Etsy Success Series: Part 1 -- Consistency

Over the past year or so, I've completely changed my approach to my Etsy shops (available HERE and HERE) and it's completely changed my level of success too! During that time, as my shops gained traction and success, others have asked me for tips and ideas to help them do the same. With that in mind, I am writing an Etsy success e-book, due to be published and available in my Etsy shop around May 15th, 2023 (I will update this series once it is available!). 

In the meantime, this post is the first in a series of five about that success. The e-book will go far more in depth and will include calendars, charts, tips, resources, and more!

My number one tip for Etsy is to be CONSISTENT.

That does not mean you have to list things every single day or even every few days or even every week.

What I mean by "be consistent" is that you do something on a regularly scheduled basis towards your shop. Most weeks, I do something shop related Monday through Friday, but occasionally I also do tasks over the weekend.

Consistency also means keep your packaging, communication style with customers, item descriptions, and so on consistent as well. You, of course, should have variety as makes sense for your shop and style -- you aren't a robot. But, for this post, I am going to focus on simply doing tasks to support your shop on a regular basis.

As noted, I work on my shop every day Monday to Friday. 

Every day, I do the following:

• Start my Etsy work by cleaning up my work space from the previous day, if necessary.
• Check for messages from customers or potential customers. 
• Check for new orders and plan to get them shipped quickly.
  
• Check my stats -- what are people looking at most? What is selling best? What is being totally ignored? Are there any changes to my overall shop stats?
• Scroll through my shop for anything that stands out, good or bad. For the good, I make note of it and try to replicate it. For the bad, I make note of it and try to fix it and not do it again.

Every two or three days, I do the following:

• Check my stats on eRank -- this is an amazing tool to help you understand your shop's overall performance, as well as individual listing performance. 
• Use eRank to guide improvements to one or two listings.
• Post to social media (Instagram -- HERE and HERE, Facebook, YouTube)
  

At least once per week, I do the following:

• Review listings that are about to expire or auto-renew.
• Review my advertising settings and adjust advertised listings.
  

As needed, I do the following:

• Pack and ship orders (ideally within 24-48 hours or the next business day)

At least once per month, I do the following:

• Update photos for a few listings.
• Plan upcoming sales or areas of focus (for example, in August, I start planning for Christmas).

If you are planning an Etsy shop, or want to improve the performance of an existing shop, improve your consistency. Show up every day (as you can, depending on your other commitments), and look for areas that need regular attention and areas that need some focus. Often the areas that need the most focus or attention are the ones you dread looking at.

Do you have questions about Etsy and how to be an Etsy success? Leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer in a future post!

I have two shops and both have gone from next to no sales to extremely regular and consistent sales:

• Shop the Junk Drawer -- I sell vintage goods, handmade items, craft supplies, and more in this shop. This shop is consistently in the top 10% of ALL Etsy shops, globally!
  
• Marbles and Jam -- I sell download-and-print coloring pages, stationery, self help and therapy tools, and more in this shop. This shop is consistently in the top 5 to 6% of ALL Etsy shops, globally! 

In both shops, you can use code THANKYOU for 10% off! Please note, Shop the Junk Drawers in currently only available to buyers in the USA. Marbles and Jam is available everywhere Etsy is found. Etsy reserves the right to apply exclusions to discounts and buyers are responsible for their own taxes, VAT, etc. Shipping is always free and downloads are close to instantly available.

 

Both of these shops now do very well and have seen growth in views by several thousand percent since I've been consistent and focused! My sales have also steadily climbed and climbed.

Be sure to come back for the rest of my Etsy success series!

Tips to encourage your children to become natural writers

A version of this post first appeared on my original blog, M and J in a Nutshell. On that blog, I documented a variety of things, but I kept a strong focus on education and homeschooling. This post features several updates.

 

Many children, including mine, don't have a natural enthusiasm for writing. For years, it was a chore to get my now adult child to write anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. By the time my child was 13 years old, however, they were writing every day -- and without prompting or instruction from me.

 

So, what changed? Did I force my child to sit and write daily? No. Did some other teacher or tutor make my kiddo write every day? 

 

No. Instead, I changed a few of our family habits and my approach to teaching my homechooled child to write. I believe some of our initial struggles stemmed from a rigid writing curriculum used by my child's school district prior to our switch to homeschooling and due to my child's predisposition towards extreme rule following. We switched from public school to homeschooling halfway through fourth grade and it was a game changer.

