All Work And No Play

As many of you know I have a lot of irons in the fire. I own multiple Etsy shops, have a brick and mortar, I sale wholesale, run multiple websites and blogs, and I am a stone mason. Many times there are not enough hours in the day to get what needs to be done accomplished. I imagine many of you feel the same way.

I have written a couple of articles on time management. But it seems no matter how hard I try, something always falls through the cracks. Sometimes I have to weigh the options on what gets done and what doesn't. Many times, this blog is what gets sacrificed.

For the last two weeks I have been trying to get multiple orders done for one of my shops. During that time I had to drop writing here. I am going to try and start writing articles and scheduling them to be published each day so that this won't happen again. I would really like t5o know what you want to know. That would give me a better starting point for the next few articles.

Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com and let me know what you'd like to see me write about.

Busy Is As Busy Does...

Hello, everyone. I got super busy again. Sometimes it seems like feast or famine. I just got done with three very large orders and today I am starting a waterfall job. I am also a stone mason along with all the other things I do. So, I will try and write some useful information for you tomorrow.

In the meantime, I would like to know how your summer is going. Do your Etsy sales drop off in the summertime? When do you usually see sales picking back up? Leave a comment or drop me an email MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Share Your Etsy Shop!

Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. It always has been and always will be. We have not had a share your shop day in a while so let's do that today. If you have time, visit the shops and favorite them and add them to your circle.

Mine:

Market My Shop on Etsy Currently all I have is my nifty Facebook Advertising Guide but I am still working on several other items that will be added as soon as I have time to finish them.

Tangled Metal Shop on Etsy This is my shop where I sell chainmaille and steampunk jewelry, accessories and home decor.

Magpie Lane Supplies Here is where I sell a few supplies. Not a lot in here but a few findings,  chainmail rings and scrapbooking supplies.

At the time of writing this Etsy seems to be down. So, you may not be able to visit any stores. Keep trying, Etsy is working on it.

List your shop in the comments with a brief description and have a GREAT weekend!

Etsy Direct Shipping

Yesterday I went to my sold items to mark them as shipped after creating the labels from PayPal. Low and behold I noticed something I had not seen before. There is now an option for creating shipping labels directly from Etsy! Now, apparently not everyone has this option yet and I never received a notification about it.

This is their answer to shipping with Etsy Direct Checkout. I had already made my labels so I have no idea what the pricing is and if it is comparable to PayPal or the USPS site. Hopefully Etsy won't be trying to make money off the shipping any more than they already do with your final fees.

Here is how it looks to work. You create the postage and the cost gets added to your Etsy bill. I can see this being a huge problem for some people. Your Etsy bill could get pretty hefty. Though it should come in pretty handy for those orders made through Etsy Direct Checkout. Well, it saves a short amount of time anyway. I guess as with all things, only time will tell.

If you already have this feature and are using it,  I would like to hear what your experiences are. Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

The Myth Of Overnight Success

Success does not usually happen overnight. In fact, it can often times take years to reach. The hardest part about success is measuring what you think is successful. For some it is one sale a week and for others it is multiple sales per day. What is it for you?

For me, a sale a day is my daily goal. It does not happen every day, but it does often times average out to a sale a day when looked at over a month or two. There are days that I do not make a sale and there are days when I make multiple sales.

You have to look at the big picture. Where do you want to be in six months, a year, five years, etc. Then you need to come up with a road map to each of your goals. If your goal is to double your shop inventory in six months and you have 100 items in your shop, it is unlikely that you will meet that goal overnight. You'll probably want to set goals of adding 10 to 20 items a month for the next six months.

The harder you work, the luckier you'll get! Do you have a success story that you'd like to share? Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Better Customer Service

A few years ago I was the Director of Operations for a software training firm. Part of my job was to train our trainers to be the best that they could be. Another part of my job was to come up with new subjects to train outside of just software use. The one subject that I was most happy with was a four hour course on better customer service.

I wish I still had a copy of the training manual because not much has changed over the years when it comes to customer service. The customer is not always right contrary to the old saying. The customer is always the customer though. Sometimes you have to go the extra mile to turn your customer into a repeat customer.

Here are a few tips that can help convert them into long time customers:

1. Be prompt in all replies whether it be in email or phone. Nothing says you car like replying to an email within minutes or hours of the initial contact. Worst case scenario don't let more than 24 hours go by.

2. Be polite NO MATTER the customer's attitude. Some people wait until they have stewed for hours or days before contacting you. They may not be very nice in their email or phone call. It is your job to remain calm and polite.

