Etsy Seller Interview with Inaru of StrawbunnyToastGifts

How StrawbunnyToastGifts 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?

Hello, and nice to meet you! I’m Inaru, the owner of StrawbunnyToastGifts on Etsy. I’ve always loved art, and I've dreamed of becoming an animator ever since I was a little kid, but becoming an online business owner and selling my art for a living from home was never something I expected. I was raised by a business owner and an artist, so the advice I picked up from each parent allowed me to follow my love for art while also being financially responsible and having a natural affinity toward marketing. I believe the things I observed in my youth made me more conscious of both the possibility of owning a small business and the responsibilities that lie with it. I was encouraged to follow my dreams by one and prodded by the other to go for a more financially safe path, so instead, I forged my own business. I am not only an online shop owner but also an artist, animator, and electronic music producer on social media. I am also a co-creator, project manager, artist, co-writer, and musician on a currently unannounced indie game project I'm building with my brother Nicholas, who is also a musician, storyboard artist, and writer. I’m happy about the direction I took my life.

I worked hard, got into my dream college with scholarships and grant money at 17, and attended for a year, taking the maximum number of credits per semester and only signing up for the most impactful classes, which gave me the skills I needed to be successful. My life as a student came to an end when I was 18 because I felt as though I had learned everything I needed based on the academic plan I had curated when I first started.

I spent a little under 2 years working full-time, living away from home, and saving every dollar I earned. Working minimum wage jobs and enduring the stress of being an essential working teenager or young adult during the pandemic pushed me even further toward the path of the creative arts. I started to feel disillusioned by knowing that I would only be in my home long enough to sleep and eat with no free time or energy, and I realized that I’d been saving up money but not producing or improving upon my art while I was doing so. Once I felt comfortable enough with the amount I had saved, I quit and began working full-time, opening my own business. Throughout this journey, I received consistent encouragement from my boyfriend Levi, my best friends Kelli, Sam, Sabine, and Bryce, and my younger brother Nicholas. I want to give credit where credit’s due and say that without a healthy support system, I would have had a much harder time making that leap and investing in the startup business costs. I allocated a certain amount of my savings to spend on the startup costs and a few months of rent as a safety net while I worked full-time on building and developing my brand and gaining a presence on social media. Living with my boyfriend and roommates really helped me keep the cost of living as low as possible while I ordered supplies and researched the best ways to push my business past the starting line.

My first step was to focus on building my online presence as fast as possible while also trying to only attract my target audience. My schedule included three drawings a week on social media and engaging frequently in trends while concentrating on one specific niche, and sure enough, I'd acquired a loving and supportive audience who enthusiastically supported my shop launch. It took a surprising amount of time to do the proper research, but I wanted to make sure that I'd be starting off strong and leaving a good impression right off the bat. I want to thank everyone who supported me when I first launched my shop because that support is a large part of what motivates me to improve and post my work.

I create all of my products by first drawing out the designs, advertising them on social media, and then ordering a small test batch from a company that specializes in the creation of art merchandise. They then send me the products in the mail, and I sort, photograph, upload, pack, and ship every single order from my room. (See business advice in the "Advice" segment for more details.)

I’ve carefully organized my room to resemble a home office, with my products organized on the walls as if it’s a storefront and my packing materials sorted and stored in my desk area. All freebie stickers are completely handmade in my home, and I personally cut out every freebie sticker by hand and print out thank-you cards as well as business cards, which are included in every order. I decide what I would like to sell based on what orders seem to sell out most frequently when I release my test batches, which usually consist of 2–5 keychains of each new design, to see which looks best and is popular amongst my buyers. This helps reduce the surplus of unsold products, which then takes up the space that newer and better products could be occupying.

Favorite items

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

I’m always making new designs in hopes of keeping my storefront fresh and up-to-date for those who are interested in my art. I find that my personal favorites don’t always align with the favorites of my buyers, and because you can never make an accurate prediction of what will do the best, at times I end up overstocking certain items that don’t sell as well while understocking the unexpected favorites. To counter this issue of overstocking vs. understocking, I'll initially release a much smaller batch to test the waters, observe how fast something sells out, and then decide what would be best to restock. With that being said, I will now provide some examples of my personal favorites and my most popular items. (This is based on the number of sales made in the same month they were released for each item for a fair comparison.)

