16,000 views, 250 orders, $8,000 in revenue in 5 months time. How my quarantine business venture turned into a full time side hustle.
In November 2019, my husband and I got married in the beautiful Estes Park, CO. We had a small wedding at Della Terra Mountain Chateau. It was an outdoor ceremony in the light dusting of snow and indoor ceremony in the warmth of the venue. Of course, we were on a budget and we had already opted for a destination wedding, so that left me to tackle most of the decor on my own. That was probably the best decision of my life.
What we made
Here is just a small list of the items I (*and my husband) made:
-an 8’ tall champagne greenery wall with neon sign*
-gold wooden table numbers
-acrylic decor signs (welcome sign, seating chart, favor table, bar menu, guest book, and gifts)
-my veil
-favor coffee mug design
And of course our cake stand!
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Then we were working from home
Flash forward 3 months (and yes, we thank our lucky stars everyday that our wedding and honeymoon happened when they did). Covid-19. My husband was working from home starting early March and I was working from home a few weeks later. Mid-April I was furloughed. Writing this in the future, I am super grateful that I am back at work and my husband was never out of a job, but during that period of time I felt depressed about the situation.
I’ve had my Etsy shop since 2017 and previously I was just selling Snapchat geofilters for events. With the increasing user-friendliness of Snapchat’s geofilter creation site, there really wasn’t a need for what I was selling anymore, so I stopped. I made multiple attempts over the last 2 years to come up with an idea or product to sell, but nothing stuck. But now, with ample time on my hands and wedding projects still swirling around my mind, I tried again.
I set up my listings, a new Instagram and Pinterest account, and put the minimum into marketing through Etsy, I was all in.
And nothing.
In the four weeks that I was furloughed, I got maybe 10 orders. I made each order on my own (sawing, gluing, staining, sanding, vinyl application, boxing and shipping). I was learning new ways to be more efficient each time. But 10 orders is not a lot and I felt defeated and my time at home was coming to an end.
And Finally!
Beginning of June I was back at work, but something had changed with the shop. We were getting more orders each week and with each purchase and good review we got more orders. The only problem was that I had started this shop when I had time to custom make the cake stands, but I was now back at work. Thankfully, my husband saved the day. He is still working from home and now making the cake stands. He does nearly everything except for the custom vinyl. And we are fulfilling 25+ orders a week.