 

While we used some specific writing, grammar, and general Language Arts curriculum in our homeschool program, the most effective things have been the least academic.

Here are some tips, based on our experiences, that might help your child become a better or more engaged writer:

 

First, make sure your children have the tools to write! And, make those items as easily accessible as possible for your children. As obvious as this may seem, I am amazed when I arrive to tutor a student and there are no pens or pencils to be seen. No paper. No notebooks. Nothing...how is one to write without the tools? 

 

Put out a pencil or pen jar, a tub of fun erasers, and a pile of notebooks or paper. Make it easily accessible. And, those pages that you print off, then toss away? If the other side is blank, put it in a box for scratch paper -- my child frequently used such paper for sketching out new ideas or making notes.

 

You can even go a step further and have your child help to decorate containers to hold their pens, pencils, and paper. Let them use fun pencils or pens. Let them use color! This is non-academic writing, so color and fun can be part of the process.

Writing and art supplies on top of a small cabinet.

 

Provide a variety of notebooks from basic lined notebooks to fun, colorful journals, and even sketchpad style notebooks. July and August are a great time to stock up on notebooks, journals, and writing supplies since most stores will have great back-to-school sales! You should be able to find a wide selection of notebooks, pens and pencils at very low cost. Notebooks are great for journaling, writing stories, keeping lists, and more.

As an avid writer of letters, and with several pen-pals throughout the world, I am often asked about finding pen-pals for children. Honestly, I think it is a great idea, but children don't make very good pen-pals without extensive parental involvement and encouragement. Most of the time it is the parent who wants their child to have a pen-pal, and the child has little interest. Wait until your child is asking on their own about pen-pals, then investigate options. That said, I do have a few tips on encouraging children to write snail-mail letters...

Get a fun, colorful box and fill it with cute stationery and postcards. The local dollar store usually has a good selection at a low price. Even better, take your child to pick out their own stationery! Your computer also probably has some cute fonts, backgrounds, and clip art to create your own. When you see a rack of postcards, buy some! Anytime you travel, be sure to pick up postcards too. 

 

Have your kids use the stationery and postcards to write to grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even to you. Have them write silly notes to their best friend or the child that lives next door. Your kids are more likely to keep writing to these people than to a stranger from a pen-pal exchange. If your kids are writing to friends and family that live nearby, you don't even need to mail the cards and letters. Have your kids walk next door or take them with you to deliver their notes in person. Your kids will love seeing the faces of their friends and family light up with joy...and, they will be encouraged to write another letter or postcard!

Our family mailbox...I don't recall where we found it!

 

Set up a family mailbox. This can be just an empty shoe box, or you can go all out and buy an actual mailbox at the local hardware store! Set it somewhere easily accessible to everyone in the family, and let the kids decorate it. Whenever they have something to tell you, but for some reason they don't want to just say it, they can write a note and put it in the mailbox. This is fun for sharing jokes, silly secrets, or a simple "I love you", but it can also be helpful for starting difficult conversations too.

These are fun ways to engage your child in writing, without the stress of academic assignments. 

 

The key to having your child continue writing is to be non-critical of fun, non-academic writing. Your child's spelling, grammar, and content will all be addressed by their teacher or when you go over their schoolwork. Your child's journal, letters, postcards, and notes are informal expressions that they put their heart into. Expect them to make mistakes, but also expect the lessons from school to eventually work their way into their informal writing. 

 

Be supportive and encouraging so that they keep it up for a lifetime!

 

Are your children natural writers? What have been their best and worst writing experiences?

 

Interested in buying a family mailbox? Check out the options below from Amazon! Please note, these are affiliate links and may result in a small commission for me if you purchase through them -- thank you in advance.

 

 

 

3 Ways to be a Better Etsy Customer

If you are an Etsy customer, but you don't have a shop of your own, here are three things Etsy sellers wish you would do when shopping:

 

1. Fully read and understand the listing

Please take time to fully read and and understand the item description and to thoroughly look at the photos of what you are buying. Most sellers will try to describe and show the item as accurately as possible. If you receive something that is flawed and the flaw is easily visible in the photo and/or described in the text description, don't leave a bad review for something that was obvious before you purchased. If an item is described as three inches long but you want it to be five inches long, don't buy it expecting it to miraculously become five inches long. If you are looking for a book with a specific title, don't buy something that's close and then be mad when it's not the title you wanted when the photos and description clearly state the actual title.

