October Shop Goals / September Lessons Learned

[#1]

Hi everyone!

It's already time to start planning out October's shop goals. So feel free to list your goals for October and your lessons learned for September.

My October Goals:
1. 75+ sales (super lofty, but when you shoot for the moon...)
2. Release my new necklace line
3. Stockpile more supplies for the Holidays

Lessons learned:
1. If the listing isn't broken don't fix it. Sometimes listings with shorter titles and/or one word tags work. I don't know why, but the sales don't lie. Ha! That rhymes.

2. Custom orders are the business! I just need to figure out how to blatantly advertise that I do them....

3. Days off encourage creativity. I can't work 7 days a week. I definitely hit sleep deprivation by day 4. So I have spent all of September taking the weekends off to just create/chill. Great decision. I've created so many designs during these times.

Can't wait to read everyone's goals and lessons.

Brittany

[Former_Member]

October Goals:
- Make at least $200 in sales
- Finally get that 50th sale
- List some Christmas items

Lessons Learned:
- Get over it, move on
- Keep up the good work, you must be doing something right
- Have a backup plan to your backup plan

[Former_Member]

Goals for October:

* Makes sales.
* Keep promoting inside and outside of Etsy. Setup FB, etc.
* Make a decision on Direct checkout. Yes or no.
* Work on the design for new sets which will be out early spring. (Hopefully)

Lessons learned:

* I have more patience then I knew I had.
* Looking at my company as a company, not just an Etsy Shop. Love Etsy but when I keep the big picture going, I have a lot more positive energy to make my goals.

[Former_Member]

Goals for October:

-Reach 500 sales.
-Make 1200 in sales at Oct 4th event.
-Work on making more items.

Lessons learned:

-Not all bloggers are looking for free stuff.
-When you least expect really good things happen (the local newspaper wants to feature my cosmetics in an article along with someone local who makes handbags).
-Be aware of international customers and at what time they are active. I have been renewing at my 8pm when activity from Australia peaks and this leads to views and at least one sale a week from that country.

[Former_Member]

congrats on having a bajillion sales in a year on Etsy Eva. #jealous

[Former_Member]

I agree that custom orders are the best thing and I really enjoy working on those sales.
October goal.....reach 20 sales, that would be so nice-:)

[Former_Member]

October Goals:

*make it to 100 items

*bring total sales to 40

*get all photos onto white backgrounds (with what works on a white background)

*list 5 handmade items

[Former_Member]

Lol thanks Brittany. For me it has been good SEO, and having unique items that have done it, and well, good pictures are a must.

You're doing pretty good yourself!

[CelesteCraft]

October Goals:
* List all the handwarmers, slippers and necklaces that I have already made.
* Complete and list 2 OOAK shawls
* Get a buddy and do Bootcamp
* Use my experiences and statistics in my Business Communication report (I'm nearly done with this "going back to school" thing and I couldn't be more ready!)

September Lessons:
* A simple concept can go a long way when you use the right keywords.
* I have the time to do what needs to be done, right after my homework
* Friends will help. Especially if it means having their pictures taken in Zombie makeup (expect to see pictures soon)

[Former_Member]

My goals are
Get 100 items in my shop
Make a new banner
Clean dining room aka crafting studio

September lessons
Working on the shop really pays off
Time managment is very important
Networking pays off

[Former_Member]

Goals:
1) Make 20 sales
2) Learn more about SEO
3) Learn more about FB
4) List at least 5 items per week
5) Formulate plan for 2013

Lesson learned:
1) You can't just have plans in your head, they must be written down

[Former_Member]

Lessons that are goals


1..Keep doing what works. (aka if it's not broke don't fix it).
2. CLEAN THIS CRAFT ROOM!!!!
3. Follow good advice, take some time off!
4. Work on the crafts (Amazingly enough, they DON"T put themselves together overnight!).

[Former_Member]

I think my main October goal is to make some goals! I hadn't thought about goals until today... Reading everyone else's goals.

[HoookedHandmade]

My modest and definitely achievable goals:
*Sell 16 items.

