Stamps.com makes it super easy to send out all your packages with this nifty little scale and lots of other goodies.

There’s one thing that has always driven me crazy about selling everything online…going to the post office.  It can take forever!  A couple months ago I started using Stamps.com and shipping everything right from home.  It helped me keep my sanity through the holiday season rush.  I love it!

It makes my shipping time a little faster because I don’t have to worry about running out of stamps or making an extra trip to the post office to stand in line just to have them weigh a package.

I signed up at Stamps.com and they sent me lots of cool stuff…

• A digital scale {that I love & is becoming a permanent fixture on my desk}
• $45 in postage coupons {Love this!}
• Supplies kit with cool stickers and such!Stamps.com has new integration with Etsy that makes it easy to to print shipping labels, even First Class International.  You can find a video with more information here.

I just thought I would share what’s working for me.  I was able to send out 21 packages the other day with ease…that’ll keep me using Stamps.com for sure!

These are from the kit they sent.  You can use the stickers or print your postage on plain paper and tape it on your package.  I’ve done both.  I ended up printing most of them on plain paper so I’d save a trip to the printer {in the other room} to change out the paper for these stickers each time.  Kinda lazy, but easy…ha!

Sign up for this no-risk offer and see for yourself! 

Just click on the “Start Here” link in the big square to the right.

This is an affiliate link so you’ll be helping out a fellow Etsy fanatic {me!} when you sign-up through this link.

I hope you’ll enjoy using it as much as I do.  Anything that keeps me out of a line at the post office is a winner in my book!

~Kim

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Today is January 22nd and since I live well north of the equator, that means it’s the dead of winter. However, it sure didn’t feel like winter today! Tim and I sat outside in shorts and flip-flops and sipped lemonade while we worked on our tans and watched sailboats float lazily by. It’s been a warm winter. Hooray for sunshine!

I was extra relaxed today because we had a good week last week and lots got done. It’s the first day in awhile that I think I really, truly, relaxed.

And as often happens, relaxing lets me think. I remembered a winter that wasn’t quite so warm. I recalled November a few years back when I was worrying about my holiday gift budget. Looking for some way to bring in a few extra dollars I thought maybe I could make something and sell it online.

That’s how I got started on Etsy. I didn’t know the first thing about websites, the Internet, or photography. I didn’t know what people would buy and I didn’t know how much to charge them if they did want to buy from me! I didn’t know much, but I knew I wanted to try.

So I made some felt hair clips, took some pictures, and anted up my .20 listing fee. It was the first step.

I’m amazed today at where that first step has led. It led me to start this blog. It led me to learn more and more about selling online. It led me to opening up a felt supply website. It even led to me having a little book with my name on it on an actual shelf in an actual store! (and of course online here)

In fact, that first step has impacted our whole family. Tim is involved full time in what we do online (along with other things, bless his hard-working heart), and my sons both have blogs.

Looking back, it was a pretty big step!

You Don’t Have to See The Whole Staircase!

“You don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step!”

This is a well known saying that I believe is paraphrased from something said by Dr. Martin Luther King, a visionary if there ever was one. It’s worth remembering.

You may be just starting out on Etsy or even still thinking about starting out. If so, you may have some doubts. Using my example, they might have looked like this:

• Who is going to want a hair clip I made?
• How many people are even going to see my stuff?
• There are so many people already selling these same things online.
• Even if I sell a bunch of these, I only make a couple of dollars per sale. How many do I have to sell to make it worth it?
• What’s the best that can happen, I end-up sitting around making hair clips all day? Who wants that!
• People are going to laugh at me.
• I’m wasting my time.

Etc., etc., etc. – you get the idea.

Today actually making hair clips is a very small part of what I do. But look where it led!

As I sat relaxing on a beautiful Florida day today, I couldn’t help but wonder how much higher this staircase goes? I’m excited and glad I took that step.

No matter what your doubts or fears are, don’t let them stop you. Just start and don’t quit. You can’t lose.

~Kim

PS – I’m really excited about Handmade in 2012! If you want to join me for an awesome year, sign-up to get EverythingEtsy.com by email in the box below!

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Create goals for your Etsy business and kick off 2012 with a clear plan for success!

