Word of Encouragement

Happy Sunday Etsy Little Rock!

I just addressed this issue with a fellow Etsy Little Rock team member and I know this has been an issue for many of us, "I've been open for x amount of months (years, etc.) and I have had no sales/few sales,

 etc."

Please know this, I've been open for almost 2 and 1/2 years and I average under 1 sale per month, so - I'm right there with you! Hopefully in this community we can network through each other (especially with local events) and we can also glean some wisdom from some of our team members (there is a good number of them, so encouraging!) who have quit their day jobs and do Etsy full time - super successful and super inspiring. Please know, I spoke with one of these successful members and they reassured me it didn't come easy - a lot of blood, sweat and many, many tears.

One thing to consider is to get involved! Get involved with this community. Attend the labs (we had our first last week and Elizabeth Clements will be coordinating more in the weeks and months to come) and help out the community as we are creating items to sell for our community fundraising endeavors. Create treasuries - promote others. I find in helping others, we help ourselves. (Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.)

My words of encouragement to the fellow Etsian I was speaking of are this (and to you too if you are facing the same challenge):

Don't give up hope! Just realize this: there is something for everyone on Etsy. I don't do well locally, but I do well on each coast, Canada, Asia and Europe. I create stuff I love and if it sells, it does, if not, oh well. But let me tell you this... if there are people who love items made from fingernail clippings, human hair and belly button fuzz (I'm not joking: That Woman Makes Crazy Art by Rachel Betty Case, here's an example http://www.etsy.com/listing/37901028/human-ivory-large-pendant-bug) on Etsy - we too have an audience - they just have to find us!

I think (I could be wrong) getting found/discovered is half the battle. There are millions of Etsy shops and we have to advertise our items and shops and network to get some attention and gain an audience.

If you have some advice to offer to this, please do - we hopefully can all help one another!

All the best!

* "Human ivory" (in the pictured link) is what she calls finger-nail clippings.

She's done really well and her work has been featured in Contemporary Sculpture, National Geographic Kids magazine, Newsweek, OwlKids magazine, newspapers and radio stations around the world (such as Sweden, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.) and in her local newspapers.

Etsy offers something for everyone!