How BirdieMaeDesigns got started
Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?
Back in 2014, I started Birdie Mae Designs on a whim. I felt like my creativity was being stifled in my corporate job and, while browsing the stationery aisle at Target, thought, "I have the background in design and printing; I could make this stuff." I went home, started designing that day, and had an Etsy shop open within a week. My business quickly shifted to creating custom, luxury wedding invitations while my Etsy shop offered complimentary products, mainly stationery geared towards weddings.
Like everyone else, things started to shift for me in 2021. I had a newborn baby girl when the pandemic hit, and my wedding clients came to a screeching halt. I was honestly glad for a break to allow me time to think about my business. I had a long list of ideas for additional products but had always been scared of the additional overhead that would come with them. After a lot of thought, prayer, and research, I decided to do a small run of my now best-selling "Saturday in the South" and "Campfire Cocktail" Party Cups and, when they sold well, design a collection of holiday Party Cups. I soon found myself adding in wholesale, and now, a year and a half later, I have more than 120 SKUs and my products can be found in 70+ stores across the country. I touch every aspect of my business—designing all of my products, coordinating logistics, and handling all of the packaging and shipping. Early on, I decided to only work with vendors based in the USA. Many of my vendors and wholesale stockists are family-run small businesses, and it’s important to me to support those small businesses.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
Our Party Cup collection is full of best-sellers - they’re sold in sets of eight cups that are 16 ounces, shatterproof and dishwasher safe. With designs centered around your favorite outdoor places and witty sayings, it’s not hard to see why they’re so popular! Some of my favorites include "Margaritas with my Senoritas," "Life is Better at the Lake," "Cheers, Y’all!," "Stars & Stripes" and "Campfire Cocktail." Of course, you can’t forget our college football tailgate collection of Party Cups with "Saturday in the South" in six school colors and "We’ve Never Lost a Tailgate." Our Holiday Collection may be my favorite of them all with "Holiday Spirits," "Ho Ho Ho Pour the Merlot," and "Better Than Mistletoe."
Another unique item in our collection is our Bottle Neck Gift Tags. The tags feature a hole at the top that fits over the neck of most bottle types, are printed on smooth paper for easy writing and include pre-cut ribbon. All you have to do is add a bottle of wine, champagne or liquor for a super easy and versatile gift. The "A Toast to the Host" tags are a best-seller as are the champagne "Cheers!" and holiday "Better than Mistletoe" tags.
Our Etsy shop is also full of an extensive line of Greeting Cards ("Cheers to you, Friend!," "Hats Off to You!," "You’re a Peach!," and "Happy Mother’s Day to Our Queen Bee!" are a few of my favorites), Stickers (I’m partial to our "Tomorrow is a New Day," ladybug and queen bee stickers), Pencil Sets ("Give Grace, Choose Joy, Pray Big," and "Dreams & Schemes" are my favorites.), notepads, tea towels, gift tags and more!
Getting sales on Etsy
How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?
Gosh, I don’t fully remember—that was almost 10 years ago! I do think it was within a week or two of opening my shop because I had to run to the store to buy envelopes to ship the cards in. That’s how much of a whim I started my shop on! Because of my background in marketing, I understood SEO well and quickly figured out how to best optimize my listings. And, though it took a while, I always try to create photographs that represent my products well. The key to being found and gaining buyers is to use great keywords, create unique products, and use imagery and words that describe every detail of your product. I do use paid advertising on Etsy and have seen success with it, but it shouldn’t be your crutch; if you don’t have good SEO and images, you’re wasting your money. A lot of my listings have been around long enough and had enough sales that they can now show up high in search results without the boost from paid advertising.
Managing BirdieMaeDesigns
How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?
On a wing and a prayer. Haha It’s just me! I use Adobe Illustrator for designing my products but I don’t have any apps or tools that are specific for Etsy. I’ve used Marmalead on a trail before and used some of their SEO optimization tools, but that’s all. I handle all shipping and fulfillment myself, packaging every product and shipping every order! I’ve found it’s easiest to batch work for these things. I try to ship as quickly as possible, but I also realize it’s not feasible to do it daily. Most of the time, I’ll let orders pile up over a day or two and then ship them all out at once.
The future of BirdieMaeDesigns
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
I still have so many ideas for new products! I want to pace myself and strategically grow my product line. The newer video feature is something I have yet to utilize, so one of my shorter-term goals is to create videos for each of my products while I update some of the photography.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
Be consistent, keep your head down, and focus on unique products and customer experiences. You can do anything, but you can’t do everything, so dream big but start small!
Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.
Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 3.6% all time—I don't even know if that's good! Haha, I don't get into the weeds too much.
