if you can get these three things right then you will be Off to the Races and your Etsy Shop will start to make you a consistent side income and even eventually be able to replace your full-time income I'm going to take the last three years of experience that I have on Etsy and turn it into a three-part framework that I would use to start an Etsy and print on demand business if I was starting over completely from scratch today I call this framework the Pod roadmap because that is exactly what my course is called and I've taught this framework and more to over 230 students in the last year so there are three parts to this framework when you're starting completely from xero with no experience on Etsy and print on demand if you somehow got to this video though and you don't know what print on demand is that is what I've used to be able to grow in over 750 000 in Revenue Etsy shop over the last three years and this is a process where you actually create designs for items post them for sale on Etsy but when you get get an order you don't have to actually go print and ship that item you use a company like printify to actually do that integration for you all you need to do is connect Etsy to the printfy.com account which I'll have linked down below with a 30-day free trial for the premium account as well for you using Code Cassie 30 and they will take care of all of the production the shipping and even updating the tracking numbers on Etsy for you but now that you're familiar with what print on demand is let's start with level one which is just move and stay until the end because I'll also share the biggest mistake that I see a lot of new Etsy sellers making and how to avoid it so just move the biggest thing that I see holding new people back from getting into Etsy and print on demand is getting started in the first place this is what I think I actually got right when I started three years ago is I opened up my Etsy and my printify accounts the very same day that I watched a YouTube video much like this you don't need to to do weeks of research before getting started because you don't even know if you like it yet if you've been watching tons of etsy and print on demand videos and now you've found this one but you haven't even opened your Etsy account yet then it's probably because you're overthinking things you're probably wondering what if people don't like my stuff what if I never sell anything what will my friends family or co-workers think but these are all things that are just holding you back so that's why level one is just move just go into it knowing hey I might be terrible at this when I first get started but that's because I'm still learning just like any other new thing that I've had to learn in the rest of my life it always gets easier with practice your first goal should just be to get 10 listings up for sale on Etsy make it your goal to do just one a day if that's all you have the bandwidth for starting an Etsy store is a lifestyle choice this is you committing to making new listings every week for the next few years of your your life so it's worth trying a few listings and really giving it a go to see how you even feel about it then after that you can decide if you want to be in a casual relationship with Etsy or a serious relationship with Etsy a casual relationship would be you do listings here and there as inspiration strikes Sirius is I'm committed to this and that is what I choose if I started over again today and just like any serious relationship you want to commit to seeing them weekly so I commit to doing at least 10 new listings every single week while you're learning how everything works and learning that way you're not just learning and not applying anything because then you're just going to have to relearn it all again once you actually get moving so actually start making these listings as you figure out how to use the design software connect all the softwares make sure it designs Etc Etsy shops don't just grow an accident people don't just get lucky and all of a sudden have consistent sales on Etsy and be able to replace their full-time in income they are grown from putting in consistent work and now that I've committed to taking Etsy seriously it's time to move on to level two which is get better slowly I want you to work on your next 50 listings whether that's 10 a week or 50 in a week and I want you to look at these as your only goal is to learn and get better there are a lot of skills that are wrapped up in building a print on demand in Etsy store their search engine optimization designing Niche research mock-ups understanding the analytics learning how to run sales learning how to use ads branding your store learning how to be efficient with your time because no one's holding you accountable anymore there are just so many skills that go into building a successful print on demand store again in this scenario you're started completely from scratch and that's where I started three years ago I didn't have any design experience or experience with any of this stuff when I started either so don't worry you can learn all these things you just have to be patient so the next 50 listings I don't want you to worry about what your Niche is going to be I want you to try lots of different niches that you find there's already demand for on Etsy and make designs for them you can even think of things that you are passionate about or know about in your own life maybe you really like playing pickleball so you make a shirt about that it doesn't matter as much what the shirts are about I just want you to start learning the process and getting used to actually making designs and listing them in the first place I want you to avoid overthinking in this stage this is going to be the part in your new serious relationship where Etsy gets to know you and you get to know Etsy you'll probably also have to tackle some of getting to know yourself a little bit better and have to overcome the fear of what people think of you your own self-doubt and all the emotional hurdles that come along with starting your own business for the first time at this point now you've got 60 listings up in your store and now hopefully you've gotten your very first sale you've learned a lot about yourself and are feeling much more confident in the process and that this is for you at this point it's time to decide if you want to treat this more like a hobby or more like a business if you decided this point to treat it more like a hobby that's totally fine but if you decide to treat it more like a business just like I did and then that's what's going to lead us on to level three which is get strategic so far with our first 60 listings we've just been testing this out to see if it's for us get the process down and hopefully just prove to ourselves that it's possible but to really grow an Etsy store that can make us hundreds or even thousands a month then now it's time to really get strategic and understand how to play the game of etsy there's basically three things that go into having a successful Etsy shop and if you can get these three things right then you will do great those three things are getting people to click