Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Parker. I'm a part of the seller content team here at Etsy. Etsy is a global online marketplace where people come together to sell unique handmade vintage goods and crafts supplies. It's got a great mission, and that's to empower small businesses and really just change the way that commerce happens. Today, we're going to spend some time talking about how to set your business up for success. If you've decided that it's time and you're ready to launch your online business, there are some key first steps you can take so that you have a smooth ride of it. I think this class would be really great for people who have just had their aha moment, and that's really that moment where you've discovered that this thing that you make or this thing that you collect can go somewhere and can be something, could be a business, could be a lifestyle for you. In this class, we'll talk about some of the skills necessary to go from being a person who knows how to make the thing to being the person who knows how to run the whole business. After you've taken this class, I really hope that you'll share your product ideas to the project gallery. Sharing your product idea is going to be really great because we'll be able to look at them together in the light of everything we've learned. So, I'm really excited to get going. I can't wait to share these tips with you. So, let's get to it.
2. What is a Marketplace?: A marketplace is a community of people, it could be online, it could be offline, who come together to sell goods. Those of you watching this class have certainly been to an in-person marketplace whether it was a flea market or a craft fair, even a shopping mall is a marketplace. I would venture to guess that all of you have been to online marketplaces as well because that's where we do most of our shopping now online in these large marketplaces. Obviously, one of the most popular is Etsy. Online marketplaces are really effective because people more and more are doing their shopping online, one, but two, they're plugged into how people search online. So it allows people who are shopping for unique goods like a wealth of information, at the same time it allows them to search really specifically for things that they want. A really good example is when people search for things online, you don't necessarily search for just shirt, you search for the type of shirt or the style of shirt or the color of shirt or the size of shirt and online marketplaces allow people to connect with specific goods that they're looking for, kind of more efficiently than traditional in-person shopping where you have to do all that work with your own eyes. I think you should consider selling on an online marketplace if you want to benefit from a built-in customer base. Also if you're just getting started and you don't have that brand loyalty, so if you're just starting your business and people don't know you exist and you want to benefit from a marketplace that already has loyal shoppers, you're probably a good candidate for selling in an online marketplace. So different marketplaces definitely have different cultures and that's something you consider when you're thinking about where you're going to sell your goods online. Some marketplaces are based on getting your goods really quickly and some marketplaces are based on curating certain types of goods. At Etsy, we're really focused on creating a community between buyers and sellers and creating a really authentic relationship between the person that you're buying your product from or you're selling your product to. There are tons of examples of different sellers and businesses that have been really successful on Etsy. Anything from fashion designers to furniture makers to vintage collectors to craft suppliers. There are certain examples of success that range in different ways depending on what your goals are. So success for one seller might look like being able to quit their day job and really starting a business that supports themselves and their families and their life ambitions. Success for somebody else might just mean getting the justification to make something that they love. So, one example of a seller who's had phenomenal access that comes to mind is Leanna Marshall. Some of you might recognize that name because she actually won Project Runway a few years ago and she's a wedding gown and accessories designer and she's just had huge success on Etsydotcom. So she makes super unique, I mean really super unique, wedding gowns that are really for any budget. She's had phenomenal success. People love her gowns and I think she's also successful because she understands her target market really well. She understands that every bride is really super unique and is going to want something super personal for that special day. So she's able to key into that through her designs, through the way she curates her shop, through her photography, through the way that she just kind of creates a buying experience from you from the moment that you land in her shop. Another great example of a shop that's been wildly successful on Etsydotcom is Goose Grease. Goose Grease is co-run by Anna and Juan and they hand make these wooden dolls that are hand painted and they started selling them as cake toppers for weddings. They now make box sets of toys for kids. They make the wooden dolls custom for different people for different reasons. And they've been able to expand their business enough to support themselves. They run their business out of their home. They're able to spend more time with their kids, but also they've expanded to this small town in Columbia where Juan is from through the use of responsible manufacturing. So, they've been able to also bring awareness around these cultural aspects that we really love at Etsy which are responsible manufacturing and providing jobs in a responsible and ethical way. So there's a lot of examples of really successful sellers on Etsy and that's great because that's something that you should definitely aspire to. We're really excited to help you get there, but you have to start, you have to start at the beginning and the beginning is going to take a lot of motivation and it's going to take a lot of skills that maybe not all of you have at this point. There's that moment where you become the maker or the collector or the curator. Then there's that other moment where you become the business owner. And that transition requires building some specific skills. So, that difference between being the maker and the collector or the curator and being the seller or the business owner, those skills are what we're going to cover together today.
