Etsy Seller Interview with Christian and Cassidy of SmokyCustoms

How SmokyCustoms 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?

My wife and I have always been big Star Wars fans. One day, she decided she wanted to draw all of the main characters' lightsabers from the movies and TV shows. Once she drew them, I looked at them and instantly thought, "We could sell these designs." While on a week-long vacation in Florida, we opened our shop and uploaded only a few of the designs to start. By the time our vacation was over, we had already made a few sales. I felt like this was a good indicator of things to come, as making multiple sales in a few days was a good sign. As much as I didn’t want to exploit my wife’s talents, it has really helped us financially and opened many doors for expansion on Etsy. She creates the drawings from real-life movie props, and I vectorize each of her drawings so we can offer them in multiple formats. It works great for us and doesn’t require very much heavy lifting.

Favorite items

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

For my wife, her favorite item we have listed is her Ahsoka Tano Lightsaber blades. Ahsoka Tano has been her favorite canon Star Wars character since she watched The Clone Wars, and she thinks she is a great representation of her character. This item has been one of our best sellers as a lot of Star Wars fans have the same feelings toward Ahsoka as my wife does.

My personal favorite item is the Infinity Gauntlet drawing. This one doesn’t have very many sales (none of our Marvel drawings really do), but to me, it is the most intricate and detailed drawing in our shop. Plus, I am a much bigger Marvel fan than I am a Star Wars fan.

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?

We made our first sale within a few days of being up. I consider this to be very lucky, but I also believe we entered a market that didn't have much attention. Many of our customers like the aesthetic of Star Wars memorabilia in their homes but don’t want the obvious look of it in their homes. I think the subtle hints in Star Wars are what draw people in. While we don’t advertise our drawings, we do try to be prompt and helpful to anyone who requests a custom order or needs help with an order.

Managing  SmokyCustoms

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?

Luckily, since we only handle digital items, the shop pretty much runs itself. Usually once or twice a month we get a custom or help request, but they are typically very easy to create or resolve. We consider this to be a very passive income for both of us and are dedicated to assisting in any way we can since there isn’t much legwork to do behind the scenes.

The future of SmokyCustoms

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

We would definitely like to expand our inventory in the near future. It’s really easy to "set it and forget it" with our shop (unless someone needs help or a custom order, then we are right on it), but to grow even further, we need to expand into genres that even we aren’t familiar with. It would be great to broaden our audience reach, but for now, we will stick with what we know until we are ready.

Advice for new sellers

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

I would advise anyone interested in Etsy to base their shop around what they like. In the past, I have been so focused on trying to appeal to a certain audience or group of people in an attempt to make my own business, only to find out I hated doing what I did. Even though our current shop is easy to manage, it started from a passion that we both shared, which made it that much easier to manage. Pick something you like and expand to see if you can make it your job. They always say "Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life".