getting those people to buy and then getting good reviews first is getting people to click this means focusing on things like your thumbnail your title your design and your Niche research no one's ever going to buy your shirt unless they click on your shirt because Etsy is a marketplace where people come there with something specific in mind they type that into the search bar they look through the results of you compared to everyone else around you they click one and then they buy it so you need to earn that click your designs need to be big bold and easy to read but not just that they need to add value and give them a reason to click your listing over everyone else around you if your listing looks just like everyone else's and that doesn't give them any reason to stop scrolling and click your listing so on top of being easy to read from the tiny thumbnail on someone's phone since that's how most people shop these days it really needs to add value some of my favorite ways to add value are by looking at what is already there for sale for that one search result and seeing if I can turn something into matching shirts if all of the rest of the search result is just a single shirt I love to see if there's ways to make it couples matching shirts best friend matching shirts mommy and me matching shirts there's tons of different ways that it can go or you can do Ross niching so let's say for the plant Niche instead of making a shirt just about plant lovers you could also make it about people who love plants and cats for example second we have how to get people to convert Etsy really cares about how many people click your listing actually end up buying because Etsy is here to make money as well so if they see that for every 10 people that click on your listing they know if they show it to more people that more people will actually purchase it so they'll slowly move your listing closer and closer to that first page and even that top of that first page on Etsy some ways to get more people to convert is by having four to six photos within your listing so the customer can really get an idea of what you have to offer and what it looks like for them this should be some really beautiful product photos of your items and you can get great mock-ups for almost any item that you'd ever want to sell just go to Etsy and type in the item that you're selling mock-ups and you should see some great beautiful options you should also have a size chart if that applies if you're selling something like apparel so they can make sure that it's going to fit them once they get it in any photos that would answer questions that you're your customer might have then a great way to figure out what customers hot and cold points are or go to your competitors and look through their reviews and see the things that customers Rave about and the things that customers complain about and make sure to address that in your photos to make sure that they're much more likely to convert once they come to your listing so now that you have your customers clicking on your listings and then buying your listings we need to make sure that you're getting those good reviews after Etsy is a platform where reviews are super important because most items are handmade and customers really like to see what they're getting and make sure that other people have been happy with what they've purchased from you so first I want you to download the Etsy app on your phone that way you can get back to customers questions super quickly and then after you get orders you're going to be messaging them right after they order to make sure that they know you got the order and give them an idea of what to expect and I'll link down below my customer service guide that actually has templates for these messages but just know that Etsy has recently changed and customers can't over review until somewhere between 7 and 14 days after delivery so don't message people the day after they get delivery wait about a week to send that message and for those of you that are still here I said I'd share the biggest mistake that I see new Etsy sellers making I see a lot of new Etsy sellers not treating Etsy like the business that it is if you do your Etsy research right in the beginning and see what successful shops are already doing and Implement some of those same strategies in your store then you can much more quickly than otherwise start to really understand that there is a formula to success on Etsy but when you pair this with the value adding advice that I gave you earlier then you can have a deadly combination that will help you fast track your success on Etsy once you've figured out your strategy you're going to find out that it takes a large amount of time to build up an Etsy and print on demand business like this especially in your first year when you're scaling it up for the first time because most of you aren't going to be able to do this full time right out of the gate so you're probably only going to be doing this business this in small pockets of your time you'll probably have maybe five to ten hours a week to put into this but what I've learned over the last three years of selling on Etsy is that if I built systems that I could follow to stop wasting time on things that didn't actually move the needle then I actually could get it all done because again we want to treat this like a business you have to figure out what works and then make it repeatable that way you can put it on autopilot now if you've gotten to the end of this video and you're interested in setting up systems on Etsy that will save you tons of time then that's exactly what I built my course the Pod roadmap for I've built lots of systems and strategies for my own Etsy and print and demand business over the last three years which has allowed me to grow my business to over 750 000 in Revenue but I've also taught these strategies to over 230 students in my course so far and they've gone on to get their first sales their first hundred sales and even some getting five and six figure months with their business because they've made all their decisions for their business based on research and strategies instead of just trying trying things and hoping that it works and just because I'm so confident that you're going to love my course and it will help you move the needle and have an easier happier time selling an Etsy I do offer a full seven day no questions asked refund policy if you don't see the value in my course just email me within seven days give me my money and I'll give you a full refund anyway if you want more information everything about my course will be linked Down Below on my website cassiejohnson.com please know that is the only place my course will ever be for sale for I will have some people in my comments being scammers and pretending to be me so please do not pay for my course anywhere besides cassiejohnson.com and you might like this video over here where I teach you how to make a hundred designs in less than an hour using chat GPT and Etsy so go watch that one next if you haven't already and thank you so much for staying all the way until the end subscribe and I'll see you in the next one [Music]