Gwen and I were inspired by Ep. 31 of FIRE Drill with Laura of I Heart Planners and decided to start our own Etsy printable businesses. We invited listeners to join us in a small mastermind as we built our businesses together and it’s been awesome.
What the group has accomplished in 6 weeks is really impressive!
I’m writing this post in week 5 as we turn the corner into our last week. It’s crazy thinking how we all started from zero with our printables, and most members were completely new to Etsy. (Three of us had Etsy shops previously but didn’t sell printables).
I’ll share all of our shops below so you can see what we’ve been up to.
One thing you’ll notice is that everyone brought their own flavor into their shop. From Sanibel Island bird watching guides to Harry Potter quiet book designs, we have quite a spread here.
1) OrganizeDigitize by Katherine
About Organize Digitize: Hi! I’m Katherine, a lover of efficiency, design and coffee. I hope my printables can take some of the stress away by giving you beautifully designed and easy to follow sheets to help you streamline your life!
2) SheSellsSanibel by Lori
About SheSellsSanibel: My husband and I have had a photography business on Sanibel Island for 20 years. (www.NickAdamsPhotography.com). This Etsy shop is my small business to showcase the beauty and uniqueness of Sanibel that I luckily get to experience every day.
3) ModernPrintableShop by Kevin
About ModernPrintableShop: We are the proud parents of two adorable boys who keep us on our toes. Our goal is to share with you printables and tools that have helped us have daily success. This includes our debt thermometer that helped keep us motivated to pay off $107K in 33 months.
4) NotedTravelers by Jennifer
About NotedTravelers: A few years ago, while obsessively researching packing lists for trips to Ireland, I heard about Traveler’s Notebooks. There were pictures of lovely watercolor paintings and descriptions of overseas adventures. Well, I thought, I’ll be traveling soon and I occasionally write notes. This must be the perfect thing for me, nevermind that all of my previous attempts at journaling had been non-starters.
5) BossLadyPrintables by Lindsay
About BossLadyPrintables: I’ve been a project and program manager for over 10 years now, with a diverse background working in multiple Fortune 500 companies. I became interested in creating career-focused printables after searching Etsy for specific types of files and coming up empty. I was looking for digital downloads that I felt were professional enough for a formal office setting and that I could use confidently, with clean and modern design elements.
6) Spreadsheetmylife by Jeremy
About Spreadsheetmylife: Making the world a better place one spreadsheet at a time!
Numbers nerd. Guilty. I have always completely geeked out when working in Excel and creating spreadsheets that provide the information I need quickly and easily. I hate wasting my time in activities that do not add value and focus my efforts on being efficient as possible. My desire is to help others do the same! The files I create are tailored to the spreadsheet novice and do all the calculating for you. They are also always formatting to print out just right in case you need a hard copy.
7) PatternsbyGwen by Gwen 😉
About PatternsbyGwen: Hi my name is Gwen. I’m a 27 year old who grew up loving all crafts. I started doing stained glass at age 24 when I moved to a big city and took an intro to stained glass class at the local art center. I was hooked! I have a number of other hobbies that I mean to tie in with stained glass. It captures my imagination like no other medium!
8) TheSwagElephant by J
About TheSwagElephant: I started The Swag Elephant as I was planning my best friend’s bachelorette party. We were going to Las Vegas and I was super inspired by “the Hangover” and wanted to create some sort of fun accessory for the bachelorette party attendees. I decided to create gold foil temporary tattoos that say “bride tribe” and “wolf pack” and they came out great! They stayed on in the pool and the ladies loved them, especially the bride.
9) FeltingNerdyandMore by Tamzon
About FeltingNerdyandMore: Hello! My name is Tamzon (…it rhymes with Samson). 😉 I’m a crazy stay-at-home Momma to 4 precocious little hellions (the oldest is currently 5). I enjoy spending my sporadic “Me Time” sketching and crafting, and especially love it when my crafts can serve a practical purpose…like keeping my children quietly occupied…giving me more Me Time…to make more practical crafts…to keep them occupied. It’s a beautiful cycle. After spending more than 100 hours designing and creating felt quiet/busy books for mine and others toddlers, I decided to draft step-by-step tutorials so others could learn to make them too! I hope you find something here in my shop that inspires you!
10) AdorablyGrown by Dora
About AdorablyGrown: Hi there! My name is Dora. I am an avid gardener, living on a small organic farm in the Northwest Hills of Connecticut. After a career-related move to the northeast, I fell in love with a hay farmer and moved to the country! Transitioning from a tiny urban garden to a small farm truly put my gardening skills to the test. But, we continue to grow and improve each year. Many of the items in the shop are a direct result of the tools and resources we created to manage our garden and other chores around the farm.
