a crossroads year for me – I seem to have those happen every ten years or so! My job was no longer satisfying, I felt trapped, I didn’t know what to do next..the decision to leave my job as an Executive Chef didn’t feel like it was my decision at the time, but on a sub-conscious level it certainly was. I didn’t realize I had become so unhappy, but the lifestyle I had as a Chef with a husband that worked at sea was just not working for us at all anymore. So there I was, not quite sure what to do next.
And then it happened. Cha-ching!
People familiar with the Etsy selling platform will know what that is – my phone made that noise one evening just weeks after leaving my place of work, and I thought “what’s that sound??”. I checked my phone, and there it was, I had made my first Etsy sale!
To back-track a little bit – a year prior I was bound and determined to design a pattern to sell on Etsy, not realizing what a time consuming challenge it would be! I worked every spare moment on it, I wrote up very detailed instructions, I hand-drew the pattern pieces, I double and triple checked my work, and I FINALLY posted it on Etsy. I had no idea about titles and tags, search engine optimization, taking photos, etc. I just made the listing and thought, it’s brilliant, it’s gonna sell like crazy!!!
And then NOTHING happened. I kind of forgot about it because I got very busy with work, and kept thinking I should go back and see where I went wrong with my listing. Finally, like a year later I took a few moments and read a blog post regarding how to get your Etsy listings noticed – I absorbed that information, went back into my listing and did a few modifications. I soon forgot about it again.
Until I heard that first “cha-ching“..it was a woman in the States, I have no idea how she found me, it literally was the only listing in my shop, I had zero sales, zero reviews (I’m guessing she felt sorry for me) and she went ahead and purchased it and left me a nice review! It was an incredible feeling! So I turned to my husband and told him I thought I wanted to focus on this Etsy shop for a little big and see what I could make of it..
I got to work on my second pattern, and I feel like it had just been posted for a few days when I got my second “cha-ching” from the same woman buying that pattern too!! Funny thing – I haven’t come across her again..I know she’s out there in Etsy land, and I do like to refer to her as my German Angel (because despite living in the states she is German, I creeped her online, just a little bit) – and she’s what gave me the encouragement to keep going! She has no idea what that little purchase she made for eight dollars meant to me.
So I’ve learned a ton this first year, I made more sales and connections than I could’ve hoped for! I have a million ideas for patterns and items for my little shop, as well as blog content for this new website I decided to tackle..so 2020 may have sucked (however I’m fully aware it would’ve sucked SO much more if I had been stuck in a restaurant kitchen for most of it), but for me I have lots of growth in store for Prim Heirloom Designs! I just need to figure out this blogging/website thing first…