3. Refine Your Product: So, there's two things we're going to cover in this lesson. One is knowing your product, what is your product, and why you're bringing it to market. Two is knowing your customer, and how you're going to identify them, and how you're going to catch their eye. So, there's a difference between making something and then deciding that you want to sell that thing. I like to think of that moment as an aha moment. It is that moment where the light bulb comes on, and it changes from just this one thing that you've made to something that can be sustainable, that can grow and be bigger, and that you know other people might enjoy. It's that moment you realize that this can really work, that you can turn this thing, whatever it is or this skill into a passion and a business in a way to grow. I had that moment a few years ago personally as an Etsy seller, when I just couldn't find a wallet that I liked. So, I decided instead of paying like 150 bucks for these handmade wallets that I would just try and make my own wallet. I made my dream wallet. A friend immediately said, "I would buy that." That was my personal aha moment, was when somebody else legitimized it, and said, "I would buy that. I would spend money on that." Everybody, I think, has a little bit of a unique aha moment. So, when you have that aha moment, the next thing you have to do is think about what's going to make your product a really good product. In my case, I had to think about this wallet that I made that took me two and a half weeks to make and figure out how I had to tweak that design slightly, so that it would be quicker, and I could make it in time for customers, and it wouldn't take forever for people to get a handmade wallet. So, I think you have to really think about your product, and think about what's going to make it good in the context of the marketplace, and that could be doing some research in the marketplace to see what other products like yours are like, thinking about trends, thinking about pricing, thinking about materials. You just really have to think about how your product will fit in in the context of this bigger marketplace. So, as you're thinking about your product in the context of a marketplace, you want to think reflectively and ask yourself a few questions to kind of assess your product. The first one is, what makes my product unique? You want to think about like truly, what does make it unique? It could be a tiny detail or it could be a really significant detail. It could be in how it's made. It could be in the materials that are used. Back to Leanne Marshall, she makes wedding dresses in colors that aren't just white. She has like a chambray blue wedding dress. So, that's a truly unique factor. That's one thing that she can say, "That makes my product unique." That's a really key element because if you don't know what it is that makes your products special, if you don't know that, then it's going to be really hard for your shoppers and customers to find your product as they search because they're going to be looking for that special factor too. The next great question to ask yourself is, what is my product's function? Back to my example, I wanted a really slim wallet that could carry all of my stuff, but wasn't really ugly. So, think about that. What is the function? Does your product actually solve a problem? Does it bring a certain emotion? Does it provide a certain pleasure or joy? How is it going to function in the context of a customer's life if they buy it? It's also really important when you're thinking about all of these questions to think back to why did you decide to make this or in the context of a great vintage piece like why did you buy it and decided to resell it. Think back to your motivations because that can help you connect to why a shopper will want to buy it and be motivated to buy it. So, being reflective and asking yourself these questions about your product is just super important because it's going to help you really understand your product and understand why a buyer is going to want to use it. That ultimately is going to help you because when you need to catch the attention of your buyers, you're going to know exactly how to talk about your product, and what to highlight, and how to highlight it. Your target customers are the shoppers who are most likely to connect with you and your products based on things like lifestyle, location, demographics, price, values, and just style. So, knowing your target customer is really important because that's going to allow you to cater all of your messaging, and your marketing, and your branding to catch the eye of that consumer. In thinking about how to identify your target customers, you want to think through whether or not you have a niche market, things like cosplay. That's a really niche target market. Beauty products and soaps that are sourced in certain super ethical ways and use only organic materials. Those are really niche markets. So, think about, do you belong to a niche market and who is that person that is shopping inside that market? So, thinking about your target customer, it's good to think about going deep, and being really specific, and trying to find that niche person who would like this rather than broad. You don't want to appear in an oversaturated category. You want to appear to the people who really want to buy this one specific product because it really caters to them. It's also really helpful to think about what your non-negotiable are in terms of your target market. So, think through what are the things that you're going to put a stake in the ground and say, "This is how I'm making my product. This is why I'm making it." Then, think about how that impacts, who your target customer is. So, who are the people who agree with you? Who are going to say, "I also want soap that is made with only organic materials."