Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Selling on Etsy
Why Jen started her first vintage shop on Etsy [3:04] Conversation about how to set up a shop on Etsy and the costs [3:57] The best way to list products [6:07] and [14:55] Why Jen has multiple vintage shops instead of just one [11:47] How Jen sources her vintage products [16:34] How to determine the selling price [17:40] Social Media plays a huge role for bringing in sales [20:10]Success Trait
Jen believes it’s all about your attitude when it comes to success. [24:31]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Journaling is Jen’s way of staying grounded. [25:09]Valuable Book
Rachel Ashwell’s Shabby Chic Treasure Hunting and Decorating Guide by Rachel Ashwell
The Vintage Table: Personal Treasures and Standout Settings by Jacqueline deMontravel
The Serene Home: Decorating Secrets & Inspirations Hardcover by Eileen Cannon Paulin
Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedInIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 65 Customers.
Speaker:If you don't have them,
Speaker:guess what?
Speaker:You don't have a shop.
Speaker:Hi, this is John Lee,
Speaker:Dumas of entrepreneur on fire,
Speaker:and you're listening to give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:and now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Whether you own a brick and mortar shop sell online or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I have joining us,
Speaker:Jennifer beat.
Speaker:Jen runs three online vintage shops on Etsy.
Speaker:The first one opened in 2008 with a nice mix of
Speaker:vintage products.
Speaker:Several months later,
Speaker:she niched down and started a vintage milk glass shop.
Speaker:And soon after that of vintage China shop Jen's passion for
Speaker:objects with character and history started when she was little and
Speaker:would visit her great aunt.
Speaker:Esther aunt Esther had eat beautiful over 250 year old homestead
Speaker:in rye,
Speaker:New Hampshire.
Speaker:It was a gorgeous home filled with many antiques.
Speaker:Jen is also currently a proud member of the SD vintage
Speaker:team and the besties team.
Speaker:She's also a proud mom of three Catherine Mark and Lindsey
Speaker:and Lindsey just had a brand new baby Oliver whom she
Speaker:absolutely adores.
Speaker:Wow. Jen,
Speaker:there's a lot going on in your life nowadays.
Speaker:Welcome to the show.
Speaker:As I was saying,
Speaker:there's no,
Speaker:we like to start off our conversation by getting to know
Speaker:you in a little bit of a different way.
Speaker:And that is by having you describe a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to picture the perfect Campbell that symbolizes
Speaker:what you're all about,
Speaker:what color would the candle be and what would be the
Speaker:quote? My candle color would be red.
Speaker:That's the color of fire fierce and bright.
Speaker:And my quote on the candle would be go for it,
Speaker:just go for it,
Speaker:whatever your passion is,
Speaker:go for it.
Speaker:Don't settle for bad excuses not to do it.
Speaker:What you did with the Etsy shops by starting with one
Speaker:and having three very quickly.
Speaker:Exactly. A lot of people have been asking me about Etsy
Speaker:and I do not propose to know anything about things unless
Speaker:I've already done them.
Speaker:So I was on the search to try and find somebody
Speaker:who could really share a lot more about this platform with
Speaker:us. And I was so impressed with a lot of your
Speaker:shops. You know,
Speaker:just seeing the first shop in the first one I saw
Speaker:was Jen's closet.
Speaker:And then to see that you had multiple shops in,
Speaker:had been on there for quite a while,
Speaker:was what led me to contact you so that you can
Speaker:share and enlightened all of us here today.
Speaker:Let's go back and let's start right in the beginning.
Speaker:How did you decide that you were going to do this
Speaker:and specifically choose Etsy as your platform?
Speaker:Well, I owe it all to my older daughter,
Speaker:Lindsey. She had started an Etsy shop there,
Speaker:selling jewelry and other crafty things.
Speaker:She's much craftier than I am,
Speaker:but I w I was laid off from my wonderful part-time
Speaker:job and was devastated.
Speaker:And Lindsay talked me into starting my first shop.
Speaker:And from there,
Speaker:the rest is history.
Speaker:Thanks to Lindsey.
Speaker:Did You know right away that it was going to be
Speaker:vintage? Yes,
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:Cause that's my always been my passion.
Speaker:Like you said,
Speaker:since I was a little girl at my aunt Esther's house,
Speaker:You just took something that you already knew that you absolutely
Speaker:loved. You know,
Speaker:it kind of resonated with you all the time,
Speaker:but then it was just a matter of,
Speaker:okay, now I have more free time because of what happened
Speaker:with your past job,
Speaker:I'm going to do Etsy because you had seen that Lindsey
Speaker:had been successful.
