What is the Secret?

Everyone wants to find that one thing they can do that will make all the difference. People spend a lot of time and effort moving from one secret to the next in hopes of finding that one thing that brings in a rush of orders.

There are a lot of “secrets” out there. One seller will say X is the reason for their success and the other will say Y. Often new sellers get convinced that if they just do X or Y they will have the same results.

There may not be one single thing that leads to you getting sales, but there are a lot of smaller things sellers do that help them reach their goals.

Is it having a lot of items? Getting to the point where you have dozens or even more than 100 handmade items for sale may or may not be the tipping point in your business. The exact number will be different for everyone.

Generally speaking though, if you are making items that people want to buy, the more you have, the more traffic you will receive, which will in turn lead to more sales.

Just don’t get your hopes up that having X number of items will be all you need. You will never really know beforehand what X is.

Is it renewing constantly? This is more of a tactic that applies to certain marketplaces. It really has no relevance when it comes to personal websites. Renewing on a regular basis definitely has increased the views and sales of many sellers that are competing for views in crowded marketplaces.

How about consistently adding new items? This is more of a universal idea that many sellers say is the secret to their success. It applies to just about every type of handmade item and just about every venue.

Whether you sell on Etsy, locally, or on your own website, consistently adding new items can lead to finding the certain designs that do sell very well.

The byproduct of consistently coming up with new designs is that you will always be increasing the number of items you have for sale.

Is it social media? Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, are still very new in the scheme of things. Sellers that were successful at selling their handmade items just a few years ago could not attribute any of their success to using social media.

These days there are a lot of sellers that do use social media as a primary source of marketing. While it can make a huge impact on your sales if done correctly, by no means do you need to feel like you have to participate. More traditional forms of marketing, both online and offline are still and will always be relevant and can work very well.

Is it your photos? Having professional photos are not the be all end all when it comes to making sales. Once you get to the point where your shop or site is getting a lot of traffic, improving your photos can definitely convert more of those views into sales. The photos are part of the equation, but cannot be the only thing you focus your time and effort on.

Is it marketing? I think there is a lot of truth in the saying that an average product with excellent marketing will sell better than an excellent product that is not marketed well.

When your or I go out to make a purchase, we can only choose from the items that we have either heard of before or are able to find at the time. There may be better products out there, but if you cannot find them and they are not visible, they will not be some of the items you will be choosing from.

Someone else’s secret to success – It is always tempting to shift focus and start doing what has been the secret to someone else’s success. There are so many tactics that can work, but it does not mean that you can replicate the same results with your items.

The key is to not get discouraged if one tactic does not get you where you want to be. Keep trying until you find what works best the type of items you make.

It is luck? In some cases luck definitely does play a part, but I believe in the old adage that the harder you work the luckier you get. Often what appears as luck on the surface was actually made possible by months or years of hard work laying the groundwork.

Hard work – This is really the most common trait and secret of people that have been successful. Whatever they chose to make and however they chose to market it, they worked very hard to make it all work.

Not all hard work is created equally though. It is very easy to work very hard and not make any progress. What you have to do is work very hard on the right things, the things that stand the greatest chance of working, and then stick with it until you accomplish your goal or get the results you are looking for.

Has there been one secret to your success?

Richard Walker

Tags: secret to success