? That's going to help you identify that target customer. So, two really big ways that your target customer might connect with your shop are based on aesthetics or some of those factors we've already talked about that are lifestyle factors. One really great example of a shop that plays really well on their aesthetics with their target customer is Bookhou Design. They screen prints bags and fabrics with their original drawings and watercolors. It's such a strong aesthetic. It's very rustic, meets this geometry of the original drawings. It plays to a really particular customer and they know that. So, they know that customers are coming based on what this looks like and that design feel. So, they're playing on that in their shop through their photography, through the way they curate their items, through the way that they model them on people. They're really, really playing to their strongest asset, which is the aesthetic, and that's how customers are connecting to their brand. On the other side of that is that idea of lifestyle and connecting to lifestyle with your customers. There's a great shop named Illuminated Perfume run by a woman named Roxana. She calls herself a true lover and champion of nature. So, that is a lifestyle component and she works that into her products. All of her products are supernatural. They are made from natural ingredients. But she also plays to that in her entire shop. So, it's not just how her products are made, it's how she photographs her products. It's how she styles her shop. It's how she curates the look and feel of her entire brand because she knows, unlike Bookhou, that she is relating to customers based on this fact of they want something natural. So, that's a lifestyle choice. That's a values choice. She's playing on that really, really well. There's also kind of this business component, which is to think about, how much of this product are you going to make upfront? How many variations of this product? Are you going to develop a whole product line based on this one or two or three things that you pulled together and gave you this idea? There's no right answer here, but do think about, again, that target consumer and think about whether you want to start your business testing out this one product to this one designer, this one asset or if you want to test out a few more things. A really good distinguishing component here is whether or not you hand make your item or you sell vintage. So, a handmade item, there's a lot of upfront works that would have to go into creating a whole product line and creating a whole stock. Whereas vintage, you might need to collect a few items to show that you have a certain aesthetic, to show how you care for your items, to bring together a story about how you curate and collect those items. So, really think about how you want to plan for both bulk and product development when you start. So, a lot of our sellers, myself included, would tell you that in those first few days, weeks, and months, you learn a lot from having just one or two main items and getting feedback. You'll learn a lot about not only how to tweak your listings, so that they appeal to the right consumers, but also how to tweak the product itself or how to tweak your process for shipping the product out or making the product. So, just think about this as a learning period. As you forecast, try not to over-forecast. In forecasting, you may decide that you're only going to bring one or two products to the market in the first place. There's also kind of a pro tip that we like to share with people, which is that in these first learning days, having as many listings as you can in your Etsy shop really helps you learn a lot. So, you might wonder, how am I going to only have two products or one product, but have multiple listings? The great thing is that you can either one, mix a couple of variations of that one product. So, for example, in my case, I made one deep wallet and I made it in four different colors. I listed them all separately. Another way to create multiple listings is to just list the product in different ways. This is going to give you a lot of information. You're going to learn how to talk about your product differently and which kind of language really impacts the customer's decision to buy best. You can put up listings with different styles of photographs and learn which photographs drive traffic more. You can put up listings with different titles and tags, specific on Etsy.com. You'll learn which keywords actually work best to drive traffic to your products. So, while you forecast, think about how you're also going to create multiple listings and learn. That'll help you forecast in the future. So, as you're doing all of this really reflective thinking, you may find a lot more about your product than your target customer upfront. Maybe it's the other way around. Maybe you'll see like I actually have my customer really in mind and I know more about that person than highlighting the specifics of my product. But it's important to just remember to think about the main context to each other. Think about how your product is going to actually partner with the customer and that's going to be how you're going to build this picture of your brand as you move forward.
