Date joined etsy- 11/1/08
Sales to date - 537
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.We are Carolle & Richard of Galstudio, together for 16 years and having the time of our lives making fun things here in Vancouver, Canada. Meeting in art school we discovered that we have a creative bent and work very well together. So, we made it our goal to have a business together. Dogs are in our plans. We love them. And, we both see a couple of furry quadrupeds joining us in the very near future. Carolle loves to cook & Richard loves to eat ... match made in heaven.
-Describe an average day in the life of “you”.
A typical day usually starts with Richard waking up at 6:30 AM. He makes coffee and starts working on the computer. And, Carolle then drags herself out of bed headed towards the coffee. By 9:00 AM we have a quick meeting to decide whether to jump into production or go check out fabric & supplies. If time permits, Richard is off on a bike ride. We package any orders for shipping destined for 2:00 PM. We discovered that it’s important to take a 45 minute lunch break. Because Carolle is way less grouchy & Richard cannot function without food. It’s definitely in our best interest! We rev up the production between 2 to 6. After dinner, we do prep work and more computer work. Richard writes another cycling post & Carolle will kick back and knit.
-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?
Richard started model building & sketching as a young boy. Running & riding his bike was particularly fun too. Carolle learned to knit before she could spell her name. A natural. She tried her hands at everything; painting, model making & drawing Disney characters from story books.
-What made you want to start selling on etsy?Carolle was off work and had time to knit and be creative. Looking for ways of self-employment, she soon discovered Etsy and it was a natural platform to start selling her products
-How long did it take for you to get your first sale on etsy?
At the beginning we had a few knitted items for sale. We did zero blogging, no publicity, not really knowing how to take the advantage of the Etsy community. It took seven months for the first Etsy sale.
-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?
Richard loves slow cooking homemade meals & anything Carolle will bake. And, Carolle loves cheese and more cheese preferably with wind, bread & popcorn. Top this up with plenty of reruns of Star Trek makes us happy.
-Is there anything you’d like to try your hand at doing? Knitting, baking, soap making, wood working. an instrument, etc.
We would love to try our hands at learning the history & craftmaking of: wine, beer, & cheese in Europe.
-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?Have patience because it requires huge amounts of it along with time & effort you will be rewarded. Sell something YOU would love to buy. It has to be of the highest quality that you can produce. There’s no excuse not to have great product shots. A picture is WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS! You must establish an online presence; Blog, Facebook, & Twitter. Tell your story and you product, people want to know who you are. And above all, remember that the customer is always right, so be willing to go the extra mile!
-3 etsy shops you just LOVE?
We love these Etsy shops:
Yokoo
Fosterweld
Grimm
-One year from now...
We see ourselves in a larger space. Broadening our product line to include children caps & more diverse range of inner tube items. Have our products in more local stores as well as increasing our Etsy sales exponentially. We’re excited and grateful to be able to work and better ourselves while designing products that people enjoy!
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Have an etsy shop with over 300 sales and want to be a featured seller? Contact me at phletcher@gmail.com
As always, thanks for reading :)
