Etsy Uncovered: Tips and Tricks for New Sellers with Dylan Jahraus

Welcome to the Bring Your Product Idea to Life podcast. This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert. Every week I share friendly practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses. Let's get started.

Hello and welcome to this episode. Today I'm really excited to speak to Dylan Jahraus , a seasoned e commerce entrepreneur with over 13 years of experience.

Dylan went from corporate e commerce into growing her own brand on Etsy, which grew to over 1 million in profit within six years, followed by expansion to Amazon and Shopify. So I've invited Dylan onto the podcast today to talk to us all about Etsy.

It's been a while since we did an Etsy episode and a lot has changed in that time. I learned so many new things about Etsy from Dylan.

If Etsy is a marketplace you'd be considering, or even if it's one you're not considering, perhaps you thought it wasn't right for you. You might be surprised. So I would love now to introduce you to Dylan and share with you all that I learned. So. Hi, Dylan. Thank you so much for being here.

Hi, Vicki. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited.

Me too. So can we start with you? Please give an introduction to yourself, your business and what you do.

Yes, yes. So my background is actually all in corporate E commerce.

I actually studied E commerce, well, product development in London for a short time and got into the corporate e commerce space working for some big companies out of college like Zappos and Zulily and basically did that. Ended up marrying someone in the military. You move a lot. So I was doing all these side hustles and Etsy was one of those side hustles.

And I basically applied all those principles from corporate e commerce to Etsy and scaled to over a million dollars in profit pretty quickly within the first six years and then expanded onto Amazon and shop. So that is my background. Now we teach about 3,500Etsy sellers how to scale their their businesses.

That is amazing. Thank you. Wow. Can I ask what you were selling on Etsy when you first started?

Yes. So it was actually I just put up one photo of one product. It was a floral letter. So a letter in the shape of a J for my last name.

And it was just one picture, a couple words. I just threw it up there like it was ebay or something. And two months later it sold. Yeah. So it didn't. Yeah. It didn't sell right away.

And then so what happened then? So obviously you threw up your first listing. I'm sorry, I'm using your words. I hope you don't mind.

What did you do then to kind of to grow your business on Etsy? Because obviously one sale in two months versus making millions is a really big leap. So what were some of the things.

You did to get totally. Well, I'm kind of a black and white, all or nothing kind of person.

So once I got that taste of that first sale, I thought, okay, there's some potential here. That was just one picture and a couple words. What if I actually put effort in? And so I then I started applying at about month two.

All of those corporate e commerce principles from my career. And I don't know why I didn't start with that. I guess I wasn't seeing the potential right away.

But then when I saw the potential, I applied all of that by month four. So just eight weeks later, we're making over $10,000 a month. And that really, you know, just scaled from there.

Amazing. Thank you.

Let's talk a little bit about, we're going to definitely go into more detail about how to do well on Etsy, but let's actually start at the beginning if that's okay, and talk a bit about Etsy as a platform and who Etsy is great for. Because obviously there are all kinds of e commerce businesses selling all types of products. But who is Etsy ideal for?

Yes. So a lot of people have some misconceptions about Etsy.

They think it's just for handmade products and people who are into crafting at home and just like hobby type of level.

But I mean Etsy is great if you want to make, I would say if you want to make a lot of money and I would say have a higher profit margin, it's a great platform or marketplace for that.

It's also great if you want to really target profitable customers, people maybe who they have higher discretionary spending and income and they are willing to be a little more patient for something that's a little more special. So if you want to target those types of customers, they're great, repeat customers, that'd be great for you.

And then if you're looking to build a brand, I really believe it is the fastest place to build a brand and the lowest cost because they really drive a lot of the traffic for you if you set things up correctly.

And it's a great way to make a big splash and then eventually expand onto you Know your own website, Amazon, but you get fast customer feedback this way without paying for ads.

Amazing. Thank you. And I was under the impression as well that Etsy was just for handmade sellers.