4. Create a Memorable Brand: Your brand is really the story behind your products. There's almost like a brand equation and it's the story of why you started this and how you make your products, plus kind of your values and your reasons for being involved in this industry that you're in, and it's the look and feel, and it's how you kind of communicate all of those things together that become your brand message. So, your brand is really your beacon wherever you sell your products. Whether it's in person or online in a marketplace. You have to think about your brand as kind of constantly communicating the message as to why a customer should buy from you. In an online marketplace, your brand is going to live almost everywhere your products live. So, in your shop, in your products and sales, in your listings, in any kind of branding collateral that you have, whether it's business cards, whether it's your packaging that you ship your items in. So, you have to think that your brand is everywhere where your items are, and customers are kind of always constantly seeing it. So, you want to be really diligent about having a strong brand message. So again, asking yourself some reflective questions can be really helpful in identifying your brand message. A good place to start is to revisit that question, why did I get started? Answering that is going to help you start that brand story, and it's that story that customers want to know especially in the context of Etsy. Like we said, people are coming and shopping on Etsy because they really like that personal feeling, that personal attachment to the things that they're buying, and the people they're buying them from. So, that beginning of that story is going to help your customers formulate whether or not you're who they want to buy from. Another great question to ask yourself is where do I find inspiration? Because you were at some point in that aha moment, you were inspired, you were inspired to create something, or to collect something, or to create something. So, that is an important detail. Customers are driven by that. That's very compelling. So, think about what inspires me. What inspires me about this product, what inspires me in the world and wrap that into that brand idea. Another great question is to think about again the product. Think about the materials, the process involved, the style and how that affects your brand identity. In other words, you wouldn't necessarily make something out of rustic reclaim materials, but then call yourself a modern furniture seller. Those don't necessarily align. So, how do your materials and your process and all of the different factors that go into actually creating the product, how does that impact your brand identity? And how does that create a style? Another really great question is to think about how your product and your business or your process of creating this whole thing brings you joy. And why that's important to think about, is because your customers want to know. It's not a coincidence that most of our Etsy sellers have Instagrams, and their Instagrams are not filled necessarily with pictures of their products. We have a lot of our sellers sharing pictures of playing with their kids, or playing with their dogs, or really exciting moments in their business, or things that inspire them out in the world. And the reason that they share that type of content is because people want to be engaged by you as a whole person or a whole business, or a whole brand idea. So, communicating what it is that really inspires you and how your own business and your own product brings you joy, is going to help extend that message to those customers and help them connect to you in a really uniquely personal way. Your brand is arguably one of the most important factors in whether or not a customer decides to purchase something from you. Think about this from the customer's point of view. Because we're all shoppers. You know that when you shop for something, the minute you see something that is not it, you know. You know immediately this is not what I'm looking for. This is not what I'm looking for. The reason you know that is through the brand. That's the message that you're getting. When you shop for something and you immediately know this is not it, or you immediately know that is it, it's all of those elements of the brand that have come together to give you that message to say, this is what this is. If it's communicated really clearly, customers connect or either don't connect with it really strongly. That's really important because for a sustainable business to grow, you're going to want to get new customers but you're also going want to have repeat customers. So, you want that really really really strong connection. So, how do you communicate your brand to your customers? What are the different ways that that messaging reads through to them? Arguably, one of the biggest is the visual components of your shop. So, that can be everything from what colors you choose in your branding or your log, it could be your text. Any of the visual assets tell a story. Again, if you