@howtosellyourstuff: I freaking love being part of the information age. I'm obsessed with being able to research and learn stuff and figure out how to do things without having to read five textbooks. (y'all, I was a history major. IYKYK) But it can be SO frustrating trying to learn something new and coming across conflicting advice left and right. The good news? There are soooo many right ways to do things. The enemy is procrastination. Not making mistakes. So to hopefully set you free AND help you take action, here are five of my opinions that go contrary to a lot of common advice. They come from 10+ years of Etsy experience, working with thousands of sellers, and just being unhypey about business in general. “Pick a niche for your shop.” This advice has created more Etsy dropouts than the algorithm, copycats, and SEO combined. When you’re new, you have zero clue what will actually sell. Test a bunch of niches to see what performs best for YOU. “Build your own brand from day 1.” Absolutely not. That’s a recipe for overwhelm. Your shop needs a name, an icon, and a header. That’s it. Once you’ve got 100 sales, then we talk branding. “Don’t ever put 2 product categories in the same shop.” Bahahahahaha. Yeah no. Test multiple products in one shop in the beginning. Running multiple businesses before you’ve mastered one is how you burn out. “Avoid handmade. It’s the hardest.” Actually, it’s the easiest to sell. Yes, you do more physically. But other people don’t want to work as hard as you will = less competition, more cha-chings. “AI can write your SEO.” Etsy is its own closed platform. AI pulls keyword ideas from the internet at large, which may or may not be relevant to Etsy. You need a third-party tool integrated with Etsy that shows you what shoppers there are actually searching. There's always more than one way to do a thing, so what do you think? Tell me in the comments. ALSO-- for my newbies... I want to help you get past the decision fatigue and actually start. If you want help deciding on the perfect product(s), grab my totally free guide that will help you walk away with a plan. It's called "What Should I Sell on Etsy?" And it’s waiting in my links for you. 🩵

Lizzie Smiley

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Thursday 12 November 2026 23:11:04 GMT