1.18.2009

My First Year on Etsy - Thank Goodness For the Forums!

This week I am celebrating my first year on Etsy with my store. I can't believe that a year has passed since I decided to open a store for my beaded jewelry.

Within a couple of days of posting a few items to my store, my first sale came in and I was totally blown away! I thought, how cool, someone from clear across the country saw this item and purchased it. Isn't it amazing how getting these orders from all over the world suddenly makes you realize its not that big of a place in some ways!! ;-)

In this first year of my store I've learned a lot and met a lot of wonderful people. Learning the way things work on Etsy has been an adventure. I had only been a buyer a couple of times for some supplies when I opened my shop. While I had my own website, the way it worked was totally different from Etsy and I was a little nervous about the entire process at first. I had a lot of questions. That's when a friend from my Ohio Beaders group that I belong to told me to go to the forums section on Etsy. She was a store owner and was the one who encouraged me to open my store.

She told me all about the forums, how posting in them could make a difference in my store or what an abundance of helpful information was on them. Once I found them and started reading all the posts with all the different topics, I found a great wealth of information on them. From marketing tips, to general help with setting up my store to thousands of other topics, the forums section became like a new store owner's guide for me!!

When I see new store owners posting in the forums these days and asking all kinds of questions, I always try to encourage them to spend some time in the forums. Familiarize yourself with each section and what gets posted in each. Then browse the topics. You will see that not only do store owners post, but you'll also notice that some buyers post in there as well. The information you can get here is invaluable and the best part, its FREE!!!! Finding something for free these days is tough, so take advantage of this!!

I'm very active in the forums and I make sure to spend a few minutes there each day. Sometimes before I realize it though those minutes turn in to an hour or more, but I find that its always worth it because of the information I receive. I feel that this is really an investment in my business. I encourage everyone to make this investment in their business as well. I think you will find it well worth it--especially when there is no cost!

Go click on the community button at the top of the Etsy home page, then click on the forums button...you'll be glad you did! ;-)

Until next time--Blessings! ~ Dawn

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your anniversary! It is a wonderful feeling when you get your first sale, mine was from Australia, and I remember thinking, wow, I'm international now! ;-> And I also have spent a lot of time in the forums, they were invaluable. (Even though it took me forever to realize I could do a search for a topic!) Thanks also for your support of us newbies, we make it because of folks like you! Pam

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  2. I absolutely agree, you can learn so much from the forums and make some valuable contacts. Congraulations on your 1st year anniversary!
    Ronalyn

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  3. Congrats on your 1st anniversary!
    I agree that the forums are a wonderful place to seach for an answer! It is one of the things that amazed me the most when we joined Etsy! This is a very active community where we can all learn from one another.
    Thank you for taking the time to recognize this!
    Michelle-

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  4. Great post!! Just discovered the forums a few weeks ago. Very addicting!

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