Latest / The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast / 37. The Exact Steps I’d Follow to Start an Etsy Print on Demand Shop Today from Scratch

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37. The Exact Steps I’d Follow to Start an Etsy Print on Demand Shop Today from Scratch · The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there, and welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller, the podcast where busy women build, grow, and profit on Etsy.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Melissa Carroll, a full-time teacher, a busy mom, and an Etsy seller who's built two successful Etsy shops in the small moments of everyday life.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here you'll find simple strategies, real behind-the-scenes insight, and the clarity you need to stop second-guessing and start moving forward one intentional step at a time.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get to it.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, welcome back.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Today I want to share with you what I would do if I were starting an Etsy print-on-demand shop completely from scratch today.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean literally from scratch.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So no shop, no product chosen, no designs, and certainly no listings live yet.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: So where would I start?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: What would I focus on?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe most importantly, how would I go about it step by step?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think that is where a lot of people get stuck.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's not always that you don't know what needs to get done, it's that you have 20 different things that you think you need to do and you don't know where to start or what takes priority.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you start doing all the things.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: You try to research products and learn SEO and create designs and figure out personalization and social media and establish your branding and a ton more all at the same time.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So nothing gets the attention it deserves and nothing actually gets finished.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's like partially done.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think sometimes we convince ourselves that doing all the things at the same time will get us to the finish line faster.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: But in reality, it creates overwhelm and you never get the boost that comes from checking something off the list because nothing is fully done.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe it actually ends up slowing us down.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Before long, opening an Etsy shop feels like a massive undertaking when in reality it's just a series of small steps, and that's how you need to tackle it.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Really, that's the best way to tackle, I think, any large project, right?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: One piece at a time in a logical order that builds progress.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So today I want to walk you through the exact order I would follow if I were starting over.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be an overview because every one of these steps could probably be its own complete episode, and maybe some of them eventually will.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: But by the end, I want you to have a clear path from having no shop at all to having an open, optimized Etsy shop with your first small collection of products listed.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get into it.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing I would do is open the Etsy shop.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I would do this before anything else.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: You may know that Etsy requires a listing to even open your shop, but that does not mean you need to have your real product completely figured out first.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can create a temporary listing to move through the setup process, get the shop open, and then deactivate that listing while you finish getting everything ready.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you are at that point where you are still researching products, saving ideas, and trying to figure everything out before you begin, I know that that might sound backward getting the shop open first.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people feel like they need to have everything figured out before they open.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I think opening the shop first helps in a few really important ways.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: First, it creates commitment.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Before the shop is open, Etsy is still something you are thinking about doing.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: But once you open the shop, something changes.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: You now have an Etsy shop.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: It may not be finished and it may not be ready for buyers yet, but it exists and it is ready for you to stock it up.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that matters because you begin making decisions differently.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: You are no longer choosing a product or creating designs for a business you might open someday.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: You are choosing the first product and creating dyes for the shop you have started.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Opening the shop also gives you an immediate win.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Starting an Etsy business can feel overwhelming because there are so many smaller tasks involved.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: But opening the shop is one thing you can complete and check off the list in a short amount of time.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: You have now made real progress in your business, and progress creates momentum.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Once the shop is open, which you can usually do fairly quickly, I would take a little time to optimize the basic parts.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So adding a profile picture and a shop banner, writing your about section, setting up a shop announcement, maybe a message to the buyers, and setting up all of your different policies, your return policy, your cancellation policies, things like that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I would want the shop to feel complete and trustworthy, but I would not turn this into a month-long branding project.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: The banner does not need to be perfect.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: The about section does not need to be an autobiography.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I would make each part clear, accurate, and good enough to move forward.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And as you move through this step, repeat these two mantras.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, as you move through the whole process, done is better than perfect, and it can always be changed later.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing is carved in stone.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can make changes at any point, whether it be to your shop name or one of the designs that you've created, a title you've chosen.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Everything can be changed later if you decide you want to.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now once I had my shop open and I took some time to make sure it was optimized, I would move on to choosing my product and my print provider.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I would start with just one product.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: I would make sure I only chose one product to focus on, and I would have to plan to commit to it for 200 listings.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I really think that first product needs the extra time because you're not only learning the product, you're also learning Etsy.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're building listing systems for the first time and you're figuring out what buyers are going to respond to.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's all going to be new.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: After that, if I wanted to add a new product, I wouldn't necessarily need to get to 200, but I would probably still want to give it at least 100 listings before moving on again.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: That focus is really important when you are trying to get your shop up and running quickly.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: It also makes creating and listing new products much faster because you are not learning a brand new product and building a brand new listing system every single time.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: To choose that product, I would run a few different possibilities through the five question filter that I shared with you guys before.