New Members Introductions

[BelovedDollDesigns]

Hello, and welcome to The Business of Doing Business etsy team!

As a new member, we would like for you to introduce yourself to the team. Go ahead and post a reply to this thread to give a hello to everyone and tell a little bit about yourself and / or your business.

[Former_Member]

Hey everyone! My name is Ashley, and I make handcrafted jewelry. I'm new to selling and advertising, so any help would be much appreciated. I look forward to being a part of the team!

[BelovedDollDesigns]

Hi Ashley! Welcome! Love the title of your shop. :)

[Former_Member]

Hello! I am new to Etsy (I mostly sell digital products), but have co-owned a web design and development agency for over 10 years. I have been making websites since I was 15 (oh my gosh that nearly 20 years ago!) and writing business plans since I was 16. I am a bit of a serial entrepreneur. I look forward to seeing what this team becomes!

[Former_Member]

Good Morning, Beautiful Antique Jewelry sells antique fine jewelry and sometimes newer fine jewelry items. Nice to meet you all.

[BeeJanie]

Hi! Nice to meet you all!
My name is Bethany, and I design and create baby mobiles. I am excited for any new pointers and information this team will offer! :)

[CraftySueShop]

Hi! I'm Sue and I have two businesses. One is my shop here on etsy (music-related crafts, wine cork art, beaded jewelry and whatever else I dream up). My "day job" is self-employed music licensing consultant. I work with songwriters, record companies and entertainment-related businesses tending to music clearances, licensing and copyright matters. In both lines of business I handle everything: sales, bookkeeping, taxes, running to the bank and the post office, etc. Looking forward to sharing ideas and learning from all of you!

[heathercashart]

Hi guys! My name is Heather and I paint colorful, whimsical art, mostly for kids rooms (although I get a lot of 20-something female customers as well!).

I started my art business about a year & a half ago, when I moved to Erie, PA from California. It's been growing, but definitely still needs to grow more!

[PlainJBodyandHome]

Hi all! I'm Jessica and I make soy candles and body products. I work full time as a commercial interior designer and am not able to go full throttle on my shop quite yet, but I hope to be able to take it full time in the future...:)

[FeatherAndIndigo]

Hello everyone. I'm Erin and I make art, abstract paintings, hand painted glasswares, and digital prints (of many different inspirations)!

I have a full time job as a research Dr, so I can't spend as much time on my shop as I'd like, but once I got over the initial stress/obsession, I'm really enjoying this.

[HEvansGems]

Hello everyone!

I sell my own handmade sterling silver jewellery through my Etsy shop, but I am primarily an academic, so silversmithing and jewellery making share space and compete for my time and energy with lecture preparation, marking assignments, and research.

I'm looking forward to participating in this new team!

[FeatherAndIndigo]

H Evans, what do you study if you don't mind me asking? I'm a research academic too!

[Former_Member]

Hello all and thank you for the invite! My name is Trina and I am the co-owner of SpottedDogShop where we make handmade, loop through the collar dog/pet bandanas to accessorize the pup in your life!

I also work a full time job as a Project Manager at an Engineering firm in Houston, TX - Always trying to put in as much time as possible into our shop :)

Look forward to the group!

[ThimbleAndHeart]

Hi

I´m a woman from Copenhagen, Denmark and I make girls dresses (mostly flower girl dresses) and jewelry. My main focus is the dresses, the jewelry part is more for the fun. I´ve been on Etsy for a couple of years, but things haven´t started happening until recently when I finally got better pics of my products.

[LindasArtSpot]

Hi Ya'll,
I am a transplant from the south to CA. Can't let go of my Ya'll.

I am a polymer clay artist, teacher and a new blogger. www.lindasartspot.com
I primarily like to make functional art, and love color. I started my business last November so I'm still a newbie only 9 mo's old. LOL

I sell my art and supplies at local art and crafts show and on various online shops. Working hard at learning and growing my business.

I always welcome critiques and ideas, whats old to you is new probably new to me, :)

[HEvansGems]

Erin, my field is English literature, especially Victorian, children's, and food literature. I'm thrilled to see another academic in the group! What is your field?

[FeatherAndIndigo]

Wow! I actually study Microbiology, mainly new drug development to kill bacteria that cause pneumonia. It's very exciting.

[HEvansGems]

Erin, your research sounds tremendous! Although they were unrelated to my research, I have had jobs involved with the biosciences, so I can certainly appreciate how fascinating your work must be.

[Former_Member]

Thank you for the invite! My name is Logan Darrow and I make bags. My shop is very quiet right now because I am revamping my line of products. (designing my own fabrics instead of using store bought)

Before doing this, I was a professional sales rep for a manufacturing company. Don't let my sales here numbers fool you - I used to sell and ship over $3 million worth of products a year, in a business where about 97% of my fellow reps were men.

But along with the perks came lots of stress, and as soon as I finished paying for my kids' college tuitions I "retired" to do something more personally rewarding.

"Manufacturer" is a dirty word here on Etsy, but my philosophy is that each of us is a tiny manufacturer. We are every department rolled into one: design, production, sales and marketing, shipping, accounting and customer service.

Along with Etsy, I also have a shop on Artfire, and my eventual goal is to have my own stand alone web site.

I'm looking forward to sharing ideas and experiences with everyone here.

[BelovedDollDesigns]

Logan, you make a very interesting point.

I looked up "manufacturer" on dictionary.com just to see what it says. One of the definitions it has for manufacturer is: "a person, group, or company that manufactures. "

It says "a person" in there. Interesting. So I looked up "manufacture" to continue this little research and here is one of the definitions that it says about manufacture: "to make or produce by hand or machinery, especially on a large scale."

I think you're on to something, Logan. :)

[OpenVintagePreserve]

Hi! I've had my shop open only a few months, so there is much that I don't know about all this. But I've learned a lot from the forums and from a friend who also has a shop.
I just retired from teaching college English (hey, H Evans!), so this is a new venture for me. I've done macramé and crochet, along with other needle arts, for decades. But as a result of a recent move, I've found that I have too little space for all the vintage items I've accumulated over my lifetime. Thus, most of my listings so far are vintage books and other things.
Good point about "manufacture." The root word means "hand." So it fits with us.

[Former_Member]

Hi - I sew quilts and tote bags. I also plan to start publishing my own patterns as I have years worth of ideas from all of my sewing. I enjoy having my shop here on Etsy and am excited to see what the future brings!

In my life outside of sewing, I am a home educating mom of 3. I used to teach preschool also, but that got to be too much as my children have grown. This year we tackle 7th, 4th and 3rd grades here at home!

[OpenVintagePreserve]

Hey, Christina. I homeschooled my kids too - they're grown now.

[Former_Member]

I was homeschooled! Sort of. Only for high school and it was really more like independent study. But, I did become my siblings teacher for awhile. I need to get on top of the other back to school stuff out there, not just public school kid stuff.

[HEvansGems]

Hi Jane! Greetings to a fellow English teacher and bibliophile. I know all too well the spatial challenges of accumulating books, books, books, and more books. They're like old friends though, so parting is such sweet sorrow (so to speak). But I'm sure many Etsians will welcome your vintage treasures.