Etsy Seller Interview with Tiana of TianaHandmade

How TianaHandmade 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 name is Tatiana (Tiana) Kotskulich, and I’m the founder and owner of TianaHandmade (Tiana Precious Embroidery). I created my shop in 2016, and since then I have been running it by myself from Ukraine despite all the difficulties. My first job was as a teacher at our local Oil and Gas University (I have been teaching financial and managerial accounting, statistics, financial analysis, and business planning for 20 years).

I have always loved embroidery and cross-stitching since my early childhood, but I’ve never imagined that someone would buy my work. Unless I’ve discovered Etsy and seen that embroidered pieces are loved by people! So I trusted myself and tried to show the world my stitched creations. My first work on Etsy was a hand-embroidered jewelry set with lavender—a necklace, earrings, and brooch—and they are still some of my favorites. Later I tried to combine embroidery with gemstones, and now it’s my love! Most of my works are made to order and then placed in the shop with the customer’s agreement, so custom orders are my main source of inspiration.

Favorite items

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

As I said before, I love to combine gemstones and embroidery. I use this mostly for jewelry and personalized bookmarks. And I’m in love with wild flowers! So all this was connected to my items shown here.

Bookmarks are selling well; they are great gift ideas for everyone, and paper books and diaries are still popular despite electronic progress. Besides, my bookmarks are personalized with hand-embroidered monograms, and that works great too.

Two years ago, I learned to design cross-stitch patterns, and now they are selling well. As a base for designs, I often use my own watercolor pictures, like these items:

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 earned my first sale in about 3 weeks after starting my shop in 2016. Looking back, it's a wonder how I could sell anything with those photos I had then.
I run an Instagram page where I show my work process and completed pieces. 
Facebook is a great way to show your works in thematic groups (for example, I show my patterns in groups for cross-stitchers if it is allowed by their rules).
Another way to show what I do is on Pinterest, especially for my cross-stitch patterns (because most people are looking for DIY ideas there).
Currently, this is all I can do to attract customers by myself because I do not have enough time to run social media and make all my products. That is why I believe that good SEO for Etsy listings will work even better than social media.

Managing TianaHandmade

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 manage my shop entirely on my own.I'm a maker, designer, and photographer—all in one person—and it’s hard enough. This is my full-time job since I left teaching at my university two years ago. I’m working from home, where I have a separate room for a workshop; it is sunny and large, with a computer and plenty of shelves for my treasures (fabrics, embroidery threads, gemstones, metal findings, and more; it will never be enough, if you know what I mean). I also have a mini photo studio on my window with a homemade wooden background.Sometimes I think I could stay here forever—I love my place where I create my new pieces while looking at the river through the window.

Shipping is also on me; sometimes my mom helps me with it, the post office is very close, and it does not take a lot of time.

Most tools and apps I use are for SEO and analyzing my shop’s audience and trends; here are some of them:

• Etsy search bar – to see if a specific keyword is popular;
• The purpose of the Google search bar (or any other browser search bar) is the same;
• KeyWords Everywhere;
• Google Trends;
• Pinterest instruments for statistics and trends;
• Google Analytics;
• Photoshop—to make my pictures better and more attractive (but still realistic).

The future of TianaHandmade

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

I have a lot of items—almost 500—and it becomes hard to manage all of them. So my main goal for the near future is to find an assistant who could help me with shipping and customer conversations. My plans also include implementing some new lines of products for crafters (needle minders, cross-stitch kits, and so on). I guess I’ll need to invest some money in new equipment and hope it will pay off soon enough.

Advice for new sellers

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

Your first step to starting your business is to find popular but not highly competitive goods. It’s hard, but it’s possible. Do not make what you want; make what the customer wants to have, and you’ll have success. Personalization and custom orders work best for it. I do believe that high-quality photographs are the most important point to attract customers, so I work hard to think out a concept for each product and to make a good and "tasty" picture. But how will you make a customer see your wonderful photos? I’m convinced it’s possible with well-worked SEO—for the title, tags, and description. This point takes up most of my time when I work in my shop. You should know what you are doing and for whom you are doing it. I wish every beginner could find their own unique star product—just work hard and don’t give up!

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

Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: $ 1.5 K

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: 60%

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 2.5-3%