11) TheAspiringGiraffe by Laura
12) Karamoontreasures by Lori
About Karamoontreasures: Karamoon Treasures offers unique home goods and challenging puzzle books. We want you to be delighted with your purchase. We curate our selection of specialized ceramic coffee mugs, apparel and instantly downloadable digital puzzle books that are perfect for gift-giving, holidays, special occasions, and everyday enjoyment.
13) SomertimeStudio by Somer
About SometimeStudio: Hi!! I’m Somer. A few things about me: I’m a total free spirit yet slowly turning into a homebody, I love calligraphy and pretty florals, I’m a Christian and a Mama of 3, and I love to be creative and find frugal ways to change the look of a room often. In my shop you will find products to make that a little easier; instant gratification, affordable wall art and designs to make your everyday life a little happier.
14) Bivydesigns by Jacqueline
How awesome are these shops?
If anything you see above is really cool or you think someone you know would like it, please help your fellow FI community members out and SHARE!
Kevin in our group has also written a blog post with his findings if you want to pick up some tips on launching your own Etsy printables business.
This mastermind has been so motivating & fun!
It’s been an absolute blast getting to know the other mastermind group members. We have podcast listeners in the group from all over the U.S., at different stages in their financial independence journey and utilizing different strategies to get there.
The best part of the mastermind, besides getting to know everyone, is that we all push each other to improve our shops and listings each week. We also have a Facebook group where we share relevant podcast episodes, blog posts, and other resources and tips as we find them.
It’s kind of like crowdsourcing Etsy research and then providing the most valuable tips to each other in bullet points so we get more information faster. We need that speed since we all have dedicated just 6 weeks to the mastermind!
I feel confident that I can continue to grow my shop after the mastermind ends and I’m so proud of the awesome work this group has done!
- If you want to join our next mastermind, go to https://firedrillpodcast.com/mastermind to learn more!
Is it easier selling digital downloads on Etsy versus physical products?
Short answer – Yes!
Etsy makes selling stuff really easy and the packaging, printing, and shipping process wasn’t too bad. It was more the constant checking of my phone to see if I had new orders come in that I had to act on.
It’s only been 5 weeks since we kicked off the mastermind and printable sales are SO.MUCH.EASIER.
I do the work up front to make the listing and then I do nothing after the order. I have had only one person message me related to an order and it was just to ask if my printables were editable (they weren’t but I recently made editable printables to meet that need).
I will definitely be expanding my printables line in the coming weeks.
Thanks for checking out our shops and please leave comments below! I’d be happy to answer any questions based on what we’ve learned so far. PS – If this post inspires you to start your own Etsy shop, use my link for 40 free listings. PPS – We may run another mastermind so join the email list below if you want to be notified about it.
Related Post: 10 More Etsy Shops from our Summer Mastermind
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All the shops look great and it is crazy to know it was done is such a short time. Thanks so much for your and Gwen’s leadership these last 6 weeks and I can’t wait to see how each and every shop grows. I know I have really enjoyed it and gained new skills along the way. Thanks also for sharing my blog post too! Thanks again!
You’re welcome, Kevin!! Thank you for all the effort you put in and the feedback you provided to all of us!
So on Etsy, we can sell both digital and offline stuff? Worldwide?
Also, how do you get eyeballs on your Etsy store when there’s other competitive stores like it? How do you stand out? What’s the key
Thanks for your answers in advance! 🙂
One tip we learned was to match the title of your listing exactly with the keywords for that listing. It seems to be working for many of us!
I’m curious though: why is that some of these sell so well? I mean most of these printables you can get online for free anyways.
I personally have never bought a printable online but apparently it’s a huge thing. I have friends and family who buy them regularly. I guess the appeal is that you don’t have to wait for a physical product and it’s much cheaper.
The shops look great! Something I may need to look into further! My friend had a bachelorette party last weekend and her sister bought everyone bride tribe tattoos and there was a scavenger hunt. Based on your post, I think she she bought them from you, small world! Long time blog reader and podcast listener and I just love you and Gwen. Thanks for being awesome!
These are great! I also started my own printables shop just a few months ago. Check it out! https://www.etsy.com/shop/MakeJoyPrintables
Love this post! What program do you use J to create your printables?
Canva, Photoshop and PicMonkey! I rotate. Enter your email address for the full list of fonts, graphics and software I use.