So after having tried my hand at becoming an insurance salesman and realizing fairly quickly that I was probably biting off more than I could chew in terms of personal cost and time dedicated to that field of employment I decided to try my hand at becoming a content creator while I job hunt.
I started with YouTube making videos which, admittedly I'm not too good at. I think that it's that I'm not that dynamic a speaker and I'm struggling to come up with stuff I want to talk about, nevertheless I push on and try to make a video a day.
I am also pushing on to maintain my participation in my commitment to a weight loss journey which I started on June 19th, 2022, it's a month and a day since that began and I am down 20lbs. So minor victory as long as I can keep the weight off and continue dropping.
I scoured the internet, desperate to come up with a way to generate income, and landed on dropshipping, based on YouTube's algorithm suggesting videos to watch I opened a Shopify store on July 10th and steadily produced artwork for the platform.
A family friend and my sister both told me they would not be buying off Shopify and I hadn't made any sales and wasn't getting any views on the site. They both said I needed to open an Etsy store instead, so on the 17th of July, I shut down my Shopify store and opened an account with Etsy. Naming the store DondonWoodyard to go with all of my social media profiles.
Excited, I sketched out a couple of designs and put them on Printify products which I connected to my store. My sister immediately bought all four products and I almost simultaneously received a bill from Printify. I wasn't expecting the bill and when I looked further into my Etsy account I saw that had incurred fees as well putting my first sale into a negative profit for me. I had only gone with what Printify suggested. A 40% mark-up profit and done as Etsy suggested, free shipping for any orders over $35 that combined with fees put me in the minus.
I still like Etsy but I decided that until I start making a profit I am only going to make downloadable artwork for the time being. It's the fourth day of owning the shop and I haven't sold anything since my sister made that costly order.
If you are interested in handmade artwork you can download please visit my Etsy Store.