My favorite keychains are the Headspace Kel-Release Energy Set Keychain and the Rin and Len Kagamine Keychain. Additionally, my favorite prints are from my most recent Inktober series. Drowning and red space The reason why I ranked these works as such is because I feel that they best reflect my progress, and I can feel proud of myself when I see them. To prevent overproduction, I only order up to 5 of each new product, and I also order a lot of different products so that there’s a higher likelihood of someone liking at least a few of the keychains that are being released. It reduces risk while maximizing potential profits. That being said, these keychains and prints still do well; they just aren’t the most popular.

Now on to the most popular among buyers! My most purchased keychains are Red Hands Omori, Yume Nikki Madotsuki, and Omori Garden Set. My most purchased prints are Blackboard, Photograph, and Intrusive Thoughts. These are the most frequently sold-out items. I reorder each of my most popular items on a very consistent schedule, and I do large restocks as often as possible to ensure their availability. While I am happy with all of the work that is advertised in my shop, I'm sometimes surprised to find that customers buy prints that take me less time to make. My favorites tend to be the ones I spend a lot of time on, but this observation makes it easier for me to produce more content in less time. Everyone wins! If I had any advice, it would be to keep track of the sales you make for each item on your own because Etsy’s sale tracker can be extremely inaccurate. If you want to keep track of which items you should be restocking and which topics people consume the most, keep track of your sales independently! You’ll be happy you did it when your sales go up.

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 first day was thoroughly planned out and marketed throughout the course of several months, but I was still surprised to see how well received it was. I have been making consistent efforts to build an online following ever since I decided to become a full-time business owner by rebranding using a new name and account while frequently posting to maintain general interest. I knew early on that I wanted my shop's niche to be RPG-horror indie game-themed, so I marketed myself toward that community. I grew up playing and seeing trailers for certain indie games, which inspired me to paint those characters as keychains and prints on my store, which makes it very easy to market! I think the best way to run a store of any kind is to think, "What would I want to see? What do I like? What kind of creator do I personally support as of right now? In my personal experience, being a neurodivergent creator and experiencing hyper-fixations with certain subjects helps me understand all the other people who have the same or similar interests on a deeper level. It makes the questions above very easy to answer because I feel so passionately about my interests and want to provide content that can keep a keen interest going for a longer time! Sometimes, an interest can fade with a lack of updates, content, and overall interest from the people in the same community, so I put a lot of effort into maintaining a strong connection with the source material and not straying far from canon events, storylines, or relationships. From a business perspective, it’s easier to market to people like yourself because you get what they would genuinely be happy to see while providing fun content for a community I'm passionate about.

Managing StrawbunnyToastGifts

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 am the only person managing my store, which means every time you order from my shop, I am the one who is personally packing and shipping your orders. I utilize the Etsy app very often, so I can keep track of incoming orders and messages even when I’m away from home. This is why you can rest assured knowing that if you ever experience an issue with an order not delivering or arriving with a product that was damaged while being shipped, I will always respond and do my best to solve the issue at hand. When someone experiences an issue with an order, I personally make phone calls to each stop the package was shown to be at and follow up with the people I'm able to reach out to daily. This can sometimes take several hours a day just so that I can make sure that everything is moving along smoothly. If I'm unable to get the package routed to a customer because it’s been in transit for too long, I will always send a replacement for free. I work very hard to make sure that no false claims of lost packages are accepted, as it’s very easy to make a few calls and verify the validity of these claims. I request that nobody send false claims because it does take time away from people who are genuinely experiencing issues.

I handle shipping and fulfillment by purchasing my labels directly from Etsy. I find the process to be much more streamlined, as it helps prevent a high percentage of order errors by keeping things as simple as possible when packing and shipping. My initial success is what got me to start being able to offer international services. I use Etsy’s weight-calculated shipping feature, so I don’t have to worry about overcharging or undercharging customers for their items.

I always set out the items bought in a week by lining them up all at once and packing them in order of demand. I individually wrap each charm in thick layers of bubble wrap to prevent damage from occurring during shipment while also providing a drawing that changes every few months as a thank-you card that also doubles as a nice mini-print. I also throw in a laminated sticker and hand-wrap every keychain order in pink tissue. I love the color pink, which is why I have my materials color-coordinated! All print orders include the same freebies as keychain orders, but depending on the volume of your order, I may throw in some extra full-sized prints from my store as a thank-you bonus. The reason why I like to provide extras in these cases is not that I have to or because I have extra stock, but because I genuinely like showing my gratitude for big orders, and I feel like a good way to reward that is with print freebies!

