November Goals / October Lessons Learned

[#1]

Hi everyone!

It's that time again where we discuss our plans for the next month and rehash the tough lessons we've learned thusfar.

My Goals for November:
200 items in my shop
Blog regularly (at least 3 times a week)

Lessons Learned for October:
I've decided to stop making sales goals. I've been extremely sick most of the month, so that has taken away from my ability to add new items and work on my shop like I normally would. I would rather not have a specific sales goal to stress out about.

What about you all?

[TheSapphireTheory]

Have all my collection up & running (still waiting on photos from the photographer :( and have a WAY better month than October, my sales have slowed right down the last 3 months, though i guess there are so many etsy peeps selling headpieces now

[Former_Member]

-Get new product listed
-Try and get a headstart on made to order items, so it is just assembly when they are ordered
-Organize my office/studio space for more effective work.

[krochetlady]

November goals:
Make my own light box for photos
Improve photos
Make duplicates of my most popular items

October lessons learned:
Offer unique items at a reasonable price
Relax!

And to Natasha, instead of turning down request for items, have you considered referring the customer to another Etsy shop? I've referred customers to other Etsy shops when I didn't have time or the pattern for a special request. I even had someone return later and buy from me after I referred them elsewhere.

[Former_Member]

That is a great idea Wanda!

[krochetlady]

Thanks Amanda Jayne, Etsy is saturated with crochet/knit shops I don't mind sharing the love.... If someone gets a sale from my referral, then I'm happy.

[Former_Member]

My biggest goal this month is to get a solid shipping practice down. I just opened in September so it's been a learning experience as I figure out what the best and economical way to ship my items have been.
My items are all different shapes, sizes and weights so it's been difficult to pin down a general box size. I need to secure 2-3 box sizes that I can use for a majority of my items. I'm close.

[Former_Member]

I met my goals in October. I learned to not take too long of breaks between making more designs.

November goals:
Make more wreaths
Promote more
Order business cards

[Former_Member]

And to Natasha, instead of turning down request for items, have you considered referring the customer to another Etsy shop? I've referred customers to other Etsy shops when I didn't have time or the pattern for a special request. I even had someone return later and buy from me after I referred them elsewhere.
********************************************************************************
Wanda, that is exactly what I do, I find items similar to their requests and provide links. I know how to hook my fellow Etsians up. lol :)

[Former_Member]

October was incredibly great! I was very aware of my positivity and good spirits and did a really great job staying upbeat and going with the flow. This led me to numerous incredible situations in my life. Let me zone in on etsy now - I have let go of some things that weren't helping me be happy. I have stepped back a little. I keep making my beautiful pieces of art to share with the world and with the intention of someone wearing and sharing it with their world. I make items with love and positivity, then I list and share it, then I let go.

My goals for this month -
Blog a lot and share what I do and learn in my life with everyone interested.
Heal myself and heal others.
Keep doing my crafts because I love to make things.
Use up some of my yarn stash because it looks so fun and colorful and all of those yarns are soft and luscious!
Love myself. Be joyful. Prosper.
Do lots of lasagna gardening!

[Former_Member]

November Goals:
-Sell my first item!
-pursue the new product direction I've been thinking on for the last couple weeks
-stay active on twitter and facebook
- look into google+
-find other outlets to promote items AND blog tutorials - craftori, craftgawker, pinterest etc

Lessons Learned from October:
-it goes slowly. Being a new seller and blogger, it's going to take time to build customers and an audience. And that's ok. Consistency is the key.
-there is lots to learn, and I don't have to learn it all at once. Step by step.

[Former_Member]

kayedani from RockStarWreaths says

I learned to not take too long of breaks between making more designs.
-----------------------------
This needs to be on my list too!

@Laura, yes consistency is definitely the key. ESEPCIALLY with blogging. It takes FOREVER to build a good quality audience.

[CelesteCraft]

This October I learned that one good idea can make my business, but that I have to keep developing new ideas to make sure I have the next "one good idea" ready to go!

November goals: Gratitude month, per another thread in this team.
Complete and list 3 OOAK shawls
Complete and list 2 more stockings
Photograph and list slippers and finally do a custom listing for them
Keep working on new photos

[Cestbonpourcquetas]

Hi everyone! I learn every day on Etsy!!! About the teams, about the items, the pictures and everything...

For the moment, I've only 2 sales so My goal for the next month are:
- have better descriptions and tags for my listings
- add more items in my shop
- make more tresuries
- sell more creations
- have better stistics
... all I need to be more successful...
Good luck everybody!

[MoonstarCharms]

I love reading other people's goals. It's so inspiring for me.

November goals:
Get to 200 items
Make a sale a day
Maintain inventory and sanity simultaneously
Find a better way to travel with my jewelry (for jewelry parties and such)

What I learned in October:
That too much focus on where I want to be can make me forget to be thankful for how far I've already come. I started a daily gratitude list just for my business. It's helping. A LOT. :)

[Former_Member]

My goals in October were:

-Reach 500 sales. - Met that goal
-Make 1200 in sales at Oct 4th event. -Did not meet, not even close!
-Work on making more items. -I made a few items for sure :)

Goals for November:
-Increase sales. October was my best month yet on Etsy; I want to break my own mark.
-Run a sale after Thanksgiving.
-Work on more skin care items.
-Get organized for the holidays (stock everything!).

Lessons Learned:
-I really need to learn to apply makeup on other people. It's difficult to sell makeup in person when you don't know how to apply it on anyone other than yourself.
-When you run a sale, be organized! A sale can bring hundreds of dollars on a short period of time, but if you're disorganized you could discourage your customers (not that it happened to me, but I can see it if you're not careful).
-Don't trust the post office. If you ship an expensive item always get signature confirmation and insurance.
-Customers appreciate it when you answer their convos promptly, and it usually leads to a sale!

Happy Thanksgiving!