- I’m an affiliate for all of the above, so if you buy something, I may get a commission. Thanks!
Doug: Hey, what’s going on? Welcome to the Doug Show. My name’s Doug Cunnington, and today we’re gonna talk about print on demand over on Etsy. And I have my friend Emily Odio Sutton, back on the show. We’re gonna get an update. It’s been a few months, so Emily, how’s it going today? I.
Emily: It is good. It’s good. How are you doing?
Doug: Doing awesome. And we were just catching up and I thought, ah, you know what? We should hit record and go ahead and get started or else we’re gonna talk for 45 minutes. So it’s good to have you back on the show. And when you were on last time, I think you had like one more day of work left or something.
Very close. So how’s life been over the last few months?
Emily: Yes. That was right at that time as everything was shifting and I was going full-time, self-employed, mompreneur, all the things, and it was, it’s been great. Honestly, it’s been better than I could have ever. I. Dreamed of expected. It was something that I had thought about and envisioned for a couple years now, but until you’re actually there and you’re like, oh wow, I don’t have to clock in this morning.
I don’t have to report to a meeting it, it has been kind of wild to adjust, and I’m actually surprised. I’ve been telling people I’m surprised by how quickly I adjusted to this lifestyle. And it took about a month, I would say. All of I, I went full-time, self-employed, the end of January, I think February into March.
I was having a mild panic every other day, like, what did I do? Is this the right thing? And then after some time that kind of wore off, which was great. And now I feel like I’ve fully settled in and I’m feeling really, really great about it. There are definitely. There are people from my previous job, I think I had mentioned I loved my job, actually, which made it really hard.
So I still talk to them. I still, I had coffee, a coffee chat on Zoom with one of my friends this morning from my previous job, and I think you realize you can keep some of those connections and keep going. The funny thing is, you know, I tell people all the time, I still work just as much, but it’s great because I’m really just doing it on my own time and I can do it around my kids.
So overall, it’s been. An awesome adjustment and I’m just so glad that we ended up taking that leap.
Doug: Yeah, month to decompress is pretty quick. I talked to a lot of people that have jobs that they, they don’t enjoy. So in fact, just recently I chatted with a friend who’s I. He’s been early retired for about four to five years, and it has only been in the last year after much therapy that he’s not having like stress dreams.
Emily: Yeah.
Doug: So that kept going along for a little while, so Very cool. Congratulations, obviously a big step. Thank you. When you’re able to. Yeah, go full time on this stuff. Did you have a big adjustment managing your time? Uh, just in general, after, you know, you kind of had like a compressed amount of time that you were able to do you know, all the work that you were doing on your online business.
Now it’s like kind of wide open and sometimes that freaks people out because now they don’t have the same structure or constraints. It’s weird how constraints could force you to be a little bit more efficient. So how, how’s that going?
Emily: I almost feel like I went the opposite direction. It was almost overcompensating like, okay, now I have to do this all day.
And it’s almost been more of an adjustment to be able to pull back some. So, you know, my daughter gets off the bus at three o’clock and I was so used to working from three to five and kind of keeping her entertained at the same time. And now it’s like, oh no, my goal was to be done with work at three o’clock and be able to.
Take her to her appointments, take her to swim, do all the things. And so it’s almost been more of an adjustment for me to stop working. And I think what helped me for so long while I had a full-time job and while I was doing this was. Really having great time management. I’m a little bit type A, a little bit.
I am first born daughter syndrome. Like I’m very much, you know, do all the things, do it on time, do it early. And so I’ve really almost had to work on the opposite, which is, you know, I don’t have to work at night now. Before I had to work in the evenings because I had a job and now my husband’s like. You don’t have to do that, and so I try to create to-do list, and once that to-do list is done for the day, I can be done.
And that’s almost been harder than anything else. So I haven’t had as much of a challenge with staying on top of things or being productive. It’s really been prog, reprogramming my brain to allow for less hours. And it’s been great. Like my husband and I are back to watching our shows in the evening and you know, being able to relax and just not look at.
Anything work related, not look at my phone. And so it’s been, that’s probably honestly been the biggest adjustment is just rewiring how my brain operates in that way.
Doug: Again, it sounds like you’ve identified things and adjusted pretty quickly part of that type A and like Yes. You’re taking the feedback and adjusting quickly, so that’s great.
Okay. Let’s shift into business, so, mm-hmm. You have a couple shops of your own and I’m curious like how business has been and more sales, less sales over the last few months. Here I.
Emily: Yes, so April and May are normally the second highest sales period of the year, outside of November and December. So things in April and may have been going really well.
