In my previous blog, I was on a hunt for a hobby.  It turned out I’m pretty creative with small crafty projects.  So, these past few weeks, I have been busy with making coasters out of travertine tiles.

Needless to say, I now have more coasters than glasses …but I was quite enjoying myself especially when the coaster actually turns out pretty well!  So, the number of coasters continued to climb…

This is where Etsy comes in..

Someone tells me “sell it on Etsy.  Pretty cheap to put up a store, no pressure if it doesn’t sell….”

Ok. I’m intrigued…

I went on the Etsy website and read through the small print (what can be sold, fees, etc.)  Not too difficult so I plow on.  I finally made the leap and signed up to open the store.

This is where my experience goes a little off track…

“How are you going to get paid?”

The site suggested PayPal, specifically a business PayPal account.  So, I had to open a PayPal account.  It took me a few days to finally open the account since I had to go through the fine print about fees, transfers between accounts, etc.  I had to make sure signing up was risk free.

After figuring out how I would get paid (in the event that someone actually buys my coasters), I was finally ready to post pictures of my coasters.

However, I hit a snag again. All the other sellers had professional looking pictures…pictures so simple yet so elegant.  The lighting was perfect, the background was perfect, the pictures were perfect.

So, it took me another week to learn how to take pictures.  I experimented on lighting, different backgrounds, different angles….until my picture was perfect.

Armed with pictures that I would be proud to say could rival other Etsy sellers’, I was finally ready to upload my pictures.

Surprisingly, the uploading part went smoothly and uneventful!

However, the write up about the pictures was not so seamless.  I looked at my coasters and tried to remember what inspired me to make it.  Turns out,  writing a bland and to the point product information is harder than it sounds.  It felt too cold, too sterile, too impersonal….

As words did not come easily, I tried to look at other seller’s description to get some inspiration.  After finding some of them so bland, I decided to take a break…. get some strong coffee, maybe a snack…..

Well, the break lasted about another week.

When I finally got to pick it up again, I decided that I will add a more personal touch to my product descriptions.  Unfortunately, I ended up writing more about why the making of the coasters is truly a practice of letting go of perfection…and less about the coaster, what it is made of, what the size is, what materials I had used to make the coaster, etc.

My daughter’s comment was “this is not your blog, Mommy…” And she proceeded to slash and burn sections and pragmatically replaced them with “these are 4″x4″  travertine coasters, conveniently lined with cork, but not dishwasher safe.”

Needless to say, she is one heck of an editor.

…but at least she is not inflexible…so we had a compromise….a little personal touch on inspiration and on the latter part, the product description.

It took me a few more days to press the “open your shop” button.  Not sure why.

Perhaps, I was just tired after all those weeks of working on it or maybe I was too critical of my pictures (are my pictures too bright, too dark, too many or not enough?) or too critical of my tags (could my tags be smarter, better, simpler?)

In short, I was being held hostage by my perfectionist thinking and as a result I was procrastinating.

…procastinating on my Etsy store.

Well, I did overcome that hurdle and finally opened my online store this past week…and I must admit, I am quite proud of what I have accomplished and learned along the way…perfection is a tough taskmaster…making this experience feel more like a root canal…and not an exciting adventure…

And I am excited about this new adventure….

So, anyway, if you are in the market for coasters, check out my Etsy store aptly named Runningmuffins…..

<https://www.etsy.com/shop/Runningsmuffins?ref=s2-header-shopname>

“…They are 4″x4″ travertine coasters conveniently lined with cork and inspired by a good friend who spent her 40th birthday in Paris….”

Have a good weekend everyone!

Debbie.

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