From Crafts to Cash: How I Generate $12,000 a Month of Passive Income on Etsy
Aside from leaning into your passion projects, Etsy can be a lucrative way to earn income off of your craft. Once you grow your Etsy account and start selling online, you may be surprised that you can turn your side hustle into a full-time career. Whether you are looking to sell physical product listings or want to sell digital products instead, before you start earning it is a good idea to see how others have succeeded before you.
Read More: 6 Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money
How This Seller Made $12,000 a Month on Etsy
Christina Umerez could write a seller handbook given the success of her Etsy business. Though she didn’t start off making $12,000 a month on Etsy, Umerez quickly scaled up her business by developing more digital product ideas and creating printables. Here are some of the steps took on her pet portrait business journey.
“I had tried a few different side hustles and failed, but after a few months, I actually started making money on Etsy selling pet portraits that I drew on my iPad. That was my first time learning about Etsy and its potential to make a real income.”
Step 1: Reduce Time Spent to Increase Earning Potential
Depending on what type of product you make or want to sell, it can be a time-consuming process. If you spend hours upon hours trying to fulfill orders, this can become both a personal and financial issue that defeats the purpose of a side hustle. Umerez wanted to nip that problem in the bud with a print-on-demand service that allowed her to offload the printing and shipping of products.
“I decided then that I needed to find a more passive way to increase the order value, so I found out about print-on-demand to help me print these portraits on canvases as an upsell for my customers, as it didn’t require any extra work. Eventually, I realized the potential for a print-on-demand-only store, so I created a new Etsy store.”
Step 2: Focus on Passive Income
Whether you work with affiliate links on social media, freelance graphic design or complete surveys online, the point of passive income is to make money on the side without it consuming all of your time and energy. Umirez quickly realized this and prioritized making more passive income by using the third-party Printify for print-on-demand services.
By outsourcing her time-consuming task she created more value potential for her digital files and less worry about transaction fees, payment processing fees or shipping fees. It was a shrewd move that generated more cash.
“Printify was my means for creating passive income. I had discovered through my previous Etsy business that I did not want to spend time fulfilling and shipping each of my orders, as that would cap my earnings to my time and would stop me from my all-time dream of traveling and working.
Printify allowed me to sell physical products that I designed but removed me from the order fulfillment process. Now, when I get an order, Printify will automatically print and ship it to my customer for me. This model makes my business infinitely scalable, location-independent and passive.”
Step 3: Committing to the Craft
Umeriz grew her side business so much that it became her full-time passion and she was able to quit her other job.
“My first few months were stagnant at around $300 profit per month. During that time I was just casually working on my store. Around September, my career stress was adding up and my desire to quit was quickly building. I started spending all my free time adding designs, desperate to make this my escape from the 9-to-5.
Luckily, this all happened at the perfect time — I had started finding what niches were working for me, I was posting tons of new designs and we were at the start of Christmas sales ramping up. I quit my job knowing that I was able to bring in these sales while only working part-time and that I could only go upwards from here with more free time to continue growing and adding to my store.”
Step 4: Building the Business In a Controlled Fashion
When building an e-commerce business, you want to make sure you don’t exceed your capabilities for production and distribution too quickly. Remember, by one click of a search result people can find you on Etsy and begin ordering your products. This would be a great problem to have, if you are able to fulfill those orders.
“The biggest thing I did to maintain these sales into 2023 was only designing for evergreen niches, like hobbies, careers, etc., and not chasing trends or holidays. When chasing holiday sales and trends, once the season passes, all sales halt until the next year.
While focusing on evergreen, your listings will still get sales during Christmas as gifts, and because they can sell as gifts all year round, you’ll still maintain sales in other months — and you’ll be ranking higher on Etsy due to your Christmas sales.”
Step 5: Get Paid for the Hard Work
Nothing is more satisfying than when you start to see the fruits of your labor. Not only did Umerez grow her business from scratch, but she did so in a highly savvy and lucrative fashion.
“The increase of shoppers and new listings allowed my store to quickly gain traction, and went from months of $300 profit to $1,000 in October, $8,000 in November and $12,000 in December. That $12,000 month was my eighth month working on my store.”
How To Set Up Your Store and Make Money on Etsy
Making $12,000 a month on Etsy may sound too good to be true, but Umerez has proven it is possible. Though all Etsy income and revenue varies from store to store, this doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance to make some serious loot, especially if you put your best foot forward. Here are some tips and tricks to get you started making money on Etsy:
Form your business plan: Not only do you need to decide what to sell but also how to be competitive with other businesses and cost-effective with your production and overhead.
Set up your Etsy account: Setting up your account with the name of your shop is a pretty straightforward process and much easier than creating your own website. You just need to create a username and password through your email and follow the instructions and prompts it gives you.
Quality photos of the product: Shoppers buy with their eyes first, so make sure that the photos of your product are representative of what you are selling, but also high quality as bad photos can make an item seem less valuable.
Write enticing product listings: Make sure your title includes keywords your customers might be searching for as well as making the copy interesting to read and eye-catching.
Increase your social media presence: Share your Etsy shop posts and products consistently across all of your social media channels and platforms helps build your brand awareness. Posts can include your five-star reviews on Etsy, milestones you’ve reached or any upcoming coupons, promotions or sales events.
Customer service is paramount: To remain competitive and set yourself apart quality and personable customer service goes a long way. Make sure to always deliver on your promises and promptly try to fix any issues that should arise.
Grow your Etsy business and income: Always be working towards goals you’ve set for yourself and your store. Essentially you get as much out of your business as you put into it.
Final Take To GO
Like Umerez, you too can hopefully one day make enough money from your e-commerce business to leave your regular full-time job and focus solely on your passion project. To do so, her advice is simple.
“Do not wait to get started. Starting early will allow you to learn how to design, write SEO and find your niches so your storefront will be ready when Q4 hits. Right now is the absolute best time to get started, as the Christmas sales can skyrocket your store forward and set you up for the next year.”
FAQ
Can you actually make money on Etsy?
Yes, though how much you make on Etsy will greatly vary depending on your product and the time you put into your store you can make money on Etsy. Here are some tips to get started:
Form your business plan
Set up your Etsy account
Product photography
Write eye-catching product listings
Enhance your social media presence
Provide excellent customer service
Grow your Etsy business
How much does the average Etsy seller make?
Though income will vary widely from seller to seller, the average Etsy seller is said to make between $43,000 to $46,000 a year.
What sells best on Etsy?
Here are some items that sell well on Etsy:
Jewelry and accessories
Vintage clothing or items
Customized wedding gifts
Paper and party supplies.
Home decor
Art and collectibles
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: From Crafts to Cash: How I Generate $12,000 a Month of Passive Income on Etsy
