How OliviasCuriosities 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?
My shop is Olivia’s Curiosities, and my Etsy journey started before I even knew what I was doing! I’ve always had a passion for sewing, but when I went to university to study costume construction for film and theater, I realized my passion couldn’t handle the stresses of the industry. After a few years of flitting about, I found my dream job in a small family-owned fabric shop. It was perfect; I could sew in my own time but still apply my knowledge to helping others. Unfortunately, at the end of 2018, they forced me to quit due to my mental health issues. "Sod them, I’ll do it myself" is how Olivia’s curiosities came to be, and I’ve never been happier.
Although I share the same suppliers as the rest of the country, I like to be different and stand out from the crowd. Finding weird and wonderful fabrics among the ordinary is a very time-consuming task, but I love it. I just wish I had space for more! In the summer of 2019, I started making my own resin sewing weights. My mentor at the Prince’s Trust asked me for one with golf tees, and I spiraled from there! Now I make resin buttons, weights, skulls, and other weird and wonderful oddities.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
It's cruel to ask for my favorite items! My favorite fabric is hand-dyed cotton. I work with a small business local to me; I take them a plain white bolt, and they bring me back magic! It always grabs attention while I’m out on the markets, but a lot of people are put off by the price, which is understandable, but they are supporting two small businesses for the price of one.
My favorite item of haberdashery has to be my handmade buttons. I love making them; they’re so quick and easy. I find some amazing glitters from other small businesses, and the sunshine just makes them all so gorgeous. These sell much better in person because they look much better in person!
My second favorite and most recommended brand is Chaco Liners. It’s powdered tailor's chalk in a pen shape, so it makes tracing patterns so easy! I use them when measuring orders and when sewing myself.
My favorite skull from the crafts section would have to be Amilie (but don’t tell the others!). She's a stunning deep purple Jesmonite that was hand carved and painted. I also love my Angel (resin with iridescent filling) and my range of Comic Skulls. All the skulls I sell are made with love, care, and attention, so to reflect this, they all come with an adoption certificate. My skulls don’t really sell well on Etsy, but I haven’t been making them all that long. I think with other crafts, people find them too expensive, but they don’t understand how expensive resin is as a craft.
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?
My sale came in relatively quickly; I was lucky enough to have made friends with sewists and knew my demographic. Having a social media presence and doing physical markets really help bring customers to my Etsy, but I have to be honest: I have no idea what I’m doing! Social media changes so quickly, and I don’t really understand things like SEO or how to really push the algorithm, so I muddle along and try my best. I try to attract a younger audience with brighter, bolder, and weirder fabrics. Sewing is a dying skill, as we are deeply in the era of fast fashion. I think the next generation needs to make better choices for our planet, and if that means sewing, then I’ll be here with the weird and wonderful options. I am always looking for exciting fabrics and am hoping to have some of my own designs printed soon. I’ve been working with other small businesses to design prints they want to sell or use. Finding designers and getting custom prints is a never-ending task, but for right now I am limited on storage, so I’m just collecting files. I enjoy experimenting with new and exciting products and using social media to ask customers what they want.
Managing OliviasCuriosities
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?
It’s just little ol’ me running the business. I occasionally rope in my other half to drive us to markets or when I have a particularly overwhelming week. He’s great at stamping and assembling shipping boxes! I use a variety of apps like Meta Business Suite for scheduling, CapCut for filming, PhotoRoom, and Canva for pictures because they’re all free and I can’t afford anything fancy yet.
It’s going to sound strange, but I love processing orders. Etsy makes it simple for me to collect my customers' orders, which I then organize, pack, and process.Shipping is made easy with Royal Mail’s Click & Drop. I recently invested in a label printer for £120—the best decision I've ever made! I can save so much time while the Munbyn churns them out, but I usually spend that much time mesmerized by it!
I have a post office a 10-minute walk from me, which is handy, and I’ve gotten to know the shop owners who helped me out during the pandemic. I don’t drive, so having a post office close by is really important, but Royal Mail can do collections too.
The future of OliviasCuriosities
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
I would love to have a brick & mortar shop, but the business isn’t ready for that yet & neither am I. My current goal is to have 100 listings on Etsy! Start small, baby steps will get me there eventually. I’ll know when the time is right for a physical shop.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
I always recommend Etsy to start out. It's simple to use and understand, and it's an excellent building block.It’s very easy to just open a shop, put it in holiday mode, and then upload all your listings when you’re ready. a smooth experience that goes at your pace, not anyone else's.
Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.
Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: I am still a very small business. My monthly revenue varies wildly depending on what’s happening in the world. On average, I’m looking at about £200. I do not yet receive a salary, but I hope to do so next year.
Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: Due to the range of products I sell, I can’t give an average. My skulls have a set formula, depending on how they were made. To be honest, that’s not a figure I look at very often. I have to keep in line with other leading companies, so my margin isn’t always my main focus.
Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 2022: 2.9%2021: 3%2020: 3.5%—this was my biggest year, and the business grew by over 700% from the previous year. Everyone was making scrubs or masks, and I was prepared.This is another area I have no idea about and am trying to learn about it and how to increase it. If my best year was only 3.5%, I don’t know how to make it better. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but I was working 24/7 during 2020 and nearly burned out. I think conversion rate is another one of those things that’s different for everyone. If my conversion rate was 10%, I would need a bigger office, more storage, and more staff.
OliviasCuriosities
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