Another Side Business – Etsy

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Ok, so I am sure you have seen it all over the internet, social media outlets, and so on about making money doing something you are passionate about. There are tons of ads on Tik Tok videos, Facebook, Instagram, and well all over the internet and apps, we use about people making an insane amount of money doing a side business – some kind of business. They normally tell you that it takes some work, you won’t be rich overnight, or you get those ads that tell you to follow my step-by-step plan and you’ll be making 100K a month. But really, really, I mean I am pretty sure it takes money to make money. Most of us don’t have the luxury to spend 1,000 to 10,000 a month doing some kind of advertising to get our business in front of the masses. Now, unless you are lucky and some video you posted goes viral, then you probably have a good chance of starting a business, or product, like most content creators do, and start making money.

Now, as you think about it and I knew this, most of those people make money, not a whole lot, selling their ideas or someone else’s idea of a business out to the masses. The few that maybe do affiliate marketing, eCommerce business, or selling on Amazon, or an affiliate program, can make money, but I am sure it will take some time to build that. But you still have to drive people to your site or sites or business or products somehow, and when you have millions of online sites, funnels, catch pages and so on, it can become difficult.

So I am a Technical Writer and I have been in the industry for over 30 years. I have done everything from private to government work in multiple industries such as aerospace, automotive, unmanned drones, destroyers, software, legal contracts, and the list goes on. Now, I consider myself an expert at what I do, and I decided to follow that path and start selling on Etsy electronic/digital forms or spreadsheets for example a monthly budget tracker, a chore list, and so on. These are all fillable electronically or they can be printed and filled out by hand.

Note: If you signup with an email address with Etsy make sure it is your business name or one that you don’t mind will be seen and used by prospective buyers.

Anyways I created five digital templates/forms for different needs, and then create one bundle package with a discount. I signup at Etsy, which was pretty easy. Of course, once you want to sell, it requires a bit more information, which is also fairly easy. Now once you want to list something to sell there is more to just placing a listing, you need to come up with a product description, and some pictures/thumbnails to represent the product, or in this case the digital product.

That did take some thinking, but of course, I took a look at the top sellers for that niche/product and how they represented their digital products, with pictures and product descriptions. So, I just copied, well not copied, but followed their example. It was at this moment that I realized that I need to work on creating better high-resolution quality pictures.

Now the cost to sell on Etsy is 0.20 for placing the listing which is for 4-months and every four months it is another 0.20. Then there is a transaction fee of 6.5% plus the credit card transaction fee of 3% + 0.25 (example below). To me, it feels like eBay, without the auctioning part.

Example: 5.99 – 0.20 – 0.39 – 0.40 = about $4.97 give and take a few decimal places.

Just so you know there are tons and tons of sites or videos on how to register on Etsy, and even how to set up your store or a listing. You can’t go wrong, but be aware that there are millions of sellers on Etsy the competition will be tough, just like starting an online store, affiliate marketing, or anything for that matter, just be patient – I am trying.

Now, of course, you need to drive people to your listing and Etsy does offer an advertising product, but like a said not everyone has money to throw at advertising, or maybe not that much. I know, I know, if you spend 15 to 20 dollars at Starbucks then cut back on one of those coffee runs and invest in your business – right. I personally do not do Starbucks. Anyhow there are excuses, but then there are real people with not too much to spend/invest in a business and it can get tough to compete.

With that said, I went ahead and took on another side of the business, doing something I like to do and feeling that I am good at it and see where it takes me. Maybe this is the side hustle/business I need, because my Alidropship Exact copy of a successful online store with all the marketing material and user guides, has produced absolutely nothing – nada. I am up to about 5k in ads since last December or January of this year, it has been tough and I am running out of ideas or not ideas, but I am running out of hope, ok I am getting dramatic here -sorry.

I will definitely keep you posted, and maybe do a quick write-up on the listing process, give you some ideas on description creation or something. With that, I do leave you with a thought, “It will seem dark some days, and some days you just want to give up, but stop, take a deep breath, count to 10, and move forward. Something will give and it shouldn’t be you.”

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