Etsy Seller Interview with Daisy of Tsunami Rose

How Tsunami Rose 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?

I started my Etsy shop because I got fired from my job as a cashier in 2011. I had picked up the hobby of card making and scrapbooking, and began to realize that I could design what  I couldn’t find or afford in craft stores. 

I started to design digital downloads in Photoshop and market them towards general crafters, card makers, and scrapbookers. 

One day, I got a message from someone that my designs were being used to make “junk journals” which are like a spin off of scrapbooking. So, I immersed myself in the junk journal community and I started to make my own! And I LOVED IT! 

Once I started making them myself, I could see what was missing and started to fill those needs. I was pretty much on the forefront of designing junk journal kits 10 years ago.

Favorite items

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

My first favorite item is one of my oldest kits, Charming Fragments. I love this kit because it was so much fun to put together, and I felt like I truly designed something unique and special. This kit is over 10 years old and I've sold it over 1,300 times.

My second favorite items are actually a set, which are complimentary. I love these kits because they're some of my newer “modern” style designs. I used to exclusively use vintage images that I would source myself, but nowadays, I also love creating with commercial use watercolor clipart from other talented artists. I love that I was able to combine different clip art sets to create my own floral bouquets and collages to make something truly unique and special.

My third favorite design has to be my newest listing – a Sewing Themed Journal Kit. I love this kit because I was able to combine both vintage images and modern watercolor clip art. I've gotten such good feedback, selling 20+ in the last month since its release, and I look forward to seeing how well it does in the future.

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?  

I made sales as soon as I opened my Etsy shop, mostly because I had made the transition from Zibbet to Etsy and my customers followed me. I attract customers to my shop by networking with some wonderful creative women in the junk journal community as well as making Youtube videos myself.

Managing Tsunami Rose

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?

It's only me here! Since my shop is mostly for digital downloads, it's not that hard. I get the occasional question and request, but nothing I can't handle. I don't really use any apps to run my store, other than Adobe Photoshop to design. 

In the past couple of years, I have started to add physical listings, such as junk journals and junk journal accessories, I just use the Etsy website to ship.

The future of Tsunami Rose

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

So many goals, so little time. I want to keep creating new kits with themes and colors that I haven't done before. I'm also always on a never ending quest to work on my listings' titles, tags and descriptions.

Advice for new sellers

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

“Find what your niche is, that'll lead to riches.” -Hank Hill from King of the Hill.

Narrow down your niche, find where your customers congregate and interact with them.

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

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Question:

How much is your monthly revenue?

Answer:

This month, I made $3,600 (Of course Etsy got their $500 cut of that).

Question:

What is your average profit margin?

Answer:

According to omniprofitcalculator.com it is about 85%.

Question:

What is your shop’s conversion rate?

Answer:

This month was 2.7%.