[00:00:00] Monica Little: Hello, and welcome to episode number 46 on the Product Biz podcast. My name is Monica Little and I'm your host, and I'm so excited to bring on a repeat guest, special guest on the podcast, Daisy from Little Buddha by Daisy. So if you've been listening to the podcast and you know that we had Daisy on the show a couple months ago to talk about Herb.
[00:00:20] Business journey. She has such an inspirational story about how she was participating in five to seven markets a week herself, her brother, an employee. They were running around selling at markets, trying to grow her business. And she took a complete pivot when she started to work with me in segment programs and focused on growing her online business, getting consistent online sales, to the point now that in the last year she's only participated in two markets compared to doing five to seven markets.
[00:00:51] Per week. And not only that, not only does she have her weekends back, she's not doing the market hamster wheel. She's not burning herself out [00:01:00] working every single weekend. But her sales have also grown so much from pivoting and learning how to really optimize her products on multiple different platforms.
[00:01:11] She's to the point where she's having $8,000 a month, $9,000 a months, $10,000 months in months, like January, which is normally the slowest month of the year, and a big portion of her success has been on Etsy. So I know we had her on the podcast. We talked about her overall success in general with her business, but I actually invited her to be a guest inside my Etsy algorithm secrets program.
[00:01:34] We recorded a conversation just about. What it took for her to reach the success that she has, specifically on Etsy. And it was such a great conversation. It's raw, it's real, it's inspirational. It's gonna tell you how it is on what is required of you to get the results that you want. And as soon as we got to end recording this conversation, I knew that I had to take a copy of it.
[00:01:55] Put it on the podcast and have you listen to it too. I think the truth is a [00:02:00] lot of people view Etsy in a multitude of different ways. Either people think the fees are too high or they think it's too saturated, or they put their products up on there, expect to get sales, don't get any, and then they just give up on it.
[00:02:12] Right? You'll actually hear Daisy say that this is how she originally thought of et. But the small business owners who truly are committed and dedicated to Etsy, the ones that show up, the ones who do that work, the ones who actually put in the effort, they are the ones who see the amazing results. And I'm not gonna spoil it too much, but Daisy, like I said, had a 10,000 month in January, and she said half of that came from Etsy.
[00:02:39] And she went three months where she had a sale on Etsy every single day. An order coming, at least one order coming in every single day for three months on Etsy, except for one day. But it wasn't always easy. And this is the story of what it truly takes to get the results that you want. This is the story of what it means to be dedicated and committed.
[00:02:58] This is the story of [00:03:00] what is required of. To get the results that you want, because if you don't have the results that you've been hoping for, well, something needs to change, right? Something needs to be different. Something needs to be done in a completely different way. There's a level of dedication, commitment, energy.
[00:03:13] There is something that is needed from you to get different results. And Daisy's story here today is going to show you what she did, what was required of her, how she viewed Etsy and her business before, where it's at now, and amazing, amazing progress she's made. How her life has changed, how. More free time.
[00:03:32] She travels. She sees her family more often from creating this amazing stream of passive income. And with that, let's bring on Daisy from Little Buddha by Daisy. Are you ready to go behind the scenes and learn what it really takes to create consistent sales each and every month with your handmade small?
[00:03:54] Join me, Monica, little Self-taught multiple six figure small business owner and your [00:04:00] product business coach. As I give you the insight and inspiration on how to better run your business and increase your sales in ways that you may not have even been aware of, so that your business can truly become what you knew it could be.
[00:04:15] Fact, when you first. Learn how to let go of perfection, overcome the fear of failure that is holding you back, and finally start taking action so that you walk away feeling like you've cracked the code on how to run a successful small business. You are listening to the Product Biz Podcast. Well, hello Daisy.
[00:04:37] How are you today? Doing good. How are you? I'm doing so good. So excited to chat with you today about Etsy, your journey on Etsy, what it took to get to where you are on Etsy. So I'm just so grateful to have you here today chatting about your amazing progress that you've made. I'm very
[00:04:54] Daisy Betance: excited to be on today,
[00:04:55] Monica Little: so thank you for having me.
