Etsy Seller Interview with Nicole of PalmtoPineDesign

How PalmtoPineDesign 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 Nicole McKinley, the owner of Palm to Pine Design and a stay-at-home mom of two. I started my Etsy shop in 2014, shortly after the birth of my daughter, when being a new SAHM was not what I had signed up for! I found myself drowning in diapers and sleeplessness and without any identity. I had always known I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but it certainly was not what I was expecting!

I actually opened my shop on a whim, after a playdate with a cousin who was a successful Etsy seller and mom and encouraged me to give it a try. I had previous experience in graphic design and a degree in marketing, and I thought, "What the heck, it’s only $10 to open a shop." I had borrowed graphic design software and a ream of nice cardstock from a tenant in my dad’s building. Since my world was newborn babies, my first listings were a birth print for my daughter and some of the decor I had created for her nursery. I then reached out to new mom friends I had met and offered to create birth prints for their babies, which helped diversify my shop and create new sales from the beginning, which I think was a hugely successful move.

Shortly after, as our babies started to grow, I found myself in the world of 1st birthdays, and that’s where I found my niche in celebrations.

Favorite items

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

The designs I created for my kids' birthdays are always my favorites and are a walk down memory lane every time one is purchased. While many of the designs in my shop are for their birthdays, my two favorites would have to be the unicorn birthday banner and construction banner!

Then, as the sister of a Marine, my military welcome home banner makes me cry every time it sells. A piece of my heart celebrates the arrival home of a service member, and it is such a special feeling each time I get to partake in a homecoming. The countless times a service member has arrived home just in time for the birth of a baby or a child’s birthday party makes these even more special!

Lastly, my line of social justice yard signs are something I added to my shop in 2020 and knowing these messages of diversity and inclusion are being spread across the country give me a sense of pride that I am helping to do my part to fight for equality. Plus, since I donate a dollar from each purchase of these signs to purchase diverse books for kids' classrooms, the messages reach even further and have allowed me to donate over 1,000 anti-racism books into classrooms.

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?

Many of the first sales in my shop were to friends for whom I had created custom nursery birth prints, and that momentum jump-started my shop and my passion for creating! Man, have I come a long way since 2014!

Currently, the majority of my traffic comes from Pinterest, where I feature pictures from my kids' parties, and I also use Etsy Ads to drive sales.

Managing PalmtoPineDesign

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 many years, it was just me, with seasonal help during the holidays, to package my custom stationery orders, but as my shop has grown, so has my need for help. Currently, I employ two other moms who work 10–20 hours a week remotely and in person at my home office helping with personalizing orders and fulfillment.

I swear by Trello for organizing my to-do lists, and my employees both have access to shared Trello boards, and Tailwind for managing my Pinterest accounts. I also use Vela for bulk editing of my products, like adding seasonal holiday photos.

The future of PalmtoPineDesign 

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

I am so happy with how my business has grown over the years. My main priority has always been being a mom, so there have been choices I have made along the way that have kept my shop a manageable size for balancing running a family and working as an entrepreneur. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, my shop basically came to a full stop, but I was able to pivot with quarantine birthday banners and social justice yard signs and ended up growing my shop exponentially, which led to me bringing on a team of moms to help me. Now that my kids are in school full-time, it has opened up more time for me to expand. Soon, I would like to pursue wholesaling my banners to party stores as well as increasing fundraisers and giving back through my business.

Advice for new sellers

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

Many people say to focus on one or two products and perfect them, and I have never followed that rule. I love creating and designing, and that is why I opened my shop. I list new products weekly and am constantly growing the amount and variety of products I offer, adding new lines. While some products have wound up unsuccessful, I would have never known had I not given them a try. Some of my top-selling products are things I was unsure would sell, but a small investment of my time to list them has paid off!