So what are some of the other things that you can sell on Etsy? I'm assuming you can't sell everything on Etsy, but maybe I'm wrong. Let me know.

You know, almost it is, it's really expanded.

And on July 9th of last year they expanded their categories and there's a new category called hand picked by a seller, which is really rewarding sellers who have a good eye for curation. So for curating a product mix or a gift box, there's a category for them. There's digital, which a lot of people have heard about.

There's print on demand, you can even sell services on Etsy. So we've had people who sell therapy services, coaching services, courses, things like that.

Anything you could sell on Upwork or fiverr, you could also sell on Etsy. So really there's very few restrictions now. There's a lot of gray area and loopholes. So if you have an idea, there's a way to make it happen.

That's really interesting to know. Thank you. I hadn't really been aware of the fact that Etsy had widened their scope a bit.

So that's really good because I think initially it was handmade, is that correct? But that was Maybe we're talking 20 years ago now.

Yes, I mean that was. Yeah, that's before my time on Etsy. So, you know, potentially it was that narrow of a scope.

But since I've been on, there's been always about four categories and now just this last year, it's been a big widening.

Yeah, that's really interesting. So let's talk a bit more about your story on Etsy. So you had this one product and one photo and that sold what happened next?

Yes. So then basically what I did, that product was for my wedding.

So yes, it was something I liked, but nothing else I added to the shop actually over the next eight years was something that I would buy myself. So at this point I. All I do is I listen to my customers and I really believe in having a customer centric approach to everything.

So your product mix, your SEO, your branding, all of that. So it's not thinking about what you like and oh, oh, this makes me feel good. I like how my shop looks. Doesn't matter if no one's buying anything.

So you know, I would say look at your customer and then how can you serve Them for at least four to seven years in many areas of their life. Because we want to focus on the lifetime value of the customer, not just chasing transactions. So that's what I did.

I basically started with the one product about two, three months in. I expanded into a second product and it was in the baby niche. I wasn't. I didn't have children at that time. But it was a baby mobile.

You know what those are?

Yes.

You have them there? Yeah, those. Yeah, for nurseries. So I got into the nursery decor space and wedding wedding space. So that was how I expanded.

Ended up probably with four to six products by the end of the first year, but over 300 listings. Because with Etsy, one product doesn't necessarily mean one listing, it could mean 10 listings positioned for different search results.

So that was my strategy year one.

Oh, I had no idea that was. That was possible. So that's listing the same product using different ways to describe it, perhaps different images. Is that what you mean?

Yeah, you definitely want to be ab testing images too, versus having a shop filled with the same photo. But yes, yes, you can reposition it for different types of customers.

You know, for example, that floral letter, it was for my wedding, but most of my customers were buying it for a baby shower or a nursery or a birthday party. So basically you can use one product, position it for different situations and different customers.

That's really interesting. I don't see I'm learning so much from you.

This is amazing because in lots of marketplaces like Amazon, of course, you can't do that if you have a product of a barcode, because the barcode means it identifies it as this one product that fits this one category.

So that's really interesting because you're right, people are looking for the same products, but they might have different uses or needs in mind when they're searching.

Exactly, yeah, exactly. And Etsy is great that they let you do that. I don't see that changing at all anytime soon.

Yeah, that's amazing. And how. So how long did it take you to really build up your business on Etsy?

Well, I would say, you know, 10,000amonth, never looked back. And our margins were around 70%, so not bad for that.

But that month, four and beyond, I would say that was really when we saw just a consistent snowball and then hiring.

That was a time where just E Comm boomed with, especially in the US with the stimulus checks. A lot of people were spending those on Etsy and it was very unexpected.

My husband was actually deployed at the time on a submarine and I was alone with my one child at the time. And it was a lot, it was a lot to hold the fort down.

My goal that year was just to like, you know, hit 100,000 and hopefully, you know, once he gets back, then we can scale the business again. But we went from like 245,000 to 360,000 and it was, I don't want to say it was effortless, but it wasn't really an effort to get the sales.

