Date joined etsy - 1/7/09
Sales to date - 812
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.My name is Karen Herrera and I live in Franklin Wisconsin which is a suburb of Milwaukee. It's a nice place to live. I am married to a super guy who also happens to be a professional chef, and together we have 2 little kids. Oh - and there's also our dog Charlie. He sleeps almost all day every day. Life is good for us.
Random things that I would consider my favorite: chocolate with marshmallow fluff swirl ice cream, 100 calorie bags of microwave popcorn, sleep (don't get enough of that one), most things that are pink, flower gardens, flip flops, sleeping children, and curling up in a blanket on the couch with my husband at the end of the day.
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
I suppose a day in the life of Karen would start with cleaning myself up and getting the kids off to school. Then, I head home and get to work. Cookies have to be made at the last minute, so I'm constantly working with short deadlines. I decorate almost every day, and there's also days that I mix giant batches of dough or get paper goods and shipping supplies ready. Since a lot of my stuff is custom for parties or whatever, I spend a lot of time emailing clients about their cookie specifics. It can be a long process. Once I realize it's almost time for the kids to get home from school, I race around cleaning up my mess and get supper started. Then I get back to work while also keeping them entertained. Once my husband gets home, I try to have things wrapped up, but sometimes I wind up working after he's gone to bed. Once I stayed up till 2 a.m. finishing some cookies. That was terrible. I used to have time to shop and spend tons of time in my garden, but I don't have that luxury anymore. That's ok though!
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
I wouldn't say that I was hugely creative growing up, but looking back I can see some signs. I did a bit of painting for awhile and my mother also taught me how to sew. I even made my own Halloween costume one year. I wouldn't even consider myself creative now... baking cookies is really more science than creativity.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
I started selling on Etsy because I was bored. There. I said it. I am also a stay-at-home mom and things were getting a little boring. I made some ladybug cookies for my daughters preschool class and things took off from there. I got my first sale on Etsy within the first month. It was to my sister-in-law, but then I got pounced and got a "real" sale.
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?
My top 5 favorite foods in no order:
sushi
candy
popcorn
soup
warm bread
tv shows:
CSI (not the NY or Miami... the real deal in LV)
Criminal Minds
The Closer
Top Chef
Barefoot Contessa
As for bands, I like most of whatever my husband has on his ipod. I don't really care about music. I do like the Foo Fighters, Bush, and a few others but I can never remember who they are.
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, etc.
I would say that I would love to learn how to knit, but actually my mom taught me over Christmas. It's so much fun! I've made 3 scarves so far and right now I'm working on a bigger shawl type thing that will have a button. It's a nice way to unwind from making cookies all day.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
I don't actually promote my Etsy shop. I know some people use Twitter and all those things, but I actually don't have time to do all that stuff. I started a blog about a year ago with the intention of showing cookies in process and stuff like that, but after one day I realized how boring it was and how time consuming the whole thing would be. So I quit that. Sometimes I think that just being on Etsy is really all the promotion I need right now. Oh - I do put a sticker on all of my cookies that has my shop address on it. Is that promotion? If I send out 50 party favors, 50 people get exposure to my shop. Can't beat that!
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
My absolute favorite Etsy shop right now is flourishbathbody.etsy.com. She has these sugar cube scrubbie things that are just amazing. In fact, I used some this morning - they were grapefruit ginger and were really just so nice. I also like truluxe.etsy.com. She makes felted acorns. She was a featured seller right before the holidays and her business has completely gone crazy. Hmmm... I guess I really only have 2 favorite shops. I don't get to shop around a whole lot.
-By New Years Eve 2011 I'd like to have at least _____ sales.
By January 1, 2011 I would like to have more than doubled my sales. Since this was my first year and things were slow at first that shouldn't be too hard to do. What I'd really like to accomplish this year is to get out of my home and into a professional work space. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one!
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Want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