Things transparently are a little bit down from last year, but I think there’s a lot of different factors for that, just. Everywhere for that reason. But I expected that. And so I’ve been trying to work on some things to kind of offset that. So I’ve been looking and doing a ton of research on different products.
So I’ve launched a few different types of products in my shop that are going well. Looking at different niches, I should say, like occasions, things like that where people are going to spend money no matter what. So think of like weddings, kids’, birthday parties, things like that, where. Families, people, parents are going to be spending money.
So I’m trying to think strategically about those things. Regardless of kind of how the economy is or what people are spending money on, trying to find ways to have products that serve those audiences. But sales have been, they’ve been going well, they tend to follow a very similar pattern. January is typically low after the holidays, February, maybe a little bit higher than that.
You have Valentine’s Day, things like that. And then it slowly goes up through May. Summer tends to slow down, and then it goes back up in the fall to a peak. So now that I’ve done it for two years, I have those expectations that I know how to plan for that. And this year I have the. At the time and the capacity to find products and ideas that can kind of offset some of that too, or help raise those numbers some.
Doug: Got it. And it sounds like this is mostly around the giftable side of the Yes. Business. Okay. And can you describe the giftable idea? Yeah. Versus you know, other products that people might have on Etsy.
Emily: Sure, so many when, when thinking about print on demand and for anyone who maybe didn’t hear a first episode or hasn’t talked, learned about print on demand before, it’s basically a fulfillment method.
So you create a design and you put it on a product like a mug, a t-shirt, a candle, something like that. And a print partner does all the fulfilling of that order once someone purchases it on Etsy. So. When thinking about giftable, a lot of times a lot of what you’ll hear in the print on demand or POD space is about apparel.
You’ll hear a lot about t-shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, things like that. And when I first started, I was doing the same thing, but then quickly realized there was a lot of power in selling gifts on Etsy. And so it’s a lot of times you can sell kind of the same product, but it’s a, the way you position it.
So positioning your products as something that can be gifted to someone else. And what’s great about this giftable concept is there’s less returns because with apparel you have a lot of sizing issues. People don’t like how it feels, or the fit is too small, too big. And so with gifts, if you’re thinking tote bags or candles or ornaments, you know, you don’t have those same.
Sizing issues. And then the other thing is you’re more targeting someone. A customer who’s coming on Etsy looking for something for someone else, and so you’re able to just appeal to a lot of different customers in that way and provide a gift opportunity for them that they can’t find at Target or Walmart or anywhere down the street.
So that’s kind of the, the giftable idea. And the other big thing is Etsy is pushing the platform as being a go-to for GIF products. If you see any of their recent commercials. All of the taglines are about being unique gifts for the people you love, or meaningful gifts for the special person in your life.
And so that is really playing into what Etsy is pushing the platform as. So by using keywords or positioning your product to be giftable or a gift, you’re really helping Etsy and pushing that idea. And so that’s. It’s taken me time. You know, I’ve been doing this for a little over two years, but. When I first started and started getting some reviews on some of those products, like candles or ornaments, like, oh, this person loved this as a gift.
It took some time, but that light bulb eventually went off. You know, oh, this is a whole strategy that I can use to position these things as gifts for other people. And so I think that’s the power of approaching it from that way. Doesn’t mean there’s not opportunity in t-shirts. There’s so much opportunity in t-shirts, but I think for new sellers, this is an avenue that can help you stand out.
I. Because there’s not as many people going this route. When you watch anything print on demand on YouTube, it typically starts out with selling a t-shirt. So this is kind of just a unique way to, to sell something that’s a little bit different, but also positioning it in a way that aligns with what Etsy is trying to be as a, as a whole platform.
Doug: And I, I’m in the course and we’ll link up so people could check out your course. I’m a horrible student now that I’ve been outta school for a while, so I, I literally, I did the t-shirt, you know, so I have my shop set up super fast. You walk through everything step by step. So I literally did it in like under two hours.
I already had a design and. Was able to, you know, get everything set up really quickly and just caveat, like, the reason why I set up a t-shirt is like, people were like, Hey, I wanna buy that t-shirt. So like, that’s, that’s why I did a audience out there. I’m not a complete mor. Um, but it, it is interesting on the, on the gift side of the, of, of the house.
So like how do you, do you literally just put it like gift in the title or description or how do you literally position it as a gift? Yes. Versus like something for myself.
Emily: Yes, absolutely. So part of it Yes, is using, and Etsy tells you they want you to use the word gift in your title, in your keywords, in your listing.
So that for sure is a given. What we teach in the course is a lot about how to. Create and position your product in that way. So it’s thinking about who might be receiving this product. So let’s say we’re thinking about, it’s the end of the school year, getting a lot of orders for end of the year teacher presence, right?
So if you’re selling an ornament for a teacher, which ornaments, FYI sell year round. And you will see crazy sales numbers this time of the year for things like teacher ornaments. So. If you’re thinking about an ornament for a teacher, you can, in your keywords and in your description in all of that, in your listing.
It could be an end of the year teacher gift, it could be a holiday present for teachers. You can do a, it could be a coworker gift. A lot of times teachers will give each other, give gifts to each other at the end of the year for their coworkers or for the holidays. It could be gifts from the PTA. So you’re thinking about.
Who might be receiving this gift, which in this case would be teachers or coworkers, but then also what might they be receiving it for? So in that case, it would be a holiday end of the year, teacher appreciation, coworker appreciation, all of that. And then what is the product itself, which is, you know, an ornament.
So I think you’re kind of thinking about it from all angles, like who’s giving it, who’s receiving it, what are they receiving it for? And you’re really just. Typing those into your title and in your description, and you’re just kind of tackling all those different avenues in that one listing. And it can sound a little bit complicated, but when I break it down for students, it’s what are people typing in the search bar?
So if you were to go to Etsy and you were going to buy a teacher gift for your child’s teacher, you know, what would you type in? Oh, teacher, thank you. Gift. Great. Okay. That’s a good one. Teacher appreciation. You know, so it’s just thinking about what would people naturally be searching for, and then that’s really the big part about how you position it and you put those words in your listing and we walk through all of that in the course also in detail, but.
That’s how you create your title. That’s how you write some description and your keywords in your description, your tags. And also, you know, with your design of course as well, you wanna make sure that it makes sense for that, that gift. But really that’s kind of how you can help position that product in a way that people will find it
Doug: super interesting.
And I think I had a little. Flashback of one of my early courses, and you had a super similar exercise, which it’s not like rocket science, but you described it a little bit here. Essentially it’s like you have a profession or some avatar that you’re thinking of these different occasions and then like one other element in there.
So you have, yeah, you could have these crazy combinations and then you could just think of like. Perhaps more professions nurses, doctors, plumbers electrician, whatever you mix it in. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense, right? You’re electrician right. Or a plumber appreciation gift. It doesn’t make sense, but I’m sure they would super, they’d be appreciative of yes, of you giving them that mug, but it’s, it’s a great way to just like expand this out.
And you, you may think, ah, I got like two ideas. But if you go through the exercises and you think about it and step away and sleep on it and come back in a week, all of a sudden you’re gonna have more ideas than you’re gonna be able to create. Or it’ll take you months to like go through and design these.
Yeah. And like get everything rolling. So. Super cool. Do you have anything else to expand on that? No question. But it’s just like once you get going, like you have too many ideas right?
Emily: Yes. And that often can be the hard part. It’s, it’s at the beginning I see a lot of people that are like, I just don’t even know what to sell.
And so we go through those exercises, you know, what do you have familiarity with? Like, what’s your background and or what are you an expert in? And then I’ll often hear, well, I’m not an expert in anything. And I’m like, okay, well you def. Are like, what? Have you done a hobby before? Have you played a sport?
Have you had a job? Have you been a mom? Have you been a daughter? Have you been a cousin? You know, like there’s so many avenues there. And that’s one of my favorite parts of the course is this micro, we call it the micro nicheing workbook. So it is, it’s like a, it’s a Google spreadsheet. And we literally walk you through how to do this.
And I think when students go through that, they do see how many ideas there are, and then it also becomes overwhelming at that point. So a lot of what we do is work on focus. So let’s start with one. Let’s start with one idea, one customer that you have in mind and one product. And let’s get really good at.
Listing that product, designing for that product and listing for that customer. And then from there, let’s expand that out to a different customer. And then from there, you know, it keeps going. And I think once I see people get into that rhythm and have that focus and kind of get over that, that hurdle at the beginning, they really start to see that that progress happening, which is super exciting.
Doug: So. In our other interview, which we’ll link to you described the print deify, right? So Print Deify Yes. Is a platform that hooks people that are trying to get print on demand products made to vendors across the country, right? So there’s a lot of different suppliers. It’s not just one. And you’re able to, to work with these.
Different suppliers. It integrates really well into Etsy. Did I describe that roughly accurate? Yes. Okay. Yes. So one thing that I ran into, and I’m not quite sure, is how to solve this. So, again, I’m on the T-shirt side, but this is, applies across the board is quality. So I have gotten, you know, t-shirts in the past where it just.
You know, it’s rough if maybe if you wash it a thousand times it’s gonna be okay. And then others where they’re so, they’re so soft and thin, you can’t dry them like you have to really right. Treat them delicately. So there’s some nice goldilock zone in there. How do you figure out like the right quality level?
Do you have to test them out? I kind of looked at the pricing and I assume, well, that’s a pretty good judge. If the pricing is not the cheapest and not the most expensive, it’s probably pretty good. I picked a hoodie for another one and I was like, you know what? I want the hoodie to be nice. So this is gonna be an expensive one.
I know it’s a decent brand, so I assume because of the pricing it should be a, you know, if it’s a $60 sweatshirt, it’s probably decent. So how do you determine quality across the board?
Emily: So one I would say freeway that I did this at the beginning, ’cause I was selling apparel early on, is I watched a lot of YouTube videos and there are some great print on demand creators out there who do they get samples and they do these reviews on YouTube.
And so I watched a lot of those, I watched a lot of different creators to see what products they highly recommended. And then I also, one other option is depending on. What stores do you have nearby? Some Michael’s or different you know, craft stores will have those free, or not free, sorry, not free, but plain blank t-shirts.
They have a whole aisle of them. And so once before I have gone and just looked at them and just gotten an idea of what the quality was like, what the heaviness was like now, for example. And then the other thing, sorry, you can do is look on Etsy, because if you’re selling in a certain category, you’re gonna see very similar t-shirts.
So number one, if you’re selling in the bachelorette niche, for example, comfort colors, t-shirts. Trump all. You’re gonna see comfort colors everywhere. And so you also then have to be in line with what the market is wanting. And if comfort colors is, it’s kind of like an oversized tea. If that’s what you want and that’s what your customer wants, that’s probably what you need to sell.
If you look at something like the teacher niche, you’re gonna see a lot of the Bella and Canvas T-shirts, 3001. And so I learned pretty quickly those were some of the popular. T-shirts that were being offered. So a lot of it too, you can see on Etsy, just for free, if you just scroll and look at some different searches, even if you typed in t-shirts for women or t-shirts for men, you might see some common patterns there.
So I did a lot of that as well. Read a lot of reviews, watched a lot of YouTube content, and just got an understanding. I did that also with mugs. There’s a lot of different mugs out there. And on YouTube you can find a lot of videos reviewing products, samples. They’ll show you how it’s packaged. And then the last thing I did was I did order a couple samples of different products that I sold, but I didn’t do that until a little bit later.
Once I had started making a little bit of money in my shop, I decided to order a couple samples, and I’ve done that. And that’s also been great. But honestly, watching the content, you could go to a craft store, you can look on YouTube or. Look on Etsy, see reviews, see what’s popular. And that kind of all helped me form my opinion on which products I should be selling.
Doug: Okay, makes sense. And I, someone else one of my other friends who was like, oh yeah, there’s this YouTube creator, they recommend like the, the good shirts or whatever, but I. Yeah, I’m a bad student. Like I said, uh, no one follow my, follow my lead here.
Emily: It’s okay. So,
Doug: okay. Very good. Now another thing with my shop, I’m using this as my own like coaching session.
No, this is great. So. As I’ve established Lazy. Alright, so lazy. And I am doing this for fun. I have another podcast and that’s what the shirts and hoodies and stuff that I’ve created so far. The thing is I have. Some number one like photos that I’ve actually like done print on demand stuff on another platform before, but I was like, you know what?
I wanna simplify things and I know it will be a sacrifice. Probably algorithmically there’s probably some other issues with it. However, I want simplicity and technically I know if I’m gonna set up. I’ll just make up an example. I do home brew beer, and I’m a beer judge and stuff. So let’s say I, I want to have my podcast products, which are t-shirts and maybe things related to financial independence, but then I’m also into beer and I just wanna lump them all into one shop.
They’re unrelated. Some will be interesting to like a one group and. Basically it’s just a bunch of random stuff. So how much of an issue is that? And again, like that’s probably what I’m gonna do just for simplicity. I don’t want to have multiple shops set up. Yeah. Can you talk about that? Just having like a wide range of unrelated things?
Emily: Yeah. So there’s a couple things that I typically advise and I think most Etsy. Coaches and people who have had success in the space would advise. So it’s interesting because I would call my print on demand shop a general shop. So I sell to a lot of different customers, a lot of different niches, a lot of different occasions for gifts, things along those lines.
But I think. Having some cohesive elements is helpful. So for example, if you’re using the same mockups, if you’re selling similar product types, so if someone did come into your shop, it doesn’t look like two different shops put together. But if you’re using, say you’re selling a financial independence t-shirt and a beer, t-shirt, t-shirt.
But if you put ’em on the same mockup, you know when someone’s scrolling, you’re still gonna see some of that cohesiveness because it’s not gonna look like two very different things. So I think there’s some ways you can still have a shop that looks. Unified and like it’s supposed to be there. I also would go out on a limb, and I haven’t researched this, that there probably would be some overlap between people who are interested in beer and people who are interested in financial independence.
Like I’m thinking of my husband, or even me for that matter. So, you know, you, you probably would still have customers that, that overlap in that way. So I think that would be fine, but. And typically what I tell people is if you’re going to sell to a lot of different types of people, or even if it’s just two different, you know, main areas, having some elements that make it feel like it, it still looks like it’s all in the same shop and belongs together.
So that can be just visually with your mockups, that can be product type. So if you’re only selling t-shirts and hats, maybe, or sweatshirts, you know, that’s still gonna look like it all. Fits together. I even recommend the same thing if people are selling print on demand and digital products. I get this question a lot.
Can you sell both in the same shop? I. ’cause I work with a lot of students who sell both printables and POD. And my answer is, it depends. So if you’re selling things that go to the same type of person, like if you’re doing career oriented print on demand products for nurses and teachers and accountants, and your digital products are also for the same market, then that makes sense to sell together.
But if you’re selling printables for. Moms to do on holidays, and then you’re selling accountant t-shirts. Well, that doesn’t really go so well together, so. I think it just depends on what you’re selling and what that looks like. But I would say if you’re gonna put ’em all in the same shop, have something that makes them look cohesive If some were to come in.
My last thing I will say on this is for most people to know that most Etsy buyers are not even coming into your shop. So for the most part, they’re finding your product on a search page on Etsy, and they’re not necessarily coming to scroll and shop and look at what else you have to offer. Now, sometimes you do, but on the whole, most people find you on the search page.
They click on your listing and they add it to their cart. So in that way it it, there’s not so much weight that has to be put on it, but I do recommend being cohesive and. I would say to think of your shop, if it was a real storefront, if you had a physical store on a main street somewhere, right? And someone walked in, even if you were selling different types of things, what would help them feel like they could go together?
And that’s just some of the visual elements that I’m talking about and making sure it still has some of that cohesive look to it. Okay.
Doug: Great answer with the, I guess this is more about branding, like is, is that accurate? Like Etsy really doesn’t care from an algorithmic standpoint. It’s not going to hurt you if someone I.
You know, if you have the, again, the wide range of products. Yeah. In a general sense, it’s really just so like if someone landed on your full shop and they scrolled through, they’re like, oh, these look the same. You sell t-shirts in a few different areas, that sort of thing. So just to be clear, it’s all on the branding side currently.
Emily: Yeah. So I would say branding is a big part of it. The other thing I would say for someone who’s new to Etsy or new to Print on demand also is you. It’s hard to become an expert in something when you’re doing a hundred different things. So part of it too is just getting better, right? So if you are selling a t-shirt and you’re selling a tote bag, and you’re selling a banner, and you’re selling a doormat and you’re selling a mug to 10 different types of customers, you’re not really gaining any momentum anywhere because you’re going in a hundred directions.
So the other part of it, and I will say we don’t really know how the Etsy algorithm works. They tell us very, very little. There are things you can assume or you can, you know, wonder, but I would say more so on what you can control, which is getting really good at what you’re listing and understanding your target audience.
And that takes digging in deep and. Doing it over and over and over again. And so if you’re doing a hundred things, you’re really, you know, it’s that phrase like you’re not an expert in anything. And so trying to become an expert, and that’s why I always say start with one product, maybe two, start with one niche or customer or two and start there and really focus there.
And part of it is that you just get better quicker because you’re focused on what you’re doing. As opposed to trying to do a hundred things. So yes, it’s definitely branding, but with new sellers, it’s also that learning and that becoming, improving and becoming better at what you’re doing by having that focus also.
Doug: Very good. And I think what I’m gonna end up doing, which again, people don’t do what I’m doing, but I think what I’ll end up doing is I, I do have a couple ideas for a few other t-shirts in the financial independence space. I have my. Photography where there’ll be some, some prints that people can get that’s obviously like some somewhere else.
And then there’s some giftable stuff that poten like. I have some ideas about that too. Yeah, and I think I. The people that would end up on the, the full shop view would like know me from podcast. So they have like sort of a personal interest and they see, right. You know, I’ve talked about beer and I’ve talked about national parks and I’ve talked about other stuff.
So like for them it does complete the picture. It makes sense from a branding standpoint, random people that end up. On one product via search. They don’t care anyway. They’re just looking for the one product. Right. And that’s okay. And if they happen to stumble around and find other stuff, then you know, they could figure out the, the brand and how, like why is this a podcast like T-shirts.
So that makes sense to me. And. You know, I’m not gonna try to over optimize in any one area anyway. Okay. Does that make, does that seem like a reasonable approach? Yes. Okay.
Emily: Absolutely. Yeah, definitely.
Doug: So you mentioned with the new time that you have, you’ve been doing a little more, I. Experimenting and testing out other products.
I think you mentioned a few. Can you talk about that a little bit more like any, anything new where you’re like, wow, I, I didn’t know this existed. I’m glad I had the time and space to think about this. I.
Emily: Absolutely. Yes. So as I mentioned, you know, with this new time, it’s been really fun because I felt like last year obviously working full-time and I was growing my business in other ways.
My space to think creatively, to design, to pour into my Etsy shop was, was limited. And this year, in the last few months, now I’m able to really dedicate so much more time to. What I love about selling on Etsy, which is I’m a research nerd. I love digging into what selling, I mean. Sometimes I was on there yesterday and I texted a friend who also sells on Etsy, and I was like, can you believe this has sold 20 times this week?
Like it’s, it’s still sometimes baffling to me the things that you’ll find and the, the little golden nuggets here and there. It’s always like a scavenger hunt. And so it’s really fun and fulfilling to get back to why I love selling on Etsy to begin with, and doing print on demand, because love that research.
I love the designing, the simple designing that you can do and. I’ve been experimenting more with using ai, which has been fun. I hadn’t had time before to really dig in to using AI tools. I’ve recently been using a tool called Playground, which is a design tool specifically using AI and Chat four oh.
Which has been really fun because I’m not a designer, but I have ideas in my head, and so it’s fun to be able to use prompts and words to then create the visual that I’m seeing in my head. So that has been something I’ve had this. Space and the time to do, which has been really exciting, and I have time just to be creative and to.
You know, create new things that I didn’t think I really could before. So in terms of products, I’ve definitely been experimenting with a few different things. There’s different types of journals out there, like leather journals and things like that, that I hadn’t had time to. I. ’cause when you’re listing a new product type, it takes time.
You have to really understand how to design for it. You have to understand how to create the listing photos for it and to create new size charts and keywords and things like that and understand that market. And so I. I did that. I, leather journals has been a big one. The other thing, like I mentioned, I’m, I’m looking a lot now at the event space to kind of go with my giftable products as well.
So thinking about how do I compliment these gifts and or create keepsakes for big events like weddings and birthdays, and again, things that are a little bit more. Economy proof, like doesn’t really matter. People are gonna spend money on their weddings for the most part. So looking at some of those areas, things like banners for occasions, and then you can have matching mugs and tote bags in your shop as well that go with them.
So having these complimenting items. And so those have been really fun to spend time. Researching, designing for. And so yeah, those are a couple of the different product types. I’ve been doing a couple of different areas that I’ve been focused on in the last couple months, but like I said, it’s just been really fun because people will often say like, well, why do you like selling on Etsy and Etsy’s oversaturated and dah, dah, dah, you know, all these things.
And I’m always like, it’s just really fun. Like I spend. Time just designing. Like my daughters will come in and be like, oh, that’s so pretty. Like, you know, what is that for? And it’s just fun to create these things that people across the country. Then turn around and buy and you’re like, my brain still, it like my mind is always still blown.
Every time I get, like people think I’m over exaggerating, but every time I get an order I’m like, I can’t believe I made that on Canva and someone is turning around and spending money on this. So it’s, it’s just a really cool and fun business and I love that. I’ve had the capacity this year to just get back to focusing on that and.
Really creating new things and finding new ways to create designs, new ideas, and that’s been really, really energizing over the last few months.
Doug: Pretty cool. Uh, and a lot of the, the audience is very familiar with keyword research, although many of us, I mean, we, we stopped building websites and all that kind of stuff, but like what you’re talking about Yeah.
Is like a perfect analogy of. I mean, it’s sometimes literally the same thing where you’re like literally doing keyword research, but you’re coming through the data, you’re finding underserved areas, that sort of thing. Mm-hmm. So pretty interesting. Yep. We talk a lot more about it in the first interview, so people should definitely check that out.
Yep. The, um, event area makes a lot of sense to me in, I, I wonder also, I mean, some of the products, like almost inherently, like someone that’s getting like a leather journal, like they’re more. On the upscale side of it, right?
Emily: Yep.
Doug: Um, so are you thinking about that as well, where you’re like, not only is the event space potentially like a little bit more like recession proof, but like.
Basically like wealthy people are gonna spend money on like a big wedding or a big birthday party and they’re gonna get these like high-end products. So are you, do you actually look for like high-end products where it’s like, yeah, people are gonna buy, people searching for these, have money to spend and they actually don’t wanna buy like the cheapest option.
They want to get a premium option.
Emily: Yes, I definitely am always thinking of having a variety, or if a product say, comes in different sizes, you know, I always offer a variety of sizes. So I’ll have people who will get the smaller size because that’s what they’re able to do. But then I have people who will come in and spend $90 on a banner, which baffles me.
But that’s that. That’s what they wanna do, and that’s where they can spend their money. And so I think having. Kind of a balance. I still have a lot of what I would say, lower cost, you know, gift products. Most of my shop is these giftable products, and I would say a lot of them are affordable. For the average person, they are definitely a little bit higher cost than if you were to buy, say, an ornament at Target in December.
But because it’s unique and it’s personalized, and so you do have the ability to upcharge for that. But I do think it is important. As you’re growing your Etsy business to have that variety, because I do think you wanna be able to have those higher ticket items and be able to accommodate those people where they are and those.
People who can spend more money. And that’s great because having that higher average order value, you know, getting an order for $90 for one item, that’s great. Right? As opposed to getting five different orders on a smaller ticket item. So I think having that balance is good. I always tell people though, if you’re just starting out in the space, you know, don’t worry about that yet.
Um, you know, we just wanna get good at what you’re doing first, and then I think we can have those conversations. But I do think it’s definitely. Strategic to consider the audience and making sure you’re thinking about these things when you’re building your shop.
Doug: Mm-hmm. Very interesting. Okay, cool. And anything else with like product types or new things that you’ve been working on?
Anything like that?
Emily: I would say there’s so much opportunity out there. I’ve recently, in the course, we just launched a few lessons with a tool called Anywhere, POD, and I am absolutely loving this platform to, if you are a lazy print on demand seller, it’s a great kind of one stop shop. It takes out a lot of steps, but they have access to.
Other print providers that I haven’t used before, and I’m actually gonna start getting some samples to test them out. So for example, platters, they’re like these ceramic platters for Father’s Day. Like right now, there are shops selling one platter $40,000 in revenue in May. So far, like insane numbers on a.
Very simple platter that talks about being a barbecue plate for dad or something for Father’s Day. So there are some giftable products like that that I have on my list to be exploring, kind of going into the second half of the year. Thinking about Q4, I begins last month. You know, I started already kind of planning, okay, what else do I wanna be incorporating before the holiday season?
And so anywhere POD has some of these other options that I haven’t explored before. And so I’m really excited to do that. And with the students in our course, be able to talk about those with them too, as potential opportunities. So trying to think of some unique things that not everyone is selling. And that’s really been the purpose of our course, is providing a different avenue for students to sell print on demand that isn’t the go-to.
Apparel or whatever the norm is out there. And so trying to find some of these other unique things where the, the market, there’s just not a lot of people doing it. And so how do we capitalize on that? And there’s some pretty neat giftable products, acrylic, uh, these like acrylic stands. I don’t even know how to explain ’em, but you can put graphics on them.
And give them for any occasion. And there’s a bunch of different like acrylic options out there that you can give. And that’s something else that I’ve looked at also. So I think just trying to look at some of these areas where there’s not as many people selling them honestly.
Doug: Hmm. I
Emily: think the
Doug: last time we talked I was like getting ideas while we were talking and then I forgot Yeah.
To like write ’em down. It’s pretty funny ’cause I was like, oh, I have another, another idea. And I was like, I thought of this last time and I didn’t do anything with it. Okay. I have more ideas, I’ll tell you later. Very cool. This, it’s all very exciting. I know. This next question will most likely not be an evergreen topic, like the other stuff that we’ve talked about, but it has been in the news, and that’s tariffs and like mm-hmm.
It has, it has the potential to impact, like basically almost everything in the economy. So like Right. How, how do you think about that? Are you doing anything to like, prepare, just in case and it’s been a rollercoaster ride. I think I, and I don’t watch the news, so I think we’re, we’re at a more chill.
A more chill time. Yeah. ’cause I know the stock market came back a little bit. But anyway. Tariffs. Any thoughts?
Emily: Yes. So it’s definitely something that is on everyone’s mind in the print on demand space. And it’s interesting because I do have people keep asking me, should we be concerned? Should we be concerned?