Everyone’s idea of a successful handmade business isn’t the same.  Some people have Etsy shops as a hobby or to fund their ever- growing craft habit {ha!}, while others are striving to grow their handmade business into a future dream job.  Whatever your idea of success is, goals are a great way to get there.

Your Handmade Business Goals

1.  Know what you want from your business and keep your goals in line with what you want.

2.  Create exciting goals! Be ambitious and set challenging goals that you’ll want to strive toward all year long.

3.  Try using a vision board to keep you on the right track.  Something creative could help you more than the latest computer software or daily planner.  Use what works for you.

4.  Take baby steps.  Larger goals can seem overwhelming if don’t break them down into smaller steps. Try starting with a year-end goal and working backwards to create monthly or weekly steps to get you to your goal.

5.  Meeting even the smallest goals can give you a sense of accomplishment, so don’t skip the small things.

Write down your goals, paint your goals on the wall, or sew your goals on your clothes…whatever it take to keep you on track…ha!

What’s one of your goals for the new year?

~Kim

{Awesome Art by Artsyville}

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Whew! What a holiday season!

My first year selling on Etsy I was thrilled and surprised to have some extra money to put toward my Christmas shopping list. When the second year came along, I had a lofty goal that I would sell enough on Etsy to completely cover my list, and I did! This year, I hoped to do that again.

My Etsy sales set records in both November and December and for the first time ever actually exceeded our entire gift budget! We don’t go crazy with the gift buying, but it still adds-up fast and I was so happy to be able to cover it all with Etsy sales.

Yet I’m glad the New Year is here! I’m ready to start tweaking my systems and improving how I sell online.

And what I sell online!

The first of the year is an excellent time to take a hard look at what you offer to your customers. I say a “hard look” because some of those things need to go away and it’s up to you to be the ruthless bean-counter and pass-out some pink slips!

If you take a look at what you make and what you sell you’re bound to see that some of your items clearly outperform others. This is a perfect time to get a clear picture of what products you should focus on in the coming months.

Things to look at:

• Which items sell the best?
• Which items require the least effort to make, package, or ship?
• Which items have the lowest raw material costs?
• Which items have the highest sale price and profit margin?

If you want to build your business this year, focus on the top products and drop the bottom 20% or so from your store. Don’t think about them, don’t pay to list them, don’t try to market them. Forget them and focus on what’s really working best.

If you go through this periodically, maybe twice a year, you’ll focus your valuable time, effort, and money on the right things and your Etsy business will be better in 2012!

Best wishes for a prosperous new year!

~Kim

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Happy New Year!

I’m really excited about the year to come. And I don’t just mean in an optimistic “it’s all good, happy, happy, joy, joy, rah, rah!” sort of way.

I confess that I try to get that sort of feeling revved up inside me every January 1st. I mean, why start the year off feeling down or grumpy? It is a new day after all!

But this year is really different. I’m excited because of real things that I see happening in the world I live and work in.

I’m excited about 2012 for Handmade. I’m excited about 2012 for Etsy sellers. I’m excited about 2012 for bloggers.

The excitement I feel for these things is more than just a “mind over matter” attitude adjustment. This excitement is based on facts.

• Millions of people now know of Etsy and how to buy handmade goods online!
• The quality of products being offered is getting better and the handmade makers are frequently setting the trends for everyone else!
• Online marketing of handmade items is getting easier through the use of blogs, social media, and online video.
• Creative sharing in places like Pinterest is fueling a handmade renaissance (for real!)

I could go on an on!

I‘m also excited about some of the things I’ve been working on personally such as the growth of this blog, EverythingEtsy.com, my felt shop, my first real print publication, and being a community leader at the Blissdom Conference in Nashville in late February.

I think it’s going to be a fantastic 2012 and I’m so looking forward to sharing it with you.

I’d love to come visit your blog and see what you’ve been up to! Tell us all what you’re excited about in 2012 and leave a link to your blog or shop in the comments so I can stop by for a visit!

If you’re not a subscriber to Everything Etsy, I’d love for you to join our mailing list.  Sign-up in the box just below for free.

