Finding more time to MAKE and CREATE

[Former_Member]

Hi Folks!

I'm Brittany, a member of Etsy's Research team, and am hoping to talk with some of the Etsy Success members today.

I'd love to hear more from those of you who would prefer to spend a greater percentage of your time making or creating. For example, maybe you're a seamstress and love sewing, but aren't as excited about day to day shop management. Maybe your ideal end product is just the act of creating, so designing and marketing finished products feels less exhilarating.

Anyone with thoughts on this topic?

Thanks in advance for the candor - always love to hear honest feedback from the seller community.

[TooSplendidSupplies]

I plan, one day, to be able to pay someone else to create listings, manage keyword research, photo, photo edit, and do all of my accounting. I will probably always be involved in pricing, since it's such a subjective subject.

I enjoy shopping, packaging, and making jewelry / other beaded items. I love designing new products and coming up with new product lines.

I only have so much time and so much of it is devoted to listing that I've barely listed anything in my jewelry shop, since the items in this shop take less time to list for a higher quantity of items to be available.

[MuttsnBones]

I love creating. I have a ton of ideas in my idea book but one new item means taking pictures, editing pics, creating listings, and hitting up social networks/ teams/ other sites to promote that listing. Unfortunately I can't afford to hire anyone since I need all the income I can take in and less overhead.

[maydaylabels]

Streamlining both production and all the extra parts of running a business (customer service, shipping, product development, marketing, resourcing materials, etc.) is something we work on constantly - the more streamlined everything can be, the more time I have to do the parts of the business I really love :)

Etsy itself has really made some significant improvements in the last couple of years that help with this, and taking advantage of everything we can that Etsy offers (what works for us, at least) has been beneficial.

Saved Snippets, for instance, makes routine convos go a lot faster; this leaves me time to answer in detail convos that require complicated answers.

Etsy Shipping Labels saves us a huge (huge!) amount of time - I almost can't believe that when we started, we were shipping labels with stamps and handwriting the addresses! We got a Dymo, raised shipping $1 to cover First Class package rate (no one seemed to mind since shipping now includes tracking), and now shipping takes probably 1/4 the time it used to, or less - plus, since it's tracked, there are many fewer lost packages and inquiries about arrival times.

Promoted Listings takes care of all the marketing our shop can handle at the moment.

Being able to create custom orders right from convos saves us a ton of time setting up individual custom orders, and keeps the shop clear of clutter. Similarly, we don't have to make nearly as many custom orders as we did when we started because of variations with pricing included (we use variations in almost every listing, very efficient).

Expedited shipping options in the cart keep us from having to invoice separately for Priority or Express (huge timesaver); though it was better when customers could see these options, and the combined shipping costs, in the item listing.

Etsy doesn't take photos for you and I am a generally crap photographer, so I finally saved up and invested in product photography (just a few items at a time; half the shop is still my photography, but I'm getting there). It's a relief to create a new listing and know I don't have to spend 2 hours photographing and editing and rephotographing and cursing at the camera and etc. I actually list a lot more new items this way because I don't have to worry about taking the time to photograph.


Still, I don't have as much time for product development (which I *love*) and we're constantly on the verge of falling behind - one moderate illness and we're kaput. We've hired some part time help and that is good, but after Christmas I think we'll have to rethink how to organize the business to make things run more smoothly.

[CozyDawg]

I actually like that I have to do photography, marketing, shipping, procurement and accounting. I physically can't sit in one spot sewing all day and having all these other things to do helps break that up.

[Former_Member]

I actually love marketing and taking photos! I would, however, like to do less of the tags and things, but I do enjoy it :P

[JewelMeShop]

I love taking photos and promote my items. It's something new for me. The problem is that since I'm not familiar with that I consume lot of time. Maybe one day I can afford to hire a person make that for me and focus on creating.
Overall, even when you hire people for specific tasks it's important to know how much work and time it takes.

[WilliamsGiftshop]

I think most Etsy sellers of handmade products would love to spend less time on their shop's listings and on promoting and more time on actually creating.

I think we all would love for Etsy to spend more time and money on the visibility of our shops!
After all, it feels like it is OUR job to promote Etsy. It shouldn't be.

[Former_Member]

Hi Melissa,
Sounds like you have a unique set of challenges as a supplies seller and a jewelry seller. Thanks for brining this up!

[Former_Member · Accepted solution]

Hey everyone - thanks so much for your ideas. interesting to hear from folks who enjoy the marketing and promotion side vs. those who feel it's more of a chore. I appreciate you taking the time to share this feedback, and will reach back out to you all for follow up if we decide to dive deeper into this space. Thank you!

[SpangGangDesigns]

It would save me time if I was able to list a quantity available within each variation of a product. This would greatly reduce my time in separating listing and continuously changing quantities to reflect my inventory.

[CozyDawg]

Yes, we need inventory for different variations!

[Former_Member]

Creating is more fun because printing things off don't really count as 'making'! Getting out and taking photos is so much more interesting than making.

[PETCREATIONSBYJANE]

I love the creating and designing. Promoting and Marketing, I still feel like a fish out of water but thanks to the Teams I am finally gaining momentum, My production staff (me) is so far behind my ideas the I keep threatening to fire her!!

[Former_Member]

I am three years into my etsy shop now...and to be honest.
I feel like a split personality, there is the Boss and there is the Artist(not to mention the other hats).
The artist wants to do nothing but create and will go off on tangents hours on end can endlessly play with the melted glass...or refuses do any torching at all and pouts. Mood isnt right!
The boss keeps it in line, Boss covers the morning hours... the coffee photos, listing, advertising, customer relations, shipping, makes to do to lists for the artist as she forgets between the computer and the studio. Artist has afternoon,(till kids home then it's mom's turn) and after dinner till bed. Thou boss has to yell sometimes to stop making this and make that...customer wants n ordered that!

I have a horrible mean boss.... (it's the artist turn atm)

Not really what you asked but..sharing anyway. Guess to answer to actual Q, strict scheduled..really habit now. I create every day and I list everyday, every time I list I advertise on etc sites .... and I have the times to do both worked out its not fuzzy.