The tools and apps that I use to manage my store and attract a consistent audience are detailed in the following:

I use Instagram to advertise products, but the way I keep an audience around is with consistent illustrations and pixel animations for the communities both my followers and I share. By posting consistently, I was able to grow a following of people who motivate me every day by providing great suggestions for products and are overall amazingly supportive when I launch new designs.

The community I’ve reached with Instagram is greatly tied to my success on Etsy, which I recommend any shop creator use! The best way to advertise is by word of mouth. Make the content you are personally passionate about, and I believe anybody can do well. Take advantage of the fact that Instagram doesn’t have to be formal and can be a fun experience. If you have fun with your advertising, it shows that you’re not afraid to be goofy, which can make people more inclined to support you and your work. If you can find something that makes you stand out, use it to its fullest extent so that when you show up multiple times in someone’s feed, they will begin to recognize you in the wild.

I also love using YouTube to advertise my animations. When people find my animations and my music, they sometimes check out my other social media accounts. The places I am most active on are Instagram and Youtube, so it’s easy to direct people to my store from there. Sometimes I’ll get a sale with a note saying they found my store from a Youtube animation I uploaded a year ago, so I think expanding your brand across multiple platforms can prove to be extremely helpful.

I source my materials for packing and shipping from a combination of Staples and Amazon. I use an ounce scale to make sure my packages are the correct weight and won’t get sent back to me. I used to use my regular printer to print shipping labels, which I would then tape to the outside of the package using clear tape, but I retired that method because I felt like it was inefficient and not very aesthetically pleasing. That’s why I switched over to a little 4x6 thermal printer. It saves ink, looks so much better, and saves me an insane amount of time.

For my freebie sticker production, I use a hand-me-down family printer, the Epson WF-3540, a Silhouette Portrait, and a lamination machine. I waited until a sale popped up and bought my Silhouette Portrait secondhand for a fraction of the advertised price, and it works worlds better than my old Cricut. I have a more detailed review of the Cricut vs. the Silhouette down below.

For my prints, I use Freeprints.com because the glossy print quality is gorgeous, and even though it can be expensive upfront, in my opinion, it’s worth it for the quality you receive. It’s very convenient because your prints are delivered straight to your mailbox.

I use Vograce for my keychains and other manufactured products. It’s extremely helpful because I’ve been using them for so long that I now qualify for member benefits, which help slightly reduce the cost of supplies in the long run. They offer samples as well as eco-friendly packaging, but again, I insist that you always do your own research and vet as many companies as possible before committing.

I do experience frequent issues with my orders either being desaturated or oversaturated, being broken due to them being shipped irresponsibly, and having to wait about a month between ordering and receiving shipments. Sometimes my orders are completely wrong and I'm sent someone else's work, or half of my order is left behind. Again, I believe that there is no perfect company, so I can’t recommend anything 100%. I will, however, be transparent about my thoughts on the companies and tools I use to help make the startup process a lot easier for anyone reading this.

That being said, I can recommend the next tool with absolutely no downsides attached. I use Procreate for all of my artwork. I’ve had a lot of experience switching between art programs, so I can unequivocally say that Procreate is my favorite. In high school, I didn’t have the funds for expensive art programs, so I used FireAlpaca for all my art. I then learned Adobe Photoshop while I was in art college. I hated that it was the required program because of how Adobe openly exploited its status as an industry-standard program to charge absurd monthly fees to industry workers and students alike, as well as making their program purposefully convoluted so as to gatekeep important tools from those who couldn’t afford to take the classes necessary to learn them. Procreate, in my experience, is much more considerate of its many users who rely on affordable programs by implementing an extremely cheap one-time price with no in-app purchases or ads. Additionally, I love the layout and its extremely learner-friendly interface. I use it for animation and illustration daily to make new products to feature in my store, and I also use the folder feature in the gallery to organize my long-term personal projects. This includes long animation projects that require 40+ canvases or concept art relating to my game development goals. It’s extremely helpful for me as a neurodivergent individual, which makes me struggle with remembering things when they're not in my direct line of sight. Seeing all of my projects in folders keeps me from periodically forgetting they exist and keeps me on the straight and narrow so that I can work on a plethora of separate projects over time. It’s extremely easy to export and import PSD and Procreate files in and out of the app, and you can also import and export mp4 files and gifs, which will automatically be sorted into different frames in animation mode. I’ve been using it for a few years now, and I haven’t looked back since.

