And, I'm back!

Unlike most bloggers that take a break for a REALLY long time, I have to admit to you that mine was a bit intentional.  Actually, I think it was necessary in my small business adventure.  I'm excited to update you on what's been going on behind the scenes.

After announcing the launch of my little stationery biz, working with clients one-on-one, submitting designs to Minted challenges, blog posting, updating social media, and opening my Etsy shop all within a quick 6-month span....I literally felt overwhelmed, exhausted, and burnt out.  I had such determination to become an overnight success, that I lost sight of why I started all of this in the first place...my passion for design.

I decided to take a step-back and take a break for a few months (last summer).  What I learned from this period was the importance of keeping balance in my life.  As women, it's no secret that we play many roles in life; wife, co-worker, small business owner, and friend.  After really making an effort to spend time in each of these roles and make each of them a priority, I slowly got back to what felt like a normal schedule and routine.

Around the holidays, I received several requests for holiday cards, save the dates, and a few wedding inquiries.  I was so excited to start designing again and I'm thankful that my passion had been reinvigorated. My etsy store has also slowly started to boom, which has been so exciting to see.

I have several exciting things in the pipe and I really look forward to sharing more of these here on my blog. As with the rest of the demands of owning a small business, blogging can also be time-consuming.  My goal is to make an conscious effort to update important new happenings here in regards to new products in my store, behind-the-scenes business tips, and custom work.

Thank you so much to all of my friends and family who continue to be my cheerleaders!

Behind the Scenes: Opening an Etsy Store

First, I want to thank everyone for your kind words of support after the launch of my store.  I'ts been on my "to do" list since the first of January, and it feels great to have accomplished this goal.

I thought I would do a quick behind-the-scenes of what goes into setting up a store on Etsy.  For the most part it is a very intuitive process, but there are several steps you have to take to go from "I want to open an etsy shop" to "My shop is open!".

Step 1 |  Shop Name:  This probably seems like an easy step (to name your store and to add products), but, Etsy requires that each of its stores bear a unique name.  So, before I even considered finalizing my business name, I checked Etsy to make sure that GoldenberryPaper was an available store name.  I didn't want my customers to have to type something different to find me on Etsy, so this played a critical role in the very early stages of setting up shop!

Step 2 | Images:  Once you've narrowed down the products you wish to sell, it is very important to have a clear image of these on display for the shop.  Pictures are actually what entice buyers more than anything else on Etsy, so this is a very important step.  While my long-term goal is to shoot my own product photography, I currently lack the knowledge and resources.  So, I created my product images in Adobe Illustrator using a neutral vector backdrop.

Step 3 | Policies:  If you've ever purchased anything online, you can understand why this is an important step.  In order for the buyer to have a clear understanding of what they are purchasing, the responsibility is on the seller to make sure the policies are clearly stated.  This took a bit of time and research on my part.  I know that once I get into the swing of things, I may need to alter these to better fit my operations, but make sure you do your research here.

Step 4 | Tags:  When you type something in the search bar of Etsy to search for a product, I bet you don't think about the marketing that the shops put into your searches.  In fact, each item in everyone's store is allowed 13 tags, or keywords that can help their product get found.  So, if you search for "Mother's Day gift that's purple," you will actually see items that have these words tagged behind-the-scenes.  This is a very time-consuming process for shop owners to try and get inside the mind's of buyers, but it can be a very valuable and useful tool.  I will be changing my tags often nonetheless! 

Step 5 | Promotion: With any launch it's important to let people know about it!  Luckily, with my background in marketing, I am active in most social networks and have created several email newsletters in the past.  I sent out an email blast to almost every contact I have to let them know about my shop opening.  It was a great way for me to announce not only the shop, but introduce my business.  I am looking forward to continuing these newsletters, so if you didn't receive it I would love to get you on my list (email brittany@goldenberrypaper.com).

These are just a few of the things that I worked on to make sure that I had a presentable storefront upon launch.  For more tips on how to open an etsy shop, check out this article.