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So does the product actually excite me?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Can I make a healthy profit from it?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Is there proof that people are searching for it and buying it on Etsy?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Is it giftable and does it lend itself to simple text-based designs?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now I went much deeper into all five of those questions in episode three, and I also created a free guide that walks you through the research and helps you compare some of the most popular print providers.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll make sure I link both of those, the episode and that free guide in the show notes.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, once I had narrowed it down to one product, I would compare the print providers that offered that specific item and choose the one that made the most sense for me.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing I would do is build the reusable pieces.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: The pieces that I'm going to need every time I list for that particular product.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: You've heard me mention listing systems, that's what this is.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: I refer to all of these pieces, all of these reusable listing assets together as the listing system.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: But before I started creating those pieces, I would need to do some quick and dirty research, not spend a lot of time, okay?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: I would go on Etsy, search the product I chose, and look at the best sellers.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: At this point, I am not really focusing on the designs or trying to figure out what I'm going to create yet.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I am looking at how successful sellers are presenting and selling the product itself.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I would start with the main thumbnails.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Pay attention to how close the product is in the frame, whether sellers are using lifestyle or flat lay mock-ups, the types of backgrounds and settings that I see over and over again.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: How clearly you can see the product and design, and whether they're adding any text to that first image.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Then I would click into the listings and look through the rest of the images.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: What kinds of mock-ups are they using there?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: What information are they giving in the other images?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: What product details do they explain?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: How are they handling things like sizing, personalization, processing, and shipping?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: I would also pay attention to pricing, the customization options being offered, the information that keeps showing up in listing descriptions, and some of the words and phrases sellers are using to describe the product.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to copy anyone's listing, but you are looking for patterns so that you can make informed decisions when you build your own.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then I would start creating the listing system.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Creating this system is another reason I encourage starting with just one product.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Building each piece from scratch takes time, especially the first time you do it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: But once the system is complete, you can reuse it every time you create a new listing for that product.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the listing system includes the correctly sized design file and the different product variations you plan to offer.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It includes your product mock-ups.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: It includes the informational listing images that explain things like product details, sizing, personalization, FAQs, and anything else your buyer needs to know.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I would also create the reusable parts of the listing description itself, set up the shipping and processing profiles, decide what personalization or customization options I wanted to offer, and work out my pricing.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Both the full price, pricing, and the lowest price I'd be comfortable selling it for when I run a sale or discount.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, your first listing system is going to take some time to build.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: But once it's done, the listing process becomes so easy because you now have everything you need set up, organized, and ready to use.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: From that point on, you are only changing the pieces that are unique to each new design and reusing everything else.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: It literally becomes design and list, design and list over and over again.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before we move into the next steps, everything I've talked about so far in this episode is exactly what my complete Etsy shop setup kit was designed to help you do.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: It is meant to get you 100% ready to list in an afternoon.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: It gives you step-by-step instructions, checklists, copy and paste policies, plug and play Canva templates for your shop banner and profile image, listing description templates, three sets of informational listing images, and the tools you need to open and optimize your shop.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Choose your first product and print provider and build your listing system.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: These are all things you can absolutely figure out on your own.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the kit organizes the entire process and gives you the pieces you need so you can get through it in far less time.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: It will literally save you hours and get you to the point where you are ready to create and list products much faster.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put the link in the show notes in case you want to check it out.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Once the listing system is built, I would move on to creating my first actual product.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I would start paying closer attention to the designs that are selling for the product I chose.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I would look at who they are being created for, the occasions they are tied to, the types of messages that keep showing up, and the overall styles and trends that I'm seeing.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I would also look for opportunities.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a recipient that seems underserved, or maybe I keep seeing the same general idea, but I know I can make it more specific or take it in a new direction.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a popular message that I can approach in a way that feels more personal or more meaningful or more fun.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: I would also use a keyword research tool here at this time, something like Everbee or E-Rank to see what people are actually searching for.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'd look at the search terms, connect it to the recipient, occasion, and type of gift I was considering, and pay attention to which phrases seem to have real search demand and less competition.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not looking for one magical keyword that's going to make the listing sell here.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: I am using the data to help me understand how buyers are searching and to make sure I'm creating something that people are actually looking for.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: The goal, again, here is not to copy what is already selling.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's important I say that just changing the font or the layout or the graphic is still copying.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to do that.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: We just want to understand what buyers are responding to and then use that information to create something that fits the market but is still our own.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: So then I would use everything I learned from that research to start creating.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I would use what I call a message first approach.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Before I worry about fonts, graphics, trends, or making the design look pretty.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or my husband would love this, or this is exactly what I've been looking for.