 

In THIS Etsy shop, I sell handmade envelopes, most of which are made from a variety of magazine pages, many of which are quite thin. A buyer recently said she thought I might have magically figured out a way to make them thicker and left a bad review, fully knowing that the envelopes she would receive would be thin. Another buyer bought a book that looked sort of, kind of like a book they wanted and then they were mad and left a bad review because it wasn't the one they actually wanted...even though the title and other details were clearly on display. Don't be like these customers.

 

2. Understand shipping 

You've placed your order and are eagerly awaiting its arrival . . . but your package doesn't arrive as quickly as you expected. Or it gets stuck in a shipping facility for days on end. Or there's a natural disaster that disrupts package and mail delivery. Or there's a mail services strike in your country.

 

Once your seller drops off the package, shipping is out of our hands. It is your sellers responsibility to: 

• Ship within a reasonable time frame
• Have shipping time frames noted in their Etsy listings/shops
• Submit a tracking number for all packages valued at over $10

It is NOT your seller's responsibility to make sure the mail or package carrier actually delivers within a certain time frame. Etsy gives you an *estimated* delivery window, but it's still in the hands of the carrier to actually deliver.

  

If you order an item on a Friday or Saturday or there's a holiday within a day or two of your order, give your seller an extra day or two for shipping to take into consider the weekend. We aren't Amazon. Most of us don't have the capacity to be shipping 24/7! 

 

Of course, if you item is delayed by the postal or other delivery service, it's perfectly OK to message the seller and ask about their policies. Some sellers may have policies listed related to extended delays. If not, ask. For polite customers and those that have reasonable expectations, I'm far more willing to make exceptions to my policies, including for shipping issues. 

 

3. Contact the shop owner before leaving a bad review

Before you leave a review of less than 5 stars, please reach out to the seller. Most of us want to make sure you're happy with your purchase. For the most part, my customers have been great and communicated well before, during, and after their purchases. However, a few have opted to leave a bad or subpar review, even acknowledging in private messages that they were at fault for not understanding a listing or expecting something other than what was advertised (see above!).

 

If you're an Etsy seller (or a seller on other platforms), what do you want your customers to know before they buy? What advice do you have for customers?

Check out my Etsy shops here:

 

Download-and-print coloring pages, stationer, self help tools,collage ephemera, and more at Marbles and Jam

Vintage goods, handmade stationery, crafting tools, and more at Shop the Junk Drawer

Upcoming changes to Mom2MomEd

If you've been following Mom2MomEd for a while, you'll know this blog as a parenting and education focused space, particularly focused on younger children and their families. 

 

However, as relationships, interests, and the world around us have all changed, so too has this blog. 

 

Over the next few weeks, you'll be seeing a lot of changes around here. Some will be cosmetic -- new colors, new graphics, new styles. Others will be more focused on subject matter -- I've already put up posts on newer to this blog topics such as de-cluttering, networking as an introvert, and getting things done when depressed or down. And, I will be updating the blog name, policies, and more.

 

Over the coming months, we will be releasing a number of e-books on topics such as de-cluttering, smoothie recipes, homeschooling, and more. We also will start releasing homeschool literature curriculum guides. 

 

I will also be moving our lunchbox notes and other items from our Etsy shop to my download-and-print Etsy shop where I currently sell coloring pages, stationery, self help and therapy tools, and more. You can find that shop HERE.

 

I hope you'll stick around!

Decluttering over 1,000 items in only 30 days

Have you ever looked around your home and decided you just have too much stuff? 

 

Maybe you want to 

• de-clutter before a move
• get rid of stuff so you can clean less
• have people visit without worrying about tidying first
  
• feel less scattered and more at home in your actual home
• leave less for your children or loved ones to deal with when you are gone
• or any number of other things.

Years ago, I inherited a whole lot of stuff from my grandmother. More recently, I inherited a whole lot of stuff from my hoarder uncle. 

 

Dealing my grandmother's things was fairly easy as she had already downsized several times, so there wasn't actually a whole lot to deal with.

 

My uncle, however, was another story. As a hoarder with a three bedroom, built out basement, and large garage, he had a lot of stuff! Most of it was junk, but I still had to go through all of it as I couldn't find a will and was pretty sure he had other documents and possibly money tucked away into weird places (I didn't ever find a will though). It took me a few years to go through all of his stuff! 

 

The experience of going through all of my uncle's stuff was overwhelming and felt never ending! I don't want to leave my child with such a burden when it is my time to die.

 

As I was going through my uncle's things, I decided to go through my own belongings as well. This has been a multi-year process.

