Date joined etsy - 11/1/07
Sales to date - 565
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.
My name is Marnie Karger. I live in my home state of Minnesota near the southern end of beautiful Lake Minnetonka. I’m lucky enough to share my home with my handsome husband, our two clever daughters, and a goofy retired racing greyhound. My favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate chunk mostly because the ice cream acts as a vehicle to get the chocolate chunks into my mouth.
-Describe an average day in life of "you".
7:30 – I’m awake, probably still in my jammies, and readying my oldest to head out the door for school.
8:30 – 11:30: A chaotic balance of entertaining my youngest, getting some crafting done, checking my inbox, Etsy shop, Twitter and Facebook accounts, listing new items, running errands, and making sure any new orders are ready to ship – oh, and getting dressed at some point too.
12:00 – 2:30: lunch is done, it’s naptime for the little one, and uninterrupted (yeah, right) craft time for me.
2:30 – 7:00: little one’s up again, bigger one comes home from school, more entertaining, dinner making, family time, and getting both girls to bed.
7:30 – “way too late”: solid work time in my basement studio. I usually have either the radio on (89.3 the Current), a cd in, or I’m listening to pod casts (Radio Lab, This American Life, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, or CraftyPod).
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
I have always had fairly fidgety hands and enjoy pretty much anything I can do with my hands be it crafting, gardening, baking, sewing, or putting pony tails in my daughters’ hair. As a kid, I loved working with paper as it was a readily available resource and the possibilities for use were enormous – I drew, I wrote, I folded, and I painted. Today, paper is still my favorite medium and the one with which I have the greatest familiarity and success.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?
I had been making cards for friends and family for a couple of years and every so often someone would say, “you should sell these!” I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur and the idea of making a living by selling my handmade works seemed to be the dream that would pull it all together. When I looked into Etsy, it was such an inviting, low-risk opportunity, that I lurked for a bit and then jumped in. Since then, I’ve learned that trying to make a living by selling my own work is far from easy but is still the coolest way I’ve ever earned money.
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
I waited impatiently for a long, interminable two weeks before I sold my first item. At that point, I squealed with delight, kissed my newborn, did a happy dance, called my husband at work and told him that we were going out for dinner to celebrate. The item, by the way, sold for a whopping eight bucks!
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?
Foods:
1.) My mom’s turkey pie
2.) Good Coffee
3.) Good Chocolate
4.) Breadsticks from Fazoli’s
5.) Honey Greek Yogurt
TV Shows: (I don’t watch much t.v. these days, but here’s some that whenever I catch them never fail to entertain and/or enlighten)
1.) The Simpsons
2.) 30 Rock
3.) Scrubs
4.) Frontline
5.) CBS Sunday Morning
Bands: Too many favorites, so I’ll narrow it down to the ones with alliterative titles – just for you!
1.) The Temper Trap
2.) Passion Pit
3.) Kings of Convenience
4.) The Ting Tings
5.) The Beastie Boys
-Is there anything you'd like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working, etc.
I’ve never thrown pottery on a wheel, but have always wanted to. I know it’s not as easy as it looks, but I love a good coffee mug and would love to make one for myself someday using this method.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?
First, I recommend having a shop FULL of items worth promoting and presented clearly and professionally enough to essentially promote the shop itself. Amazing items, awesome photos, and excellent customer service will go a long way. Skip the ads and the fan pages until you have those three things in place first. Then, list or re-list something every day, be as active online as you have time for, and love what you do. No whining.
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
1.) Green Post - The amazing and multi-talented artist, Kendra Zvonik is the genius behind this shop. She creates these amazing tags and notecards by recycling the scraps sent to her from me and other paper artists on Etsy thereby “upcycling” paper that might otherwise end up in a landfill or a boring egg carton. If that weren’t cool enough, she embeds seeds in these tags and cards so that, when planted and watered, they sprout wildflowers or organic lettuces. So cool.
2.) Whimsy And Spice - Although I may never shell out the dough needed to buy any of these luxurious goodies, I love this shop for it’s tantalizing product photos and tempting treats. I always stop to click on their listing when I see it on the front page, just to drool.
3.) Ward-o-Matic - This is a new discovery for me and I absolutely adore everything in Ward Jenkins’s shop. His work has movement, energy, color, and cheer. I want one of everything. Maybe two or three of everything. And then I want him to make more so I can get those too.
-By New Years Day 2011 I'd like to have _____ amount of sales.
A ka-gillion! O.K., I’d be thrilled with 1500 as a new total.
--
Want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
