Toot toot!

I just want to take a moment to toot my own horn and say that August was by far the most profitable month for my Etsy shop. 

I started the shop back in 2014 and pretty much had zero sales for that first year.  My first sale from a stranger was on July 2015, and after that I had about one sale every few months or so.  I would occasionally get motivated to make my shop nicer and more appealing, would work on it for a month or so, and then get discouraged and not touch it again for another few months. 

Last spring something changed.  I think part of it was that I learned about using mock-ups for my product photos, so my listings looked nicer and it was easier to create new listings.  I also learned about drop-shipping, which meant I no longer had to have all my inventory on hand and could offer a greater variety of products at not extra cost to myself.

Slowly over the course of a few months I started to see my sales increase.  I went from having one sale every few months to a few sales every month. Then to a few sales every week. 

It's been so fun!  Of course it gives me motivation to draw more.  I'd like to say I'm just intrinsically inspired to create-and of course to an extinct that's true, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this--but seeing people like my work enough to spend money on it is really motivating.

In case you're wondering, here are a few of my best-selling products this summer.

All my birth flower art prints have been selling well. I do see how birth flowers can make a meaningful piece of wall decor.

My Happy Trails Donkey art print.

Custom Birth Flower Tattoo Design

Beluga Greeting Card

In the future, I want to offer more downloadable art prints, as well as a new product type or two.  I'm thinking stickers or maybe tea towels . . . Thanks to drop-shipping printers like Printed Mint the possibilities are endless.   Plus I'm hoping to offer Christmas ornaments this holiday season.

(And I painted my nails red.)

So stay tuned!