It was really just the effort on fulfillment that year. So between, you know, the start and that year, it just like was a pretty big spike. Yeah.

Wow, that really is. And when you talked about getting a team in place, what kind of roles were you, were you hiring for?

Because I think this will be really useful to anyone else who's growing their business think, what are the kind of things they can start to outsource?

Yes, yes. So with my product, it was physical product, so we shipped it ourselves. A lot of people have Etsy shops where it's print on demand or digital.

There's no product going out. So with me, I needed someone to come to my house. So I hired a girl. She was like 20 years old, young, young military spouse who had extra time.

She just had time on her hands and wanted to stay busy and learn from someone else. So she ended up doing all of my packaging and fulfillment. So she started with that and then she started getting into the product creation side.

So the actual production of the product and not just packaging it up. So that was kind of the, the steps we took. You can a lot of our students, they have virtual assistants. That's great as well.

Then then all of a sudden you have a global market for employees and that's always a good idea early on if you can.

That's brilliant. Thank you. And I imagine that production, not production, sorry, sort of logistics and shipping products out takes quite a lot of time.

So packing and shipping products, particularly with that volume of sales. But you mentioned production. So were your products made by yourself at that time?

Yes, I was doing it all. So it was like 14 to 16 hour days standing at a table and you know, working at this table.

It was kind of like not chest height, it was kind of like bar height. And so I wouldn't have to bend over and it was standing and I was, you know, kind of had the flowers all around me. It was all silk flowers.

And it was at my home, which was great because it gave me that flexibility of if my baby is sick and, you know, I have to put things down or I have to drop everything and get someplace. I own my time. So, yeah, I worked interesting hours. I would work up to like 11pm My mornings were a little slower, but it was, it was great.

Owning, owning the time and having it out of your home versus like a warehouse.

Yeah, that makes sense. And how much of it are you, how hands on are you with it now or is your focus mostly on helping other sellers?

Yes.

So I ended up getting vascular disease in my legs from standing so much because I was doing that for almost eight years standing at this table for so many hours a day. So I had surgery on my legs and they said, you really can't be standing all day anymore. And I actually kept doing it and I got it again.

And then I realized I cannot keep getting surgeries here. I need to fully outsource production. So I hired a military spouse to do all of production.

And that is when started coaching because I, I can't sit still. I have to do something. So I started coaching at that time. That was over, let's see, two and a half years ago.

So two and a half years ago brought her on, started coaching full time and she ended up moving last summer. So we actually sold that brand two. Yeah, no, three months ago now.

Amazing. And so let's talk about your coaching bit if that's okay and get some of your wisdom and experience there.

I would love to know, for anyone who is perhaps thinking about Etsy or very new to Etsy, how do you get off to a good start?

Really now there's really no chance of that. It is more competitive. It's. It requires more intention behind your SEO, your product mix having a dynamic product mix.

So different listings that have different purposes, targeting profitable customers. So if you are not going at it with knowing your customer and building a strategic product mix to increase multi item orders and drive up the ltv.

I would wait honestly until you have a foundation because now on Etsy you do get your boost. It's a boost in the algorithm in your first 30 to 45 days so you don't want to waste that trying to figure out what SEO is.

I recommend watch YouTube videos, get a coach or a course. That's like a step by step plan. Something besides trying to guess.

That's really good advice and I'm with you on the SEO. I mainly work on Amazon and, and I know that for that platform SEO is so important. And I'm assuming it's very similar for Etsy as well.

Completely. Completely.

And the thing is, you could have the perfect product, you could be selling a diamond for a dollar and no one would find it if you didn't have the right SEO.

Yeah, that's great. So what? That's how we get off to a good start. I mean, I don't want to look at the negative side, but I'm sure there were some common pitfalls.

I'm sure there were some common mistakes that you see time and again with the people you're working with. Are there any that you can share with us? Any things that people should be aware of so they don't make the same mistakes?

