072 | Danielle Spurge, The Merriweather Council on Etsy strategies and why its a good platform for young companies.

Danielle Spurge is a maker and craft business consultant who loves iced lattes and pop music. Through her work at The Merriweather Council, Danielle teaches creative people how to turn their crafty tendencies into profits. On her blog and podcast, Danielle aims to inspire and support makers in business and share insights from her eight years of experience selling handmade work online. Danielle believes in celebrating the reality of gainful self employment through craft and wants to help more artists, crafters and designers share their work with more confidence.

On today's episode we talk about Danielle's journey of starting her business, how she manages both a product and service based business and she shares why Etsy is a great platform for makers.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• How she got started with her business, The Merriweather Council
• What she sold in her original Etsy shop
• Her favorite materials to work with
• The educational curve you have with customers when introducing something that's new to them
• How she has created a community of makers that she supports
• How she splits her attention to give both sides of her business the attention they need
• What kind of makers are in her community and the services she provides them
• Why Etsy is a good option to get your products out into the market
• How can makers ensure their listings are being seen on Etsy
• Danielle's tips for getting selected to be promoted by Etsy on their social media channels
• A common mistake people are making on Etsy
• Her thoughts on all of the recent Etsy changes
• What inspires her to create new products or services

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

"I really just love fabric, love embroidery floss, I love to cut things up and sew them back together. I love anything really colorful and soft materials." - Danielle Spurge

"I don't have a lot of patience for giant projects. I like to be able to sit and finish something and it's over. I love the instant gratification." - Danielle Spurge

"There's really no way for me to do 50/50 but I've always been happy with the amount of product work I was doing because it fit really well into the amount of other work I was doing." - Danielle Spurge

"With Etsy or your own site with your products, if you're not doing a ton of wholesale, you can kinda throttle how much you produce. You have a lot of control over what are you offering." - Danielle Spurge

"I want to be the person who makes my products. I want to make however many I want to make of them." - Danielle Spurge

"I always wanted to maintain my product business because it helps me relate to my students." - Danielle Spurge

"We can provide better service and we can create a better product when we are more thoughtful in our approach for things." - Katie Hunt

"Most of us don't want the stress of a seven figure business. That's a whole other ball game." - Danielle Spurge

"Let's never send our hard earned traffic to Etsy. Because that traffic is going to disperse. There's no guarantee that that traffic's gonna stay with you." - Danielle Spurge

"I will never shut up about this until it's not true anymore. Etsy is the best tool." - Danielle Spurge

"You can appeal to Etsy's systems to get seen." - Danielle Spurge

"Etsy cares about your titles, and your tags, and all the little things you fill in as you're listing." - Danielle Spurge

"No one goes on Instagram with the intent to buy something the way that people go on Etsy with the intent to buy something. So that's really why I think Etsy is such a useful tool for a new seller because people are going there, looking to buy things, and they're the kind of people who want to buy the kind of products that you are selling." - Danielle Spurge

"The biggest mistake I see people make on Etsy is that they just don't list enough." - Danielle Spurge

"Etsy is really a numbers game. The more listings you have, the better your chances are of showing up, and being found, and being seen, and making sales." - Danielle Spurge

"It's still one of the cheapest ways that you can sell online. Amazon's fees are more. If you had your own website, up front it's more." - Danielle Spurge

" I want to help people be who they want to be." - Danielle Spurge

CONNECT WITH DANIELLE SPURGE:

Website: http://merriweathercouncil.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/merriweathercouncil

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativelifehappylife/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/merriweatherc

LINKS

Free Etsy Lesson Email Series

IS WHOLESALE RIGHT FOR ME?

Many of you are in the process of contemplating whether wholesale is the right next step for your business. I get it, I know that it feels like a big scary decision and there are lots of things to consider.

That's why I'm offering a free online workshop to help you determine "Is Wholesale Right For Me". I'll walk you through 12 questions that I want you to ask yourself before you jump into wholesale and why each is important.

This free workshop will take place on Thursday, September 20th at noon Pacific and space will be limited.

To snag your seat, head to tradeshowcamp.com/wholesale to register. A replay will be available for everyone that registers ahead of time.

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ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:

Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!