Speaker:Exactly. Yep.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:So talk to us a little bit about how you get
Speaker:started with a shop on Etsy.
Speaker:It's super easy.
Speaker:Like I always say,
Speaker:if I can do it,
Speaker:anyone can do it.
Speaker:When I first started doing the photography and when I look
Speaker:at my first pictures,
Speaker:they look like a disaster.
Speaker:So that's one thing you've got to learn to take good
Speaker:pictures because everybody wants to see clear pictures.
Speaker:Do you have to have a business license?
Speaker:No, you do not have to have a business license.
Speaker:You just sign up,
Speaker:you have an email,
Speaker:you hook your bank account to it.
Speaker:They really go step by step for you on Etsy to
Speaker:make it easy.
Speaker:Then just start uploading your pictures,
Speaker:make some great descriptions and start selling.
Speaker:It's really easy.
Speaker:And what are the costs then?
Speaker:Do they take a portion of your sale or how does,
Speaker:is it a membership?
Speaker:How does that all work?
Speaker:There's no upfront costs.
Speaker:They take a percent,
Speaker:I'm so bad.
Speaker:I don't even remember.
Speaker:I think maybe 3% of sales and then it's took 20
Speaker:cents for each listing.
Speaker:So it's really not that much money.
Speaker:It's not a big investment.
Speaker:Okay. And kind of risk-free because you're not paying anything to
Speaker:anybody unless a product of yours sells.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:There is no risk.
Speaker:Okay. That's why I say,
Speaker:just go for it.
Speaker:Okay. So it's a certain,
Speaker:very small cost to list by item,
Speaker:and then they take a percentage.
Speaker:And what about credit cards or pay pal?
Speaker:Can you use any form of payment?
Speaker:It's up to you.
Speaker:If you want to accept checks,
Speaker:I do accept checks and money orders,
Speaker:a PayPal and all credit cards.
Speaker:Some people don't want to be involved with PayPal or whatever.
Speaker:So it's all up to you.
Speaker:What payments you want to accept?
Speaker:Okay. And then did you have to set up a merchant
Speaker:account for your credit cards or is it all just done
Speaker:directly through it?
Speaker:It's all done directly through Etsy.
Speaker:Okay. Super easy.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Yeah. It sounds super easy.
Speaker:Any tricks or if someone is just now starting to go
Speaker:onto Etsy,
Speaker:have you seen anything in terms of the description or how
Speaker:you word setup of your shop that helps attract business?
Speaker:Or is there any advice there,
Speaker:again, just being the,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:first look at the platform and setting something up.
Speaker:Oh, definitely need to really think about your descriptions and make
Speaker:it pop.
Speaker:And why does somebody want it?
Speaker:And since they can't actually touch the item,
Speaker:you want to make them feel like they're touching the item,
Speaker:especially that goes for,
Speaker:with the photography too.
Speaker:We want pictures of every side.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:So if it's something that you don't really understand what it
Speaker:would look like all the way around,
Speaker:particularly for you,
Speaker:for your vintage,
Speaker:then you take multiple shots of the different angles.
Speaker:Yes. We're allowed,
Speaker:I think it's five shots.
Speaker:And so that helps a lot.
Speaker:Okay. And then also in the setup,
Speaker:I believe I saw that there's a place where you can
Speaker:describe who you are as the seller.
Speaker:Yes. There is.
Speaker:There's a place for that.
Speaker:You can even upload a video.
Speaker:I haven't really got into that too much in it,
Speaker:but I need to do that.
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:that's a great idea because video sells and gift biz listeners.
Speaker:We've talked about this in relationship to websites.
Speaker:People nowadays want to know who they're doing business with and
Speaker:especially for Etsy,
Speaker:because it's so personal,
Speaker:it's all artists and crafters and individual people that I would
Speaker:presume it's even more important there because people will resonate with
Speaker:the seller.
Speaker:So if you're ever looking at starting an Etsy shop,
Speaker:make sure to fill out that.
Speaker:I don't know if it's called an about us page or
Speaker:seller's page or whatever it is,
Speaker:but do it in a similar manner.
Speaker:As we've talked about before with websites,
Speaker:make it personable,
Speaker:give a little insight into who you are as a person,
Speaker:not just all about the business.
Speaker:And that really helps to resonate with a buyer.
Speaker:Would you add anything to that,
Speaker:Jen? No.