As I mentioned before, I use Vograce for my charm production and Freeprints for my 4x6 prints. While they are both cost-effective options, they are still major financial commitments, so make sure you order a few at a time and then slowly increase your order size until you’re making more than you’re spending. I usually avoid making new orders until I've recouped what I spent on the last one. This keeps me from turning my store into a money pit.

I would say my advice applies best to those looking to sell charms and prints, but if you want to try these methods for a different type of product, I'd suggest looking for the most authentic sources of feedback for whichever company or brand you want to source your materials from. My favorite place to get genuine feedback on different brands and manufacturers is Reddit. The brutal honesty can be extremely helpful when making sure you only sample from reputable brands. I’ll look up the company or product name followed by "Review Reddit," and almost every time I see extremely helpful feedback from people who were once wondering the same thing as me. If the company or product you searched for isn’t reputable, there will always be someone who will namedrop alternatives you might be able to use instead! Follow the rabbit hole until you’ve found enough data to make an educated decision.

Every manufacturer is different, which is why I went through a lot of trial and error before finding one that worked for me. Every brand and tool I use is suited to my personal preferences, but every experience has its pros and cons. The reason I encourage everyone to do their own research is that certain things I would consider dealbreakers might not be a big deal to somebody else. It’s kind of like how I work best in Procreate while my boyfriend prefers Photoshop!

I’ll now be comparing the Silhouette Portrait and the Cricut, both of which have stellar reviews as cutting machines, as an example of why it’s important to investigate things according to your standards and nobody else's.

I found that the Silhouette Portrait works so much better for me than the Cricut, but others prefer the Cricut to the silhouette! Both sides have extremely strong opinions about the other, so how can you get that tiebreaker?

I bought a Cricut expecting to be over the moon with this device, but it didn’t work from the start, which led to its eventual return. After wasting lots of ink, sticker paper, and time, I returned it and purchased a Silhouette portrait. This was mainly because the Cricut didn’t cut along the guidelines when I used it. It would cut perfectly fine one time, and then the moment I’d put down the good-quality sticker paper, it would randomly cut in a completely different pattern, regardless of whether or not I had tweaked the settings since the last cut. This being said, it was less noisy than the Silhouette. The silhouette sounds like a needle being dragged across a chalkboard, along with the loud mechanical noises of it moving from side to side. I cannot turn it on without wearing earplugs, as I have extremely sensitive ears. Even so, the cuts are far more consistent in quality, and they take up a fraction of the space. I’m willing to put in my earplugs as long as it cuts right, especially since the Cricut wasn’t that much quieter either. If we were to compare the quality of the software, the Cricut is more modern and lags less than the Silhouette. I was in a position where I could review the pros and cons of each machine, so I hope this helps explain why I don’t believe in a perfect device existing for this reason. Everything will come with pros and cons, especially when it comes to manufacturing and handling machinery. Don’t be afraid to invest in samples from a handful of companies and see which one provides you with the best results for your personalized needs.

The future of StrawbunnyToastGifts

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

Nothing makes me happier than when someone takes the time out of their day to let me know that my art made them smile. Aside from the obvious advantages of being a work-from-home artist, my favorite part of my job is seeing the messages from parents who understand their kid’s interests saying that they appreciate the hard work I put into the store and that they’re excited to receive the order to surprise their kid. Those messages motivate me even on days when I feel low-energy, which reminds me of the kind things people have said to me when I'm drawing, packing, or delivering orders. I like to think that when I send my color-coordinated packages out, someone can get excited knowing their order from my store arrived safely, even just from seeing the pink packaging.

I’m so grateful for the amazing connections I've made through my shop, and I think that finding genuine connections with your audience is the key to success. Not only because your target audience will be happier, but because you as a creator can find joy in getting to know the people, which can lead to great friendships as a result. I would say a main goal of mine would be to continue creating these personal connections with people I've met through the fan bases I engage with. Few things are better than the feeling of making a new friend.

A more shop-specific goal I have in mind for the future would be to branch out and start making content for even more fan bases within the RPG-loving horror community. I previously made a lot of designs for a variety of games within this community, which makes me determined to expand on this by making fresh products for those belonging to the more underground and underappreciated fanbases. I remember the feeling of always being into lesser-known franchises and never being able to find any relevant merchandise since all the art and merchandise went into the more well-known games instead. I want to provide content for people like me who like things that don’t get represented enough, so my goal for 2023 is to explore concepts from a wider variety of indie games.

As such, my biggest and most long-term goal would have to be the official start of my own indie game studio with my brother as co-owner for a long-term project that’s still unannounced and entirely underway.

