How I Plan to Make Life Changing Money Through Etsy (And You Can Too)

Turn your $1K month to $10K month

A few years ago, I was at a crossroads with my career.

I loved my job, but I was having trouble with internal politics. I felt like I was walking on eggshells every day.

I asked myself — what do I really want?

At the time, I was really passionate about my craft and decided maybe it was something worth pursuing.

I checked my bank balance and took a leap of faith, and started my e-commerce journey.

With no prior experience in business, I started selling on Etsy.

I was able to make some money here and there. I got by, but far from the 6-figures salary I was making in my job.

That got me thinking, how can I make life-changing money through Etsy?

Etsy as a lead magnet

I realized quickly that selling on Etsy is great, but more importantly, it’s what goes beyond selling on Etsy.

Because Etsy is a marketplace and it operates like a shopping center. I’m only a tenant. I pay rent and comply with Etsy’s rules, and if one day Etsy decides to evict me, I will be left with nothing.

But selling on a marketplace like Etsy has benefits. It helps drive traffic, and it’s an inexpensive way to test your idea.

Once you start to build up loyal customers and validate your market demand, it’s time to move beyond Etsy and create your own brand.

This is what I did.

After a couple of months selling on Etsy, I started building my own website on Shopify.

I redirected my Etsy customers to my website and, in the meantime, continued to operate my store on Etsy as part of my customer acquisition strategies.

With my own brand and hosting platform, I can do anything I want to build my business. I can add items or services that I can’t sell in my Etsy store and be creative in my discount offers, upsells, and pricing strategies.

I started making more money in my Shopify store.

Etsy has become a phenomenal lead magnet for attracting new customers.

Plus, I make money on my “lead magnet”; Can’t get better than that.

It goes beyond eCommerce

Once I have acquired skills from selling on Etsy and building my online business, the next step is to take what I have learned and monetize my skills by teaching others.

The possibilities are endless:

I can write an eBook.

I can create online courses.

I can even start a group or 1:1 coaching.

At the moment, I am not ready for this as I have a goal to make 1,000 sales from the printable store I opened last year.

Once I get to that, I will have experience running 3 Etsy stores (handmade, sourcing/reselling, printables, targeting different groups of customers) and a solid track record in sales.

I know what sells and what doesn’t.

I know how to spot in-demand products.

I know different strategies depending on the products you sell.

Don’t forget to invest

Diversifying my income stream is key, but a few years into building my business, I also realized something important.

It’s not about how much money you make; it’s how you can multiply what you’ve made.

When I look at millionaires or billionaires, they multiply their wealth by building and selling their businesses, taking their startups to IPO, and raising funding to run their businesses. In other words, they don’t use their own money to operate their businesses.

Instead, they use what they made to invest in assets such as the stock market and real estate.

While my business is a one-person operation on a much smaller scale, I apply the same concept to building wealth.

That means I incorporated my business and paid myself a salary. I then use my salary to invest.

That’s how you can truly build wealth.

Conclusion

Don’t underestimate the power of selling on Etsy.

Even if you are only making a few hundred dollars here and there, and it didn’t feel like anything transformative.

Use Etsy as your lead magnet, a place to polish your business skills and make life-changing money by:

Building your own brand
Selling eBooks, courses or coaching
Investing in assets such as the stock market and real estate to multiply your earnings