i don't think that you HAVE to have 100 items...also depending on the item that you make, it could take a long or short time to make 100 items. if you have a larger number of items there is more possibility of them being found i guess, technically, but alot of that has to do with how you promote your items....if i find that there are some items i've made that people seem to favorite often, if i keep relisting them, i get more views and hearts and sometimes sales follow that, sometimes not, but if i'm relisting those same items, i'm not doing anything with some other items, so it wouldn't seem to matter much that i have 100 or if i have 20..if those 20 items are well-photographed and draw people in and is something unique that the customer could really say, "wow i couldn't find this anywhere else done in this way", that is the key i think...and then just keep coming up with new items occasionally that are similar in theme to the ones that people seem to like alot, view alot, favorite alot, and then keep branching out too, trying new designs, etc...
one thing i heard at the etsy success symposium last winter that i think is really true is, are you making what YOU like, or what OTHER PEOPLE like? and you have to decide that....is it important for you that you're making what YOU enjoy making, even if that isn't a popular seller? or is it important to you to notice what others like and respond to that? There are extremes, you know, on one end, it wouldn't be any fun to be a one-person factory, making the same popular item over and over because it keeps selling, and it would be silly to make a whole shop full of things that no one but you seems to like, but there is a middle ground to be found.
