My Worst Moment
I will start with my worst moment first. Why? Because it happened at the beginning of the year I first started my craft business and opened my first Etsy shop. Etsy was still new to a lot of people back in 2007. We, as Etsy sellers, were learning what works and what doesn’t work. First four months were the hardest months for me because I had mixed feelings about keeping my craft business going. There were times I would be excited about listing my new handmade items on my Etsy shop and hoping that it would become my first sale, then other times I would feel discouraged because of no sales.
I remember one day I shared my fears and worries as a start-up small business owner to my parents. I will never forget what they said to me that day, their advice was to relax, enjoy what I love doing, and not think about it for a while. Guess what? It actually worked! It took me 4 months to make my first sale. If it hadn’t been for my parents’ advice, I wouldn’t be here writing for IndieBizChicks or making more handmade items for my company, Retroeighties. After the first sale, the worst moment has passed.
My Best Moment
I still can’t get over the fact that it actually happened a year and half ago. I remembered the day I first received an email from one of the Etsy admins informing me that Real Simple magazine was interested in featuring one of my beaded bobby pins and wanted to know if I was interested in being featured. Of course, I was interested! How could a girl say no to that? Etsy admin gave me instructions on what I need to do in order to get featured in their magazine, which I did. I didn’t hear from anyone for the next few weeks.
When I finally heard the news from the Etsy admin, I was so excited to find out that Real Simple magazine planned on featuring my ‘Rock n Roll’ beaded bobby pins for their December 2009 issue. The day their magazine was first released to the public was the week before Thanksgiving, I ran to the bookstore and bought a copy. I flipped through the pages and saw my ‘Rock n Roll’ bobby pins on page 46. I was in awe. It wasn’t too long before the sales started coming in. Boy, I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I was certainly not prepared for a high volume of sales in such a short time! Thankfully, I made it through and it has been a great experience for me. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!
– Kelly