Etsy Seller Interview with Leslie of CleverClayShop

How CleverClayShop got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Hello! I am Leslie Yowell, owner and founder of CleverClayShop on Etsy. We are a 3D printing company that specializes in creating tools for polymer clay artists, consisting of bead rollers, cutters, and texture rollers. Our beginning was fueled by my creative need for consistently sized beads for the jewelry I was creating out of polymer clay at the time. My partner, Scott, and I started in early 2018 with some basic cutter shapes and our standard round bead rollers.

My early success came from friends who knew what I was doing and requested custom jobs like the corgi cutters we created. Scott is the technical manager and handles all the design and drawing for our STL file creation in the specialty software, so he is the heart and soul of CleverClayShop. He also handles most of the tweaking and repairs on our 3D printers, especially as we have grown. I handle the listing, sales copy, photography, social media, and advertising. Also, each shipment is lovingly checked, packaged, and shipped personally by me. I pride myself on great customer service and fast shipping.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

Our tools are all about enhancing creativity and making polymer clay easier for artists to achieve success. For some of our customers, these tools greatly assist their productivity. Design-wise, my favorites on the creative side are our goddess bead and the plumb bob bead rollers. I just love these shapes. A great seller and a good workhorse that is enhancing the bead creator’s work is our 12, 14, and 16 mm round bead roller. A great staple for making stringing beads. As we sell most of our bead rollers in three different sizes combined into one roller, customers feel they are getting more bang for their buck.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

I had a quick early sale within days of opening with a custom job for cutters. We started slowly, adding basic shape cutters and the standard sizes of round bead rollers. The first year was interesting, with the usual learning curve for the ins and outs of the Etsy selling machine. It was slow, but the shop progressed, especially as we added to our inventory. Once we surpassed about 50 items listed, the shop became very busy.

To attract customers, I started using social media outlets. I created a Facebook page for the business and continue today to make announcements about products and share general information about polymer clay and what other artists are doing so we have a decent following.  I also have Instagram and Pinterest accounts. I have also qualified for the off-site ads that Etsy promotes for a percentage fee of the sale.

Managing CleverClayShop

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

For the first three years, CleverClayShop was my side hustle while I worked full time at a major university. But with the advent of 2020 and mostly working from home, I had additional hours to apply to my shop, and it took off to its busiest level. From buying our first 3D printer in February of 2018 to now, this shop has always been a joint effort between Scott and myself. In the beginning of 2021, I retired from the university, as I felt 32 years was long enough. We immediately took to the road in our RV and have been traveling throughout the western United States ever since. We might be the only traveling 3D print shop. Our toy hauler section of the RV has been turned into our production and packing area.

As 3D printing is not a fast process—sometimes it can take up to 16 hours to print one whole bead roller—it is a challenge to maintain inventory levels. I handle all of the shipping and fulfillment and interface with the customers 100%.  I use Etsy’s integrated shipping labels for mailing, as they are discounted, and the tracking is automatically posted to the account. one less thing to do.

Some of my favorite apps and tools are:

e-Rank, which is provided by Etsy, and I currently use the free edition. It is a great resource for nailing down SEO keyword research and following the progress of our Etsy shop through its dashboard. It has been fun to track the store through sales numbers and find out that, with over 3000 sales, I am in the top 2.3% of sellers.
G Suite by Google: I use G Suite for mail, calendar, Zoom meetings, and file storage.
Our favorite STL file creator: Our secret sauce

The future of CleverClayShop

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

As I track my numbers, I am aiming to be in the top 1% of Etsy shops. I would like to tackle launching a website  and blog to showcase our tools and better display all that they can provide an artist.  I have no plans to discontinue Etsy sales, but this would be another presence in the online world.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

One key element is to make sure you fill out all the sections. Complete your bio and the announcement message area. Have a nice photo or icon to identify yourself, and the shop banner can do this too.
Quality listings start with having great photographs of each item, so customers know what to expect. Completely fill out each area, especially the description. Use all ten photo slots and the 13 keyword slots to describe your item for sale in the way that your customer would be searching for it.
Keep adding items to your shop. I did ok with 10–20 items, but once I surpassed 50 items in my shop, my sales exploded. Slow and steady Etsy likes to see you taking care of your shop. Try to qualify for the "star seller" status by shipping on time, responding to messages quickly, and receiving 5-star reviews while meeting the sales and order minimums in the three-month review period. All the hallmarks of great customer service
Start a social media presence and get the word out about your products. Join Facebook groups where you are allowed to talk about and post pictures of your products for sale.