think about different styles, you want to have your visual assets be really cohesive so that they tell the same story. In other words, I might not use a super modern stylized photo of a living room set as my backdrop, but you use like ye old English text on top of that. Those aren't really a cohesive message necessarily. So, you have to think about all the visual components together. While the visual components of your brand are certainly super strong and always evident, some of the more subtle components of your brand can be really important in establishing that connection too. For instance, you can communicate your brand through your communication and how you talk to your customers, how you communicate with them, how you ship your products. A lot of our sellers will soon customize thank you notes to each of their buyers. Things like that. That messaging continues to extend your brand through communication, through connection and interaction. So, creating your brand identity definitely relies on a certain amount of like visual aesthetic, and that can feel somewhat intimidating to people. I know that when I created my shop, I'm not a graphic designer and I didn't know necessarily how to pull together a really strong brand or a logo. This is a really great opportunity to reach into the Etsy community. You can certainly ask other sellers for their advice. We also have a lot of sellers who will actually purchase brand kits from sellers who are graphic designers and will design a whole brand identity for them. So, it's a really good time to kind of rely on outside help if you're feeling overwhelmed by creating the visual aspect of your brand identity. There are some really great examples of sellers who do a really great job at communicating their brand through their shops. The first one that comes to mind is Abby of mavora. She creates custom party favors, and the aesthetic of her brand is very very specific. She uses a lot of natural type materials. She uses like brown papers and craft paper. Everything has kind of a really rustic feel, and it's so cohesive across. But what's really unique about it is that she also creates these custom favors for each buyer. So, each individual product while still having to be custom and unique to that buyer's needs, still carries her brand really strongly. When you open her shop page, the banner across the top, you instantly know what her products are about. You instantly have an idea what materials are involved and you just have a sense. You just have this overall feeling of the style and the idea behind the brand, and it hits you so clearly. Great example. Another one of my favorite examples is one of our fashion designers, Ruben, from Domestics. Ruben makes these incredible dresses that are made from a very bright bold African print materials. I've never seen anything like them. They're truly so unique. The branding is so strong because the product is so strong and unique. So, he easily ties his shop directly to everything that motivates the design of these dresses. They're bold, they're beautiful, they're very colorful, and they're really unique. And you get that sense as soon as you open a shop. You might be beginning to kind of build this brand identity. And that's really great. And there's a point where you want to stop and look at it, and kind of ask a few questions. The first question is, what does this brand start to tell? What is the story here? So, if you have your logo, if you have some photos of your products, if you have your About Page written out, think about what is in the context altogether, what story are these elements all telling? Is it a cohesive story or are they sending the same message? If not, what do I need to tweak? Really really starts to audit what is this story, and is it the story that I want to tell my customers? It's also really important to think about what are the emotions and feelings that you get when you look at this branding. There's no doubt that brands evoke certain emotions. Across the board, that's what they're meant to do. Different brands evoke different emotions certainly, but it can be really helpful to ask yourself what do I feel when I see this? Even more helpful, maybe ask a friend, maybe ask a loved one, ask somebody who's not you. What do they feel? What emotions come up for them when they look at your brand? Get some outsider perspective because you really want to know that those emotions and those feelings coming up connect with that story in a cohesive way. One question that I get a lot is whether or not there is flexibility for a brand to change over time. I think that's a really good question because, yes, brands do change to a certain degree over time. I think changing individual elements of your branding either to stay on trend or because styles has changed, I think that's great. What I think is really important is that your core, the things that your brand are based on really stay the same. That those values that you base those color choices on, those values that you base those font choices on, those are the things that really need to stay the same.
