Monogrammed Blanket Etsy Shop Measures Up

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

What's up friends, welcome to Side Hustle School. Welcome as well to a brand new month. This is episode 1613, 1613, kicking off the month of June 2021. I had to think about what year it was for a moment because it's only been what, five, six months into 2021, but we shall overcome, we shall persevere, and I'm so glad you're here. All right, today's story.

A simple embroidery shop becomes a six figure blanket biz podcast and online course. Six figure embroidery shop on Etsy. And some customers have returned as many as 40 times. What's the secret or is there one? Is it just good customer service?

Is there a bit more to it? Well, we'll look at that topic, especially how to find your customers in the first place, how to understand what they really want. And we'll do that in the wrap up after the story. So the story is called "Monogrammed Blanket Etsy Shop Measures Up." That story is coming to you in just 30 seconds. [Music]

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 appliqued with giraffes, turtles, and sailboats. She was especially interested in making baby boy items that weren't overly masculine, like all those ones that come in camouflage patterns. She also made things for her friends with baby girls. When she felt confident in her skills, Lauren opened an Etsy shop called Funky Monkey Children. She kept startup costs low, about a hundred dollars 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. The biggest struggle was with photography, especially since customers want to see clear photos of what they're buying. But Lauren kept at it, and through trial and error with different lighting and backgrounds, she improved. Her first sale also made her realize how big of a role customer service would play in her business. She wanted to get the order done quickly and correctly in terms of earning a five-star review.

This motivation is carried over into all parts of her business because she sees the value in great customer service. However, that focus does have its pitfalls. For every 100 positive reviews she received, she might get one negative one, and then found herself harping too much on what she could have done better or how she could try to amend the situation. Eventually, she realized that some customers are just impossible to please. So if she could go back, she would tell her former self to focus on doing the best work she can and not worry about that one complainer.

Another way she set herself apart in the market was by having a fast turnaround and taking any kind of custom order that people wanted. In an industry where a lot of people had two to three-week turnaround times, she was shipping custom items out within a few days. This really helped her grow as she could take on the last-minute orders that busier sellers couldn't handle. After about eight months in business, Lauren upgraded to a better machine that cost around $8,000. It was a big, scary step, but it helped her get to the next level of professional quality and growth.

She now averages, get this, around $160,000 in Etsy sales per year. She's done nearly 20,000 sales and has over 3,000 reviews, averaging, of course, five stars. So how did she do it? Well, first, Lauren is really big into using the power of the Etsy search engine to drive traffic. Understanding SEO, specifically relating to Etsy 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 using the platform.

She's also niched down even more to the point where she only sells baby blankets and monogrammed stuffed bunnies. This allows her to focus on those two products and continue having a very fast turnaround in production time. In fact, Lauren is so good at SEO for Etsy 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 as well.

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. [Music]

All right, so identifying your customers. Listen to this, this is from Lauren. She says, identifying my customers has definitely been a journey.

I realized that I needed to take a step back from what I envisioned for my business and let my customers do the talking in terms of products and prints that I explored. I saw that when I started listening to my customers, like-minded customers responded in the form of increased sales. For a platform like Etsy where there's competition at every corner, it is extremely important to have a special sauce that sets you apart from every other shop. And by listening to customers, allowing the business to pivot and flow where they took me and having that stellar customer service, I built a shop that brings people back over and over again. And she also reminded me that some customers have purchased as many as 40 times, which seems like a pretty loyal customer.

So I often talk about how you have to do what works for you. If somebody wants something from you and you're not into it, you don't have to provide it, absolutely true. But if you're beginning the process of an Etsy shop or some other service or product, and there's a lot of different things you could do, sometimes it's helpful to just like Lauren did, make a few different things, see what people respond with, take some custom orders, and you might discover that there's something people really want that you're not even thinking about. Or something that's an afterthought to you ends up becoming a primary business. I'll leave you with that today.

Lauren, thank you so much for letting us share your story with our listeners. And listeners, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/1613. If you've got a comment or question for the show, that would be at sidehustleschool.com/questions. I hope your new month is starting off well.

I hope you're investing in yourself and doing something to get closer to a goal you believe in. I also hope you'll come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.