Etsy Seller Interview with Jelena of HellenHobbyCraft

How HellenHobbyCraft 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?

Our story started at the end of 2020, which started off as a soap-making hobby. I found it very interesting, and my daughter and I really enjoyed the results of our creations. At the time, I had not heard of Etsy as a selling platform; it was just something I enjoyed creating and doing while spending time with my family. Later on, when our house was full of soap creations, my daughter suggested that I open an online shop, and we took an interest in the opportunity to start selling our products on Etsy. However, to sell handmade soaps as per UK standards, we had to invest a lot of money into various required licenses and other standard documents, but at the time we were starting out, we didn't have enough money to invest in them. That is why we decided momentarily to start making something similar, but it required less money for the startup. Luckily for us, we already had a good amount of essential oils and molds, so we brought some wax and started creating wax melts. When we first started, it was not easy. In our first months of being on Etsy, our profit did not cover all of our expenses, but we didn't give up. From then on, a lot of things changed. Our sales started improving after we started to package and sell our products as gift boxes. Our profit began to cover our expenses, allowing us to maintain our creative flow. We got ideas from everywhere; we just simply thought about an idea and what gift boxes would draw people in and strived to put our creative ideas into our listings.

Favorite items

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

Just before Mother's Day, we had a lot of attention at our Etsy shop. That is when we created a new product, which is the perfect gift box for mothers, and it drew a lot of our customers in. To this day, this product is our favorite and still sells very well. Now this idea has grown into a separate personalized product line and still has not lost its popularity.

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?

We received our first order fairly quickly, after a week or two. We thought that we received it so quickly because we had opened our shop before the holidays. However, we wanted to bring more sales in, so we actively advertised our products on social media, kept in contact with our customers, and most importantly, depended on holiday times using Etsy ads.

Managing HellenHobbyCraft

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?

We count ourselves as a small family business. Our biggest part of our business is regulated by me, the mother; however, every family member contributes. Someone gets a new idea, someone knows how to take good photographs, and my daughter does an amazing job of communicating with our customers. We also do a lot of research and information searching through the internet, such as by looking at social media links that have other sellers' experiences and thoughts. We also use eRank program analyzer and QuickBooks, which helps calculate our finances before the annual HMRC taxes.

The future of HellenHobbyCraft 

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

This year we are selling our products on our Etsy shop, and we are also getting busy on our separate website. For our future plans, we hope to open our own stall or small shop in our town and start selling our products not just online but also locally.

Advice for new sellers

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

The main thing that I can recommend to new sellers is to create original products that other competitors may not be selling. I also recommend doing a lot of research into things such as trends, costs, and seasons. Start learning from your and other sellers' mistakes. It is just as important to keep in touch with your customers and always give polite and professional help if any problems arise from the orders. This will help with good reviews and bring in new customers.

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: Our biggest revenue was approximately £10000 per month. Our average monthly revenue is £1000-£3000.

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: Our shops yearly profit is approximately £10000 - £15000

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: Our average conversion rate is 4-5%