This is how I made $134,000 my first year on Etsy (Start NOW)

About this video

The creator recounts how she says she made $134,000 in revenue in her first year on Etsy — a year in which she got married, moved to a new state, got pregnant, and turned down two corporate job offers — and distills five lessons. First, do not start casually: she posted one listing with one photo of a wedding product she did not have on hand, forgot the shop, and scrambled when it sold two months later; she urges attacking Etsy like a business from day one because, she says, the first 30 to 45 days bring a boost from Etsy. By driving free traffic via Facebook and Craigslist at volume, she says she was hitting over $10,000 a month by month four, then applied principles from her corporate e-commerce career. Second, build as many bestseller-badge listings as possible and rapidly expand the product mix, repositioning the same product for different customers and occasions — her example is a personalized tumbler aimed at teachers for Q4 gifting, then bridesmaids in Q1 and Q2, then graduates, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. Third, sell what customers want rather than only what you like, emotionally detaching from the product. Fourth, get a spouse or partner on board but learn to operate every area yourself: her husband, active duty Navy, first cut their wooden letters and learned their laser, and she filmed him teaching her to troubleshoot it the night before a roughly 6-month deployment. Fifth, pair a proven plan with an unstoppable mentality and bet on yourself.

Key takeaways

• Treat Etsy as a business from day one rather than starting casually, because she says the first 30 to 45 days carry an Etsy boost and a slow start may mean starting a new shop.
• Chase multiple bestseller-badge listings instead of growing one product linearly: expand the product mix rapidly once something works.
• Reposition one product for different customers and seasons — e.g., the same personalized tumbler for teachers at Christmas, bridesmaids, graduates, and Mother’s Day/Father’s Day buyers.
• Sell what customers want, not only what you like; she says detaching emotionally from the product was huge in taking her business beyond $10,000 per month.
• Learn to personally operate every part of the business even with a partner’s help, as she had to learn the laser and its software before her husband’s deployment.

Episode details: published March 11, 2024 · 8:16 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dylan Jahraus’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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