Making that first sale

At least I know that I'm not all alone out there. I've been on Etsy for a little over 4 months now and not a sale in sight for me. Not that I'm complaining. I'm not, really. I know it will happen soon. I'm confident in my products and in my marketing plan, low key as it is so far.

At the moment I’m just pleased to gain another heart for my shops or individual items and ecstatic for the increase in traffic to my shops. It helps that there are others out there in Etsyland (like the creator of the Etsy Item That caught my Eye, Amethyst Bonsai Pendant) waiting for their first sale. Reading entries in the Forums from these talented artists and participating in Newbie Labs, gives me the feeling that I’m not alone out there.

Plus each new view of the Lady Bug ATC or the Electric 3rd in series Photograph in my two shops; brings me one view closer to that fateful first sale.

Am I aiming too low? Should I be more worried about being sale-less? With the holiday season in the crosshairs should I be more active in my marketing strategies more of a barracuda with flogging my stuff? I guess I’ll be more capable of answering that question next year. I have grand plans for the next holiday season and expansions in my creative output all mapped out…

OK there aren’t any maps, just a light pencil sketch on the back of a take out menu. Ok I wrote them on the palm of my hand in ballpoint (stupid sweaty hands!) but I have plans. Holiday ornaments, 3D decorative items, stacks and stacks of holiday greeting cards all hand stitched or embellished with seed beads for that unique touch. Yup, big, big plans, and I’ll even follow through on some of them too.

This year my inventory is a little on the small side. My plans for holiday ornaments were derailed by lack of funds (who knew that having a baby would be so expensive? And do they really need to grow like that? I mean all of her pants just keep shrinking up past the ankles and she’s too young to be made fun of for wearing floods….) again I digress. Where was I? Oh yeah, lack of funds. And finding a reasonable supplier for some of the brainstorms I’ve had, turned out to be more difficult than expected. And the health scare at the end of August kind pf put a damper on things too.

Health scare you ask? Nothing to get worked up about. It turned out to be nothing serious but that’s a topic for another day.

So with one thing and another I’m moving slow, working on climbing up the learning curve and putting myself out there a little at a time. As I get more comfortable and confident I’ll increase the effort, but this year is all about the seeing what’s what and tucking that knowledge away for next year. For now I’m just moving one view at a time until I make that first sale.

Oh look someone new just hearted my shop!