The First Impression?

Your mother probably told you how import first impressions are. Mine sure did. And that is why I am a neurotic mess when I have to meet somebody new. Oh well, that is another story all together.

As it stands the idea of first impressions for me is really important.

I am now in the process of setting up an Etsy shop to sell some handmade knit items and from what I have read, repeat buyers are crucial on the platform. And that means that you need to:

  1. Make a good product
  2. Present it well
  3. Make a good impression when they receive it

I see it as three steps. As you can see good impressions are important at not one place, but two.

First when I put it on the site I will need to have nice looking photos of it. This is a problem for me because I do not really know how to take a nice photo. My selfies are abysmal and they are my strong point when it comes to photography.

That means that I will need to work on that before I take my shop live.

The second, and this is in my opinion the most important impression, is when they actually unbox it. This is the moment that they will either be happy that they picked one of my pieces or have second thoughts.

For this point I want to make a couple of pieces of supplementary material that accompany the garments.

This will be something like care instructions, possibly a coupon code for my website, and additional piece of contact information. One thing that I have noticed is that it is often hard to contact a person once they have sent you the item.

There have been instances where I wanted to reach out to them and thank them for the great service but didn't have an option too.

Not that I am getting ahead of myself.

One step at a time I guess.

Thinking About Business

The idea of starting a shop on Etsy, etc. has been going through my mind for a while now. And while the prospect seemed daunting. No, wait. It still feels daunting. I am getting more comfortable with it.

The different sources that I have been using to read up on it. Mainly books that I have checked out from the library were helpful. Though they also left me wanting more information. As it stands I do not have the confidence to just jump right in. But that might be what I do. To avoid analogies with learning to swim. It might be the best way o get a feel for the way people do business on the site.

When I was in college one of my roommates was making trinkets and selling them first on ebay and then on in the early days, Etsy.

It worked for her well enough. She always had some money for the weekends – and she paid for a girl's weekend out when we graduated. Which trilled us.

One thing that I have noticed when I buy something from Etsy you often get a business card, presented as a coupon card or care card specific for the product and seller. It is a nice touch that gives it a professional look. Things like, while I can appreciate, I never would have come to the idea myself. Of course I am going to do it. And while it might not be my first step those little cards are actually pretty cheap to have them printed.

I saw that I could order about a hundred cards for less than $20 which makes them five cents a piece. For that and the visual appeal that the finishing touch adds it doesn't make any sense to skip them.

The problem I have with them is either have them professionally designed. This presents a problem in that it makes the whole endeavor more expensive. Or I can design them myself and have them printed. Both have their ups and downs. Professional designs will problem look a lot better. But the added expense might not be worth it.

If I design them myself I can save on the overall cost, the time expenditure, yet I am not sure if I can achieve the same quality with my limited design skills.

In the end I will probably go with the second option. The main reason is that if I need to make changes I won't have to rely on the original designer to make them and I will have the source files to work with.

As you can see there is a lot to consider and I have a hard time making a commitment.