Speaker:I agree totally with that.
Speaker:And you're motivating me now to get my videos up and
Speaker:updated. That's my next thing.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:what's going to happen now because we're all listening to you
Speaker:and now you're kind of committing to us that you're going
Speaker:to do it.
Speaker:So we're going to go that's right.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Oh, I will do it this week.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I heard that.
Speaker:Let's talk then on the other side,
Speaker:what about any challenges or things that were a little more
Speaker:complicated in relation to Etsy?
Speaker:Is there anything that you've learned along the way that would
Speaker:be good to share?
Speaker:Well, there's all sorts of little challenges that for anybody going
Speaker:through any type of business,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the challenge of learning the photography,
Speaker:like I've said before,
Speaker:social media ways to promote right now,
Speaker:I'm going through a major challenge,
Speaker:a life change.
Speaker:And I may have to cut down on the sizes of
Speaker:my shops because I may be moving closer to my grandson.
Speaker:So that's my big challenge right now.
Speaker:Well, that doesn't sound too bad.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:No I'm excited about it.
Speaker:Now, would you say that that's one of the values of
Speaker:Etsy because you can either augment your shop by adding a
Speaker:lot more product or keep it going with fewer products.
Speaker:Really? It's just a matter,
Speaker:I think of your end of putting all the photos up
Speaker:and then obviously filling orders in a timely manner when they
Speaker:come through.
Speaker:Right. So flexibility.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:Etsy offers you,
Speaker:it sounds like great flexibility.
Speaker:As you're saying to fit into your lifestyle.
Speaker:Perfect. It's like this morning,
Speaker:I was able to go running at seven in the morning
Speaker:and play a little bit of tennis and then come back
Speaker:and go back to my Etsy shop.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:So question,
Speaker:why did you decide the very first shop that you had
Speaker:Jen's closet was vintage of all sorts.
Speaker:Why did you then decide to niche it down and do
Speaker:subsets of the overall vintage?
Speaker:Because now you have,
Speaker:if Jen's closet is more clothing,
Speaker:accessories. No,
Speaker:actually it's just a mix originally.
Speaker:That's why I called it Jen's closet.
Speaker:I was going to have more clothes,
Speaker:but now I don't even have any clothes in there,
Speaker:so I just kept the name.
Speaker:Okay. So Jen's closet is a mix of what,
Speaker:It's a mix of everything.
Speaker:Vintage bar ware,
Speaker:retro. I have a lot of tea,
Speaker:party type style things,
Speaker:China, teacups,
Speaker:pink, you know,
Speaker:depression, glass.
Speaker:It's something for everyone in that shop really.
Speaker:Okay. And then you also have the milk glass shop,
Speaker:which is clearly that all milk glass and then the China
Speaker:shop. Yes.
Speaker:Why did you decide to go that route instead of keeping
Speaker:everything under one umbrella?
Speaker:Well, for middle-class I started to collect quite a bit and
Speaker:it was very popular.
Speaker:So I decided that it was a good idea to branch
Speaker:out and keep it separate.
Speaker:And it's been a great idea,
Speaker:works out quite well.
Speaker:And then it's,
Speaker:well, it's the same with the China shop.
Speaker:I started collecting a lot and it's very popular for weddings,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:brides and tea parties and bridal showers.
Speaker:So it worked out well too.
Speaker:You're really confirming what people talk about all the time.
Speaker:Is that doing subsets and really specializing and focusing in,
Speaker:although you kind of would think,
Speaker:well, maybe I'm limiting myself because someone who might want something
Speaker:that's milk glass is then missing out on seeing everything else
Speaker:that might be in Jen's closet.
Speaker:But it sounds like those,
Speaker:all three of the shops are doing really well.
Speaker:And it's probably because you're niching down because they're able to
Speaker:find you in search that much better.
Speaker:Yes, I do believe that's true.
Speaker:I think it's worked out quite well for me.
Speaker:So another thing you guys give fizz listeners,
Speaker:just to remember,
Speaker:you don't want to try and be everything to everybody.
Speaker:You want to be able to niche it down,
Speaker:just like Jen's done here by separating her product categories because
Speaker:she has enough product to make it a separate shop.
Speaker:And Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Again at T's a great platform.
Speaker:I would say Jen,
Speaker:because there is no cost to opening multiple shops.
Speaker:You could have 50 shops.
Speaker:If you wanted on Etsy,
Speaker:You could have as many as you want.
Speaker:And it doesn't cost any more because it's just,
Speaker:by-product That's right.