[00:04:57] Awesome. Okay, cool. So first let's just talk, talk a little bit [00:05:00] about your business. So give me up to speed and the people watching up to speed on what little Buddha is, what you sell, what type of products you make, all that fun stuff. Yeah, so
[00:05:09] Daisy Betance: I've been in business since April, 2018, and I make all natural and organic skincare, and one of the things that's really important to us is having eco-friendly packaging.
[00:05:19] So we. Things, um, like soaps, bath bombs, C b G products, body butters, lip BALs,
[00:05:26] Monica Little: all the things. Oh my gosh, I love it. And how'd you get started with your business? Just a little bit more background. Um,
[00:05:33] Daisy Betance: so I was always really interested in more of like the holistic and clean lifestyle and I took a candle and soap making class in January of 2018 and I absolutely fell in love with it.
[00:05:45] And it kind of started from there. And I built the business in about three months after that
[00:05:50] Monica Little: class. Oh my gosh. I love it. Cool. So tell me a little bit, since we're gonna be talking about Etsy today, I would love to know [00:06:00] before you, you know, took Etsy Algorithm Secrets Product Bus Academy, really got up and running on Etsy.
[00:06:05] Where were you before with Etsy? Were you on Etsy? Were you not on Etsy? What was your overall view, position, thoughts of Etsy at that point in. So I did have an Etsy
[00:06:16] Daisy Betance: shop. However, I wasn't using, I pretty much just put stuff up on there and just hoped it would sell. And um, then when I started going out to markets and, and meeting all the other makers and like talking about Etsy, everyone just kind of complained about Etsy, the fees, how it's oversaturated, and um, and so I decided to close it and just focus on my website and.
[00:06:44] So that was kind of how I felt about Etsy at
[00:06:47] Monica Little: that time. Yeah, I love it and I think that's something a lot of people can relate to, cuz there is so much about, like the fees are so high and it's so saturated. And I love how you said you just put your products on there and just kind of hoped it would sell, [00:07:00] but it sounds like it didn't really pick up, there wasn't a lot of action.
[00:07:03] Did you get a few sales? Did you get any sales? Did you get no sales? What did it look like back.
[00:07:08] Daisy Betance: To be honest, I think I remember like one in particular. Mm-hmm. But pretty much all of my sales was coming from gonna markets all
[00:07:17] Monica Little: the time. Got it. So at that point in time you, did you close your Etsy or did you put it on vacation or did you just kind of let it run?
[00:07:24] What, what did you actually do at that point? Um,
[00:07:27] Daisy Betance: I closed it. Got it. Because I just didn't feel like it was worth it. And I had my website, my, I'D rather I have people go to my website versus Etsy and not pay those. Um, so that's. Yeah, I decided to, yeah.
[00:07:41] Monica Little: Okay. And it's so crazy because I know where you are now with Etsy, so hearing your initial story of, of where you were before, um, is super eye-opening.
[00:07:49] So let's talk about that a little bit. I know when we started working together, One of the things that we prioritized was Etsy. And tell me what your initial thoughts were when we started having [00:08:00] discussions about, Hey, you should be on Etsy. Let's spend time and energy on Etsy. Anything that came up, were you kind of resistant?
[00:08:06] Were you kind of like, all right, let's give this another whirl. Let's see how it goes. What, um, what were those thoughts that were coming up when we first started diving into getting your products back on Etsy and really optimizing?
[00:08:18] Daisy Betance: To be honest, there was a lot of resistance there. I was like, wait, what?
[00:08:22] Look, I, I don't, why am I going on again? I don't want to, the fees, uh, it's not, didn't work the first time. But then I was like, okay, fine. I'm going to listen to Monica and I will follow what she says. And I went along with it. And at first it was a little difficult because we were making lots of changes and I wasn't seeing.
[00:08:46] Much traction, like sales were starting to come in, but they were few and far in between and towards the beginning when you first started.
[00:08:53] Monica Little: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's something too that is so normal. You know, like once you start optimizing a platform, [00:09:00] like you said originally with Etsy, you put your products on there and you remember maybe getting one sale right.
