Wednesday, February 9, 2011

#249 unofficial etsy featured seller - ElegantRoseBoutique


#249 unofficial etsy featured seller - ElegantRoseBoutique
Date joined etsy- 11/29/08
Sales to date - 1832
-Give us some basic info about you: name, where you live, kids/pets, favorite ice cream flavor, etc.

Name - Melissa

We live in the beautiful state of Michigan on 6 acres. We enjoy being outside, raising animals, and spending time together as a family. I make all of our food from scratch, including our bread.

My favorite ice cream flavor would have to be haagan Daz Chocolate Peanut Butter, it's to die for, but oh so many calories!

-Describe an average day in life of "you".

I usually start the day making breakfast and checking my shop and emails. I then start packaging orders and making whatever needs to be made for the day. I take breaks to chat a bit in the forums and then back to creating. I love creating new products as essential oils are so versatile and actually benefit the body. We use essential oils daily to take care of headaches, stomach aches, coughs, aches and pains, etc..

-Were you creative growing up/what did you enjoy doing?

I was always creative growing up, I enjoyed sewing and dabbling around in many different crafts. I've tried a lot of things from cross stitching, sewing, scrapbooking, card making, quilt making and now bath and body.

-What made you want to start selling on etsy?

I started selling on Etsy after my daughter had started a shop(Dollcloset) and was having great success. I decided that I could do it too. I started selling aprons, rice bags and homemade angel ornaments. I decided that wasn't really what I wanted to sell and started exploring. I had bought some handmade soap from someone local going out of business and was starting to run low, the rest is history. March 1st will be my 2 year anniversary of selling bath and body products.

-Top 5 favorite foods, tv shows, and bands?

Top 5 foods - Pizza hut pizza, Fettuccine Alfredo, Lasagna, Green smoothies, ice cream, I know, quite a varied list. I try to eat healthy most of the time, but sometimes you just need a bit of something else.

I don't really watch much TV, I learned long ago that I had so much more time for other things if I didn't turn the TV on.

-What would you suggest to new etsy sellers to promote their shops?

If you are new to Etsy, I would recommend the following:

Spend time in the forums to get your name out. Ask questions, give opinions, etc.
Join a team, they can help give constructive criticism for your shop.
Take the best photos you can. Use a photo editing program to resize and lighten your photos. Photos are your ticket to success on Etsy, your customer can't touch or see your product in person, make it look great!
Depending on what you sell, you need to see how long it takes your item to get buried 5-6 pages so that you know when to renew or list something new. I see too many sellers start there shop, list all of their items in one day and walk away, not being successful. List at least 1 item a day. The more items you have, the more buyers you will attract!
Lastly, if it isn't fun, find something else.

-One year from now...

I set goals every year for the upcoming year, usually a sales goal or number of items in my shop. So, in one year, I want to double my sales from last year. I love a challenge.

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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 :)