Speaker:If it's,
Speaker:if you can juggle,
Speaker:I can juggle it quite easy.
Speaker:Some people think,
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:I can't handle three,
Speaker:but they can,
Speaker:if I can,
Speaker:What would be the difference?
Speaker:What's the issue about juggling the shops?
Speaker:What do you mean by that?
Speaker:Yeah. Well,
Speaker:you have to be able to keep all three open at
Speaker:one time.
Speaker:So I have different browsers and different emails.
Speaker:You have to have two different emails for each shop and
Speaker:some people just feel frazzled by it.
Speaker:The idea of it.
Speaker:Okay. So there's different emails for each shop and then you
Speaker:have to have the shops open in case people have questions
Speaker:about the product and such,
Speaker:and then how the orders come in.
Speaker:Yes. And I like to get back to all questions within
Speaker:an hour.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. So yeah,
Speaker:50 would be a little cumbersome even on a desktop computer.
Speaker:I don't recommend it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So this is an interesting point though.
Speaker:Let's talk about behind the scenes,
Speaker:cause we've been talking about now photography's important and taking angles
Speaker:of the photos,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:Let's talk a little bit about the customer service end.
Speaker:Then how much time do you feel you're putting in to
Speaker:be successful in terms of replying and what types of comments
Speaker:or insight can you give us on that end?
Speaker:In terms of the communication before the sale?
Speaker:Well, customers are the most important thing.
Speaker:So communication is so important when you have somebody,
Speaker:a customer call or contacting you with a question you get
Speaker:to them right away,
Speaker:be polite and friendly.
Speaker:And that's what it's all about.
Speaker:But your customers,
Speaker:if you don't have them,
Speaker:guess what?
Speaker:You don't have a shop.
Speaker:Right. And is all your communication done then through email or
Speaker:do you talk on the phone ever?
Speaker:Usually just email w w it's called conversation on Etsy.
Speaker:There's a button you can press like contact and then your
Speaker:call it a convo.
Speaker:And so it's like an Etsy email,
Speaker:Right? And then is there a certain category of question that
Speaker:usually is the most frequent that comes in or give us
Speaker:a sense of the types of things people are asking about
Speaker:Through the phone?
Speaker:For some reason,
Speaker:not all the descriptions come out.
Speaker:So if they're shopping via their phone,
Speaker:they don't see the clear description.
Speaker:So they'll ask if there's any flaws.
Speaker:Sometimes they ask for discounts and I'm in a good mood.
Speaker:I might give them a one Got to catch you at
Speaker:the right time.
Speaker:Right. Or,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you never know,
Speaker:it might be a piece that you've had for awhile that
Speaker:you're just like,
Speaker:I am so ready to get this out of here.
Speaker:Yes, actually I have one of those that just came up
Speaker:and I sold it.
Speaker:So worked out well.
Speaker:Good, good.
Speaker:Now this is a good point because a lot of people
Speaker:now are using their mobile,
Speaker:almost exclusively.
Speaker:A lot of people aren't even going back to a desktop
Speaker:anymore. Have you found that the way you make your description?
Speaker:So a lot of the important stuff is up way at
Speaker:the top with just fewer words or something so that it
Speaker:is readable on mobile devices.
Speaker:Exactly. Right.
Speaker:Because the,
Speaker:you have to have the right keywords to get noticed.
Speaker:Okay. So what is your thought process when you're putting an
Speaker:item up?
Speaker:How do you like,
Speaker:do you have certain that you use,
Speaker:how do you decide what those first couple of lines are
Speaker:going to be in the description,
Speaker:pencil on Trends?
Speaker:Like with China,
Speaker:they loved mismatched China.
Speaker:So I'll try to put in words like that,
Speaker:whatever sort of the trends are,
Speaker:How do you know the trends?
Speaker:Is that just part of knowing your product,
Speaker:right. It is part of knowing and you know,
Speaker:it's sometimes from questions from customers that gives me an idea
Speaker:of what the trends are.
Speaker:Oh, good point.
Speaker:Yeah. We always need to be listening to our customers.
Speaker:They provide so much additional information.
Speaker:I think it's so easy to forget that.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So anything else on the descript,
Speaker:the item descriptions?
Speaker:Well, you just want to have like a measure,
Speaker:everything, you know,
Speaker:two inch diameter,
Speaker:two inches tall and the inside damn diameter one and a
Speaker:half inches.
Speaker:So they know everything there is to know about.
