I remember first opening up my shop, Jessica Marie Design, like it was yesterday. I was working full time after college and as a creative outlet I decided to start selling my hand made game day dresses, appliqué shirts, and monogram necklaces.
It was August 2012 and I had four items listed in my shop and I was ready for sales to pour in! I even made a sale that very first day! Can you imagine my excitement? I just opened a shop and I already had my first customer! It was looking good! I ended up making seven sales that first month. To a new seller it was not a bad start! If anything those sales made me hopeful. Then came nothing... I made one sale in September and one in October and nothing the rest of the year.
My next sale came in March 2013. At that point I'd completely changed what I sold in my shop. I'd removed my original four listings and replaced them with digital downloads. I made that switch because the free digital downloads on my blog were getting lots of attention and I kept getting requests for more custom designs. I was selling tech wallpapers, digital scrapbook paper, and printable stationery. Thankfully the digital downloads were selling much better than my handmade items because I was about to be out of a job and the income was much needed. In May 2013 I moved to Houston with Steven. He'd finished his masters degree and had a job lined up. I on the other hand moved with out a job and was treating my shop as a full time business.
June and July were slow months for my shop. I was making a couple of sales here and there and taking on more custom work. It was a custom request for a printable planner that changed the course of what I offered in my shop. After I created the custom printable planner for my client I decided to offer printable planners in my shop.
Then came August 2013. Business was booming! It was the first time I saw the potential there was for turning my creative outlet into a full fledged business. That was a full year from when I'd first started my shop. Throughout that year there was lots of trial and error and lots of learning. If I hadn't been patient I definitely would have quit my shop back in 2013, and if I hadn't persisted through the failures I wouldn't have made it to 10,000+ sales today!
Each and every year since starting my shop has had it's own share of failures, growth, and learning. I've been striving to hit the 10,000 sales mark for a long time and now that I have it's exciting! What is most exciting is that my business is now in a transition phase. What once worked is not working as well so it is time to change it up. While I may not know exactly what I will be offering I know that if I've reached my goal once I can reach it again.
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