How ZaleyDesigns 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?

Zaley Designs started as a bit of an accident! At the time, I was in business college with the goal of opening my own photography studio and already had a photography business.I was home from college for the summer, and my sister and I were searching for a dog collar for my mom’s beagle as a gift for her. We happened upon Etsy and quickly found a minimal selection of mostly cartoon-themed dog collars with plastic buckles. We eventually found a polka dot one similar to what my mom was hoping for, but upon its arrival, it was the wrong size and cheaply made, to which I (with little to no sewing skills) thought, "I can do better than that!"

So, one summer day, I took over my mother's embroidery machine, tearing apart an old pillowcase and camera strap...I made my first collar. It wasn’t better, but I was onto something. A trip to the fabric store and an order of metal hardware later, I was onto something. I sketched logos and doodled names and landed on "Zaley." Said: "Zay-Lee."

Favorite items

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

Named after our two family dogs at the time, Zeus and Bailey, Zaley Designs was born. I set out to make dog collars in classic designs: stripes, polka dots, plaids, florals, etc., with metal hardware. Etsy was so saturated with cartoon dog collars and plastic hardware dog collars at the time, which were just not my style, so I wanted to offer designs that I personally would put on my dog. Of course, we've evolved to include more designs and patterns, as well as some whimsical designs such as s'mores, Halloween trucks, nutcrackers, and so on.We purchase fabrics and webbing from a myriad of businesses (including some on Etsy) and even have a lot of our own designs printed.

My favorite items listed are the collars in our own designs. Designing our own patterns is a huge task, and watching something go from my terrible sketched ideas to working with our designer to bring them to life all the way to a final product is so much fun. But the full circle moment is truly when someone loves that design enough to purchase it and put it on their dog! It’s an absolute honor, and I love it so much! Over the last year of adding many of our own designs, they’ve become what sells in our shop the most, and I’m so excited to keep designing more and more of our own patterns. I think they’re selling so well because they’re unique and not seen anywhere else.

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 don’t remember how long it took for my first collar to sell, but what I do remember is making a few at home and then taking them back to college with me. As they’d sell, I’d make more when I came home for the weekend to sell. Truthfully, once I graduated from college, I wasn’t quite sold on building a company selling dog collars. I tried to get paintings to take off, as well as photography and even scarves, but dog collars were all that worked. So one day I remember telling God, "Okay, fine!" If it’s dog collars, it’s dog collars," and from there I buckled in and prayerfully began building what Zaley Designs is today. I remember a month getting 4 sales (essentially one a week) and then praying for a goal of 8 the next month, so 2 sales a week, etc.

Every goal and every prayer were answered. Never stop setting goals. I go through seasons of goal-setting, but whenever I do get back to it, I meet them. They’re important. There is so much power in knowing what your goal is. A few months into really working to grow Zaley Designs, we had a sale every day for a month, and I was so excited!

It took us years to ship to every state, though! Finally, we got an order from Alaska, and we had sold to all 50 states. That was a really cool milestone too! Every time I see an order headed to Alaska, it makes me smile! Up until about a year ago, I drove all of our sales to Etsy via our social media and email lists. I have added a website now, so I’m working to grow our Etsy business through the search function and find new customers that way. I love connecting with new customers via Etsy. A lot of businesses "outgrow" Etsy, but I think that’s sad. I’m so thankful for Etsy and the community it has. I love being a part of Etsy!

Managing ZaleyDesigns

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 currently have 2 seamstresses (Judy and Barbara) that help me make orders. They are absolute rockstars, and I’m so thankful for them! I’ve had an assistant that helps me in the studio up until recently, and I’m currently searching for the perfect fit there. The ladies that work with me are such a blessing, and I love that dog collars not only bring joy to dog owners all over the world but also provide for the families of the ladies that work with me too! I don’t use a ton of apps to run my Etsy business. really just the Etsy apps. I ship through Etsy because it’s definitely faster than exporting the orders to another system. Shipping-wise, we just got custom shipping mailers, and I’m obsessed with them! It’s so fun to ship our orders in our own branded mailers, and I hope they’re fun for our customers receiving them too!

The future of ZaleyDesigns

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

We are working to bring in more and more of our own designs. That takes time, and they're a large investment, so we don't want to rush it, but we eventually want to sell all of our own designs. The obvious goal is to continue growing and bringing dog owners products that they enjoy and that work well for their dogs. By growing, it allows us to hire more people and bless them with jobs as well!

Advice for new sellers

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

My biggest advice to someone looking to start a business is to be unique. Don’t just do something because someone else is.
Choose what you want to do and do it with a purpose.
When you create something rather than copying it, you can tell the story of WHY you do it that way or why you chose to do it that way.
It’s important and will set you up for success far better than just doing something because someone else did.
But there's also the advice to just do it!
The worst that can happen is that it doesn’t work.
But what if it does work?
You’ll never know if you don’t try!
Make peace with the worst-case possibility, and things get a lot less scary.