7 reasons to open an ETSY shop

Hello again!

First of all I would like to thank all of you who sent me positive comments about my first blog post. I am glad that some of you have found it useful and your feedback gives me the encouragement and the enthusiasm to continue!

During the past days I received several messages from people who are seriously considering, or are in the process of, staring a new crafts business - and I noticed that, as with many other things in life, the most difficult part is to actually START. 

"When you stand at the edge, 

and decide to take the leap, 

you must believe in one of two things: 

either there will be soft ground to stand on; 

or you will be given wings to fly!"

I am sure you will agree, the most difficult part is to start! Once you start, you will find all the things you will need - the necessary clarity, motivation, guidance, assistance, tools, focus and will. 

So, to help you with your final decision to START, let's go through some of the top reasons why you SHOULD open an Etsy shop.

#1: You have nothing to lose

All you need are some of your hand-made items (or vintage), a camera or a smart phone with a good camera, and a couple of hours to create your profile. You can even start earning before you start paying fees (Make sure you use the link for the 40 free listings I mentioned in the first blog post - or scroll down to the bottom)

#2: You can easily sell worldwide

My very first customer was from the USA, and my second from Australia. I have found that if people fall in love with your item, they are ready to pay for a reasonable postage price. You just need a digital scale and you can verify online how much it would cost to send your items to any country in the world, depending on their weight. Go to maltapost.com - Postage Rate Calculator. And make sure to include the cost of your packaging.

#3: Make money while you sleep

Having an online shop means that your business is working for you all the time... while you are cooking, running errands of even sleeping. In fact the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is to check whether I have new orders, since I have customers from the other zone of the world who shop while I sleep! 

#4: Using Etsy is super easy

You dont have to be a computer geek to learn how to use Etsy. It is very easy and pretty straight-forward. The way the system is set up makes it easy for anyone to use. And should you have a difficulty, there is a dedicated Etsy Help team who are very efficient and helpful. You can also choose to install the Etsy App on your phone.

#5: Be your own boss and work how many hours you want

Sometimes I spend a whole day on my Etsy account, some days just a few minutes. I can guarantee that there is always work to do with an Etsy online shop, but you get to decide when and how many hours a day you want to work. Obviously, the more time you dedicate to it, the more chances of sales. However, the most important thing is to process and deliver an order in due time. You get to choose the time you need to process an item for a client, but once you have established this, it is vital that you keep to that time frame. Nothing hurts more an online store than a bad review. 

#6: Do what you love most

If you are a creative person (and you most probably are since you are on this blog) you understand how important this is: do what you love most! I guess no explanation needed here :)

#7: Easily make extra income

Since there are no initial fees, and the commission rates that Etsy takes are very low, it is super easy to make extra income. You need to be careful how to price your items. First of all you need to make sure that you covered all your costs, including your own time in creating them. Then you need to decide on the profit you want to make. Keep in mind that what may feel expensive to you, may be felt as not expensive in other parts of the world, or vice versa, so you need to do a bit of research according to your target market. Just search for similar items on Etsy and study the selling price range. 

"Find out what you love doing most, 

and get someone to pay you for doing it!"

So, if you feel the spark and decide to go for it, click on this link now and it will take you to the Etsy website where you can start building your own shop, with the 40 free listings.

http://etsy.me/2q7dlsK

Don't forget to leave your comments about this post and suggestions about what you would like to read about in future posts.

Best of luck with your Etsy business!