I grew my Pinterest to 3.7 Million Monthly views with Blogging

Hi! My name is Laura Nightingale and I’m the maker and boss behind The Yellow Birdhouse. I create whimsical wool felt accessories and décor for children which I sell on Etsy, Instagram, and on consignment in local brick and mortar shops. I’ve been running this business for the last 6.5 years.

I started The Yellow Birdhouse about a month before my youngest son was born and my oldest turned 2. I wanted to be a stay at home mom, but my desire to be creative and my entrepreneurial spirit were still very much a part of who I was. I needed an outlet and as a family, we needed a little extra cash. For the first year, I only sold my work on consignment in local shops. It took me a while to overcome my fears of opening an Etsy shop.

The main reason I hesitated in starting an Etsy shop was because I believed that my shop needed to look as perfect and polished as all the other seasoned shops, right from the start. I believed that if I didn’t have perfect photos and a seamless shipping strategy that there was just no point in even trying. What I didn’t realize is that NO ONE has perfect photos or a seamless shipping strategy when they first start out. There is a learning curve for everyone. One of the greatest things about being an entrepreneur is learning, growing, and constantly improving. And then getting to look back to see where you started and being proud of what you’ve accomplished! So, I decided just to start with the imperfect skills I had, and I would improve as I went along.

My ultimate goal when I started The Yellow Birdhouse was to create a business where I set my own hours, so I would never miss a parent-teacher meeting or a soccer game. I wanted to be my own boss, be present for my children and contribute financially to our family. But it was hard. There were many times I wanted to throw in the towel and thought it would just be easier to get a more conventional job. But if there’s one thing I’ve got, it’s grit. I won’t give up without a fight. I continued to work hard through the years of struggle when I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m proud to say that I’ve now achieved my goal. I’m home to pick up my boys off the school bus and if I need to take them to the dentist in the middle of the day, that’s not a problem. My financial contributions allowed us to build our dream house in 2019 and I employ my sister in law for a few hours a week to help with social media. I get to be crafty for a living, it’s such a dream come true!

In the first couple of years as a business owner, I would read article after article about how to make loads of money online and guaranteed methods to “explode your sales!” But those tactics never worked for me. I bought the courses and did the things and…. my sales never changed. I was so discouraged. It took me a long time to realize that those sellers who had explosive sales thanks to “that one tactic” were the exception, not the rule. And that there is no ‘one size fits all’ strategy for running a handmade business in an online world. Running a handmade business is kind of like playing the same game as the other entrepreneurs, but the rules are completely different for each player.

Subscribe to Handmade Seller Magazine to read the rest.