Why I Closed My Etsy Shop And How I Ended up Doubling My Profit

It’s crazy how much can happen in one year. That is a pretty cliche statement on its own, but it’s the truth nonetheless. This past year has been a metamorphosis of sorts for me. My life, my business, and my mental health went through a series of transformations that required infinite patience and struggle to get me to where I am today. Not all of it was sunshine and rainbows, some of which I will be candid in outlining for you here. But my bad days now were my best days then, and because of this metamorphosis, I am a better version of myself in every sense of the word. My business has become a powerhouse in the self-care community within this past year, raising funds and awareness for mental health research and the importance of acknowledging the prevalence of mental illness in our communities. My name is Mary Kate Dixon and I am proud to say that I am a small business owner who’s not living, but thriving with mental illness.

Some of you may be having Deja vu right now and yes, you are correct. I was honored to be previously featured in the Handmade Seller Magazine in May 2018 for their first Mental Health issue. Let me re-introduce myself for those who may have missed this feature or need a refresher. I am the proud owner of Wicked Calm Candles and an avid mental health advocate living with generalized anxiety and panic disorder. Wicked Calm Candles is a natural soy candle line infused with locally grown organic herbs and spices and custom blended pure essential oils. My products have been used as a healthy reminder to participate in self-care daily by thousands of customers worldwide for three years now. Wicked Calm Candles helps individuals living with mental illness find confidence in their ability to take care of themselves and be an advocate for their own mental health, donating a portion of all proceeds directly to mental health research funding that has aided in the advancement of the diagnosis and treatment for a variety of mental health disorders. 

Somewhere along the line, I lost sight of how this mission applies to my own life and I stopped practicing what I preached. I let my business run me instead of the other way around. That pivotal moment happened shortly after my feature in Handmade Seller Magazine and is why I am back having this full-circle moment, sharing my story with all of you again, so that other small business owners can use my experience as a point of reference and reflect on their own business. What I am about to discuss is sensitive on its own and the old Mary Kate would have filtered out the not-so-socially acceptable parts for the sake of avoiding rocking the boat. But if you avoid conflict your entire life to keep the peace, you end up creating a war within yourself and that is exactly what happened to me. 

After sharing my story on my own social media platforms, it became immediately clear how prevalent this issue is amongst the handmade community, yet not spoken of nearly enough. I have received hundreds of messages since then saying that fellow small business owners struggled with finding a way to successfully run their business and still manage their mental health.

In 2018, Wicked Calm Candles was on Etsy, Amazon Handmade, on its own domain, and in brick and mortar locations nationwide. I had employees, stock on the shelves, and a studio buzzing with constant activity. Overnight, I closed everything down. Today, Wicked Calm Candles are not available at any given moment online or in stores, but released in collections at my own pace and discretion. I turn double the gross profit in just a few hours with each collection with virtually no overhead. Yes, you read that right. I double my profit. So, I’ll now share how I came to this decision, how my customer base was affected, and how my business nearly saved my life.

Why I Closed My Etsy Shop

Etsy has always been where a majority of transactions were completed for my small business. Many of us can agree that it is a well-known and powerful platform where if you put in the hard work, you can reap the benefits tenfold. Wicked Calm Candles first flourished on Etsy, although later becoming available on other platforms, which is why closing down my Etsy shop was so incredibly difficult, but ultimately necessary for me. I will explain why.

Within one year on Etsy, Wicked Calm Candles was receiving a constant stream of orders. To keep up with the demand, I was forgoing my own work-life balance and putting changes in place to meet my customer’s needs. More employees, more stock, more workspace, more everything. This went on for months and although I was incredibly thankful for the growth, seeing the order count rise on my Etsy storefront became less and less satisfying. I became overworked and unfulfilled quickly but turned a blind eye to how it was affecting my mental health for the sake of wanting to see my business continue to grow. Vacation mode was a foreign concept to me. What if I missed an opportunity for a sale? What if a customer has a question? What if my customers become upset because I am not there?

Some things are truly out of our hands

 I firmly believe that the more you avoid the inevitable, the harder it will hit you. In May 2018, I finally reached my breaking point and was hit hard with the reality that I, a successful business owner, was suffering from clinically diagnosed depression. I was unable to get out of bed, I was masking the root cause of my mental health concerns with not 1, or 2, but 7 medications and my doctor said that I was days away from involuntary inpatient treatment. I remember sitting across from my husband, after hours of curing candles with wax-covered hands, saying that I had lost the will to live. That was the day I said farewell to thousands of social media followers and closed down Wicked Calm Candles, possibly for good.

So, how did my customers react? I had built my business around a community of customers that understood where I was coming from because they also lived with it first hand. There were a few disappointed comments, but overall, I was lucky enough to receive overwhelming support regardless of the fact that at that point in time, I had not come to the realization that I would be re-opening just a few short months later.

I spent the next few months focusing on my mental health. Under doctor recommendations, I reduced my medications, changed my diet, and exercised daily. Free of all 7 medications and 30 pounds lighter, I was now equipped with not only a new sense of self but healthy coping mechanisms and what I call a “mental health toolbelt” to deal with anything that came my way. Despite all of this progress, I could not shake this overwhelming urge to get my hands covered in wax. I wanted to research, test, and curate those oil blends that made my heart so full.

I was ready to jump back in. It was time to re-open Wicked Calm Candles with an entirely new business model. One where I ran the business and not the other way around. I focused on where things started to go downhill for myself, where the added stress was coming from. The overall consensus was that the constant demand for availability of product was the culprit. That is when I came up with the idea to release collections. 

Not only do collections keep the overhead low and give me the power to curate at my discretion, but they created a demand for product that ensured a high volume of sales. It’s a given that if you don’t know when or if you will be able to get your hands on something and you really need it, you will purchase it in double the quantity. From a candle making standpoint, we all know that fewer batches in higher volume means less work, less stress, and higher gross profit. This applies to other handmade crafts as well and is why I always recommend this business strategy to anyone looking to manage their stress.

I run everything entirely off Instagram now. Payment is received through select financial services for customer convenience (for example: Paypal). All correspondence is recorded through Instagram direct messages including order receipts, shipping information, and questions. The most beautiful part about revamping my business model has been the acceptance for how and why I do things differently. Because I was well established previously, those customers have followed me onto my new Instagram account and created a sense of trust in how I run my business which they pass along to new customers. I set my account to private when the follower count starts to rise dramatically to avoid overexposure. I pick the date of release, I share details with my WIP email list, I post the collection, and I am in control.

What I’ve Learned from it All

My business saved my life and in my recovery gave me a purpose to come back stronger than ever. I believe I was put on this earth to help others like myself with my product and I am so grateful to still be here, able to do just that. My advice to other sellers living with mental illness, or just those finding themselves in a similar situation, take care of yourself first. It’s okay not to be okay. I have fallen back in love with being alive because I did the hardest thing any business owner could do. I have a newfound appreciation for everything in my life and in my business. You can’t pour from an empty cup. These days my cup is so full, I serve others from the overflow, bringing Wicked Calm Candle’s back to life right before my eyes.

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