Speaker:Okay. So I think I've heard you talking three things are
Speaker:really super important when you're putting up an item,
Speaker:not talking price at,
Speaker:because we're going to get to that in a minute.
Speaker:But in terms of the description would be adding in keywords
Speaker:because that helps you in search,
Speaker:keeping the most important stuff up to the top.
Speaker:When you're putting in the information,
Speaker:especially for mobile,
Speaker:the detail new in terms of the measurements like Jen's just
Speaker:talking about,
Speaker:and then the photo and multiple angles,
Speaker:depending on your product.
Speaker:So that's actually four things that are super important when you're
Speaker:making your description and putting up each and every item does
Speaker:that summarize it there,
Speaker:Jen, that summarizes it pretty well.
Speaker:So now let's talk about pricing,
Speaker:first of all,
Speaker:where you're getting your items from,
Speaker:and then let's go into pricing.
Speaker:That'll be an interesting place for us to take this,
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:HIO. We are so lucky cause there's so many great places
Speaker:to find antiques and vintage thrift shops.
Speaker:I love estate sales,
Speaker:antique shops,
Speaker:even places like Goodwill,
Speaker:garage sales,
Speaker:once in a while,
Speaker:those are more of a hit or miss.
Speaker:So if it's a nice day and I feel like it,
Speaker:I might go to a few of those.
Speaker:And have you educated yourself?
Speaker:You probably again know from your great aunt Esther,
Speaker:but do you have a good feel or knowledge of whether
Speaker:something that you're looking at is high quality or how do
Speaker:you decide what you're going to pick?
Speaker:What you're going to take and put up at your site?
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:I think I have a pretty good eye.
Speaker:If you see me as a state sale,
Speaker:I'll just be grabbing.
Speaker:Are you one of those people who like right before the
Speaker:door opened to you?
Speaker:They're standing in line?
Speaker:No, I don't like that.
Speaker:I don't like that at all.
Speaker:Yeah. I avoid that.
Speaker:Those people are crazy.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So you're not in that category.
Speaker:No, I'm not.
Speaker:So you've picked up products now you're going home and we
Speaker:know how you're going to list them and take photos of
Speaker:them. How are you going to determine what the price is?
Speaker:I have all sorts of methods.
Speaker:I have some reference books,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:in the internet.
Speaker:Now that you can find so much,
Speaker:I check on other similar items on Etsy,
Speaker:on eBay.
Speaker:And I just kind of know at this point,
Speaker:since I've been doing it since 2008.
Speaker:Okay. And the nice thing for yourself is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you know how much you paid for it.
Speaker:So it's really a matter of how much you want to
Speaker:make on it.
Speaker:Yes. And we want to make sure that you're making a
Speaker:good profit because you're all you're going to pay at.
Speaker:See something need to factor in the cost of all your
Speaker:packing and shipping supplies.
Speaker:Those are expensive bubble wrap,
Speaker:packing peanuts.
Speaker:Now, is that included in the cost of the product when
Speaker:you list it or does that get included later in the
Speaker:shipping cost?
Speaker:I mix it up a little bit.
Speaker:Cause sometimes the shipping can scare people.
Speaker:So maybe I'll make the price of the item a little
Speaker:bit more because shipping can turn people off.
Speaker:Yeah, it can.
Speaker:So really good point.
Speaker:And this is something that so often I think we,
Speaker:as people who are listing on Etsy or who are crafters
Speaker:and selling products anywhere,
Speaker:we'll forget that there's a lot of hidden costs.
Speaker:It's just not the cost of your materials or in Jen's
Speaker:case, the cost of what she picked up and it vintage
Speaker:item for it's also in Jen's case,
Speaker:she had to drive wherever she was going.
Speaker:She was taking time to do that in the terms of
Speaker:a crafter,
Speaker:you have to get your supplies,
Speaker:time, creating everything and putting it all together.
Speaker:And all of that is worth something.
Speaker:So it's not just the raw material costs of acquiring the
Speaker:product. There are a lot of other hidden things.
Speaker:Jen here is also talking about,
Speaker:I think a very great idea is some of the extra
Speaker:shipping costs,
Speaker:bubble, wrap,
Speaker:labels, back scene,
Speaker:you, whatever it might be.
Speaker:I don't know if you include notes or any,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:promotional stuff in,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:with the box to Jen,
Speaker:but all of that should be included in the total cost
Speaker:of your products.
Speaker:So something to think about when you're pricing very important,
Speaker:are you able on Etsy to say free shipping?
