Etsy Seller Interview with Mindy of WildTruthDesignCo

How WildTruthDesignCo 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’m Mindy of Wild Truth Design Co., and my shop is all about helping humans celebrate life and have more fun! My offerings include a variety of digital party games, primarily geared toward adults. Because it’s all too easy for grownups to lose sight of the wonder of play. There’s just something magical about laughing and playing games together. And this is the wild truth!

My shop was born many, many moons ago from my lifelong obsession with Mad LibsTM. I’ve been playing them with my family and friends since my 5th-grade teacher introduced them to the class to help us learn parts of speech. I cannot tell you how much laughter and joy this simple game has brought into my life. And it continues to this day, at age 42!

My very first games were wedding libs. And this is what really helped my shop get established in the early days, back in 2011. What made my games stand out was that I actually wrote my own storylines and included a word prompt list separately, so that when guests played the game, they got completely ridiculous surprise stories, which were hilarious! Unlike the vast majority of "wed libs" offered throughout Etsy at the time, which were simple "fill in the blank as you go" sentences that everyone seemed to be copying from other shops When I saw those so-called wedding libs, my immediate reaction was, "That’s not Mad LibsTM!" I can make them so much funnier than that."

And so I did! I had a love for the game, and that was enough to get started. I had zero graphic design skills. And I look back at my initial designs and am appalled that anyone ever exchanged their money for those. Haha! But my shop quickly became known for the funniest wedding libs on Etsy. And I loved getting to play such a fun role in my clients’ bridal celebrations!

Over the years, my offerings expanded to include games for grownup birthday parties, graduation parties, and Halloween and holiday celebrations. And it’s been a blast! My friends now call me Minister of Play! And I continue to create new games both professionally and personally (just for my friends and me to enjoy!). I’m really just a big kid.

Favorite items

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

By far, my favorite games in my shop are wedding libs. And these are definitely my most popular games throughout the bridal season. When I write my storylines, I carefully craft them to be effortlessly funny. I have been playing Mad LibsTM for decades now, and I know the importance of sentence structure and perfectly placed "blanks" for creating a hilarious surprise story. The most fun part of my work is getting to test out my new storylines with my friends and family. If I can make myself and others laugh till we cry, I know I’ve done my job!

This set of six different wedding lib storylines is currently my bestseller. These games are mostly geared toward less formal bridal celebrations, like unconventional wedding receptions, cocktail hours, bridal showers, lingerie and bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinners, and engagement parties. In my opinion, a hidden gem in the set is the "Dream or Disaster Date" storyline, which is ridiculously funny, especially when played with the ladies during a bachelorette party!

One of my favorite games that I’ve made is the personalized version of my Marriage Vows storyline. This one has seen many updates over the years and has been very popular for rehearsal dinners and wedding receptions. I’ve always loved the more personalized games, as opposed to the generic download versions, because they can double as an alternative wedding guest book. Because, let’s be real, a book of signatures is pretty boring to read! But couples love pouring over these wedding cards even on their honeymoons. And they make such fun keepsakes that they can revisit over the years.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my all-time favorite Halloween game! This is a special 4-part ghost story I wrote (loosely based on a true story that I experienced in my younger days!). This is a huge storyline created for large groups to play at a Halloween bash and is popular among adults and teens. I still play this one every year and laugh myself silly! It’s the perfect ghost story to tell around a campfire.

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?

Honestly, because my games were so unique back in 2011, the first sales started coming in within a couple of days! Those were the good ole days of Etsy. Haha! Over the years, increased competition in the marketplace and trend changes put the brakes on that. But I have found the most success in garnering off-Etsy traffic from consistently engaging the Pinterest platform.

Managing WildTruthDesignCo

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?

For the vast majority of Wild Truth Design Co.’s life, I have been single-handedly running the show and filling all the roles. I found great success over the years with a Tailwind subscription, which helped me get established on Pinterest. This saved me tons of time, which is very important for solopreneurs wearing all the hats. Other than that, I’ve kept it pretty simple and lean with my operations, which gives me a fantastic 73% profit margin.

The future of WildTruthDesignCo

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

I have a beautiful vision of Wild Truth Design Co. growing to the point where I can bring on a small team and relegate my energy to product design, vision planning, and direction. I have set this intention and released it to the universe. And after many years of pushing myself too hard, I’ve learned to release my attachment to goals and trust in the natural unfolding of my life.

Advice for new sellers

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

I’ve been on Etsy since 2011, and the number one thing I’ve witnessed is creators undervaluing their work, their creations, and ultimately themselves.

Many Etsy sellers view their shop as simply a hobby or a side hustle. And they don’t take it seriously. They don’t ask the tough questions like, "How much revenue does this shop need to generate to actually make it worth my precious time and energy?"

Treating your shop like a legit business takes a certain level of commitment, grit, and determination. It’s an investment in yourself and your future. And when a seller undervalues the tremendous effort they put forth and underprices their product, they are literally selling themselves short.

This is why my number one advice for new sellers (and even seasoned ones!) is to take a hard look at your pricing strategy and make sure it’s giving back what you’re putting in.

I see a lot of digital downloads selling for literally next to nothing. Yes, you may get a few more sales with a dirt-cheap pricing model. But you’ll need to bring in way more traffic. That costs time and money, which you likely don’t have enough of already.

Setting a premium price for your products shows that you believe in their value and that you believe in your own value. And let me assure you, there are plenty of people in this beautiful world who will fall in love with your product and are willing to pay what it’s worth. Yes, even if it’s a digital download. and everyone else is practically working for free and selling theirs for $1.00.

Set your prices however it feels right to you (and not from a place of fear). The right buyers will gladly make that trade with you! You are not a big-box store. You’re a human being pouring your heart and soul into your company. And you deserve to be compensated well for the value you offer others.

Thank you for sharing your unique expression with the world!

My second piece of advice is to not rush your shop’s growth. There’s a lot of advice out there about constantly adding new items to your shop. But that’s not always the best move. Every company is unique, and so is your path to growth.

When my shop really started taking off, I felt the pressure to expand my offerings into arenas I had no business being in. And it created a lot of headaches for me as a new shop owner. My advice here is to stick to one or two categories and really build those out to excellence before moving on to something new. You might want to keep a list somewhere, like on a Trello board (I love Trello!) of ideas you come across that you might want to explore down the road. Just don’t feel like you have to pursue every little thing right away. It’s so easy to get bogged down with "doing, doing, doing." Be sure to build at your own pace.

And be yourself! Be unique. Be different. This is your creative expression here on Etsy. You can make it look however you like. And it should absolutely not look like anyone else's. That’s where true fulfillment is found, and seller burnout is avoided.

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

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: 73%

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: 1.5% average Etsy conversion all time since 2011