Homely: from 2 years on Etsy to a store that runs without her

The situation

Sarah had been selling handmade decor on Etsy for almost 2 years. Revenue was fine for a hobby, about $200 a month after fees, but every sale meant packing and shipping a box herself. She'd looked at Shopify twice, felt overwhelmed both times, put it off.

What she brought to the project was a strong aesthetic eye and a small but warm audience: roughly 4,000 Etsy shoppers and 2,200 Instagram followers. What she needed was someone to take the storefront off her plate entirely.

The brief

She gave us one requirement: the store has to look better than anything I could've built myself, or this isn't worth the money.

We picked minimalist home decor. Scandinavian-leaning design, editorial-style photography, mobile-first product pages with each item's visual hero front and centre. 10 products sourced through reliable suppliers so shipping stayed fast. 9 days from kickoff to live store.

The soft launch

Before Sarah switched paid ads on, she sent one email to her existing Etsy and Instagram list. First 20 orders came from that. She didn't spend a dollar on ads until she had 5-star reviews on the hero products, which made the ads measurably cheaper once they went live.

First thirty days

Revenue around $9,800 across 142 orders. Ad spend around $1,900. Estimated profit around $5,750 after supplier costs.

By month two she'd added a small seasonal candle line. By month three, she said the store had made more than her entire 2 years on Etsy combined.

What we'd flag

Sarah didn't make any changes to her store in week one. Most first-time store owners try to rewrite everything in week one. She didn't, and the early conversion data was cleaner for it.

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