Speaker:Very rarely.
Speaker:Maybe they're ordering a second item and it's maybe just jewelry.
Speaker:Yes, I can do that.
Speaker:Okay. So you could,
Speaker:if someone was doing something and they wanted to just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:maybe it's something that they can even send in an envelope,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:that they could,
Speaker:but there is the option to say free shipping on a
Speaker:store. There is that option.
Speaker:Yes. You can do that.
Speaker:So talk to us a little bit now on the marketing
Speaker:end, how do you drive business over to your stores?
Speaker:There's so many ways,
Speaker:but social media is my favorite and I have almost 24,000
Speaker:followers on Twitter because I love to talk and on all
Speaker:my social media,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:Oh, Instagram is my new favorite.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:It's so visual.
Speaker:Right? Visual.
Speaker:I'm all about the visual,
Speaker:but I like to mix it up.
Speaker:So it's not just not like I'm promoting and I'd like
Speaker:to mix it up with my photography,
Speaker:what I'm doing,
Speaker:maybe playing tennis.
Speaker:I know a lot about you too,
Speaker:because honestly Etsy shop owners,
Speaker:I think the whole concept of Etsy is you're buying from
Speaker:someone who has their own business.
Speaker:So it's great.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:to add your personal life too,
Speaker:People want to know more about you.
Speaker:Sure. So Twitter and Instagram and then those lead to your
Speaker:Etsy shop.
Speaker:Yes. Among other things I have Pinterest and Tumblr and no
Speaker:blah-blah-blah and there's so many.
Speaker:Would you say Twitter and Instagram now are your biggest?
Speaker:Those are my top.
Speaker:And those are your top.
Speaker:So on Instagram,
Speaker:do you have multiple sites for the shops or,
Speaker:or what site do you lead somebody to?
Speaker:Since there's only one clickable link there in the bio of
Speaker:Instagram? Well,
Speaker:it's called,
Speaker:most of my sites are called Jen's closet,
Speaker:but in the bio,
Speaker:there is a link to Jen's closet.
Speaker:They won't give you any more links,
Speaker:but you can add the names of your other shops.
Speaker:And that's what I've done too.
Speaker:Okay. Yeah.
Speaker:And I've seen that.
Speaker:They're actually,
Speaker:now that you've said that.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:And so how often do you post on Instagram?
Speaker:Instagram, probably three times a day.
Speaker:And one would be more,
Speaker:maybe something in lifestyle cooking.
Speaker:I love to cook.
Speaker:So I post something that I'm making for lunch.
Speaker:And then,
Speaker:then I'll have at least one that it's an Etsy item.
Speaker:And then I love photography and I love to create little
Speaker:tea party vignettes and put that on and people love that.
Speaker:Okay. And Then what about Twitter?
Speaker:How often do you post on Twitter?
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:I'm always on Twitter.
Speaker:If you anyone out there,
Speaker:if you want to go,
Speaker:go to Jen's class at,
Speaker:you'll see,
Speaker:I tweet a lot.
Speaker:I it's a crazy amount.
Speaker:I'm embarrassed.
Speaker:I won't even say Well,
Speaker:but that's a platform where you want to be tweeting a
Speaker:lot. You know,
Speaker:I w more than 20 a day,
Speaker:Probably because it just random things.
Speaker:I like to post funny things.
Speaker:And like I say,
Speaker:I will post probably in a day,
Speaker:maybe three posts that are Etsy related,
Speaker:but the rest is just fun.
Speaker:Are most of your followers then business or are they friends
Speaker:and family as well?
Speaker:It's a great mix of business friends.
Speaker:It's funny,
Speaker:important thing on Twitter is the hashtags and I'll hashtag whatever
Speaker:it's wine and I'll all of a sudden get wine companies
Speaker:following me.
Speaker:I get quite a few new followers every day.
Speaker:Wonderful. And so have you been doing that for the last
Speaker:several years or how did it start in build to be
Speaker:as big as it is right now?
Speaker:Twitter, I started in 2008,
Speaker:mostly just to promote my shop.
Speaker:And I don't know,
Speaker:my daughter is 23.
Speaker:She says,
Speaker:her friends say,
Speaker:wow, what does your mom do?
Speaker:Like I'm some movie stars,
Speaker:something she's like,
Speaker:nothing. You've built it up over time.
Speaker:That's the point you're active,
Speaker:your consistent,
Speaker:you post multiple things,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:from lifestyle to cooking,
Speaker:which is your,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a hobby to your business.
