Set a Goal for August

[#1]

Hi there,

August is upon us. What will your goal be in this month often associated with vacations? Is your goal this month to push on ahead, starting your preparations for the holidays? Or perhaps your goal is to relax, take a break, and gain some energy with which you can approach the upcoming busy season.

No matter what your goal, setting a specific one and sharing it with others can help you accomplish more. For the last two months we invited sellers to set a goal and share it with the team. Take a look at last month's thread ( https://www.etsy.com/teams/5002/etsy-success/discuss/14828939/page/1) where you'll see many sellers reporting they reached their goals or made some progress they felt good about. For some easy inspiration, take a peek towards the end of the thread.

Take a moment to settle on your goal and then share it here. By writing it down and sharing with others, you'll reinforce your commitment to it.

A goal can be anything from listing a new item to reaching your 100th sale.

When sharing your goal for August, please introduce yourself and share how long you've been selling on Etsy.

Come on all, hop aboard the goal train!

[Former_Member]

It's been pretty slow since July. I plan to step back a bit and reinforce my energy back, spend more time with my family, and time for myself. Also, take this opportunity to have a shop make over for holidays season. I have several plans to;

1. Deactivate items that take too long to make.
2. Add more items I love to make.
3. Write down my daily plan, what I have to do, what need to be done. More like time management.
4. Make my shop policies clear, especially turnaround time. So, people won't keep convo me when is their order will be shipped.
5. Not to work on the weekend, so I can spend time with my family. Family comes first.

Palm

www.crochetbypalm.etsy.com

[Former_Member]

I've got a blog post about my August goals and how the first week went. If you have a schedule or a system for posting to social media, I 'd really appreciate some feedback....I hope it's ok to post this. I'm trying to hold myself accountable. I figured if I blog about my progress i'll be more likely to reach my goals.

August S.M.A.R.T. Goals, Week 1 Update
http://bit.ly/augustweek1

[Former_Member]

sell art, put up a hand drawn item and get my about page and keywords in order

[WhatnotGems]

My husband fell and broke his am my posting new items is going onto the back burner until her can use his arm again.
Stay healthy everyone.

[OceanBeachGlass]

I have 2 goals.. one is to make a whole lot of different colors of my stirrers
https://www.etsy.com/listing/190500850/high-end-drink-stir-sticks-6-piece?ref=shop_home_feat_2

and my 2nd goal is to get 150 members on the new co promote group I started on facebook for the Etsy Teams Fellowship Society. https://www.facebook.com/groups/etsyverse/

wish me luck :)

[Former_Member]

My goal for August is to become more visible, well situated for the upcoming
Holiday season.
Julia

[AnneVitellDesign]

I am currently working on a very special handbag that will feature vintage fabric appliquéd onto a simple cotton canvas cloth and hand embroidered. The bag will be lined with linen and hopefully have a few pockets. So, this is fairly detailed work, and my goal is to complete it by August 31. Meanwhile, I'll be adding some more vintage items to the shop, as well as keeping up with my blog, where you can see a photo of the work in progress, if you like: www.whispermoon.typepad.com

[Former_Member]

Hi everyone!

I recently graduated from college (with a biology degree, go figure) after living and studying in Italy for the first half of this year! My creative spirit has been renewed, and I've been putting an extensive amount of energy into re-vitalizing my Etsy shop of paintings, which I neglected for 2 years. I've been on Etsy since 2011.

My goal last month was met -- which was to make one sale to a stranger, with no negotiations, discounts -- just a surprise sale! It was barely met (July 30).

This month was to make at least another sale, but I just had 3 sales this week to an old acquaintance! August will be a good month, hopefully.

GOALS:
Current: 147 Instagram followers --> 200?
And I just started my Facebook page.. goal is to learn how to work with it! :)

[Scarvestorock]

My goals for August are to convert all the ideas that are swirling in my head into more exciting scarves and to get them listed before winter is upon us and I am back to the relatively boring winter ones!

[Former_Member]

I'd LOVE to make one sale.......I am a new newbie. I need HELP!!! From FB to Pintrest to Youtube and Twitter its all a big big whirlwind of post and tags....SMH Im confused

[Former_Member]

Hi! Our shop has been open since November. Things have been slow as way of sales, but I try to stay motivated. I'm excited to be working on our fall/winter items now.