5. Getting Discovered: Discoverability is really all about how you're going to get discovered by potential customers. Online shopping, most of us have done it, usually involves some search. So when people are searching for things, you're discoverability directly relates to how quickly they find you. Your brand relates to how or whether or not they want to purchase from you, but discoverability is the key to whether or not they ever get to see you in the first place. So when a customer searches online for a product they want to purchase, search engines will scroll around the Internet looking for the best possible match. A lot of that relies on a term we call SEO or Search Engine Optimization, which basically boils down to keywords. So, your overall discoverability in search, whether it's in the context of just the marketplace itself or the whole Internet, is really what's going to matter when it comes to customers finding your shop and seeing your products for the first time or even in a repeat buying scenario. There are a few actions that you can take yourself to help boost your discoverability. In the context of Etsy, for example, we rely on again, search engine optimization. You can boost your search engine optimization by using really specific keywords. So keywords are the things that Etsy is going to search when a customer uses key language in their search to find a product. For example, if I search for blue velvet pillow case, then Etsy is going to search all the listings on etsy.com to find the keywords that match that the closest, and it's going to source all the products that have those keywords. The shop I actually mentioned earlier, Goose Grease, does a really great job with their keywords. Remember they make those hand-painted little wooden dolls that started as cake toppers, but as they expanded their business they started making children's toys as well. So I'm looking at one of their listings and one of their keywords that they're using as a tag is natural kids toys. That's a really specific phrase that a customer might actually search for rather than just using the word toys. We know that shoppers who are coming to Etsy want unique goods so they're going to use really descriptive searches. So your keywords should be really descriptive as well. So keywords are super important to how the internal algorithm of search works on Etsy, but super-titles. Not just for the automated search, but think also about your customers. You want your titles to really appeal to them so that as they read through the different listings, they pick yours as the best match for their original search query. Because discoverability is really a long game, you have to think about your keywords and be really authentic. You want to make sure that you are finding the target customer who actually wants to buy the product that you made. So even if a certain term is trending right now that's not the best use of your keywords. You really want to be authentic in your description of what's for sale and the motivation behind it and your brand message. That's going to drive customers who want to find you to your shop. That's going to create customer loyalty and help build that initial customer base. While being found in the context of your marketplace is really important, it's also important to realize that you're going to be found a ton of different ways and one of the most profound ways nowadays is social media. So, think about how you can actually be discovered through your social media channels as well. Many people will run their own separate shop social media accounts just for the sake of getting their products found separate from their personal accounts. It's a really effective strategy. Instagram in particular is a great platform if you have a business online because it allows you to connect with people visually. That's just a very natural extension of your brand which is great but it also allows you to interact with people. People can comment, you can comment back. You start to build that relationship off of Etsy which is great because you can drive them to your shop. One of my favorite Etsy sellers who I follow on Instagram is actually Karli from designosaurYEAH, and she sells this great laser cut super bold dinosaur inspired jewelry. It's really bright, it's really fun and everything about her Instagram follows that code. So looking at her Instagram, I get to see the new products that she's releasing. I also get to see things that just are totally in line with her brand that have nothing to do with her products. Like right now I'm looking at a woman with a braid that's bright blue and it matches some of her laser cut jewelry. She's so great at just posting inspirational content that just falls in line perfectly with her brand, and that's going to help with discoverability too. Simply somebody who's just searching Instagram maybe for hair inspiration might actually discover Karli's Instagram, be driven to her Etsy shop and make a purchase because it's so in line with the same kind of thing they were searching for even though it wasn't necessarily, they didn't set out to buy a dinosaur necklace. So, Instagram is a great channel for discovering new customers and customers discovering you. So, part of discoverability is actually making sure that you get your business, and yourself, and your products in front of the right eyes. A really good way of doing that is trying to partner with like-minded and like-valued bloggers and other influencers who can help you gain exposure for your products because their audience is already looking for that type of product. A good example of a partnership with maybe an online blogger or an influencer is DIY kits are really trending right now. So, you can go on Etsy and search for DIY kits and find tons of different sets that you could buy. As a seller of a DIY kit, it would be great to partner with DIY blogs and there's tons of those. There's so many out there that you could really find people or bloggers that match with your values and your aesthetic and your ideals to help partner and get your products more widely noticed. So, how do you know if discoverability is working for you? How do you know if the choices that you've made in terms of keywords or SEO or social media are actually driving traffic to your shop? The first is that, you should notice some traffic boost if something is working for you and if it's not then it's a good time to audit and think about what you can tweak and make small changes. The cool thing about all of your discoverability is it can all be tweaked really easily. You could change your tags and your keywords in just a couple of seconds. You could also try experimenting with different types of social media posts. You could reach out to different bloggers. These are all things that can be changed relatively easier than like say changing your entire product line. Other platforms are certain marketplaces might also provide tools. At Etsy, we have a tool called Shop Stats which will allow you to really analyze what traffic looks like at your shop. These tools can really help you understand how many people are actually seeing your shop, how many people are clicking on your products, how many people are choosing to buy your products and so you can start to close the gaps between people finding you, looking at your products and then deciding to buy. One thing that's really important to remember is like anything it's going to take some time to build a customer base. It's one of the great advantages of selling inside of a marketplace that you'll just naturally gain some exposure, but just remember be patient as you build followers and loyal customers.
