Etsy Seller Interview with Denise of CreativiDeeWorkshop

How CreativiDeeWorkshop 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?

Hi! I'm Denise, owner, designer, and creative director of The CreativiDee Workshop. I live in the beautiful suburbs of Denver, Colorado, with my hubby, two wonderful children, and a Keeshond full of personality. I'd like to believe this was all planned, but everything just fell into place naturally, and that is truly the very best part. Although I have a professional and educational background in architecture, I have also loved and worked extensively in graphic design. After I decided to stay home and focus on being a mom for a while, I was incredibly excited to have found Etsy at a friend's suggestion after seeing the charts I had designed for my children, and the rest is history.

The items I create for The CreativiDee Workshop are based on needs and solutions for moms, dads, caretakers, teachers, and anyone else who might find them helpful in their daily lives. As mentioned above, many of the items were designed based on filling in the missing components in my own home and creating some sort of organization out of the chaos. I design everything using the Adobe Creative Suite, mostly Illustrator, PhotoShop, InDesign, and Adobe Reader. All of my products are digital downloads, a majority of which are editable or can be personalized. Once downloaded and saved to your computer, you can simply print at home or at your favorite document printing store. My wonderful customers can print the items as many times as they need!

The CreativiDee Workshop’s products range from daily routine charts to reward "money" kits, homework punch cards, and even potty training and chore cards. I am currently revamping the current shop and creating an entirely new inventory that will benefit my customers even more. More cards, charts, planners, and other tools to help organize your family life will be available soon!

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

My favorite items are:

I simply love these as they were the starting point for The CreativiDee Workshop, so they have a soft spot in my heart.

The images in these bundles for each card were so much fun to design in each colorway offered in the shop.

Over the years, these listings have been the most consistent with sales (in any of the offered colors):

I believe that these have been most popular over the years due to their simple, yet straightforward and stylish design created for little eyes to easily follow. 

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?

My shop has been open for some time now (I officially added my first products in February of 2012), so I know this doesn’t happen often in the world of Etsy, but I had my first (2) sales within 3 hours of listing them! Due to some personal issues the past year (all is well now! ), I’ve been pretty quiet with the marketing of my shop. That will be changing this year, and I hope to ramp up my activity on Pinterest and Instagram to attract more customers as I have done in the past. I will also have monthly newsletters for those on my email list with information on discounts, freebies available on my website, and what’s new in the shop.

Managing CreativiDeeWorkshop

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?

I run The CreativiDee Workshop alone (unless you count our cute Keeshond, who is my trusty office sidekick!). To make sure I’m efficient with the day-to-day operations while designing new items, I use the Etsy App on my phone loyally to communicate with customers, relist products, and check stats on certain items. I also use Quickbooks for my basic overall accounting, Vela for bulk listing changes, and will be using Corjl for many of the new items in the shop. Every item in the shop is a digital download, so Etsy makes it so easy for me to list and sell products and get them to the customer ASAP via the Etsy website.

The future of CreativiDeeWorkshop

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

As mentioned above, I am currently working on revamping the current products in the shop to better fit today’s needs and will be adding and expanding so many more in the immediate future to create a "one-stop shop" for everyone’s needs. I’m really excited about this expansion and being able to help anyone who feels my products will simplify their lives. Be sure to check out the updated shop soon! I am also opening a printable party shop soon (I also design party graphics for event planners). I used to offer these in The CreativiDee Workshop space, but they will soon be in their own shop. YAY!

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Start. If you have a product of any sort that you feel will enhance the lives of others, put it out there! I’ve been on Etsy for a long time, and things have changed drastically since then, but I think the basics still remain:
Keywords and tags are still very important.
Listing photos and descriptions should be clear (always think of the customer!)
Have stellar customer service (I have many repeat customers due to this).
Treat your Etsy shop as a business! It won’t run itself!
Don't be afraid to market your products! Nobody will know that they are there if you don’t get the word out.
Have fun and be creative with whatever you make. (Don’t list copyrighted items, don’t copy others, and follow the Etsy Sellers Handbook for helpful tips.)