3. Listen to what they have to say. Sometimes there isn't really anything you can do but listen to their problem. Listening to them will let you know what their problems actually are. This goes for reading the entire email a couple of times before hitting reply.

4. Always respond in the positive. You want to do your best to not add to the negativity. You want to always try and put a positive spin on everything.

5. Offer solutions that work for all parties involved. The solution may very well be a full refund. It might also mean a redesign of a product. If you need time to process and respond, don't be afraid to let your customer know that you need time to figure it out. Just do not let time get away from you.

I hope that will help you a little. Let me know what your experiences are with your customers. Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

What Brought You To Etsy?

I have been on Etsy for just a little over a year now (16 months to be exact) with my Tangled Metal Chainmail and Steampunk Jewelry and Accessories. I was introduced to Etsy by my girlfriend who had just started selling there. She had been a long time eBay seller and was looking for something a little different.

I was working as the Special Events Director for an advertising company. I had all but quit the life of Renaissance Faires and Art shows to settle into a day job. Little did I know I was destined to pick the pliers back up! After being laid off due to changes in management I decided I did not want to continue with the 9 to 5 (for me it was more like 7 to 7) and I started making chainmail again.

I had sold online before with my own website and was not excited about trying all of that out again but I took the plunge. I read everything I could find about Etsy. I experimented with all kinds of SEO. Many experiments were great failures in what NOT to do. I had a couple of arguments with staff members at Etsy. I even had a hand in changing the relevancy search. Etsy used to only want single word tags but I and others helped convince them that was NOT the way people searched for items on Etsy.

I have been enjoying a lifestyle of not working for the man. Though, my 9 to 5 has become 24/7. At least I really enjoy what I do. Out of a desire to help people not make the same mistakes I have made, I decided to start this blog. The rest, as they say, is history.

What is your story? How did you come to Etsy? I would really like to know. Leave a comment with your story or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Etsy Back To School Sales

It seems school starts earlier and earlier each year. I remember when I was a kid it started in September. Now it seems that most schools start in Mid-August. Now is the time to start your Back To School Sales! Remember that it isn't just elementary and high school about to start back up, it is also college.

I generally offer a percentage discount though an Etsy coupon code. Some people offer free shipping on their orders. The choice is up to you but be sure to take advantage of it. Put "Back To School" in your tags and titles on items that are specifically for school.

Oh, and don't forget the teachers! They are going back to school as well! So, if you have items that would look great on a classroom wall or a teacher's desk, there is another opportunity for you. I hope your Back To School Sales are the best they have ever been. Don't forget Halloween is just around the corner so you may want to dust off a few of your items...

Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com I would love to hear what you have to say.

As always, my blog is 100% free. People ask me all the time why I do this. When I started Etsy there just wasn't all that much info out there to help me figure it all our. Etsy tends to make their instructions difficult to follow. I wanted to be able to help others by making things easier to understand.

People also ask how I make enough money doing this. The honest answer is I don't. I do sell a Facebook Advertising Guide in my Market My Shop Etsy Shop. I also do a little consulting on a one one one basis. If you are getting something out of this blog and you'd like to 'buy me a drink' or say 'thank you' you can send a gift through PayPal using my email: MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Meeting Your Goals

Early last month I set a goal for myself. My goal was to have 400 items in my Tangled Metal Etsy Shop. Yesterday at 3:30pm I listed item number 400. It wasn't easy but I made it happen. You have to have a 'make it happen' attitude if you want to meet your goals.

When setting your goals be sure to make your goals reasonable. Do not set a goal that you cannot reach. It will only bring disappointments. Make sure to make your goals specific. Saying 'my goal is to make a lot of money' is very vague and hard to track. A goal of making $500 in the month of August is a specific goal that can be measured.

I have a new goal to have 650 items in my shop by October 1st. I think it is a reasonable goal. I would like to hear about your goals and how you managed to meet them or why you didn't. Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

As always, my blog is 100% free. People ask me all the time why I do this. When I started Etsy there just wasn't all that much info out there to help me figure it all our. Etsy tends to make their instructions difficult to follow. I wanted to be able to help others by making things easier to understand.

People also ask how I make enough money doing this. The honest answer is I don't. I do sell a Facebook Advertising Guide in my Market My Shop Etsy Shop. I also do a little consulting on a one one one basis. If you are getting something out of this blog and you'd like to 'buy me a drink' or say 'thank you' you can send a gift through PayPal using my email: MarketMyShop@gmail.com