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: I really believe this message first approach and the emotional connection it creates is a big reason my conversion rate is consistently over 7%, which is well above the Etsy average.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ideally, I would create one strong design first, but I also know how that goes.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Once you start researching and the ideas start coming, you may have a really hard time stopping at one.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: You might end up creating three designs or five designs or ten designs while you're in that creative mode.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's completely fine.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to tell you to stop creating just because the plan says create your first product.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you have good ideas and you're excited about them, create them.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I also don't want you to stay in creation mode forever.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is another really easy place to get stuck because creating feels productive.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can keep making design after design and tell yourself you're working on your shop while nothing is actually available for someone to buy.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: At some point, you have to rip off the band-aid and list something.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: It probably will not feel perfect.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: You may still have things you want to tweak or five more designs you want to make, and that's okay.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: But you got to pick a stopping point and then move on.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you finish this step with one design or ten, the next step is going to be to get them listed.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: We want to now get products on the shelves of our shop.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is where the listing system you built earlier will pay you back because you are not creating the entire listing from scratch.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: You already have all those reusable pieces ready to go.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: So now the job is to take the design you created, plug it into that system, and build the actual listing.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I would make sure the main image clearly shows the product and design.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Use the rest of the images to show it in different ways and to answer the buyer's questions.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Finish the titles and tags using the keywords that you researched and add the product details and personalization information and then publish it.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I would not overthink this part.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Your first listing does not need to be perfect.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it won't be perfect.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: That is the nature of starting anything new.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: It is to be expected and you have to be okay with it.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna learn things as you do them, and you can always make changes as you see what's working and what's not.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: The important thing is that the product is now available for someone to actually find and buy and for data to start being collected.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And if you created five designs in that last step instead of one, list all five.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: You already did the work, get them up there.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: The more you repeat the process, the faster it gets.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, technically, if you have followed those first five steps, you have done it.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: You have an open optimized Etsy shop and you have products live and available for people to buy.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to give you one more step because this is what I would do next.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: I would take one of the designs I just created and build a small collection around it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to emphasize small here because you're still early.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to take one idea and immediately make 20 or 30 versions of it before you have any idea whether the buyers are interested.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say I created a personalized journal that says notes for next season, and it's meant for a coach, and you have a personalization option at the bottom where you can put like Coach Mike or you can put Coach Mike plus the name of the team.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's one pretty simple idea geared towards general coaches.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can then take that and turn it into a small collection by creating a few sports specific versions.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe the only change you're gonna make here is to add a graphic.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say you wanted to make a soccer coach one.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: You would add a soccer graphic, then create a basketball version and a baseball version and a volleyball version, all by just adding that graphic.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you would then have several listings built around that same core idea, but each one is speaking to a more specific buyer.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And because the basic design is already done, these additional versions should be really quick to create.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, you're really just adding a graphic.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then you're gonna run each one through the listing system, making sure your titles and tags now target that specific type of coach.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's tons of coaches out there, right?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'd pick five-ish.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to test tons and tons of things.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Just enough to test the idea without spending a ton of time building out a huge collection around something that has not proven itself yet.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: But then you got to pay attention to what happens.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you notice a particular coach one seems to be taking off, first pay attention to the season.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: That could be why that's happening.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you know you need to create other versions of soccer coach things.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: If it is because it's in season, well, maybe you need to prepare for some other season coming up.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So now maybe you do want to add more coaches.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now you want to add the swimming coach and the golf coach and the field hockey coach.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: That is really the collection building methods.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Start with one strong idea, create a small group of related listings, and then let the results tell you which ideas deserve to become bigger collections.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would just keep repeating that process.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Create, list, build a small collection, and pay attention to what gets traction.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: That is how I would start building toward those 200 listings without feeling like I needed 200 completely different ideas and more importantly, without it taking forever to get there.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if I were starting an Etsy print-on-demand shop from scratch today, that's the order I would follow.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I would open and optimize the shop.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: I would choose one product and my print provider.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: I would build the listing system, create the products, get them listed, and then start building small collections around the ideas to grow faster.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: You do not need to figure out your entire business before you begin.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You just need to keep moving through the next step.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want help getting through those first three steps much faster, my complete Etsy Shop setup kit was created for exactly that.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: It'll walk you through the setup and give you the templates, checklist, and tools you need to get ready to list in an afternoon.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening, and I will see you next time.