[00:09:05] And then we, we start working together, we get you back on Edcu, get a couple sales, which trickle in, which is great. And I love how you said like, yeah, it was difficult. It wasn't always. Super easy. It was a lot of iterations. It was a lot of going back, which I wanna talk about. But before we get there, just to show people what's truly possible, then we'll kind of dive into like the roadblocks and challenges and speed bumps along the way.
[00:09:28] But tell me now, what is your Etsy shop like? How many sales do you have? How many reviews do you have? How often do you get orders? Bring us into that world that you live in now.
[00:09:39] Daisy Betance: It's completely shifted. 5000000% shifted? Um, pretty much, well, I'll go back a little bit. So we did probably miss, you know, sorry if I'm wrong.
[00:09:52] I think like six to eight months of work mm-hmm. On that. And switching things, switching keywords, switching, [00:10:00] um taglines, switching pictures. And so it was a lot of back and forth and. It was a little frustrating at times where, you know, we were putting all this effort, energy into it and I wasn't seeing much, but I was like, ok, I'm gonna keep trusting.
[00:10:16] Just keep trusting. And then finally, um, it was Black Friday and sales shot up from it felt like nowhere. I went from a few sales here and there to i, I, I think I maybe had a hundred maybe around that time and, Now where I'm at now, we're at almost at 600 sales, which has been absolutely mind boggling. And between Black Friday and today, there's only one day.
[00:10:49] The whole time that I did not
[00:10:50] Monica Little: receive an order that is so incredible. And just to give context, today is end of February, so Black Friday was end of November, so to December, to [00:11:00] January to February. That's like three solid months of having at least one sale every single day. That is insane. And that's also exciting because January and February are usually like slow months.
[00:11:13] So it's not just that you had this awesome holiday season, but it kind of ramped up. You got a lot of exposure, you got a ton of sales, and now Etsy is carrying you into the new year, normal slow season for a lot of people, and you are just killing it and crushing it and continuing to get orders that come in.
[00:11:30] So how does that feel like, tell me more about it. How does it feel? I know you said you loved hearing the cha-ching on your phone when it comes in. Tell me, tell me all about that.
[00:11:38] Daisy Betance: Yeah, I mean, it, it's been such a game changer for my business hire, run my business in like January, throughout the almost five years that I've been in business has always been like the most dead month of the year.
[00:11:51] Like I would say like January to March, April, or pretty much nonexistent and. January was my best. [00:12:00] Even better than November, December. Yeah. Which was
[00:12:02] Monica Little: absolutely mind blowing. And how much in sales did you have? In January? It was almost 10,000. 10,000. Yeah. And in January, good chunk of that was Etsy, right?
[00:12:11] Not all of it, but a big chunk of it was Etsy, right.
[00:12:15] Daisy Betance: I would say more than half. Yeah.
[00:12:19] Monica Little: Which is just incredible and so exciting to hear. So tell me a little bit more in terms of looking back now. So, I mean, you're right. We spent six to eight months going back, revisiting, adjusting, changing, and that's a lot of the nature of Etsy, right?
[00:12:36] It's not just one thing that needs to be fixed. It's not one thing that. Needs to be updated. It's like, I need to do this comprehensive. Go through this program, make the changes continue to tweak, continue to test, continue to evolve, but then once you get it, It's like bam, smooth sailing. Like you said, sales kind of came outta nowhere.
[00:12:54] So looking back, if someone is stuck in that phase right now where they're making changes, maybe they're [00:13:00] feeling discouraged, like you said, even you were frustrated during that because it's a lot of work without any results to solidify or verify what you're doing. But if someone's stuck in that state right now, what advice would you give them coming from someone who's been there and has overcome some of those hurdles
[00:13:16] Daisy Betance: to not.
[00:13:18] I, I mean, at the end of the day, I would do working six to eight months again on Etsy to never have to go back to where I was before working five to seven markets a day, or I'm sorry, a week. Mm-hmm. And it's, it's given me back my life again. So it's totally worth it a million times
[00:13:38] Monica Little: over again. Yeah. Tell me more about how it's given you back your life.
