Behind the Shop: Issue 01 – The Anonymous Etsy Seller Who Quietly Made $350K in Year One

How did your Etsy journey begin? (And was it intentional?)

Last January (2024), my wife told me she wanted to put a frame on our TV. I had never even heard of such a thing, but I was down to get one! So we started looking online — and all we could find were $700 frames on Amazon. Literally almost as much as the TV itself.

So I figured I’d try making one myself, with a lot of help from YouTube. It took maybe five trips to Home Depot and eight hours of work, but I got it done — and it looked great. I was stoked.

I still remember walking through Home Depot on that fifth trip, thinking about how much I actually enjoyed the whole process. My mind started racing… maybe there was a gap in the market here. Maybe I could fill it.

But the biggest question was: Where would I even sell this?

A few Google searches later, Etsy was the obvious answer.

How did that first listing go? Were you confident — Or just winging it?

I was 0% confident. Haha.

At the time, I was working a tech sales job, and I created the Etsy listing between calls — just going off intuition to write the description, add tags, all that. I hit publish and kind of forgot about it.

Seven days in: zero orders.

Then, on Day 8, I was on a sales call when I got that blessed little Etsy cha-ching — my first sale.

Later that same day… four more.

And just like that, we were off to the races.

Orders kept coming — a few a day, steady. It felt like we really had something. But also, I had no idea how I was going to actually fulfill them. The first frame I built took me basically a full workday to make.

So, naturally, I did what anyone would do…

I quit my job.

After 7 solid days of Etsy orders.

Left a salary, health insurance, and a career I’d been in for a decade. I still can’t believe my wife signed off on it. 😂

TODAY’S WORKSPACE

Live from Greenville, South Carolina

When we sat down for this interview, our guest was posted up on the couch — his son had just gone down for the night, payroll was done, and Arrested Development was playing in the background. A half-eaten Chipotle bowl sat next to the laptop, and somewhere in the house, a paint-stained hoodie was still drying from the day’s shop run. Not glamorous, not curated — just another day trying to keep the orders moving and the lights on.

_____________________________________________________________________

What do you think made your shop take off so quickly?

I don’t think enough Etsy Sellers pay attention to what shows up on Google when it comes to their product category. They are more concerned with the numbers of Etsy sellers they are competing with.

Try this: Google the thing you make. What do the results look like? How competitive is that space? Are the top listings packed with sponsored products from big players, or is there room to break in?

Early on, I realized I could be more strategic by avoiding the oversaturated categories and instead going hard after niches where not many sellers were throwing money at ads. I wasn’t trying to win the prettiest-product competition. I was trying to win visibility.

I figured if I could get in front of even a small slice of search traffic, Etsy would do the rest and help bring me eyeballs.

Were you doing any kind of paid ads early on — or was it all organic?

After about a month, I turned on paid Etsy ads — and honestly, they were a huge reason we sustained the volume we did early on.

A couple weeks in, I was seeing around a 7x return on ad spend. And once I saw that, it was a no-brainer to continue to scale.

It definitely hasn’t stayed that high forever, but when you’re seeing numbers like that you have to push the gas pedal while you can.

Where are things at today — and how has your day-to-day changed?

Man, it’s been a whirlwind.

We’ve expanded our product line to include other wood home decor pieces — fireplace mantels, tables, desks, and a few more in the works. We’ve also been working on diversifying, selling through our own Shopify store and recently launching on Amazon.

Right now, we’re pacing for nearly half a million dollars in sales this year, and we’ve grown to a team of three.

We’ve been really blessed, and a big part of that is thanks to Etsy.

Is this whole thing still fun? Or is it just spreadsheets and sawdust now?

Dear LORD THERE IS SO MUCH SAWDUST.

But yes — I’m having fun again. There was a stretch where I was stuck doing things I didn’t enjoy (and honestly, wasn’t great at) just to keep the business running. It felt like too much to carry on my own. But now, I feel like I’m finally hitting my stride — doing more of what I love, which is pulling growth levers, building the brand, and getting creative with marketing. That’s my zone.

I’ve also had to work on slowing down. I can be way too future-focused, always chasing what’s next. Lately I’ve been trying to stay present to actually enjoy what we’re building today.

Because getting to run your own business — even on the hard days — is a gift. And I never want to lose sight of that.

DAILY STAPLES

'Honey-Do’s Favorites for a Day in the life

▶ Podcast on repeat: My First Million

▶ Current read: ‘Hey Whipple, Squeeze This’ by Luke Sullivan

Help us keep sharing real stories