The Side Hustle Series – The Truth About An Online Craft Shop
When I opened my Etsy storefront, I initially invested about 20 hours in creating some small products, taking photos, and setting up each posting with calculated price, shipping, description, and photos.
When I opened my Etsy storefront, I initially invested about 50 hours into creating some small products, taking photos, and setting up each posting with calculated price, shipping, description, and photos.
I chose crochet and embroidery, so I began creating a collection of embroidery hoops that I felt would be popular where I was. These included the national motto of the country where I live, some cute food cartoons, and an LGBT+ tolerance piece. I also created cute baby things such as bonnets and matching booties, embroidery pieces for a nursery, bandana bibs, and small toddler purses.
Creating inventory can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months, depending on how much inventory you make. I spent about 50 hours over days and weeks on the above-mentioned pieces. With the finished crafts in hand, it's time to take photos and create listings for each.
This is how it should be
When searching for extra income working from home, a popular option is to make some art or craft to sell. Usually, people recommend Etsy or eBay to open an online storefront. These hosting sites work by taking a percentage of your profits as service fees to save artists the hassle and upfront expense of building a website. These platforms also have a collection of regular customers regularly browsing the site. The craft medium isn't necessarily important, although the most common are crochet, knitting, drawing and artwork, embroidery, tattoo designs, posters, screen-printed clothing, and jewelry.
Not for newbies
The tricky thing about this "side hustle" is that you can't do it if you don't already have a marketable skill. I knew how to create and design crochet, weaving, and embroidery, so I could start relatively quickly. If you are learning a skill, you must add the time spent learning and the initial investment of any tools you don't already own to the overall time cost of starting.
Once you have your chosen skill and decide on an online storefront, getting started is a significant initial investment. Setting up your profile on a website like Etsy takes about an hour, but that doesn't factor in the time spent designing and creating a brand kit like a logo, name, and header photo. All these things are needed to make your page look authentic, as you are basically opening a small business. You can do this yourself if you have the skills or pay someone to do it. The next step is to create some products. You can't sell without something to sell, so making an inventory is important, and you will need some high-quality photos of each thing for the posts. A phone can take these carefully, although a simple snapshot won't cut it. People want to see professional photos to know that they are buying from someone with high quality. Handmade products are more expensive than mass-produced ones, so people are picky about what they will shell out the extra cash for.
When I opened my Etsy storefront, I initially invested about 20 hours in creating some small products, taking photos, and setting up each posting with calculated price, shipping, description, and photos.
I chose crochet and embroidery, so I began creating a collection of embroidery hoops that I felt would be popular where I was. These included the national motto of the country where I live, some cute food cartoons, and an LGBT+ tolerance piece. I also created cute baby things such as bonnets and matching booties, embroidery pieces for a nursery, bandana bibs, and small toddler purses.
Creating inventory can take anywhere from a few hours to a few months, depending on how much inventory you make. With the finished crafts in hand, it's time to take photos and create listings for each.
With all this time and energy invested, I made a profit. I priced each piece based on materials and time spent creating it, and I sold almost everything mentioned above. It totaled out to about 350$. I priced my work cheaply as I was not as confident as I am now about the value of my work, which allowed it to sell quickly.
Overall experience
Overall, this is my favorite "side hustle," although it is far from easy. You can do it forever, but don't expect or rely on the money unless you make a time investment to create it into a full-time business. I continue to make and sell bits and pieces as I create designs I like and have the time. However, I will caution that if you are monetizing your hobby, it can be bad for your mental health. Without something just for you, it can be hard to relax, and often when you must create something, it can take some of the enjoyment out of the creative process.
If you already have a craft that you are relatively skilled in and have invested in tools and materials, I think this is a lovely side business that can bring you a small income. Be warned that this is not a quick or easy way to make money, but it is achievable.
