What happens when you succeed?

Not everyone succeeds with online selling, but there are still countless stories of those whose humble beginnings lead them to incredible success; Etsy.com boasts many of these stories. But for each of these stories, Etsy shop owners have had to make difficult choices about the future of their businesses. Because Etsy is restricted to only handmade items, when the demand becomes greater than one person can handle, shop owners must decide if they want to reduce their business to a more manageable size or if they are willing move away from Etsy in order to mass produce their items. Learning these things, I've really realized that online business owners need to be prepared to make this decision if and when the time comes.

One Etsy success story comes from Mackswell Sherman and Sarah Jones, a pair who now operates a actual clothing store called Ruffeo Heart Lil Snotty in Brooklyn. In just four years, these two were transformed from “dumpster diving college students” to “comers on New York’s indie fashion scene.” They credit their success to their humble beginnings on Etsy.

Su Stella and Stacy Gibs were featured in Louisiana's oldest, continuously operating newspaper, April 27 Etsy article, she was in the spotlight for being as the “owner, operator and entire staff of Opelle Creative,” her shop selling handmade leather bags.

Etsy’s founder Rob Kalin hopes success stories like these “become more rule than exception.” However, there is a problem inherent in Etsy’s framework that makes success difficult for store owners.

In an April 1st article in Inc., a small business resource magazine, Max Chafkin explains:

If [an Etsy store] gets substantial orders…they will probably want to use a factory [to produce the items], which will effectively disqualify them from selling on Etsy, given that the company’s rules require that Etsy members personally make what they sell.

So then, successful Etsy sellers, face the choice of whether or not to stay on Etsy. And if they move on, where do they go? Sherman and Jones chose the route of many successful sellers—they left the Etsy community and opened a physical shop where they mass produce their products.

But other sellers have chosen to scale down their businesses to stay in the Etsy community and to keep their production manageable. Chafkin interviewed Ryan McAbery, the founder of the Etsy shop Littleput Books. Mrs. McAbery’s shop was a huge success, but she was forced to work nearly 100 hours a week to keep up with the demand. Because she decided that she wanted to keep Etsy selling as more of a hobby, she sold her highly successful Etsy business and started a new one with new ideas that aren't as time consuming.

I think the bottom line is that if you become successful selling on an online platform, you have to be prepared to make tough decisions involving the nature of your work and what you truly want to gain from it. You may have to weigh profits against your personal sanity, or come up with creative alternatives to accommodate both.

I wish you the best!



Photo Credit
Etsy Logo: Scraps
Buy Handmade Image: Her Outdoors