Even after a few years, I still had far more than I wanted and decided to really accelerate my de-cluttering.

 

In December of 2022, in just 30 days (I took Christmas day off), I de-cluttered more than 1,000 items! I started tracking the items going in and out of my home (excluding business related things). I started keeping a record of every purchase and every discard. I used a simple notebook with three columns:

• The date
• Green or red color coding (green if I got rid of something, red if I brought something into my home)
• The number and description of items

At the end of every page, I added up the items. By the end of the month, I had de-cluttered over 1,000 items, even after I accounted for the items I added to my home. In the following months, I've continued to de-clutter, though I've slowed down some and had a few periods where I didn't de-clutter at all. 

 

Even if I wasn't actively de-cluttering, I noticed that my shopping habits and my willingness to accept stuff from well meaning friends had changed. I said no more often and window shopped more than I actually made purchases. If I purchase anything now, it's typically something I need (my wallet fell apart and I replaced it, for example) or something I've thought about for a few weeks before purchasing.

Since December, as of writing this post, I've de-cluttered well over 2,500 items!

What has your own de-cluttering journey been like? Or are you wanting to de-clutter but not sure where to start? Or are you trying to de-clutter but friends or family don't understand why? Drop a comment and let me know!

Networking for Introverts, Highly Sensitive People, and Others

A few months ago, I attended a networking event for female entrepreneurs in my area. It was great, but it was also exhausting!

 

As an entrepreneur, I run my own private tutoring and academic and career coaching business, in addition to two thriving Etsy shops. I also consider myself to be a shy, introverted, highly sensitive person.

 

Networking and meeting new people are all scary and feel exhausting before I even take part in them! The same is true for many introverts, shy people, and highly sensitive people.

 

If you find networking difficult -- even if you aren't an introvert, shy, or sensitive -- here are a few ways I've made it easier for myself: 

 

DECIDE IF IT'S A GOOD FIT

First, I analyze if the networking event is a good fit for me. I assess what I hope to get out of the experience, what I have to share with others, who is expected to attend, the type of event, and more. If I don't think I'll get anything out of it and that I won't be able to bring anything of value, then I likely won't go. If the event will be huge, I won't go. If it's formal, I won't go.

DO SOME BACKGROUND WORK

If you have access to the list of attendees, take some time look up several on LinkedIn, social media, or their websites. Choose a few that you would like to connect with and send them a quick message. Briefly introduce yourself, tell them you'll be at the event, and that you look forward to meeting them. This will prime them to be on the lookout for you. You'll have made connections before the event even begins! I don't know about you, but having a connection beforehand helps to break down barriers the day of the event.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF TO CONNECT DURING THE EVENT

After I've decided that the event is right for me and I've made some connections ahead of time, I challenge myself to talk to three people during the event. I like to ask them questions about what they do. Getting others to talk about themselves and what they do is a great way to drive a conversation without having to do much work. Some of the questions I like to ask include:

• What problems do you solve in your work?
• What was your best client experience?
• What was your worst client experience? Did it change how you do business?
• What is the most misunderstood aspect of what you do?
• What are your goals for the next several months?
• What is the biggest lesson you've learned in your field and how do you apply it day to day?
  

GIVE YOURSELF AN OUT

I like to make sure I have an out, just in case the event isn't what I had hoped, if I feel overwhelmed, or if I feel my social gas tank hitting empty. In truth, I've gotten comfortable just saying, "This has been so great, but I need to get going. I have some things to take care of at home. Should we exchange business cards?" Most of the time, this is a pretty good path to the door. 

CIRCLE BACK AFTER THE EVENT

After the event, go back through the business cards or contact information you gathered, or go back to contacts you made before the event, and touch base with a few people. Just send a quick message on LinkedIn or by email and let them know you enjoyed meeting them and hope to see them at future events. If you have reasons to get in touch in the future, let them know that they may be hearing from you again and that you look forward to working with them.  

UNDERSTAND THAT IT MAY ALWAYS BE OVERWHELMING

Some aspects of networking may always be overwhelming though and it's OK to give yourself an out so that you can leave events early! It's also OK to say no and to be selective about networking opportunities. I've opted not to attend several this past month, but I have been in touch with a few people from the event a few months ago through LinkedIn and Instagram.

 

What have your networking experiences been like? What has gone well and what hasn't? Drop a comment and let me know!

Find me on Etsy -- Shop The Junk Drawer for vintage, handmade, craft supplies, and more!

