In 2017 I set up my Etsy shop to sell cross stitch patterns that I had made. I had no real plan, no big ambition and made very little effort to any kind of marketing. I let it run its own course while I was stitching my various own projects and tutorials.
During the spring of 2018 I decided I was no longer going to let it sail its own course, I was going to make an effort to make more patterns. Hopefully people would like them and I would stop wasting lots of money on marketing through Etsy.
My goal was not to make money. I don’t look at this as a part time, and certainly not a full time, job. I have moments when the stitching and drawing bug disappears for months.
My goal was to break even.
I wanted all the money I poured into Etsy for Promoted listing to be paid for by the sales I made. And since the changes made in June to my listings, keyword strategies and changes to promoted listings I have luckily been successful. May was the last time I had to pay Etsy for anything, everything has been covered by my sales. Sometimes I even get 5+ dollars transfered to me at the end of the month because people like my patterns.
As always I try my best to keep my prices on the low side. This is not to undercut other designers or devalue my own work. I’m more interested to be affordable in a sense and hopefully inspire people to draw their own patterns the way they want them.
My plans for 2019 are the same as 2018. To continue making patterns and break even.
I hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year.
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