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As a long-time private tutor solopreneur, I’m no stranger to creating income for myself. But this year, one of my goals has been to experiment with additional side-hustle income streams to expand beyond my private tutoring business. So far, the experiment that has paid off the most has been my Etsy printables side-hustle.
In this post, I’ll share what I’ve learned as someone just getting started. Am I an Etsy expert? Not at all. I’m not even close. (Although I did just get my Star Seller badge this month!)
My philosophy is that while learning from the experts is great, it’s also valuable to learn from those who are still in the middle of the learning process themselves.
But first…
Why an Etsy printables side hustle?
Tutoring is a great side hustle and even a great full-time gig (here’s a post about that). Nevertheless, my goal this year has been to establish an income stream that is fully separate from 1:1 time with students. I want an income stream that can more easily accommodate vacations and sick toddlers.
And I’m happy to report that, while I’m not replacing my tutoring income just yet, I’m clearly making progress. With continued effort, my Etsy printables side hustle should soon cover our family’s grocery bill for the month.
I love my printables shop because it’s a creative outlet. It allows me to experiment there with things that don’t fit the pre-defined niche of my tutoring business, and I can learn new things as I do it. I also love that I can earn money even while putting my toddler to sleep or while dealing with one of his meltdowns — all because I took the time to create a product during one of his naptimes a few months ago.
But it’s been (and continues to be) a learning process. Here are the most valuable lessons I’ve learned so far.
Lesson 1: Find the right support
I’ve tried to generate alternative, non-tutoring income streams in the past. At one point, I started up a paid accountability group for students, and I ran a self-study program for a while. I even have a series of study planners for SAT, ACT, and LSAT available on Amazon
But with the exception of my study planners on Amazon, most of my attempts at generating additional income haven’t been super successful.
So, what made the difference?
Well, for the study planners, I learned how to create and market them through a course given by Sarah Steckler from the Mindful Productivity Blog. The support and the step-by-step instructions in her course made all the difference in getting that little income stream started. (If you are interested in publishing planners on Amazon, here’s a link to Sarah’s free guide.)
The Etsy printables course I recommend
So based on that experience, I knew that if I also wanted to become successful in selling printables on Etsy, I would need step-by-step instructions, advice, and a community of support. I needed to learn how to:
- Find ideas for products that would actually sell
- Create the products efficiently
- Set up my Etsy shop
- List the products so that customers would find them and want to buy them
- Bring people to my shop
I tried a couple of different things, both paid and free, but the course that ultimately made the difference for me was the E-printables course from Gold City Ventures. (Their course has a waiting list, but you can skip that if you watch their free workshop.)
I’m learning product research techniques, and I feel comfortable using the templates from the course to speed up my design process. I followed Gold City Venture’s steps for setting up my shop and for listing my products on the Etsy website. Having clear steps to laid out for me to implement made all the difference in getting me to actually take these steps.
Lesson 2: Learn to do market research
At first, the printables I listed on Etsy were ones I created for my own personal use. I have a numbers- and vehicles-obsessed toddler, so my first listing was a set of transportation-themed number puzzles. It seemed like a great “two birds, one stone” opportunity: my toddler gets something new to play with, and I get an Etsy product out of it. But… no sales.
I still do list products I’ve created for my own personal consumption. But more importantly, I’ve learned that in order to make this a viable business, I also need to pay attention to what people are actually searching for and buying.
I’ve therefore started doing more market research before starting to create products. To do that, I use Pinterest and Google Trends to see what is trending, and I also explore Etsy to see how I can improve on what’s available already.
I’ve also started using Erank to do a more sophisticated analysis of what products might have good potential and what tags I should use for my listings. I’ve noticed a huge difference in the popularity of my products once I started learning how to use Erank.
Lesson 3: Create and use templates
The first time I create a product, it takes a long time, especially if I am starting from scratch.
But it really doesn’t take much to turn a family reunion party game into a high school class reunion party game. Or a strawberry-themed bulletin board border into one for a school nurse.
I can also strategically copy-and-paste elements like checklists to repurpose them in completely different products. A simple checklist with blank lines from a planner printable can turn into a word scramble if I replace the checkboxes with garbled words, or can turn into a scavenger hunt if I replace the blank lines with things to search for.
As I create more and more products, I’m therefore getting faster and more efficient at creating them.
I’ve also started using templates from others as my starting point, such as the templates in the Gold City Ventures course. Of course, I have to follow the terms of any commercial use licenses, but it has been such a time-saver not to have to start with a completely blank page.
Lesson 4: Systematize the process
Just like I’ve focused on efficiency for my product creation, I’ve also worked on getting more systematic and therefore more efficient with the rest of the process as well. I created a database in Notion where I can record product ideas and track my progress in getting them completed, listed, and marketed.
Within my database, I have places to record the information I gather during my market research so that when a product gets finished, I already know exactly what keywords I was planning to target and what pricing I was planning on. My database also stores templates that I can use for my listing descriptions.
I also have links saved to online resources that simplify my creation process, such as a word search generator. I use AI at times to speed up my brainstorming, such as when I need 80 different ideas for a game of charades or 15 different Christmas songs.
Lesson 5: Keep at it
Honestly, one of the biggest challenges I have faced is simply staying encouraged and not giving up. It can be discouraging at first to put in so much effort and not see much come out of it.
But I have tried to remind myself that it takes time. And that if other people have been able to become successful doing this, then there’s no real reason why I can’t as well.
My plan for this month is to average one new listing per day, while also working on amplifying the work I do to send people to my products. With consistency will come greater results, I’m sure.
I’ll keep plugging away at this little side hustle. In June, my goal was to bring in enough to pay the phone bills. In July, my goal was to cover our car payment. And my goal throughout is to enjoy the process and the learning.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been considering starting an Etsy printables side hustle, go for it! I wish I had gotten started years ago. But as they say, the second best time to plant a tree is now, so I’m glad that I’ve actually taken action instead of just leaving the idea in the “someday” category.