Years Gone By

Last post I mentioned that I would touch briefly on the 6 years I’ve been away. My 2nd year in business was definitely my most successful year.  By that time I was averaging 2 sales a week on Etsy in addition to participating in local craft fairs with both the local Etsy team & on my own.  I really enjoyed being part of the team and once a year a group of us would participate in a big festival held over here the Hyde Park Street Fair which I have participated in 3 times & always had such a blast.  Unfortunately the team disbanded in 2013 because our group leader opened up her own business and nobody was willing to take her place. We went our separate ways but some of us still keep in touch on FB.  I stopped blogging shortly after I opened up my FB business page because I was getting a lot more exposure over there and didn’t have much time to blog anymore. I had so much fun with my FB page but all the social interaction was a bit overwhelming at times.  I was doing giveaways and contests and meeting other crafters and we were all “liking” each other’s pages. It was a great way to make sales outside of Etsy and connect with potential customers and the added benefit of having the support of your family/friends there as well.  In addition to all of this I was doing wholesale bracelet orders for 3 yoga businesses out east. Chakra bracelets that they give to their students as incentives for joining their class.  By the end of the 2nd year my business practically became like a part time job.  I didn’t have as much motivation to post new items on Etsy anymore.  Instead I was mostly relisting items I’ve sold.  That same year I attended a Christmas party event with the local autism moms group and we had a white elephant gift exchange.  The girl that ended up with my bracelet loved it so much that she shared it with the autism moms FB group page and after that I was flooded with moms requesting to purchase one of my bracelets.  It helps that I was offering it to them for half of what I was selling it for on Etsy.  I never felt so popular in all my life!  The orders were steady for the next few months and I went on to donate some for autism charity events.  By the spring of 2013 I stopped creating new items on Etsy and basically became the bracelet lady because that was all I was ever selling anymore.  I also landed another business deal with an online autism store to sell some of my bracelets.  Nowadays I rarely get any orders on Etsy anymore and still get wholesale orders but also very rarely.  So that is where I am now.  Some closing thoughts in next post then time to move forward!  I didn’t know this published already!  It was supposed to still be in draft!