Christina's 12k/Month POD Business 🔥 (She started in 2021!)

if you are new to selling print on demand on Etsy or if you've been selling for a few months and are just not seeing the results that you want then you are going to love this interview that I did with my new friend Christina she is actually a digital Nomad currently living in Bali after starting hero print on demand journey in 2021 and now gets to do print on demand full time and it didn't start off easy for her either it took a few months for her to start getting sales and in this interview she shares all of her tips and tricks and what she thinks made the difference to get her those consistent sales so stay tuned all the way until the end to get all of her great tips and say hello to Christina hello Christina how are you today hello I am doing really good it's the morning for me and yeah I don't know if I can see but I've got lots of sun today and it's like 35 degrees oh my goodness that's so wonderful if you can tell it's night time where I am in the Eastern time zone of the US it's 10 o'clock at night we just got eight inches of snow but Christine is over there in Bali making us all jealous so excited to hear how you get to be in Bali because of your print on demand Journey so I think that actually starts us off at a perfect place because your story is just so inspiring where you started and where you are now and what you've been able to build and do with your time because of it so I think everyone is dying to know Christina why don't you tell us a little bit about your story and how you actually got started and when you got started with print on demand yeah I feel like I've always wanted to make like an income by myself but I feel like they're like big rid of it kind of started in 2020 when we all had to go home and work for ourselves and that was the time I was like hey I've got to do something so I can at least leave this feeling a little bit better than I came in topics to say Alone um 24 7. I thought it would maybe be three months not two years but I remember thinking like okay I've got one more month to learn a skill so I started with Drop Shipping trying to learn how to drop I think I did like three stores because people said sometimes it might just be the product that wasn't good and then I got one and I got a few sales and like I remember that was like oh I can make money online I'm doing great and then I had to refund every single one of them because the product was horrible and I was just getting like destroyed in my emails and then that was probably my first experience of like oh my goodness I can't just sell anything um yeah that one hurt that one cost me probably a few hundred because I had spent probably like a few hundred ads a few hundred for the product the refunds the website um no I'm so glad that that wasn't like discouraging for you to stop trying trying with e-commerce oh my gosh I really could see a lot of people that just completely turning them off and be like well I tried it but obviously you kept going because here you are now so yeah it did stop me for a little bit I had tried a few other things I've been tried digital marketing because that's what I was doing for my job um so I tried offering services on Fiverr and then my work found out and apparently that broke the non-compete Clause so that I was forced to shut that one down embarrassingly and then so I was like okay maybe the side hustles are not what I should be focusing on right now so I started learning just how to draw so I was just like something I always wanted to do so I had enough time so I started drawing in a notebook and then my boyfriend now fiance bought me an iPad because I had talked about how much I wanted to learn how to like draw online so then I could erase things so I started drawing and then I started doing portraits for people like doing Pet Portraits I and like people portraits just for like friends and family and then I started putting them on Etsy and that was kind of my first experience on Etsy and that one actually was my first actual Taste of making some money on the side um I think my first month I made like 300 and then it like slowly grew and when was this this was probably I think this was summer of 2020. okay so back then there wasn't that many people doing the portraits but the problem is I was still working my nine to five and then kind of what happened was I got an influx of orders and I had promise I think people like a week turnaround but I was also working my nine to five and then I was also at the same time having to lower my prices because more and more people were kind of like getting on Etsy at that time to do the portraits so at that time it just like kind of hit an end where it was like I do not have the time to do this I was charging like 35 for a portrait and but it was taking me an hour to to do them yeah so after a while I was like okay I'm making my own money but I am like burnt out I am working so much like on top of like my nine to five and stuff so that one kind of like slowly died off um I ended up closing that store but I was like I already know Etsy at least so I remember looking up like different things that I could sell on Etsy on YouTube and I know you said you found out about Prince of the man through life hacker couple yeah that's the first video I ever saw was the life hacker couple uh they've got a great YouTube channel if anyone that's watching hasn't seen it uh they don't post a ton anymore but yeah they were exactly who got me into it too exactly and I think back when I was looking that's when they were at their height of posting as well I know I was seeing new episodes coming out from them so I was like oh this sounds great like okay I can still do Etsy because I kind of already know Etsy and I've like I really believed in Etsy since I could already see the power of like the getting the digital portraits at least so I had the faith in Etsy I just needed the product and I'd already been practicing like drawing playing on procreate canva and stuff so I already knew the design platforms I wasn't like a graphic designer by any means but you knew how to use the software so you're like this kind of seems like it matches up with the skills you already have so it seemed like a perfect fit so when did you actually get started with print on demand then so I think I I think I opened my store in February 2021 but I didn't really work on it I think I listed like a few things and then I think March 2021 is what I started like adding a few more things I think maybe had like 50 listings I honestly wasn't going like too crazy on it but then I remember I think it was five weeks after starting my store is when I got like the first like cha-ching I made an order yeah yeah I remember I was like wow that's really really cool and I don't know about you but when you got your first sale if it was like this is it now this is my life now I've seen it work one so I went like hard in designing yeah I know it was really similar for me I got my first sale and then got suspended