ENLISTED TO ENTREPRENEUR By Vicki Garcia veteransinbiz@gmail.com
2 Pop Up Business Platforms to Support Selling Products Online from Home Right Now Sitting at home away from family and friends? Nothing to do, no income, bored? Wake up! You’re in the middle of the e-commerce world and not taking advantage of it. If you have a strong work ethic, persistence, and a willingness to try something new, you can follow the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henleyhe “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” All you need to do is start doing a little research on selling trends. Or investigate your own heart about what ignites your passion. Open youtube.com and view a few of the hundreds of success stories. There are many how-to videos to guide you and clue you in to the tricks of the trade. Etsy Etsy is a great place to start. The company has more than 1.7 active sellers and 28.6 million buyers. Instead of putting yourself out there in an independent website where you must scramble for visitors, Etsy does that hard work for you. Originally aimed as an online e-commerce website clearinghouse for handcrafters, Etsy was made for collectors and entrepreneurs to open a store and sell their products online. In time a decision was made to change the basic rules for sellers by including factorymade goods in the handmade definition, as long as they were unique and of good quality. This opened the door and things exploded to include to a wider range of products. You can list products for .20 each. When you sell an item, there is a small commission and standard payment processing fee. Use the Sell on Etsy App to manage orders, edit listings, and respond to buyers instantly, from anywhere. Buyers will give you reviews. You would be surprised how chummy things can get. Create your own website in minutes and make it a custom design that’s powered by your Etsy shop. 46
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Make your own designs to put on your own products using Canva.com, a graphic design app for non-artists. Etsy has tools designed for every stage of your business’s growth—no matter how big your ambitions. Shipping is easy on Etsy. Buy and print discounted postage for your orders in seconds, right from your Etsy account. More advanced tools are available with an optional monthly subscription package. You can create a sales or coupon to catch the eye of shoppers or reach them right in their inboxes with targeted offers. Crafting the perfect posts for Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or Instagram made easy because Etsy writes it for you. You just make the connection. Boost your visibility Millions of shoppers access Etsy with their advertising tools. With Etsy Ads, your listings are more visible in Etsy searches. With Offsite Ads, Etsy will pay to advertise your listings on sites like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Bing. When you make a sale from those ads, you pay an advertising fee on that sale. You can also create a store in Facebook and connect it to your Etsy store.