How KlaatuDesigns 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?
Hi, I’m Riyad Bakhshiyev, owner of the Klaatu Designs shop. The name of my Etsy shop comes from a famous character portrayed by Keanu Reeves who is an alien in the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. I like the movie and also wanted the shop name to sound as unique as possible, so I decided to use this name. Currently we are selling different kinds of items ranging from t-shirts, phone cases, laptop sleeves, digital arts etc through print-on-demand services such as Printify and Gelato. The reason for that is I wanted to diversify the items in order to see which ones work for me, which ones attract more views and after to increase the number of the kind of items.
As a full time worker, I’m a data engineer/analyst I would say. However, I have always wanted to have my own business so I will not depend on 9-5 jobs guaranteeing financial freedom even I will lose my job or decide to retire from it, I have researched many sources decided that Etsy and print-on-demand in fitting my goals and capabilities much more comparing other type of digital businesses which require more time and input in order to start to see any results.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
Actually I have many favorite listings in my shop from the recent ones like custom pet phone cases, halloween sweatshirts, soccer jerseys of FC Barcelona. I am a fan of FC Barcelona and decided to add many variations of the jersey.
However for now most selling products are custom avatar and PSG t-shirts.
I have created the PSG t-shirt when the teams already started to perform very well in UEFA Champions League but later decided to deactivate it when I noticed low views for the items. But, things changed when the team actually won the tournament and I have reactivated it. Currently it is in second place with 5 sales, but I hope the sales will increase.
In the first place it is a custom avatar which first I have decided to create for my Etsy shop profile and later decided why not also sell it like a listing: If I liked it then other buyers could be interested in it. So, as for now I have made 7 sales with the listing and one of the reasons I see is that low saturation of custom avatar niche.
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 think it took me more than 2.5 months when I had my first sale with the custom avatar listing. Currently I am attracting the customers through Etsy ads and Pinterest but I am thinking about also expanding it to tiktok and instagram by adding listing videos there. So I have started to get one copy of some of my listings for myself and am planning to make videos with actual products.
Managing KlaatuDesigns
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?
I am managing my shop myself currently as it is small enough for now. Shipping and fulfillment is done by print-on-demand services as I have mentioned I am partnering with them and by that I am saving a lot of time. Moreover, in order to create items I am using mostly Canva, Midjourney and ChatGPT. Recently I have started to use Kittl as I see they have more customizations for vector style images and posters. Beside this, in order to find trends, good niches etc. I am using Alura and other applications such as Everbee and Erank. Frankly speaking I find differences in numbers between all the tools so I am trying to find middle ground among them when deciding which type of listings to create.
The future of KlaatuDesigns
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
My first goal for the shop is to create an income of at least 10K $/month and I know it is possible but requires lots of effort. As a next milestone I am planning to enter the list of 6 figured-revenue-shops in Etsy and it would be like a dream for me. If it was a 7 figure, then it would be like finding the Holy Grail :)
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
My advice for new sellers is to never stop doubting yourself and keep posting new listings, of course after making research about them. In research also I cannot say that I have mastered it because even now I find it difficult to decide what type of designs to make. Be more creative and try not to just copy and paste designs from other listings, add a difference in them, because you need to highlight yourself among other similar listings and shops.
