Notes from Chris

Episode 1613

During her husband’s deployment, Lauren Keplinger wanted to find a way to contribute financially to her family. She started dabbling in embroidery, making baby items like bibs and onesies monogrammed or appliquéd with giraffes, turtles and sailboats. She was especially interested in making baby boy items that weren’t overly masculine, like all the ones that came in camouflage patterns. She also made things for her friends with baby girls.

Once she felt confident in her skills, Lauren opened an Etsy shop called Funky Monkey Children. She kept her startup costs low: about $100 on a garage sale embroidery machine and $10 on cloths from a local store. Her sister-in-law had an Etsy shop at the time and was available to answer questions, but it helped that Etsy is largely self-explanatory in getting set up.

After about eight months in business, Lauren upgraded to a six-needle embroidery machine that cost around $8,000. It was a big, scary step in the business but it helped her get to the next level of professional quality and growth in her sales. She now averages around $160,000 in Etsy sales per year for her physical products. She’s done nearly 20,000 sales and has over three thousand reviews averaging five stars.

How’d she do all that? First, Lauren is huge into using the power of the Etsy search engine to drive traffic. Understanding Etsy SEO and positioning her products with the appropriate tags and titles has helped drive traffic to her shop and capitalize on potential customers who are already on Etsy.

In fact, Lauren is so good at Etsy SEO that she now has a coaching business including a podcast and an online course helping other Etsy sellers.

The family uses her extra income to save for vacations and fund extracurricular activities for their kids. The flexible schedule has allowed her to remain physically present with the kids, too.

Beyond the money and flexibility, Lauren says the best part of the experience has been hitting a stride that allows her to transfer what she’s learned from Etsy into the online course. Not to make a blanket statement, but it seems there’s no limit to her success.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Lauren’s monogrammed blankets can be found at her Etsy store, etsy.com/shop/FunkyMonkeyChildren.
• Don’t forget to also check out Lauren’s podcast, Crickets to Cha-Chings, and her online course.

SEE ALSO:

• Trip to Europe Inspires Adventurous Blanket Biz: After returning from an extended trip abroad, this digital strategist draws on a sense of adventure to source and sell heirloom throw blankets.
• Juice Bar Owner Gets Weighed Down With Blankets: When a Canadian juice bar owner wants to start a new business, he goes in search of a heavy-weight product.
• Q&A: What are your best tips for Etsy?: You’ve probably heard of Etsy, the world’s largest handcrafted marketplace. It’s easy to get started selling, and there’s a large group of buyers. But how do you stand out?

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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