Welcome to another Etsy Shop Featured! I’m excited to share with you guys Etsy Store: YaniaJewelryNYC. Thanks, Yania for letting me featured your shop. Take a look at her amazing journey on Etsy below!

1. Please tell us what you make and how you got into selling on Etsy?

Back in 2008, I was working as a Television Producer for a busy cable network. Around that time I started experimenting with jewelry making after a cousin taught me how to wire wrap and use jewelry pliers. Shortly after people started to buy my pieces at work, the TV personalities I worked with at the time started to ask me for pieces to wear on air, and within a very short time emails started to come to the control room about the jewelry the anchors were wearing and where they could buy it. I opened an Etsy shop within a month and started filling it little by little because I was really busy, both at work, doing a lot of pop up markets and fairs, so I only had a couple of hours each week to put into Etsy. A few years later, my office got relocated to Atlanta so I took that as a sign, declined their offer to move south and decided to give the full-time jewelry business a go. My husband asked me to teach him how to make jewelry so we could both work from home, so I did, and since then we have been inseparable in life and work.

2. A lot of people are interested in starting a business on Etsy for some money earning potential. What are some tips for people interested in making money from Etsy? 

To me, the most important thing is presentation. Clean easy to navigate store front, extremely nice photos that show the item front and center so when people search they will be able to find your things right away.

3. What have you had to overcome to make Etsy successful? Did you have to learn any new skills, hire help, etc.?

My biggest obstacle has been the writing and wording required to be found on Etsy. English is not my first language, and I do multiple pop up markets and shows each year so I directly talk to my customers most of the time, which is much easier than writing.  For this reason, I have had to slowly learn how to write to make my pieces sellable without sounding harsh or pushy in writing. I have also struggled with the amount of detail and explaining each and every listing requires. I am a very easy going shopper so I don’t need graphics and very detail explanations to “get it” and buy. I have found that in order to sell successfully, you have to do all the hard work and leave absolutely no room for the customer to figure things out on their own.

 4. Can you give us three recommended tools/services that you use for Etsy?

Marmalead, IPiccy for picture collages and edits, and an iPhone, since all of my pictures, are taken with my phone. All my photos are automatically sent to my desktop which is very convenient.

5. What is your favorite thing about your business?

I love to control and own my time. I have 2 kids, age 3 and 4, and they need to be outside, play and having this business allows me to be flexible and work on my own terms. Back in my television days, I worked endless hours, and news always seems to break close to 5 pm so I would rarely go home at a normal time. I probably work a lot more now that I have my own business, but am definitely more flexible now.

6. How are you currently driving traffic to your Etsy Shop?

Always working on my SEO, Facebook, and Pinterest. I post on Instagram daily but my main source of traffic from social media is Pinterest.

7. What is your favorite social media platform to promote your products/services and why?

Pinterest works best for my product. I can pair my pieces with color palettes and outfits and make it visually very pretty. I am not very social media oriented on a personal level, but I try my best to expose my business to my followers.

8. What is next for you? What can we expect in 2020?

I am in the process of adding a lot more pieces to the shop. I am also organizing and deciding if opening a second shop would be a good move for my business. Trying to diversify a little bit.

9. How can readers of my blog get in touch with you? ( You can share your website, blog, social media platforms, etc.)

• Etsy
• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook  
• Pinterest

Thank you, Yania for sharing your amazing story! Guys, don’t forget to share this story and leave a comment below!

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