~Kim

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The Internet has been likened to a gold rush and it’s really not a bad analogy. The truth is, there are thousands of ways to make money online. Some are better than others and there are lots of people trying to hit the mother lode.

The truth is that the majority of successful Gold Rush prospectors didn’t hit giant deposits of gold. They found a decent spot, made their claim, and worked hard. On the flip side of this shiny gold coin are the many prospectors who actually found gold but eventually failed anyway. Why?

For a great many of them, it was because they tried to prospect in too many places at once. The mountains and deserts were full of great spots and even though they were onto gold, the idea that their might be more just around the next bend in the river was too tempting.

They ended-up wearing themselves out starting mines, getting a little gold, and impatiently moving on.

Stake Your Claim and Work Hard

Selling online really is a gold rush. The opportunity is so real and so big that it’s not easy to mentally grasp for little people like me. But it’s real nonetheless.

And just like in the Old West, you can see the next great spot from where you’re working now. And you might worry that someone else is going to get there first and “steal your idea”. But if all you do is start mines, you won’t ever get to the next level where things really start to flow.

If you’ve already found gold, then you know it’s there. If you focus on the thing you’re already doing you can get better at seeing where it comes from and learning how to get more of it in your pan.

——–

Have you experienced this prospector dilemma yet? Ever had a hard time staying focused because of a new idea? I’d love to hear your story in the comments?

~ Kim

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We do quite a few giveaways here at Everything Etsy so the process of picking a winner has become kind of second nature. But I remember a time when I really didn’t know where to begin, so I thought I’d share the process for anyone who might be at that point.

Comments Numbers are Key!

Most WordPress themes show comment numbers. We’ve tweaked our theme to make the comment numbers really big and pretty. See below:

These numbers are really key because they are the basis for the drawing, as you’ll soon see.

Random.org

The next key to a nice and smooth drawing is the use of a random number generator online. The one at Random.org is great because it allows you to tell it exactly what parameters you want. In the case of this drawing, I’ll be choosing two winners, so I need two random numbers between 1 and 775 (the total of comments/entries on this post).

(the images below show the “integer sets” option because we need two winners, for one winner the number generator on the home page works fine)

Enter the parameters and then hit the “get sets” button. You’ll see the results…

Now we take a look at the comments associated with those numbers:

It’s clearly a good idea to follow me on Twitter!

When I can, I check to make sure people are actually doing these things rather than just leaving a comment saying they do, so you might want to check to make sure your winners are following you on Twitter if that’s why they won.

Check Winner’s IP Address in Comments

The other security check I’ll do is to make sure my random winners haven’t entered fifty times using different names. I can do that by doing an IP address search in WordPress.

If you’re logged-in to WordPress, you can just click “edit” on the comment itself to get directly to the comment in your WordPress admin area. Once you’re there, you’ll see the commenters email address. Highlight and copy that email.

Then go to your main comments dashboard by clicking the word “Comments” on the left side of your WordPress dashboard.

At the top of the main comments page, you’ll see a search box that says “search comments”. Paste the email address in here and you’ll get all the comments from that email address.

The first thing to check for is if they entered this particular contest more times than is allowed under the same name. If so, they can’t win, it wouldn’t be fair. If that’s all clear, then you can check to see if they use more than one name by doing another search for the IP address which is now shown under the email address in the results on your page.

If they’re not playing fair, you’ll see a bunch of names with the same IP address and you’ll have to draw again. (It’s possible to have more than one person using the same IP address, so you have to use your judgment as to whether or not the person is gaming the system or if it’s really multiple people living in the same house)

Both winners on this giveaway are legit so we’re good to go!

Posting Giveaway Winners in the Original Post

I used to write a new blog post every time we announced winners. You can do that, but I would also go back to the original post and add the winners to the top and bottom along with a line at the top saying the giveaway is closed. See:

You can “close comments” but that will hide all the existing comments (I think!) so then people can’t look at the comments or click through to the commenter’s site. So I leave comments open.

Then just notify the winners by email, and in this case we’ll notify Red River Paper too so they can send off the awesome prizes!

So there you have it… maybe not the most exciting post ever, but hopefully helpful to anyone looking to get started offering giveaways on their blog.

Have a great day!

~ Kim

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Bundle up!

