Reflections... My First Year on Etsy

I can hardly believe

that a full year has passed

since I've opened the virtual doors of

 my Etsy shop, BeadedEmbellishments

BeadedEmbellishments

I have had many unanticipated challenges

having previously only shown my jewerly at artisan/craft shows.

I quickly realized that in addition to designing and making jewelry,

I would have to acquire a new camera as well as some photography skills

in order to be able to show detailed pictures

of my jewelry in this new virtual forum.

This is a new skill for me, and one that requires continual refinement.

This first picture is one of my photos taken at the beginning of my first year

This second and third pictures are some of my recent photos.

Aquamarine Multi Swarovski Crystal Silver Drop Necklace

Burgundy Dragon Vein Agate Cranberry Potato Pearl Silver Necklace

 

Although I have progressed, I'm aware my

photography skills are a work in progress!

I've also discovered that having  an online business

is more time consuming than I imagined it would be.

There are many facets involved which I had not considered...

 Designing and creating a piece of jewelry is just the first step

 Next you take photographs of it

Then you tweak and crop your photos

Once this is complete you list your item

which involves creating an item description,

calculating costs and pricing your piece,

tagging your jewelry and itemizing materials used in your piece.

Once your jewelry item is listed, you need to

promote your item so it can be seen and found by potential buyers

and that's where social media sites are used.

I now have this blog, my Facebook Fan page,

and my Twitter page which I did not have

prior to opening up my BeadedEmbellishments Etsy shop.

I still need education about how they work!

I won't even talk about SEO (search engine optimization)!!!

Etsy's Handmade Community, in my opinion,  is fabulous.

It offers many ways for you to interact with other

members of the Handmade community.

I have joined 20 teams to connect with other members

and have been able to share experiences and ideas, and

have been able to promote my own shop as well as other members shops.

I have met many nice people through Etsy

who have come alongside me and have been supportive to me

and have helped me learn the ropes.

Jewelry is a very competitive and saturated online market and

 it is very challenging to have your

 products stand out from the rest and get noticed.

Despite this, I have been able to make some sales in this first year and

I hope to continue to design and create jewelry

because it is my passion.

To sum up, I am not measuring my success 

in numbers of sales per se, but rather in the pleasure I have derived

from my craft and by the joy I have found in this journey.

Thank you for being a part of my journey!

(Some images in this post are courtesy of Google)


Your comments are welcome!

Denise
from
BeadedEmbellishments