Speaker:So it's all encompassing of who you are and you've been
Speaker:doing it for quite a long time.
Speaker:So that's how you build up the numbers.
Speaker:Again. Another great point for us all to remember is don't
Speaker:just think specially on social media,
Speaker:you put your time in and after three months,
Speaker:why are you not seeing all these numbers?
Speaker:You have to continue to be consistent and to be posting
Speaker:things that people want to be looking for.
Speaker:Yes. A good mix.
Speaker:And the hashtags are important.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:On Instagram too,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker:So you're into the real,
Speaker:super hashtag social media platform.
Speaker:Yes, definitely.
Speaker:I would like to roll into now our reflection section.
Speaker:This is an in-depth look at you in terms of what
Speaker:types of qualities and things that you're doing that are helping
Speaker:you be as successful as you are.
Speaker:If there's one trait that you have apart from your aunt,
Speaker:Esther and loving all of vintage,
Speaker:what is it that you call upon within yourself that keeps
Speaker:you going every day?
Speaker:My attitude,
Speaker:I try to keep positive.
Speaker:There's some days that stuff can happen,
Speaker:but most days I'm positive and I'm happy person,
Speaker:even though circumstances might not be perfect all the time.
Speaker:I'm basically a happy person.
Speaker:Wonderful. And is there a tool that you use regularly in
Speaker:your life?
Speaker:And I've already talked about the fact that you get out
Speaker:and get moving.
Speaker:Cause none of us want to be behind the computer all
Speaker:the time,
Speaker:but is that it,
Speaker:or is there something else that you do within your business
Speaker:day that you really see is if you didn't have that
Speaker:tool or that ability to do something,
Speaker:it would impede your progress.
Speaker:Yes. My best tool is writing,
Speaker:whether it's just lists or a journal to vent,
Speaker:to talk about what's going on or what you want to
Speaker:do the rest of your life,
Speaker:whatever writing is my thing.
Speaker:Is it journaling specifically?
Speaker:Yes. I like to keep a journal.
Speaker:It helps to sort out your thoughts sometimes when you're kind
Speaker:of mixed up with things.
Speaker:So writing's always helped me with that.
Speaker:Do you do a daily entry?
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:Daily entry.
Speaker:Do you Certain time,
Speaker:is it kind of in a routine,
Speaker:your routine,
Speaker:do you like get up and do it right away or
Speaker:Usually it gets later,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:before bed,
Speaker:time, time to relax.
Speaker:Right. All right.
Speaker:Wonderful. No one has really talked about that on our podcast
Speaker:yet. So I'm really glad that you are,
Speaker:in terms of the value of sitting down,
Speaker:getting your thoughts on paper,
Speaker:kind of clarifies for you.
Speaker:It sounds like It's so important for me and I think
Speaker:it will help anybody.
Speaker:So Found real advantages in that.
Speaker:And have you read a book lately that you think our
Speaker:listeners could find?
Speaker:Well, I'm not really very good about reading books,
Speaker:but I did go to the library yesterday and,
Speaker:but see,
Speaker:I, like I said,
Speaker:I'm more of a visual,
Speaker:so I bought two.
Speaker:If you've heard of Rachel Ashwell shabby chic.
Speaker:I love her.
Speaker:I borrowed two of her books and then I bought two
Speaker:other vintage,
Speaker:one called the vintage table treasures and it's really cool book.
Speaker:And then another one called the serene home.
Speaker:And it's all inspirational pictures and ideas for your decorating in
Speaker:includes vintage.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:So those are my books.
Speaker:Will you be relating those to your business at all?
Speaker:Yes, actually I already posted a few pictures from the book
Speaker:on Instagram yesterday.
Speaker:Oh, anybody that wants to go see that and Jen's class
Speaker:at again,
Speaker:Instagram. Interesting.
Speaker:So you're using the book just because you like the information
Speaker:first off,
Speaker:but then also you're using it for post content for social
Speaker:media and then probably also continued education on vintage.
Speaker:Yeah. And the pictures inspire me.
Speaker:And after going through the book,
Speaker:it inspired me to make another one of my cute little
Speaker:vignettes and post that on Instagram.
Speaker:Perfect. All right.
Speaker:Well, give biz listeners Jen's books are more visual books because
Speaker:obviously that's her industry,
Speaker:but since you're listening to the podcast today,
Speaker:I know you like to listen to audio books and get
Speaker:your information via audio.
Speaker:So I've teamed up with audible for you to be able
Speaker:to get an audio book for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and pick out your book.