August Goals
1. Have 5 sales this month. (This may not seem like a lot to some shops, but we average about 1 sale a month) And get a review!!! Haven't had 1 yet.
2. Reach 100 "likes" on our Facebook page (currently at 93)
3. Have 30 followers on our Pinterest account (currently have 23)

If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it.
Thanks,
Nicole

[Former_Member]

I am new to etsy... My August goal is to finish up and lisy my 5th item!

[Former_Member]

I just opened my shop this month, and I decided it was about time to write some concrete goals to keep me focused each day:

1. Make my first sale on Etsy! A girl can dream big, right? :)
2. Reach 100 listings by the end of the month. This is also a big goal, but I'm at 20 right now, and this would mean about 4-5 new listings each day.
3. Get my blog design set up
4. Read about SEO daily - I'm trying to learn as much about this as I can

The first two are BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) ;) but I've been sewing non-stop so they are good motivators for me!

[Former_Member]

My goal was to reopen my shop and I have ! To have AT LEAST 100 LISTING BY NEXT MONTH ! :) EXCITED TO BE BACK!

[Former_Member]

Firstly, I'd like to make a sale.....but I also need to give my shop a bit of a revamp and to list the new 'collection' that I am in the middle of creating.

So, my goal is to improve my shop, add more listings and get a sale :)

Hope everyone achieves their goals x

[Former_Member]

I did get a special order request from my cousin in Arkansas but he is so good to my mom that I refused to let him pay for it. So I guess I can say I have had at least my first request for a specialty frame from my shop.

[AndaraStars]

Hello! I am a new seller, just opened my shop about 3 weeks ago. I am slowly getting sales, and my goals for August are:

- launch my Summer sale on dresses and skirts
- Connect more with Etsy teams, make new friends and learn from eachother!
- Update listings with more accurate sizing infos.
- Promote my work in yoga centers and get a wholesale order!

Working on it!!

Goodluck to everyone on their goals! :) and enjoy the summer, too ;P

x Kat

[LamplighterJewelry]

Hi Everyone,

I'm really happy that sales have started to pick back up after several slow months. My goals for the remainder of August are:

1) Reach 640 sales
2) Complete 6 new pieces from Fall Collection
3) Start building holiday inventory
4) Setup photo session for live model shots
5) Add 25 items to my web store
6) Take a day off each week to rest and prepare for sales season

Best of luck to everyone in setting and achieving their goals!
Emma

[Former_Member]

I just joined Etsy and opened my store this week. My goal for August would be to get 200 views (not exactly sure what a considerable amount would be)? And possibly my first sale!

[Former_Member]

Hi,
Great original question about August goals! I will continue to learn how to increase my exposure for selling my items. Also, my second August goal is to make Christmas items (photo holders/frames) and also post more items to my other shop titled Brueske Photography. I enjoyed reading the posts as they inspired me during this busy month.
Thanks, Shari

[Former_Member]

I cannot believe Aug is halfway over and I am just getting around to this!
but when I read this email I penned down a few, as follows:
1) add 4 extra lists to renewals, (added 8)
2) 1000 views, over halfway there
3) 90-100 favorites, halfway there
4) 1 sale per week, instead of every other. almost halfway there
5) retake two listing pix. done.
as it is I was pleasantly surprised checking my stats on a few of these, now if only with the last half of this month I will be able to check off the rest!

[MinorFragment]

My goal is to make what customers want and to learn and adjust to feedback

[BourgeoisGlass]

1. Sell ten items by the end of the month.
2. Get 5 photos of each item. (I was thinking a cool idea would be to take pictures of my glass in front of the furnace, I'll be at the studio on thursday)
3. Think of cool new backgrounds to take photos of my items.

[MorganRalstonArt]

My goal for August is to have my work displayed in a brick-and-mortar fine art gallery. I've already had a number of online galleries and POD site express interest in working with me the past couple of months. So, pretty excited about that!

This dream may become a reality very soon!

[byLIANE]

I opened my Etsy shop about a month ago. Got my first sale today! Woot! My goal for this month is to get 20 items listed in my shop before September. I am finding the photography really challenging. I keep retaking because I am not happy with the shots. Hopefully I can figure this out soon.