Business Tips from Etsy Sellers

As a follow up to yesterday's post on marketing tips, I decided to summarize another thread in the Business Topics section of the Etsy Forums. This thread was started by Etsy's SweetBody and is called "Your BEST business tips."

SweetBody's biggest tip is to to write down and keep track of EVERYTHING: costs, income, inventory, adresses, etc...

Other participants in the thread also thought that organization is important! Here are some of the tips they offered and the number of times they were agreed upon.

Great customer service x4
Organization x3
Keep track of everything x2
Find someone who is also in business and hold each other accountable for your goals x2
Correspond with your customers
Mailing list
Send out coupons
Have a phone number on your business cards
Be prepared (for holidays)
Outline your goals
Start or join a focus group for artists
Listen to others: retailers, suppliers, buyers, etc
Know the laws that apply to your business

I definitely agree that great customer service and corresponding with your customers is necessary. That is how you get returning customers and people who will spread the word about you. Being organized is definitely helpful. Even if you consider your craft a hobby, it pays to know what your costs are vs sales, who you sell to, how much time you spend on creating things and promoting and more. I use mailing lists (you can sign-up on the left hand sidebar). It is always great to keep your friends, family and customers informed of what you have been up to and how your business is going. Don't overwhelm them with newsletters and updates; once a month or bi-monthly is sufficient. As for a phone number on your business card, I don't put mine on it. Although, you may lose some potential customers this way, I think most people this day and age have access to a computer. I'd rather not give out my private number; you never know who is going to call you.

If anyone else has great tips to offer, please leave them in the comments.

Here are some of the shops that participated in the thread: