I found myself a fish out of water! The job market was difficult because of how frequently we moved and I knew I would never be considered for a career track again given our circumstances. I applied for a job through a temp agency and started looking for way

I had discovered jewelry making shortly after our first move and my co-workers and customers at work noticed my jewelry. When we went home for holidays family and friends were asking about it too. When I was stopped by a stranger who inquired about the bracelet I was wearing and then she offered to buy it right then and there, the wheels in my head started turning.

I began researching craft fairs and found a local one a month or so out. The table fee was only $5 and it was located in a cute little historical art district. I signed up immediately and went to work. When I showed up at the craft fair I was nervous and excited. My table ended up being in the back and as I walked past the other vendors my excitement started to diminish. By the time I got to my table I was, well….embarrassed! Remember how I said I knew nothing about craft fairs? All the other vendors had nice table cloths (some had their logo printed on them). They had display stands and signs. I on the other hand had me and my jewelry! Talk about unprepared. Worse yet, it started raining and in a total of about 5.5 hours only 5 people walked through. I left feeling defeated. I didn’t have the money to go buy all the things needed to make an awesome, eye catching display and even if I did buy those things, would I ever make my money back? Not to mention that the bigger more well attended fairs charged booth fees upwards of $250. This avenue had quickly turned into a dead end.

I went back to researching. I checked into displaying my jewelry in boutiques and gift shops. It was a 30% commission fee, so that was out too. One night after work in I came across a new website called Etsy and it was the answer to overcoming all the roadblocks I had been running into.

It was 2009 when uploaded my first listing using a photo I snapped at night (with the flash of my camera on-major cringe). The sales were slow at first. Etsy was in its infancy and there were no online resources to help sellers outside of Etsy itself. I tweaked things in my listings, collaborated with other sellers, and took a class on how to use my camera from a local photo shop. As Etsy grew, I grew right along side it. In 2012 I started helping others set up their own shop in person. In 2021 I started this blog to share my passion for creating and released my first online course to help others learn how to use Etsy quickly and efficiently.