[00:13:41] What does that mean? So,
[00:13:43] Daisy Betance: um, I, prior to. Working with you and, and bringing Etsy back on. I was working five to seven markets a week, and I was missing out on time with my family. I was missing out on time with like friends on life, and I realized that's not what I went into business for because [00:14:00] I went into business to have freedom and Etsy has brought me back that freedom where now I have staff, I have the ability to have someone come and make products.
[00:14:10] I have someone. To come in and fulfill those orders with someone who's packing. And it was crazy because there were moments where I would get those orders and I would get mad because I'm like, I don't even have time to pack these orders, and when am I gonna pack these orders? I was up packing orders until like 12 o'clock, one o'clock in the morning, and I was tired.
[00:14:30] I was making mistakes. And I realized that energetically I was blocking myself from more orders because I didn't have the foundations in in place. And bringing on Etsy that brought in that more consistent income and more of like a passive income that allowed, allowed me to actually get the staff to bring.
[00:14:52] To in order to like get me back that freedom again. Yeah. It's, it's been absolutely incredible. And even the, that [00:15:00] one day that I didn't get sales, I just realized not only are you teaching us strategy right, with Etsy and how to do it, but also mindset. Mm-hmm. And, and that is, What was really huge, even in that one day, I'm like, what happened here?
[00:15:16] Like I, we were doing great and I haven't changed anything, like what happened And when I started to kinda like pity party for myself, that one day that sales coming in, I decided to switch my mindset. I'm like, I'm not gonna do this. I'm gonna listen to some podcasts that you recommended. And the next day came right back again, order started flowing and.
[00:15:39] It just flowed again. So it's, it's just really interesting on how important it is to maintain your energy of trust. Mm-hmm. And I think that's been something that I've really learned a lot with you is trusting and, and sometimes you might not see the results today, tomorrow, next week, but being [00:16:00] consistent, showing up, which is something that you tell us every day and really doing.
[00:16:07] Is is the part that really helped me get over those. Hum. When I let see her creep in. Yeah,
[00:16:15] Monica Little: I think that's so beautifully said because especially with something like Etsy, it's, and honestly with anything in running a small business, product-based business, like it's never gonna be instant. Right. And a lot of it is spending so much time, time right now on the foundation, on the fundamentals, on the description, on the photos, on the tags, on the title stuff that's not fun, but also usually doesn't lead to instant results.
[00:16:37] So it's not only. A matter of doing the work. But exactly like you said, it's maintaining the energy. It's knowing I'm doing this for a reason. It's knowing I'm in it for the long run. It's knowing I believe this is gonna work in some specific way. So even if it's not working today, right now, right this hour, I have this belief and this vision of.
[00:16:56] Something larger of how this is gonna fit into my business of how I'm [00:17:00] gonna get my freedom back exactly like you said. So talk to me a little bit about how your weekends look now. I know you said you were doing a ton of markets, you were, didn't have the freedom now. You really worked on passive income at sea, getting consistent sales.
[00:17:13] What does just your day-to-day or your weekend look like nowadays?
[00:17:17] Daisy Betance: Well, very, very different. For one, I moved, um, to somewhere where I could actually enjoy nature more and. My weekends are now of me either traveling or going out and being in nature, hiking and not ever thinking about markets anymore. And in fact, someone reached out to me recently like, oh, there's this really great market and I thought you'd be great there.
[00:17:43] And I'm like, thank you. I really appreciate it. But that's not no longer, you know where I'm putting my time and energy into. Yeah. Although they're great, um, you know, markets were great. They, they helped me grow my business. But for, if you really want to grow [00:18:00] your business and you know, and thrive, you have to change the way you run your business.
[00:18:06] And I feel like that's where Etsy has been a game changer where I could be sitting and, you know, whatever I'm doing in life and money is coming in and, and hearing that little touching ching on my phone. It is so exciting now because now I actually, I do get to do a happy dance when I hear them because I know that it's gonna be taken care of because I have put in the foundations and the structure and the team to go in there and take care of those things.