Find me on Etsy: Shop at Marbles and Jam for download-and-print coloring pages, stationery, ephemera and more!

5 Things I love about masks that have nothing to do with Covid-19

Please note: links may be affiliate links in nature. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission -- thank you in advance!

 

Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum of mask wearing, there are some people for whom wearing a mask has multiple benefits that have nothing to do with Covid-19. I happen to be one of those people. 

 

I love wearing a mask for several non-Covid reasons and I hope doing so will become normalized even after Covid-19 is far in the past.

 

Here are five NON-Covid reasons why people might wear masks even after the pandemic is far behind us:

 

1. ALLERGY RELIEF:

As I write this, we are rapidly approaching my least favorite season of the year -- spring! I know, I know! Chances are you love spring and can't wait for summer, but I suffer from such serious and widespread pollen allergies that I can't stand the two seasons. I'm sniffling, itching, wheezing, and more from mid-March through mid-September. 

What does my hated of spring and summer have to do with masks? Well, one byproduct of mask wearing during the Covid-19 pandemic is my discovery that masks were MORE effective in dealing with my pollen allergies than most medications I've tried over the years!

2. ASTHMA 

As with my allergies, it turns out that wearing a mask has greatly improved my asthma! 

Cold weather, despite how much I love winter, is my primary asthma trigger. Wearing a mask means the air that enters my nose and mouth is already slightly warmed and thus I'm not prone to a coughing attack and possible asthma attack. 

Since the pandemic started, and since it has largely been considered to be over, I've had zero cold-weather induced asthma attacks! The difference? I wear a mask outdoors when it's cold.

3. CLEANING BARRIER

If dust, pet dander, or odors bother you while cleaning, wearing a mask is a great barrier! It will block a lot of dust and dander while you clean, but you can also dab a tiny bit of your favorite essential oil onto a mask to help cover unpleasant odors when you clean.

 

Side note: my favorite essential oil is a peppermint-eucalyptus blend from Thrive Market. You can shop Thrive HERE. If you are first time Thrive shopper, you may qualify for 40% off your first order! 

I have two dogs, one of which sheds a lot. Cleaning up her fur, especially after grooming, is made more pleasant by wearing a mask. Both are senior citizens and we live in an apartment. One of our dogs is old enough that she goes to the bathroom so frequently that it would be difficult to take her out to the park. As a result, we have a dog potty on our patio. It is not fun to clean up. Wearing a mask with a dab of essential oils has made the job much more tolerable.

 

4. FEWER COLDS

Much like my experiences with asthma and allergies, I've had far fewer colds when mask wearing -- even post-pandemic. I don't know about you, but I hate coughing, sneezing, and having to blow my nose all the time. I hate it enough that wearing a mask is worth it.

 

5. NO IDIOTS TELLING ME TO SMILE

If you are a woman reading this, you probably have men (and maybe even some women) telling you to smile randomly and without reason. They don't take the time to learn anything about you (and you probably don't want them to anyhow!) and they don't take a moment to consider that maybe you aren't smiling for a reason -- but also, do we really want to go around smiling 24/7? Sounds creepy and exhausting, right?

Wearing a mask has really cut down on the number of people that randomly, and without reason, tell me to smile. I happen to be an incredibly serious person, and I LIKE BEING SERIOUS. I find joy and fulfillment in my serious nature. When you tell me to smile, you disregard who I am as a person.

 

Wearing a mask resolves that for me. 

 

What are some non-Covid reasons that you might continue wearing a mask post-pandemic? Leave a comment and let me know.

 

P.S. -- Mom2MomEd is about to undergo a re-brand and re-focusing, including getting a new name. I'm a middle aged single mom to an adult child and living in the city. I love to travel, but also care about and am worried about the environment. I love drawing and crafting and selling on Etsy, and a bunch of other stuff. You'll be seeing a shift away from topics related to younger kids or generalized educational content and more towards single, middle aged mom life. I would love for you to stick around, but I also will understand if that type of content just isn't for you.

P.P.S. -- My drawing and illustration Etsy shop now has an associated YouTube channel! Right now, I am primarily filming ASMR drawing videos (visual content with ambient sounds, such as the sounds of my pen on the paper). Check it out HERE. If you read the video descriptions, you'll find a link to my shop (I'm waiting for YouTube to verify my account, so you may have to copy and paste the link) and a discount code for the shop!

P.P.P.S. -- The Mom2MomEd Etsy shop will be closing on March 31st and items from that shop will transfer to my drawing and illustration shop.