Etsy Seller Interview with Xeniya of CreateYourDesire

How CreateYourDesire 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! My name is Xeniya; I come from hospitable Kazakhstan, and I have always loved to draw, color, and cross-stitch, but that was just my hobby. Until 2019. The history of CreateYourDesire (it's not the first title) on Etsy began after 5 years of working as an office clerk, after which I decided to start realizing my creative potential. Of course, I doubted for a very long time; it took me several years to take this step. The support of my partner each time gave me more and more strength and confidence, and finally I decided! I always wanted to have a free schedule and do what I liked. I became interested in ways to make money on the Internet by doing something with my own hands. I stumbled upon an online course in commercial illustration where I learned about the demand for digital products. In this course, we talked about selling on the Etsy site. That's how we met it) 

But I did not immediately find my direction in sales. At that time, I was already a little versed in graphic editors; I could draw something there and process it in the form of an illustration. So at first, it was processed as watercolor illustrations, patterns, clipart, and stickers. Then I released a few trackers. In parallel with this, I was doing cross-stitching for myself, but then I was no longer interested in embroidering standard landscapes and animals, and I began to draw patterns by hand in a notebook in a cage. The basis was pixel art—the heroes of your favorite TV shows and cartoons. And then I decided, "Why don't I add a cross-stitch pattern to my store?" Yes, at that time my store looked like a hodgepodge.

After studying the demand for this direction, I saw a bunch of beautiful patterns; it charged me even more, and I finally understood what exactly I would like to create. This is how the final name of the store was born and my path in Unknown. It was exciting and scary, but I quickly found the right programs and designed worthy files for sale. I am now a confident creator of clean cross-stitch patterns. I try to look for modern solutions and ideas and, with the help of my vision, embody them in the form of crosses. And yes, of course, I was thinking about selling ready-made projects or kits, but due to high transport costs, unfortunately, at the moment, this is not possible.

Favorite items

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

All of them! Ahaha. In fact, at the moment the patterns are created, they all occupy a part of my heart and receive my love. But time does not stand still; everything changes, like my taste preferences, so at any moment some of them cease to please me, and I can go and rework them. I really like the series of snarky patterns "For you."  At the moment, there are six of them plus one for Christmas. I think this is a cool and unusual gift idea for any occasion, and even just like that, to express my feelings.

I also really love the series of small sleeping animals, in my opinion they are the cutest! 6 patterns with the cutest sweet sleeping baby animals, good for a nursery room too.

And a series of dreamy girls personifying various fictional creatures or even natural phenomena At the moment, there are also six of them, but I plan to replenish them. They are popular because they are simply magical and beautiful, each in their own way!

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?

This is a really funny and sad story at the same time.My first customer was a friend who decided to support me and "open the road" after he found out that I had opened a store but didn't have any sales yet. At that time, the store was 2 months old! After that, the next one happened two days later. and the next one in a couple of weeks. At that time, I had no idea how to promote my store or what to do about this, so sales were slow. Even now, I don’t fully know what really works and what doesn’t. (Only by trial and error.) I try to post on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. On Etsy, I use a little advertising for new products to "launch" them, so to speak. It doesn't always work, but I'm not that good at promotion either. This is where I need help.

Managing CreateYourDesire

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?

Yes, it's just me! From finding inspiration for patterns to answering customer inquiries, I do it all! I use Etsy and Google searches to find out what's hot right now and watch what other stores are doing, what customers like, and what is in their favorites, which helps a lot too. From third-party services I use E-Rank, mainly for keyword search. In fact, it's hard, and I understand that I need helpers since I can't support all aspects at the proper level (for example, SEO optimization), and I need to delegate some of these responsibilities. But I am searching and open to suggestions!

The future of CreateYourDesire 

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

Continue to delight my beloved customers with interesting patterns! The plans include increasing the number of listings, increasing external traffic, active promotion in social networks, embroidering as many projects as possible and cool photos and videos with them!  I want to assemble a team of like-minded people for all this!

Advice for new sellers

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

At the beginning of my journey, I didn’t even hesitate to write to top stores in a personal email to ask for advice on what to do. But the secret is that what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. So...
Be active! Upload new products steadily, offer discounts, promotions, and coupons, and change banners!
Keep your store in the same style!
Respond quickly to customer requests!
Take high-quality photos of your product, make high-quality your product! 
And try to give the buyer a little more than they expect from you! (Include a handwritten postcard or mood sticker, or any small addition to the main order, if it is physical.)
Don't be discouraged if something doesn't work out; try again and again, but in different ways.
Don't break the rules, at least in the case of Etsy.
The road will be mastered by walking; that's why don't be too afraid! Better do it!