At Evening Shire, we love creatives of all kinds, and we especially love sharing their work.

My name is Lisa, and I have been a photographer for thirty years. Last year, I opened a shop on Evening Shire called Lisa’s Koubou. Now, I want to give back to the Evening Shire community. I thought it might be interesting, informative and fun to share my own experiences and insights about how I live my creative life by sharing and selling my creative projects. As an experiment, over the next few weeks, I will open a dedicated Etsy store to sell my handmade cards. My plan is to take you, my fellow Evening Shire creatives, on this journey with me, and to share my every success and failure along the way. 

My Background
 

Although I have been a photographer since my college days, I loved nature photography long before that. I graduated from University with a degree that emphasized photography and graphic arts.  

After graduation, I spent twenty-five years working in photo labs as a custom Ilfochrome (formerly Cibachrome) printer. As the industry began to change, I adapted with it and taught myself all I could about digital photography and digital design.  

As creatives in any field know, sharing something you have made with a large audience is scary. It’s very easy to find a reason not to put yourself and your work out there. But eight or so years ago, I gathered my courage and started my own business. Building a business from scratch was challenging, but two years ago, I finally went full time and I’ve never looked back. 

Startup Challenges
 

Getting my business off the ground took a lot of time and patience, but one thing that kept me going when things were progressing slowly was knowing that if I could do it, I could also help other creatives do the same. I never gave up when faced with failures because I had a bigger Why. 

Four years ago, I found my Why, and holding that in my mind has made all the difference. But we are getting way ahead of ourselves. I will talk a lot about this Why at the beginning of our journey, in my first blog on starting an Etsy store.  

Where We Begin
 

Over the next few weeks, we will journey through the process of opening an Etsy store together. You’ll walk beside me as I complete every step. We might make mistakes, but we’ll make them together. As many successful business owners before us have said: failure is a critical part of running a business. In the words of Simon Sinek, we are in this for the infinite game. So, with all that said, where do we start?  

Is this journey for you?

Do you have a craft or talent you want to share with others?  

Do you want to find a way to pay for what you need to continue to explore your passion?  

Have your trusted friends and family been encouraging you to share your creations on a bigger stage? 

Over the next few weeks, we are going to explore the journey of sharing your creations on Etsy.  

• We’ll look at ways to figure out the best product you can create for Etsy.  
• We’ll talk about branding and uncovering your Why.  
• We’ll go through the entire process of opening a store, from research to pricing to actually working on Etsy.  
• We’ll dive into social media and email marketing.  

I can’t wait to start down this road with you, and I want to thank the Evening Shire community for letting me share this journey with you.  

If you would like to take this journey with me please subscribe to the Evening Shire newsletter and make sure you check the Artist Blog at the bottom.

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