This is the ninth in a series of interviews with Etsy entrepreneurs.
After pounding the pavement trying to get her line of pillows into brick and mortar shops, Julia Duncan-Roitman decided that the time and money did not balance out. Julia found the perfect solution in an Etsy shop. In this interview, learn how Julia opened Pink Baby Mouse Shop, where which sells her unique line of cone dog pillows.
What brought you to become an Etsy shop owner?
I had a few false starts creating my own line and trying to sell it wholesale and consignment through pounding the pavement hitting up brick and mortar shops. I could never make the time and money balance out between the design, production, marketing and selling all by myself. Etsy is the perfect solution; I make things to order and sell directly to customers totally cutting out the process of dealing with stores. I also sell to stores wholesale directly from my site. They find me; I don’t have to go to them.
How do you market your business?
That is another advantage of Etsy, they do most of the marketing for me! People come across my pillows because of the tags that I use for my items, sometimes my items make it to the front page where I get thousands of views, other Etsians include my items in treasuries, the Etsy Storque blog has featured my pillows and they have been featured in gift guides. Bloggers include my pillows in their posts through finding them on Etsy. Last year Heather Armstrong put my cone dog pillow in her 2008 holiday gift guide on www.dooce.com and really jump-started my whole business. At the time I had only sold a couple of pillows and was just making them as a hobby. All of a sudden my store was completely sold out; I re-listed the items and they sold out again and again and again. Within 2 days I had to figure out pillow and fabric wholesalers and a shipping solution. I am also a member of the New New York Etsy Street Team and we have a blog, Facebook page and hold sales events twice a year.
How has social networking helped your business? What have you found works best for your store?
I always post my new items on my Facebook page and on twitter. Friends and members of my street team re-tweet my posts and I for them, to expand viewership. I do get sales this way but I always feel kind of weird selling to friends and family, I always try to give them the item for free and then they refuse, etc. It’s kind of awkward; I prefer selling to strangers.
What is your favorite part of being an Etsy store owner?
I enjoy working totally on my own terms. I set my price, deal directly with my customers and design completely to my own aesthetic. I can experiment and make one of a kind items, so I don’t get bored. I also love working on the Internet; I’m not very good at “selling myself” in person but I can write decent copy and take decent photos of my work.
What are some of the ways that you find Etsy helps in your success as a store owner?
Etsy has been so supportive of me. My first sale was from an Etsy staff member and as I mentioned above they regularly include me in their gift guides, blog articles and treasuries. They even brought my pillows on a segment of LXTV on WNBC in December. I did holiday art show with them in December and I met lots of the staff and they were all so nice and eager to learn how they could improve the site.
What advice would you give new Etsians just starting out?
One of the draw backs of Etsy is the dearth of items one has to weed through in order to buy or sell successfully. I think you need to have a distinct point of view and really form a strong identity so that you stand out. I am known for my cone dog pillows. It’s weird but it’s distinct.
How did you come up with your shop name?
Pink Baby Mouse Shop comes from my first job, which was breeding mice and selling the babies back to the pet store. I would get ten cents per baby mouse.
How do you brand yourself to make your shop unique?
It never occurred to me to brand myself but I try to stay consistent in my design aesthetic, simple bold graphic, colorful, whimsical, funny off-beat. I think this is what makes my pieces recognizable and unique.
Do you feel a sense of community among the Etsy shop owners?
Definitely amongst the members of my Etsy street team. In fact, I am about four months away from opening up my own brick and mortar shop in Brooklyn and I am using my fellow New New York Etsy teammates as vendors in my shop. Some of them will be collaborating with me in designing and producing unique items for the shop and some of them will be my wholesalers. I can spend hours looking through the shops on Etsy; there are some amazing items for sale, it’s very inspiring. Fellow Etsians are very supportive of one another; I have done trades with several of them.
How do you connect with your buyers?
I don’t get too much into that; I used to do a hand written thank you note with every purchase but it felt a little desperate. I now package my pillows as professionally as possible in a cellophane sleeve with a printed hang- tag and thank you note with my logo designed and produced by a fellow Etsian.
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 entrepreneurial 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, lovable dog Hank, and sweet kitten Sammy. You can visit her site at www.julieabarnes.com. Follow Julie on Twitter at @JulieBarnesKS. Become a Facebook friend at Julie Barnes.
