6 Monthaversary!

It's my Etsy shop's half birthday! The last six months have flown by at warp speed, so it's nice to sit down and look at how far the shop has come. Even though I could be considered a "creative," I am addicted to number crunching, spreadsheeting, and color-coding. I have fun analyzing sales and revenue, which items are more or less popular, the ups and downs of views, and all the love my shop and items have gotten (love those hearts!) - Not all of these end up in spreadsheets!  :)

While putting together my six month reach map, I realized that I had missed two countries on my last map (Afghanistan and New Zealand) - Oops! This month I got to add two new U.S. States, Colorado and Missouri - only thirty-one more to go!

Six Monthaversary

July was about the same as June as far as views and sales go, but I'm not really surprised by that. I didn't add very many new items in July, but I did do a lot of work in the shop, tweaking listing info and photos.

Yesterday, I got to be the center of attention for the SF Etsy Team's first shop critique Twitter Chat. I was a little nervous about having people checking out my shop, specifically looking for changes that could be made, but it was a really awesome experience. When you think about a "critique," you automatically think about "what's wrong with what you did," and that can be intimidating. But, good critiques also point out things that you did well. The SF Etsy Team gave a great critique. It was really nice to get positive feedback about things that I've done well in addition to constructive comments about things I could improve upon. And, instead of just leaving me with a general list of improvements that could be made, they also helped brainstorm ways to implement those changes. I often find myself wanting to make a change (or knowing that one needs to be made) but not knowing where to begin. This is where having more heads is better than one. Now, thanks to my shop critique, I have more awesome shop updates in the works.

August is a happening month in our family. My birthday, our wedding anniversary, and my husband's birthday are coming up; they are actually on three consecutive days! Plus, we have some other events for family and friends to attend. I'm hoping things will be exciting in my shop too. I'd love to have even more to celebrate.