*Reach 400 items before November (my heart hurts a little that I'm not going to be able to make it to 500).

*Tweak/improve all listings as I add/renew items. They can all be improved.

*Retake photos where needed.

Lesson learned:
*I can only make/achieve so much in a day and it's pointless and counter productive to beat myself up over not doing more.

*A clean, organized craft area makes for better productivity.

*Not sleeping enough one day can mess up an entire week.

*Always buy these labels, never buy those labels.

*Do what I can every day. Ten minutes today can make a huge difference tomorrow.

[PaperFinchDesign]

Goals for October:

*To reach 100+ listings
*To sell 15 items
*To clarify options for listings - DIY vs. printed, different sizes, etc.
*To win a stinking treasury contest! Sigh.

Lessons Learned:
*That it's okay to have lots of variations on one theme - that's not a design rut, that's branding. Crocs for example - they started with ONE type of shoe.

*That trading is super fun and worth it

*That having a sale can actually end up making you more money

*To not get discouraged when you see a shop that's been open half as long as you has 3x as many sales. Keep plugging away.

*Get up and stretch every once in a while.

[Former_Member]

I want to bump this up because these lessons learned are AMAZING. Thanks so much everyone so far.

[Former_Member]

My goal: make it to 20+ sales
Increase my inventory to 45

[TheRogueBaby]

October Goal: 31 sales. A sale a day sounds nice for my little shop.

I have 130 items right now, and I'd like to have 150 before Black Friday, so I will work toward adding 20 items in October. I have so many supplies!

September Lesson: September was good to me.I can't complain. I would like to work on pricing to have more profit at the end of the day. Some items just aren't worth my time to make anymore. Other sellers sell so low that I cannot compete. :/

[TheRogueBaby]

OHHHH and October is my 1 year shop anniversary, so my goal is to hit 100 sales since opening. 16 to go before Oct. 8th to hit that goal. =)

[Former_Member]

My goals are to reach 125 listings and create a Sale/Clearance shop section. October is my 1 year anniversary, too! Oh, and I vow I will not leave new items sitting on my work table for days before I photograph and list them! I really need to do all shop responsibilities with the same level of energy.

Lesson learned? If you let your shop sit idle, views and sales will sit idle. Keep your items renewing, add new items in smaller groups over several days or longer instead of all at once. Keep active.

[MoonlightDesigns2]

Just to keep doing what I am doing, listing new items, promoting, targeting my main buyers...men! Last year 70% of my buyers were men, that surprised me. Also to double my September sales!

Lessoned learned: Listen to your customers, they are the ones letting you know what they like! Also never let your shop be idle, always work on it every day or sales and views dry up.

[ACraftyObsession]

My goals are just to keep crafting and adding new items to my shop.

[Former_Member]

This thread has been great motivation, my goals , make it to 100 listings , work on SEO, and I would like to make atleast 4 sales in October , that will double my sales so far.

[Former_Member]

I did a blog post about my October goals yesterday here http://www.reneweduponadream.com/2012/09/ruad-shop-goals-for-october.html

But generally, my goals for October are:

*Be a little more ballsy & go to a local crafty events. Face to face marketing can be the best kind & I feel that I am totally missing the ball on this one. I'm an introvert, so usually when I hear about events, I get excited about them, but then I have a hard time motivating myself to actually go. Especially if I don't know anyone else attending. So scary for an introvert! That means I either have to look silly standing in a corner looking at my feet or I have to... actually talk to people *gasp!*
*Add at least 20 items to my shop
*Make at least 2 treasuries a week
*Send out at least 2 emails to my email list
*Figure out a marketing schedule... and implement!
*Research shops to pitch my product to
*Start figuring out my holiday marketing plan
*Start getting ready for the holiday market event(s)!!!

[TheHeatherWells]

I want to make it to 250+ listings
I also want to meet what I made this month in sales.
Get all of my October, November, and most of December themed foods done..
..

[Former_Member]

Sarah your goal to "Be a little more ballsy" should be the sitewide goal for October! Love it!

I love that this thread is still going! Great job so far!