By exploring different forms of art, I hope to expand my brand from an online store into an official indie game studio with a fully integrated storefront. I hope to achieve this with the release of our unannounced long-term project, with details that will be posted to my YouTube account upon the release of our teaser trailer. As of now, the funding will come out of pocket, and all work will be done by myself, my brother Nicholas, and our programmer friend Leyth. We hope to reach some level of funding with the release of a Kickstarter trailer in the next few months, which will help us expand our team and get the project released sooner.

Advice for new sellers

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

The best advice I can give is that if you’re thinking about it, do it. You can do it part-time and take the less risky route of having the financial security of a job while you set up shop, but if you want to work for yourself full-time, you will need to commit wholly. That means making an action plan and sticking to it no matter what. Owning a business means you’ll be working 24/7. I work from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep, while taking occasional breaks to eat and walk around. I think this lifestyle is very well suited for me because I am 100% a workaholic and I genuinely enjoy getting to create, pack, and ship every order. Regardless of whether or not you want to take your business full-time or part-time, do the same amount of research and take your time, making sure you’ll be investing only in worthwhile products for your store. If I hadn’t done the research that I did, I would have had a much rockier start. Because I took my time making sure the people who ordered from me were satisfied from the beginning, I’ve maintained a 5-star average and have loyal buyers who have been with me since I first started and continue to support me as I grow! It’s been great, including personal messages expressing my gratitude for their continued support.

The next thing I'd recommend is that you study the basic rules of marketing. Know your audience on a deeper level and provide the product they didn’t even know they wanted. The easiest way to do that is to provide a service that you, as a potential consumer, would want and then advertise it in a way that would catch your eye. If you focus on making your audience full of people who have similar interests, chances are that if you ever move to a different interest, they'll either already know about it and continue to support you, or they’ll trust your taste and discover something new. Either way, it means that cultivating a fan base that cares about the things you make will also ensure long-term success with the people who will be proud to say they supported you from the beginning.

I’ll use an example from my past experience in marketing to an audience that I consider myself a part of. I find that a lot of the RPG horror community has a handful of popular games that are commonly loved and frequently grouped into a very niche subgenre of horror. This would include games like Ib, Mad Father, The Witch's House, OFF, Corpse Party, The Crooked Man, Ao Oni, Yume Nikki, and more. These were games I grew up playing, and I was surrounded by friends who also shared this interest, which is why I wanted to associate myself with this community on a professional level.

Some financial things to consider include the fact that Etsy holds onto a random percentage of your sales until you’ve been selling products for 90 days. In my experience, it meant I had to spend a lot of money on startup costs and didn’t see any of the money I made back until about three months into the process. If you aren’t aware of the policies set up on certain websites, you might find yourself in a tricky situation like this. I’m glad that I made sure that I had more than enough money in savings at the time for me to take on all of the startup costs, which were in the thousands, and also pay for living costs during those three months of reduced profit. Living scarcely and spending money only on the most basic necessities to survive helped significantly with saving up even more back then. Make sure that if you’re starting an online store, you’re ready to spend a lot of money upfront and not earn it all back as fast as you may expect. Have enough in savings for you to have a safety net. Starting a store is always a huge risk, so another piece of advice I'd like to emphasize is to minimize potential losses by only ordering a few of each item when starting and letting yourself sell out fast! You can use the amount of sales made for each product as a model of comparison so you can re-order the appropriate amount for your second batch! My biggest mistakes were usually overstocking, so I still have some keychains from my first few orders in stock because instead of ordering 5–10 and seeing how they sold, I assumed they would all sell out fast and ordered 30–50! If I could go back, I would have made 10 and re-ordered with my manufacturer as needed.

As for manufacturers, make sure you consider all plans they may offer to decide what may be the most cost-effective as well as providing high-quality products for your business. I spent a lot of time talking to 40+ manufacturers and taking mental and physical notes on how professional they were as well as how responsibly their products are made. I like to source as many of my materials from environmentally and ethically conscious businesses as possible. This sort of data is often readily available to the public, which is easy enough to find through a quick Google search. I hope that these tips help, and good luck with the start of your business!

Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: How much is your monthly revenue?
Answer: My monthly revenue changes based on what time of the month I release new keychain batches. If I release keychains at the beginning of the month, I can make anywhere from 2–4k a month. If I go a month or two without a keychain release, my earnings can range anywhere from 1.5–2.5k a month.

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: Since opening my store a little over a year ago, I’ve made 37K, with my yearly profits being 25.8K.