Yes, I would say one of the biggest mistakes I see is, is people come to Etsy, they don't know what to sell. So they see what else is selling and they look at what's a bestseller right now, what's at the top of search results. Okay, I will copy that.

And when you do that, you know Etsy is one of the last places to get trends. So they're about six to eight months behind on trends, we find.

And you're chasing, you're chasing and you're on your back foot, you're behind all the time. If you're just looking to other shops and copying what they're doing. So that's a big mistake, is looking to Etsy for product ideas.

Now I know with Amazon, like a big strategy is looking to Amazon, a lot of the research and the tools are related to products that are already on Amazon. So you can see what the potential is.

But to, to become really a market leader with Etsy because it's not based on cost and sourcing, it's about having something unique.

And I would say that bringing something unique to the platform that's not yet on the platform is the probably one of the most competitive things you could do as a new shop.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

So I guess you're kind of doing the opposite from what you're doing if you're researching on Amazon, because when you're looking on Amazon, you're looking to see are there products like this on Here, what's their sales history, what do the reviews look like? But on Etsy, it sounds like it's a really good thing if there's nobody else or very few people selling the thing you're looking to offer.

Exactly, yes, yes. You're not looking to verify the product or the product market fit or the potential on Etsy itself.

Right, that makes sense. Is there anything else that you see people do that you'd like us to be aware of?

I would say, you know, selling things that you think are cool and just picking things you like and selling them. You can get nowhere fast doing that unless you are your exact target customer, which is very rare.

So, you know, just selling things that only you like, that's a big, I would say mistake. We see also going out with bad photos and just saying, I'll, I'll work on the photos later.

I would actually recommend, you know, invest in professional photos if you can. That really will get you further faster versus trying to figure it out yourself.

And if you're not a graphic designer, I would not sell in a category or if you're not strong in graphic design, I wouldn't sell in a category where that is your main value proposition. And by this I mean print on demand.

If you are not good at design, if you don't have a good eye for design and spacing, I wouldn't be trying to at least make your own designs. You could outsource that instead as an alternative though.

That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. And what about sellers who are on Etsy already?

Perhaps either their sales have plateaued or maybe they haven't even reached a level that they're happy with. What are some things people can do to improve their sales?

Yes, I would say if you're best seller last year is your best seller this year, we have a problem.

I think we've missed a lot of opportunity to serve that customer in more ways and to be, I would say, proactive and forward thinking in how we can serve them. Since Etsy is one of the last places to get trends, if you end up with a bestseller or a market leader. Right.

That doesn't mean you have, you know, the full trend life cycle in front of you. For that, you might be at the middle to end of that trend life cycle in, in the, in, I would say the consumer space overall.

So make sure that you don't just ride the wave of what worked for you last year or the year before. You will see a slump and you'll have to catch up at some point. So that's one big mistake. Always be innovating, no matter how big you get.

And also I would say if you are seeing the competition come in and take market share, don't let price be the thing you're competing with. There's so many ways to compete, especially since with Etsy you own your branding, you own your photos, your thumbnail photos, you.

There's so many more ways to compete with Etsy that price should not be the go to. So instead of just trying to do the price war and undercut your price every time they do, remember there's more ways you can compete.

That's so useful. Thank you. I'd also really be interested to know because I really don't know this when it comes to Etsy.

Can you rely on the organic traffic you get through your SEO or do you need to be doing anything additional to drive traffic to your listings?

You can, you absolutely can.

So I would say out of our sellers that do 1 to 8 million, I don't know if more than a couple are doing ads and if you're doing ads, it's typically not going to be on Etsy at that point, it'd typically be outside of Etsy. So in terms of the organic traffic, if you set up your SEO correctly, you should not need to do ads.

Now there's other methods you can do for driving traffic that are still free and this would be like social media. For example, Pinterest is great. Pinterest is fantastic for getting that built in, baked in traffic for years to come. Pinterest is great.

Facebook, Instagram even. There's places like, you know, LinkedIn, TikTok. It depends on where your customers are.

