What I’ve learned after one and half year on Etsy.

I’ve started my first shop on Etsy in June 2020, however, I totally ignored it until October 2020 when I had my first sale. Back then I didn’t really have any listings apart from one, Course Creation Planner.

So I was in airport landing after a long flight when I received a cha ching, the sound of a cash register on my phone. I was surprised and discovered I received my first sale on Etsy. I just arrived for a month holiday, so I again ignored my Etsy shop.

Finally around mid of November 2020 I’ve started working on my new listings. From day one, I knew that I want to create digital products, because as a resident of a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea I couldn’t physically ship anything, as I’ve been lacking tools and shipment costed too much for my pocket.

Digital product doesn’t require shipment, right? But then, I faced another problem, I had to become a designer, and I honestly think photoshop and alike are not me. I knew only how to design on Canva, so I decided to go for it.

The next thing was to learn how to design planners on Canva. I watched Skillshare courses, as well as many YouTube videos to learn that and I succeeded. I’ve published around 100 printable planners.

Day and night I’ve scrolling Pinterest and Etsy for new ideas and I focused on creating something unique, combining few planners together. I’ve started receiving many 5 star reviews and it inspired me to create more.

Now, after 16 months on Etsy I’ve started switching my attention towards digital planners. Even if I love writing on paper, I know how heavy it can get to carry so many printable notes, so I’ve upgraded my iPad mini that I used for watching Netflix, to iPad Pro 11 inch. I’ve downloaded Goodnotes 5 and voila, now I could take notes on the go, without wasting paper.

Yeah, I am now selling eco-friendly digital planners, even though in my shop I still have option for printable planners.

Earlier this year, I’ve decided to share with the world all my planner designs in Canva. Time to time on Etsy I kept receiving messages from buyers if I could sell the Canva template of a particular planner, so I’ve been charging extra for commercial use.

Then, I thought, why not to sell my templates here on Shopify, because this way, first, I don’t put all my eggs into one basket, second, I’ll help all those people who dream about starting an Etsy shop, but don’t want to spend time on learning curve designing Canva planners.

You can learn more about my experience with Etsy on my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/baZoXKINLW4