And I think the hard part is we just don’t know yet. So I think some things that I’m thinking about just going in, as I said to the second half of the year, is. What’s great about Print on demand, I should say, is that you’re able to pivot, right? So, you know, I’ve sold a couple of the same products as my, my predominant products, and now this year my goal has been incorporating some of these other products and I think looking at, okay, what are our options?
What print providers are USA based sourced in the us you know, as an option. Like I know these are here. If I need to change where, you know, I’m getting my products from Purify has been very communicative so far. They have said they’re not raising any prices at the moment. Obviously that could change, but I think the other thing too is, as you said, if it happens, it’s going to affect everything.
And so it’s not just gonna be print on demand that’s impacted and so prices will go up, you know, other places also. So. I think it’s just staying alert to what’s going on. Thinking about, you know, are there. Companies or print partners within Purify, and they’ve been communicating too about this, like, which ones will go up the most?
Are there products I should focus on in the event that that does happen? So it’s just kind of being aware, but I would say it hasn’t, everyone I’ve spoken to in this space, it hasn’t changed a ton about what they’re doing at the moment. It’s more just. Having the knowledge and staying alert, reading the emails from Frontify, what’s going on?
You know, are things changing? And so far that hasn’t been the case. So I would say though, like I said, the positive about POD is that you have the ability to pivot, you have the ability to try something else to. Use a different print partner if you had to. And so there are some options there. Maybe not ideal, but the, there are options and it’s unfortunate.
I think mostly for handmade sellers on Etsy who do have to source materials from certain places, I think they will be hit the hardest. I think that’s gonna be really hard. But POD, you know, we do have the ability to kind of switch and move around and change course a little bit without having to completely, I.
Change our whole business. So that is a positive in the sense that we have that flexibility, which is nice.
Doug: Very good. Okay, I think we covered the main stuff that I wanted to get into. Is there anything else that you wanna mention that I, that I forgot to ask about?
Emily: I don’t think so. I think what I always like to say, and I probably said this last time, is if this is something you know, that anyone is interested in, that someone has thought about or wants to pursue, that I.
It’s just wild. Like I said, I’ve spent a lot more time researching in the last few months than I had the last year or so, and to see the new shops that I’m seeing, and I, when I say new shops, I mean they’re six months old, eight months old, less than a year old. These shops on Etsy that are making killer sales, and there’s still so much opportunity.
I think there’s so many myths out there about the print on demand space that. You know, Etsy’s fees are too high, there’s too much competition. You can’t make sales anymore. And if you see some of these shops in the research, it’s just wild how that, how that’s not true. I mean, there’s just so much opportunity still out there.
And like I said, I mean, I know I’m a more established shop now, a couple years old, but selling brand new product types in different areas than I had before. And they’re selling and they’re selling consistently. And so. I mean, there’s definitely so much opportunity still out there and I just, I always like to say that busting Etsy myths is one of my favorite hobbies because there’s just so much misinformation out there and like anything else.
And I think it just takes that time to dig in, like you said, finding those underserved areas. Doing that research is really the foundation for that. And even May, 2025, like there’s just so much availability out there in the market still.
Doug: You are making me get excited about this stuff again, so, yay. I, yay, I won’t, I won’t be as lazy.
Alright. Um, okay. This, this is awesome. So like I mentioned before, you have a course out there, I’m an affiliate. We’ll put a link out there. There’s also a free workshop and that’s the right place for folks to start, right?
Emily: Yes. The free workshop is called Gifting Gold, and it really just goes over the strategies.
A little bit that I’ve talked about today, but more in depth about gifts and micro nicheing and how to sell print on demand. And it’s a really great place to start if you just wanna learn a little bit more and just see if it might be the right fit for you.
Doug: Very good. And I think you, you, do you have your YouTube channel up already?
Emily: Not yet. So I will be launching a YouTube channel this summer, and so I will definitely keep you posted when that launches, but I’m excited to be able to share more. Content in an accessible way for people that are interested in this avenue. Print on demand, giftable products, keyword research, Etsy, all the things.
Mm-hmm. And so I’m really excited about that to be able to share. Right now I am on Instagram at e-com, Emily, and so I’m able to share stuff there, but obviously it’s more limited, and so being able to do long form content I think will be really helpful for people.
Doug: Awesome. Yeah. Yep. You, you have an invite for whenever you get got that launch, but if people follow you, yeah, they’ll be able to uh, yes.
You know, find it whenever you do launch the channel. Very fun. Well, thanks Emily. Really appreciate it. Always fun to catch up.
Emily: Yes, you too. Thanks for having me.