Pivot to Profit Week 4 Day 2: A Place to Sell Your Work

Welcome to day 2 of the last week of this challenge! 

This week we are touching on the big things you need to have in place in order to be ready for a successful and profitable online fall/holiday sales season.

With a high quality product and crisp, clear photos nailed down, your next step is to have a PLACE online where you can sell your work. 

If you are new to selling online and you haven’t really committed to one particular platform (i.e., Shopify, Weebly/Square, Wix, Etsy, Amazon Handmade, etc) then I would recommend taking some time to look into each one and see what the best fit is. There are LOTS of different options, and each one comes with its own set of pluses and minuses.

Check out Week 7 of the Business Basics Bootcamp for a rundown of each of these options and see which one(s) you might want to dive deeper into.

I am admittedly partial to Shopify (it’s what I teach in my course: I use it myself and I am thrilled with it), so that is always going to be my first recommendation.

What you want to be asking yourself when choosing a place to focus on your online sales:

1. Can you easily use the platform? Do you understand how to list your products and how they are found by new people?
2. Are you able to regularly and easily update your product offerings and listings?
3. Do you understand all of the costs that go along with selling on each platform?
4. Are you able to get support when you have questions or problems? Do you have access to someone who will answer your specific questions?

SIDE NOTE: Fees are one of the biggest sticking points Etsy sellers have...they add up fast! Make sure you understand all of the fees associated with selling on Etsy and that your product is priced properly so that you are actually making a profit when you sell. 

I was passionate about selling online long before it became the only way to sell my work (literally...thanks for ruining my show schedule, COVID). It has afforded me the opportunity to connect with amazing people all around the country and around the world: I’d never have that chance if I wasn’t online.

Truth is, the freedom to be an artist, sell my work, and do it all from the safety and comfort of my home is a dream come true. It’s like I’ve plucked all of the best parts of business ownership and put them all together in one happy (and profitable) handmade business that fits perfectly into my life as a wife and a mom. 

I know that you have a dream too: you want to be safe and happy and sell your work without the struggle and stress of the constant “weekend hustle” of endless art fairs and craft shows. 

Once you get this traction in the online part of your business, you will have the freedom to only choose the really GREAT shows: 

the ones that you love, the ones that your best customers shop at…

the ones that have dedicated vendor bathrooms (if you are a show person then you know the EXTREMELY high value of a dedicated bathroom!). 

I help you bring that dream to life with my course, Get Online, Grow Online. Inside the course, I teach you the exact steps it takes to dial in your branding, your content, your social media, and your email marketing so that you develop a close, personal relationship with your biggest fans. 

At the end of this week, challenge members (that’s you!) will get access to a special early-bird offer to join the course before it opens to the public on September 14!

Today’s Task:

If you are already selling online, I would love for you to come on over to today’s post in the group to let us know which platform(s) you are using and your links (so that we can all check it out!).

If you are looking for a new place to sell or are wanting to move up from Etsy to your own website, please share which platforms you are looking at. With all of the members in the group, it’s a really nice opportunity to get some opinions and feedback on what people love (and hate) about their current website platforms!