But start with Etsy and then if you're willing to drive external traffic, just pick one platform.

That's really good to know because as I mentioned, I work with sellers on Amazon and that's a marketplace where definitely in the UK at least, you have to put a little bit of ad spend to get going to sign of, get those initial sales and get started. So it's really reassuring to know that that's not the case of Etsy.

Yeah, and you know the thing with Etsy is the people who do ads, you know, it's oftentimes doing ads for the wrong reason with, with Etsy ads specifically and it's to try to get their initial sales. But, but most often what I'm seeing with Etsy ads is they have not yet established that there is product market fit.

So basically you're using ads to establish that people like the product versus using ads to pour fuel on something that's already amazing and on fire and doing well. So it's a very expensive experiment to pay to see if people even like the design or the product.

Yeah, yeah, that's really, that's really good to know. Thank you. I'm trying to think of anything else that we haven't touched on that would be really useful for people to know about Etsy.

Yeah, I would just say a lot of people think right now, is it too saturated? Is it possible to be successful now? You know, because they hear success stories from five years ago and it's a different playing field now.

It definitely is. So it's completely different than it was five years ago, but in some great ways. I would say the competitive landscape has. Has really expanded to be.

To have to provide more ways for you to compete as a seller. So more ways to compete. That's an advantage. It will give you. It will reward you for your skill, for your creativity and resourcefulness.

So I think it's. Yes, there's more people selling on Etsy, but still not many of them know how to compete well in the new landscape.

That's really useful. And what are your best tips for.

For doing it well, leveraging the new categories. Most people, I mean, a lot of people don't even realize the new categories are there and what's allowed and what's not allowed.

So really educating yourself on what you can sell and leveraging those new categories that are less saturated also, you know, really keeping an eye outside of Etsy so that you become a market leader. Once you become a market leader at the top of search with Etsy, it's.

This is different than Amazon in the sense that your position is kind of cemented. Like once you get to the top of search, you can stay there for many years just because of the revenue history behind that listing alone.

So, you know, it's. It gives you a little bit more permanence once you have a good performance, which is, you know, hopefully reassuring to people.

Yeah, I think that'll be really reassuring. Thank you. And thank you so much for everything you've shared.

I've got one final question, if that's okay before we finish, which is what would your number one piece of advice be regarding selling on Etsy?

Oh, my goodness. Okay, so my number one piece of advice is to actually give away your product for the first at least 20 sales.

I would not be coming out the gate trying to hit this 40% margin because you value your time, you have no sales, you have no business at this point. Just give it away. Break even, give it away and get those initial sales. Because we need social proof, we need reviews as quickly as possible.

Order velocity really matters, the number of orders in a short period of time. So you have to force those early sales. And I would just say, like, you know, remove the ego, remove the.

The feeling like, oh, my product's so valuable, I put so much effort into it, it doesn't matter if no one's buying it. So just give it away to get those sales and rip off the band aid. Don't be afraid to do that.

That's really useful. And then once you've got the sales and you've got the reviews, would you then put the price up to where you'd like it to be?

Absolutely. Because then you have leverage, you have momentum.

It's exactly what, you know, we even see companies like the larger companies like Amazon do, where, yes, they're not profitable, but they are taking market share and then they pull the price lever and they. They pull levers in the business. So 1% increase in the margin suddenly has a huge impact on their business.

So that's, you know, a way to become really a market leader. The. The fastest.

That's brilliant. Thank you so much and thank you for everything you've shared.

Yes, thank you for having me. I hope this is helpful to some people who are considering Etsy. And if you're on Amazon, you should be on Etsy for sure.

If you're thinking about it and you're like, is it for me? Yes, definitely. And I wouldn't necessarily say every single product, but most of your products probably could work on Etsy.

That's really good to know. Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.

Do remember that you can get the Fullback catalog and lots of free resources on my website, vickyweinberg.com Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it, and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful. Thank you again and see you next week.