This is the fifth in a series of interviews with Etsy entrepreneurs.

Karen is part of the ever growing community of handmade artisans who are making a real living on Etsy. Not only is Karen a shop owner, but her husband and daughter are also shop owners with her son working behind the scenes as an important part of the team. Karen and her family have been selling on Etsy since October 2007, and have been Full Time Etsy Sellers since July 2009. The family calls Livingston, TX, their home, but they have a house near Rolla, Missouri and still manage to spend as much time as they can traveling in their other home, a 40 foot RV. The kids are homeschooled, and always have been. They love being homeschooled and all the great opportunities that they have been given!!! In this interview, learn how Karen and her family began with one Etsy shop that has now grown into four Etsy shops.

What brought you to become an Etsy shop owner?

A friend knew we were selling jewelry at local craft shows and she suggested we try Etsy. This was 2 1/2 years ago and we had not heard of it at that point. We took a look and thought it was a good fit for our product, and it was very accessible, meaning, at that point we did not have any on line blogging, social networking or any on line selling experience. I had experience buying on line from Amazon and had a PayPal account. That was it. But, even with only that, we found that it was easy to set up our shop on Etsy. We even had our first sale on that very first day!

How do you market your business?

I utilize social networking, blogging, promotions on our site, handing out freebies at craft shows, word of mouth.

How has social networking helped your business?

Social networking has helped in two ways. First, we use it to stay connected with other shop keepers. It is great for sharing information and also to have a sense of community. Second, it helps us to promote our sales and new offerings to both existing and prospective customers.

What have you found works best for your store?

We use Twitter and Facebook. I have a personal and a fan page on Facebook, with the Fan page linked to Twitter. I usually list each new creation on our fan page and then it goes to Twitter automatically. I have over 5000 followers on Twitter and I try to spend some time every day chatting, retweeting good quotes, and mentioning some of new/sale items. I retweet other’s sales and neat handmade creations too. Both, Twitter and FB definitely drive traffic, AND sales. Night before last, I posted some new red earrings on Flickr and then tweeted about them with a link to the Flickr pic. I immediately got a tweet asking how much they were. I tweeted back the price and she went and bought them. It was her first Etsy transaction. Yoohoo!

What is your favorite part of being an Etsy store owner?
It allows our family to work together, to have a creative outlet, and educational experience for the kids (they are homeschooled). Being a part of Etsy means that we are a part of a worldwide community of artisans. That’s fabulous!

What are some of the ways that you find Etsy helps in your success as a store owner?

When we stared on Etsy, we hadn’t know about it before a few weeks prior and when we would mention to friends or customers at a craft show that we had an “Etsy Shop” they would ask about it as they didn’t know what that was. NOW, and for about the past 8 months, when we say we have an “Etsy Shop” the response is,”Oh cool! I will check you out there” or “My Mom has an Etsy shop too”. And, I have seen Etsy shops in mainstream magazines like Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest and Ready Made. They are branding “handmade” in a whole new way. It’s no longer cutsie, country craft stuff, but cutting edge artisan made creations.

What advice would you give new Etsians just starting out?

Make something that you love, something that you really believe in and the rest is just hard work.

How did you come up with your shop name?

We are an un-common family…so it’s a play on that.

How do you brand yourself to make your shop unique?

We offer unique and colorful interpretations of traditional chainmaille.

Do you feel a sense of community among the Etsy shop owners?
Absolutely! And, we belong to several teams where we have many very good friends and a great support group.

How do you connect with your buyers?

We hand sew envelopes, hand sign the invoice, include a thank-you gift or gift wrap…and well, you will have to buy something to see what else!

For more information on Karen and her family’s Etsy shops visit:

http://unkamengifts.etsy.com/ – Sells unique and colorful chainmaille
jewelry and modern jewelry.

http://unkamensupplies.etsy.com/ – Quality hand crafted supplies for jewelry.

http://favmoongirl.etsy.com/ – Sells funky chainmaille and unique creations.

http://unkamenkeychains.etsy.com/ – Sells KEYCHAINS and Accessories

Their main website at http://unkamengifts.com/

Follow Karen on Twitter: http://twitter.com/unkamengifts

Become a Facebook Fan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/UnkamenGifts/269222395062

Julie Barnes is the author is this post. Julie is excited to be living in Generation E – the age of the Entrepreneur. As a writer, she enjoys writing about all aspects of the entrepreneur journey. She enjoys interviewing entrepreneurs whose experience and wisdom can inspire others to follow their entrepreneurial dreams. Julie lives and works in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, KS with her husband Ron and lovable dog Hank. You can visit her site at www.julieabarnes.com. Follow Julie on Twitter at @JulieBarnesKS. Become a Facebook friend at Julie Barnes.