[00:18:34] Yeah.
[00:18:35] Monica Little: Oh my gosh, I love it. It's such a beautiful story and so inspiring. Absolutely. Love it. So, speaking of mindset, I wanna circle back to just a couple things that you said. So I know before you mentioned. You heard a lot about how Etsy takes a lot of fees and how it's very saturated. So now what is your viewpoint on those two components about Etsy?
[00:18:54] Just talk me through how you think of that from the perspective you're at right now. Well, in regards [00:19:00] to fees,
[00:19:01] Daisy Betance: I've realized you're gonna be getting charged fees on any. Platform, whether it be on your website, you're, maybe they're not as high, but also Etsy is bringing you to a whole new world of customers that you would never have had access to prior, and maybe you would be going out there working those markets.
[00:19:21] And markets are not free that you have to pay table fees. And at the end of the day you have to think like if, if I'm paying a hundred dollars to go to a market and I'm there for six to eight, How much of that's coming out of what people are buying anyway at that moment in time. So, and then not only that, if you take care of those customers at that time, they can continuously buy from you or shift 'em over to your website.
[00:19:51] Yeah. So that's one area. And then
[00:19:55] Monica Little: what about in terms of like Etsy being saturated and what's your view on that now? Thank you. Um,
[00:19:59] Daisy Betance: [00:20:00] so saturated, I think there was a quote that you actually mentioned that there, there are like a million people who make soap and there are people who maybe make candles.
[00:20:09] However, there are very few people who actually know how to use Etsy properly and how to use proper tags, how to use a proper, um, The, the taglines, the, the titles, the pictures. Um, not only that, you know, following up with your customers who are already purchasing things and thinking and sending them coupons for reviews and, and like the follow up at that.
[00:20:35] Takes a lot of people are not gonna do that. And actually, I was having a conversation with someone yesterday and they're like, oh wow, you do all of that. Like they're, I just put my stuff on and hope it sells. I'm like, yeah,
[00:20:48] Monica Little: no, doesn't work if you just hope it sells right. You have to do all the work.
[00:20:52] Daisy Betance: You have to, there's a lot of strategy and creating those foundations, which [00:21:00] is what gets.
[00:21:01] There.
[00:21:02] Monica Little: Yeah. And it's just about putting in the time, like that's what separates you because Exactly like you just said, so many people put their products on there, expect to get sales, and then they don't get sales, and they're like, this doesn't work well, it's not that this doesn't work, it's just that you haven't put in the time energy for the people that you're comparing yourself to.
[00:21:19] Right. The people you're comparing yourself to, if you look at Daisy Shop with 600 sales, that has just blown up in the last few months. Yeah. She put her, she had skin in the game. She put in the time she put in the energy, and now it's happening. So it's just a matter of putting in that dedication and commitment.
[00:21:35] And it might take some time, but you mentioned also like repeat customers. So talk to me about that, because not only are you getting in front of more customers from putting in the time and the energy, People love your products, leave you amazing reviews, come back for more. So just tell us more about that side of things too.
[00:21:53] Daisy Betance: Yeah, I mean, and going back and just seeing the review. So now we have almost, I think almost at 200 reviews now, which is [00:22:00] incredible. But one of the things that I've learned within Etsy is to create, to create that experience of something special in, in unique. Because if someone really wanted something that.
[00:22:16] Get quickly, they could just go to, you know, Amazon. But what they're going to is Etsy to get, have that special experience. So working with you, I've learned how to create more of that curated experience with our packaging, with a handwritten notes, um, including samples of different products at like smaller sizes.
[00:22:33] So then people have an, an opportunity to try different products that they wouldn't have had a chance to before. And I think that's also allow. People to really appreciate the, the time and energy and effort that we'd go into, um, packaging their orders. So that creates that wonderful experience if they actually do wanna come back, which has been huge.
