1. Introduce your business and tell us your story. How did you begin your business, decide what to sell, and how do you create/source your products? 

Hi, I’m Esther and I am the owner and creator of Quantock Inspiration. I make and sell handmade items, specialising in decoupage bottle crafts.

I live in the Quantock hills in Somerset, UK and the idea formed after becoming rather disillusioned with being a Police officer. I have always enjoyed making things and drawing so I decided it was time for a complete career change. I am lucky that I had such a supportive Husband so I was able to leave my Job and focus on what I wanted to do.

 At first it didn’t occur to me (or even know about) selling platforms. I had created a facebook page, didn’t have the faintest idea what I was doing, but one of my friends saw something in my creations, and suggested I opened an Etsy shop. I like to recycle as many items as I can and like to have a countryside feel to my shop, hence the name ‘Quantock Inspiration’ I opened my shop in May 2019.

At first, I was making all sorts of silly knick knacks and stuff and I didn’t know what I really wanted to focus on – I wanted to make a variety of things!!. I am prepared to admit that I went into it, totally blind and oblivious on what I needed to do to get noticed and make that first precious sale.

As I said before, I like to recycle and some of my original products were made using things that I found on the beach for example – like shells, interesting looking pebbles etc, but then I really got into decoupage. I buy a lot of my materials off of other Etsy sellers, like the napkins and my local craft stores, everything else is recycled. I use old newspapers for packaging for example although I buy my packing boxes brand new. I make and sell lots of different things but my main niche products are my decoupage wine bottle lamps.

After a couple of years selling on Etsy, I decided that it was time to get my own website.

That was a challenge in itself, as I knew NOTHING about building a website so it was all very much trial and error. I could not afford to hire a web builder so I had to learn everything myself and I was also very fortunate to have a close living neighbour who knew a lot about this sort of thing and was a huge help (I am forever grateful Kelly!)

2. What are your favorite items listed in your shop? Why are these your favorite? Are these selling well, if so, why do you think that is the case? Please add links, we’ll feature these products!

I love my Bottle lamps and I am always looking to grow the line that I have. I also love the knitwear that I have created and jewellery. I have such a variety of things, it is hard to pick things out. I sublimate, I print using Pyrograhy too and although I sell these items, it is much less frequent than the bottle crafts. I make sure that the bottles are really unique, I research the market to make sure I am not doing a design similar to someone else’s. I also love my wood slice decoupage coasters, and they sell well.

3. How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your online store?  

It took a couple of months to get my first sale. It was quite something and I panicked!! However, I got the item to the customer and suddenly felt like I had got onto the bottom rung of the ladder. It was slow going – I basically didn’t know anything. I had to learn from scratch. I read every article I could find online and learnt about SEO, and social media marketing. I read lots of books on my kindle every night about selling, starting your own business, marketing strategies, it just went on and on. I also wanted to build my own website too. Talk about running before I could walk! I signed up to Erank (and now Alura) in order to find out more on SEO and improve my shop. It is also good for tracking my competitors. Things really took off during the pandemic. I had more time to devote to it as we couldn’t go anywhere, and everyone took to buying things online. Reviews are everything too, it gives others the confidence in your product so are much more likely to make that purchase if there are some stonking comments attached to it. I also like to give great customer service and build a rapport with my shoppers.

Today I use just about every main social media platform there is and in the early days it was a hard slog, creating the content, posting daily and trying to build up a following. 

Christmas is a particularly busy time for me – everything pretty much takes a back seat at that time of year as it is really full on.

I use Outfy to auto generate posts now as it saves me so much time. I can link all my platforms together, so I don’t have to spend time on each one. Marketing is a full-time job – and I don’t have the full time hours to devote to it. Thankfully I have reached a point where I have regular daily sales, so it is not a disaster if I don’t do any marketing that day.

Occasionally I use Facebook Ads when I think I need a bit of a boost.

4. Tell us about how you manage your shop. Is it only you? What tools and apps do you use to run your store? How do you handle shipping and fulfillment?

I am a one women outfit, so I have to do everything. I make, market and pack/send my own product in my living room. I use my mobile phone for my photography and use the editing suite on my phone to create great images for my listings. I have a 12 year old daughter who needs my time and a small holding with a variety of animals that also require my attention each day so it is great that I can work my job around all of that. Occasionally my daughter likes to earn some extra pocket money so will help me with the packing. I use Royal mail click and drop which is fab. I print my own labels at home onto gummed paper and print my own packing slips. Using click and drop also gives me a tracking code so I can make sure every parcel gets to the recipient – I haven’t had one get lost yet! My local sorting office is only ten minutes away and on the way to my daughter’s school, so I drop all my parcels there daily – they are also open Sunday which is a bonus. The click and drop app also does a collection service but I like to try and do same day posting where and when I can. I use the Shopify inbox app, mainly just to keep track and reply to any customers if I am away from home. I prefer to use my laptop for most of it. I also have the shopify app too so I can keep up to speed if I am away from home.

I never go anywhere without a load of business cards as people are always asking what I do.

Each customer that makes a purchase is sent a discount coupon off of their next purchase. I get a lot of repeat buyers this way. I make sure the abandoned cart email automation is on too that offers a little incentive for them to complete their purchase.

5. What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

I have got to the point where I have plenty of sales to keep my busy. I am satisfied with the income that I have and know that I can increase it easily if I wanted to. But that will come later on, I have to devote time to my family and have a little downtime to myself. I don’t believe in working 12 plus hours everyday. My shop is open 7 days a week as it is and as I mentioned before, the time running up to Christmas from October can be ridiculous. I don’t think I would get overwhelmed if it was like that all year round!

What I would like to achieve though is maybe to expand in the form of being able to employ a person or two – then I think the opportunities would really come into play.

6. What’s your advice for a new seller starting an online store?

My advice to new online sellers is to do your homework first. Learn about SEO, marketing, photography and how to write great descriptions. Understand your target audience. Utilise as many tools as possible that will suit your kind of shop. Read books about online selling and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Maybe if I had done all that before I got going, I would have found it so hard and such a mystery!! 

I am a great believer in ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’.  Once you are creating daily sales at the rate you are happy with – leave your listings alone if they are performing well for you. I believe too much tweaking and fiddling seems to upset the algorithm and can stop the flow altogether. 

It is a hard slog and I have gone back to the beginning a few times now and it has been a huge learning curve. However, it is important not to give up – you will get there and when you do, I can’t describe the rewarding feeling and sense of achievement it gives you.