No, I don’t mean put on a sweater.  I mean bundle up your items to sell!  You see it all the time in the stores and fast food restaurants.  Everyone loves a great deal, so offer your customers a great deal by bundles!  It may help increase your sales at the same time…that’s a winning combination!

Here’s a few ideas to get you started…

• There’s always the buyers that are looking for a great value.  You can attract them by including one free item or a slight discount if they purchase the bundle.
• You can help the gift buyer customer by providing coordinating items to make their shopping easier.  Keeping it simple can give them that extra nudge to purchase right now.
• Package your bundle like a gift.  Pretty packaging can tip the scales when they’re shopping around.  You save them time…that’s always a good thing.
• Use the right words in your description, title, tags and other promotions.  {Try gift set, collection, bundle or package deal.}

I like selling gift sets because it saves me so much time on shipping.  Try it out and see what you think.  With the holidays coming, you’ll want to be ready for all those shoppers.

Do you sell in bundles?  Any tips you’d like to add?

~Kim

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If you’ve been thinking of moving to WordPress or upgrading your current WordPress theme, today might be the day to take that step.

I just found out that StudioPress is offering a 25% discount on the Genesis Framework and all of the related Child Themes that make it so easy to customize. Just enter coupon code “THANKS” at checkout.

If you want a great looking blog that is well set-up for strong SEO and ease of customization, you’ll love the Genesis Themes.

There are dozens and dozens of “child themes” which add-on to the main theme and jazz it up big time. Here are a couple of favorites:

StudioPress Pretty Young Thing Child Theme

StudioPress Bee Crafty Child Theme

We built our newest blog, RemodelingTherapy.com with the StudioPress Fabric Child Theme (with a few tweaks here and there)

Sale Ends Today at 5:00pm Pacific Time!

I should have posted this sooner, but I only got an email about previous customers. I just found this sale open to everyone.

For 25% Off, enter coupon code THANKS at check-out.

Disclosure: When we found out how great StudioPress was on our own sites, we signed-up to be affiliates, which means we get a commission if you buy using the links above. Way COOL! We also are affiliates for Bluehost, which is the most awesomest web hosting company ever. We recently upgraded EverythingEtsy.com to their Pro package and couldn’t be more happy. We heart Bluehost.

For more info on using blogs for your Etsy business, check out our BLOG series (Blogging Leads to Online Greatness), which will continue soon, after a slight delay.

~Kim

Also see this video we did about setting-up WordPress

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Handmade labels add a special touch to any gift or handmade creation you might sell on Etsy!

Today we have a bunch of beautiful handmade labels for you to stick on everything you make.  These were created by the talented designer, Cathe Holden.  I’m a huge fan of hers so I’m thrilled to share these free printables designed just for all my handmade lovin’ readers!

I added a few to some of my lavender sachets…aren’t they cute?!  I love the variety of colors and I know that this sweet little handmade sticker will let everyone know that these were made with care the moment they see them.

I’m going to stick them on EVERYTHING!

WorldLabel.com is a manufacturer of an amazing selection of labels and they helped make this set of handmade printables available to you today.  They have a label for everything…check it out.

Handmade gifts rock!

This is a great time of year to print these pretty little stickers and have them ready to top off your latest project.

 Download links below for this set of colorful handmade labels!

Download links below for this classy set of Black & White labels!

• We used Worldlabel.com size .75″ round for these.
• These designs are for your personal use and can’t be sold.
• You can find more of Cathe Holden’s designs here & here.

Download links below for these labels in a beautiful Etsy Orange!

Download Here:

To download these PDF files, right-click (ctrl-click on Mac) the links below and choose “Save target as” or “Save link as”. (Exact wording depends on your web browser).

Everything Etsy “Handmade” Labels – Orange
Everything Etsy “Handmade” Labels – Color
Everything Etsy “Handmade” Labels – Black & White

*There was a giveaway with the original post that has ended.  All winners will be notified by email and have 7 days to respond.  

Enjoy these awesome handmade labels!

~Kim

Getting ready for the holidays??  You might like these posts…

• 101 Pretty Printables {free}
• 101 Simple Handmade Gifts
• 101 Handmade Ornament Tutorials

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