6. Goals for the Future: So, in the context of all the things that we've been talking about today, one thing that's really important to acknowledge in all of it is, what are your goals? Goals are really specific here. They can be your overarching goals, like I want to be able to quit my day job or I just want some extra spending money. They can also be really specific goals like, I want to sell X number of products every week or every month or I want to expand my business to be able to hire help or I'd like to be able to hire outside manufacturing. Maybe you want to sell globally. Doesn't really matter what your goals are, just think really specifically about what they are. Acknowledge them. I recommend that you always write them down so that you can come back and reflect to them later. Setting goals is going to be really key because as you're in this learning process of learning how to run a business online, there will be a lot of question marks, there will be a lot of times when you don't know why something is happening or how something is happening or how to change something. Relating back to your goals is going to help you make choices to change those situations and discover the right solution. Everybody is going to have their own formula for how to meet their goals and having that goal as your answer is going to help you discover what choices to make to kind of get there sooner. So, your goals will actually also help you decide where and when and how to sell your products as well. Depending on what goals you've set for yourself, you might decide that selling on in an online marketplace is a really good idea. You might also decide that selling in in-person marketplaces are a good idea. Maybe you'll decide to sell wholesale. There's all different choices you can make about how to structure your business and where to structure your business. All tying back to your goals. It's important to also think about your goals as being really valid and everybody will have different goals. There's certainly a difference between people who want to sell things online as a hobby because that's just really fulfilling and exciting and interesting. And then there's other people who have the goal to really create businesses from the ground up. Both are really valid. They're just a little bit different and they'll require different goals and different strategies along the way. So, after you've come up with an initial set of goals and you've let's say launch your business, you'll be in a learning period for a while and that's great. This is time. Just soak up, see what you can learn, see what you see and see what you start to understand about your business. But eventually, it's going to be time to reflect back on those goals. To think about are you meeting those goals? If you're not meeting those goals, how are you falling shor? If you are meeting those goals, what do you need to change? Do you want to raise those goals or just them? You might decide here's the point where I need to slow down and actually make less because this is just a hobby for me or you might decide you actually need some business consulting depending on where your business is heading in terms of your business goals. You might also see that your products are doing really well in one corner of the global marketplace. You might see that you sell more in Europe than the United States. So, if that's the case, how can you take advantage of that information so that you can meet your goal even further. How can you capitalize on the fact that European people like your products? What changes can you making your shop? How can you cater to that type of customer? So, these are all the things that you'll need to pay attention to along the way as you reflect back on your goals. And the good news is, is your goals can and probably should change over time. You want this business to be something that supports what you desire. So, taking time out to check in on those goals and make sure they're still your goals is really important. So, we've talked about a lot of different ways to set your business up for success and once you're ready, just get used to a little bit of a learning period. It's going to be a really short period of time where you're learning a lot and that's really important. So, pay attention and be really observant to what you see and what you notice happens with your shop, happens with your customers, happens with your social media. Just really pay attention. And don't forget, I'd really like to see your products that you'd like to share in the project gallery. Whether you're making something, whether you've curated something, whether you picked something out of a vintage bin in upstate New York, whatever it is, share it because it's going to be a great opportunity for you all to give feedback to each other and to help each other answer these big questions about how you can impact the things we've talked about today. And thanks again for taking this class. I hope that you've learned a lot and it's been really helpful. I look forward to seeing your products in the project gallery and on Etsy.
Parker Gard, Video Content Producer at Etsy