[00:22:55] Cause prior, I don't, I don't think I ever put any really effort [00:23:00] into packaging. I'm just like, oh, they're just gonna open it and it's fine. Um, and so creating that. Extra special experience has really
[00:23:09] Monica Little: helped as well. Yeah. And now you just get repeat purchases. I know you say you have customers that come back and buy like $200 worth of stuff.
[00:23:17] They try one of your soap samples and they come back and buy the gift that's full of soaps. So I mean it's, it totally is this, this overarching strategy and this putting the customer first when they do get, in order to get them to come back, to get them to fall in love with your brand, to get them to share with their friends and family, and then they get hooked too.
[00:23:36] And it turns into this really beautiful passive income, money-making machine. So do you feel like, in terms of passive income, has Etsy been like critical to that? For you to make money without effort for you to get sales, to wake up with sales on your phone, has Etsy been a critical part of that equation for you?
[00:23:53] Daisy Betance: Absolutely. Like this morning I woke up to over her lodge with the sales. Oh my gosh. Sounds like, oh, that's fun. [00:24:00] That's amazing.
[00:24:00] Monica Little: Just while you're sleeping, orders are coming in. I know.
[00:24:03] Daisy Betance: It's, it's actually fun cause to, to wake up and see that I'm making money, because before I had to go out there and work.
[00:24:14] Not that now, I didn't put in the work, but I put in the work and now all those orders are coming in. It's good fruits of my labor of everything that I did. And so it's, it's such an incredible experience to know that I. Out enjoying life and still having money come in. Mm-hmm. So that's, that's been. That's been absolutely huge for
[00:24:35] Monica Little: me.
[00:24:35] Oh my gosh, I love it. Well, I'm so glad that you were here to share your story because I know that, you know, we spent time on Etsy and I know it wasn't always the most, you know, exciting because it does take. Retesting and retrying and really working to figure it out. But I know your story is gonna inspire so many people to not give up because where you are now with passive income orders [00:25:00] coming in when you sleep 600 sales on Etsy, it being like 50% of your $10,000 month in January.
[00:25:06] Etsy being such a big component of your passive income that helps you to have the lifestyle that you have now of weekends off traveling, being outdoors, hanging. Family. Um, I, that is just such an inspiring story and that's why I was just so excited to have you come on and specifically talk about Etsy.
[00:25:23] Um, before we wrap up, two questions. Number one, um, let us know your Instagram and your website so people can see the amazing products that you sell and fall in love with them like I have and so many other people have. So where can people find you? Uh, at Little Buddha by
[00:25:39] Daisy Betance: Daisy is my Instagram handle and my website.
[00:25:44] Little Buddha by
[00:25:44] Monica Little: daisy.com. Cool. And then on Etsy is your, what's your shop name? Is it also Little Buddha by Daisy on Etsy? Yes. Mm-hmm. Okay, beautiful. So people can check out your awesome reviews and how you've created your Etsy shop into this awesome passive income moneymaking machine. [00:26:00] Um, and with that last question I wanted to ask you just any, any final feedback.
[00:26:03] I know you've given such great information through this conversation, but anything else that you would mention to anyone who's on the Etsy journey at this point in. I mean, I know I
[00:26:15] Daisy Betance: had mentioned to not give up earlier, but I really mean it. Yeah. It has completely transformed how I run my business and it, it, although it might be some work in the beginning, it is totally worth it.
[00:26:30] And to just keep on going because I think we all went into this, uh, business of making, because we have a passion for what we do. We wanna continue to grow that passion and have that freedom. So I feel like Etsy has actually allowed that to really happen.
[00:26:51] Monica Little: Awesome. I love it. Well thank you so much Daisy.
[00:26:54] So nice chatting with you here in your story. Um, and I'll make sure to link your shop, your [00:27:00] Instagram so people can follow along. But thank you. Thank you so, so much for chatting with me today.
[00:27:04] Daisy Betance: Thank you. And thank you Monica, for bringing this
[00:27:08] Monica Little: all
[00:27:09] Daisy Betance: to me and to everyone else. So
[00:27:11] Monica Little: thank you so much. Oh my gosh, you were so welcome.
[00:27:13] We'll chat soon.