Speaker:That's gift biz,
Speaker:book.com. All right,
Speaker:Jen. Now I would like to invite you to dare to
Speaker:dream. I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:So this would be your dream or your goal of almost
Speaker:unreachable Heights that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your box?
Speaker:Okay. One of my biggest fears is speaking in front of
Speaker:an audience.
Speaker:So that is the gift.
Speaker:I want the gift to be able to speak comfortably in
Speaker:front of an audience.
Speaker:And let's say that gift was granted,
Speaker:where are you going to speak?
Speaker:I am going to start by with smaller groups.
Speaker:And of course it's going to be something that I love
Speaker:to talk about vintage.
Speaker:Oh, there you go.
Speaker:So you want to educate people on vintage?
Speaker:Yes. Have you ever heard that public speaking is the biggest
Speaker:fear anybody ever has?
Speaker:Have you heard that before?
Speaker:No, I did not know that it is People fear,
Speaker:public speaking,
Speaker:even more than passing away.
Speaker:It's like the number one fear.
Speaker:So I'm not alone.
Speaker:You are not alone.
Speaker:So you don't,
Speaker:you need to do is you just need to find that
Speaker:place where you're going to go speak and just get up
Speaker:and do it because everyone has to start from the beginning.
Speaker:Right. I've even heard that Barbara Streisand before she gets on
Speaker:stage and sings still gets,
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's amazing.
Speaker:She hasn't proved herself over and over and over already.
Speaker:Right? Well,
Speaker:I feel a little bit better.
Speaker:And now that I put that out there,
Speaker:I guess I have to do this too.
Speaker:Yeah. See,
Speaker:we're making you commit.
Speaker:You didn't realize that was what you're in for when you
Speaker:agreed to do this show Such pressure.
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:This is really interesting.
Speaker:I am quite sure that some of our listeners are going
Speaker:to be wanting to go and see some of these products
Speaker:where's best place for someone to go.
Speaker:If you had one touch point that you wanted to drive
Speaker:people to,
Speaker:where would that be?
Speaker:Well, I guess it would be to one of my Etsy
Speaker:shops. Jen's closet,
Speaker:closet.etsy.com. And there you also have in your bio,
Speaker:the names of the other shops and gift biz listeners,
Speaker:as you know,
Speaker:there's always the show notes page.
Speaker:So there will be the links to let's see,
Speaker:at least Jen's closet on Etsy,
Speaker:maybe all of them,
Speaker:maybe we should just put all of them up there.
Speaker:And then also Instagram,
Speaker:Twitter, all the social media links.
Speaker:So you can see what she's up to,
Speaker:what she's cooking for lunch today.
Speaker:Know what I'm eating for lunch.
Speaker:Well, Jen,
Speaker:thank you so much.
Speaker:This has really been enlightening in terms of how to start
Speaker:at sea.
Speaker:And I think exciting for a lot of our listeners to
Speaker:see that it's really pretty easy.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:you want to take the time though.
Speaker:Ease does not mean simple laid back.
Speaker:You don't work with it,
Speaker:right? Because you heard what Jen was saying that you are
Speaker:going to have customer service questions.
Speaker:You're going to want to ship out product timely,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:But in terms of being able to get a store up
Speaker:on Etsy and get going very small investment seems to be
Speaker:pretty smooth.
Speaker:You don't need to have merchant accounts and other types of
Speaker:things if you're opening a shop.
Speaker:So really I would say nothing stopping you.
Speaker:And we can all think Jen,
Speaker:for sharing so much valuable information for us.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:Jen, thank you so much continued success to you and may
Speaker:your candle always burn bright,
Speaker:So much fun.
Speaker:Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your business.
Speaker:Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your business
Speaker:and life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
Speaker:slash tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
Speaker:looking for a new income source for your gift business.
Speaker:Customization is more popular now than ever granted products of your
Speaker:logo or crim to happy birthday,
Speaker:Jessica, to add to a gift right at checkout,
Speaker:it's all done right in your shop or across studio in
Speaker:seconds. Check out the ribbon print company.com
Speaker:for more information after you listened to the show,
Speaker:if you like what you're hearing,
Speaker:make sure to jump over and subscribe to the show on
Speaker:iTunes. That way you'll automatically get the newest episodes when they
Speaker:go live.
Speaker:And thank you to those who have already left a rating
Speaker:and review by subscribing rating and reviewing help to increase the
Speaker:visibility of the gift is on route.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,