though for a month the same day for a month a whole month because it was the you know pandemic when I started and so Etsy wasn't getting back to people to give their shops back quite as fast so heads Uptown started their shop sometimes they suspend people on accident and you just ask them to reopen it and they do nowadays it's a few days but I was the same way I tried starting my own website and made like 50 designs in the month that I was off but I was so glad to be back on Etsy because building your own websites really hard so it's a lot and like driving traffic is so much work too like I worked in digital marketing and I was like I do not want to be doing ads on my off time as well so Etsy driving the traffic for free was like always my huge selling point on using Etsy yeah for sure so then you started listing a bunch more on there after you'd gotten your first sale yep and then yeah I was supposed listing I think I started making like I think it was at like 300 profit for a few months and I honestly wasn't going like I was adding to my store and getting better as you know like when you first start your listings are really really really bad yeah I looked at them later I was like oh what was I thinking and then I remember in October 2021 the Funny Kick behind my major adding to my store was I got in trouble at work I was still I still argue to this day that I was right um but I was I was new at this job and they were a little harsher than I was used to and I got in trouble and I remember being so angry and I was like I'm still right but I couldn't fight back because it was against the higher-ups again still arguing that it was right yeah and then I used that as like I was so mad I remember sitting there for like a week and I was like I am going to quit this job I'm doing anything on the store to make it work I remember that week like every hour I could I was just adding to my store and then I think combined with that that was October so like the start of Q4 sales were like and then like just kicked off and then I think November and December I made about 12K profit each month wow so all of a sudden you made like three 300 dollars for all of your first months combined and then two months in a row Bam Bam 12 Grand profit not Revenue that's what you can actually take home and keep do you know what your Revenue was for 2021 by chance I would need to go look at it even back then it was little I think I was at like 33 profit when I had calculated so whatever the quick math on that is yeah yeah no I was just curious so no that's super exciting I know my first November I had a Skyrocket in sales and then I was absolutely hooked so it sounds like it was the same for you because you kept going and had a super successful 2022. yeah so my whole thing was like in 2021 like I knew Q4 based on like things I've learned and I have a few friends in e-commerce who are like okay you did great in Q4 great but that does not mean January and February or going to be like you're going to be able to quit your job so I like remember I wrote down on like my vision board I was like if I can make at least 10 sales a day in January February then I can quit my job because that was like an enough profit to like just be making around what I was making in my nine to five and yeah I kept up with about 15 to 20 sales January and February each day oh well so let's stop there for one quick second because I think there's a lot of value in there do you have any tips of why you think all of a sudden your sales started skyrocketing because I think a lot of people watching have had that same moment at work like you know what I hate it here I'm gonna make it on print on demand and some people don't figure it out as fast as you did do you have any advice of what you did so well in October or November that got you that kind of first initial Skyrocket of sales it's kind of opposite of I think where your top seller came in your first year but for me I didn't do any holiday sales like I didn't do any Christmas products no Thanksgiving products because I was like what do people as a new person I looked in every single store was selling Christmas products but I knew like I don't buy for me personally I don't I would never buy a Christmas themed shirt but I buy a lot of gifts for people and as gifts people are not buying Christmas products if I got a Christmas product to open for Christmas I would be upset because Christmas is done right so I think it was like building up Evergreen and then I think that's the exact reason I was still able to make sales in January February because instead of getting the algorithm boost for Holiday products which then completely just stopped selling after Christmas they had the algorithm boost but they still had their chances to sell in January February because they weren't tied to a holiday they were like Hobby and other products so I think that was my really big thing is trying not to compete on holidays and instead I really focused on niches that I really really love I can say an early one that sold a lot I don't do it anymore but one of my first bestsellers was breath work I'm super into breath work and Ice baths oh interesting yeah so that was like one of my first one I was like I see no one else doing this really on Etsy because it's so specific but everyone I know who is into it is like very into it oh that's cool so definitely take a note if there's something you are passionate about there probably is other people that are passionate about it too and there may not be a ton of things for sale for that online so that's really really good advice that's fun and definitely be on evergreens and just in case anyone watching doesn't know what an evergreen is an evergreen Niche is just something that could sell all year round so take like a mom shirt for example could sell in any month of the year as opposed to like a Christmas themed shirt and so you're giving making items that are like good gifts to give for people for their passions probably different Hobbies or professions or you know all those types of things it sounds like is the type of category so that's amazing so sales kind of started keeping going in January and February and then when did you actually end up quitting your job then because it sounds like you don't work there anymore yep so it's actually the end of February that I quit so I did do the I told myself I would stick for January February it's funny because I was on a little trip to Mexico with some friends and they actually all work for themselves I'm lucky to have like a very big network of people who have their own businesses who are like super inspiring so I was the only one in the house during our trip that worked in nine to five and the whole time they're like you're making more money like why don't you quit imagine if you spent like your nine to five hours working on your store if you're already making more money on your store imagine if you could spend seven eight more hours on it a day and so I think it was the last day of my trip I called work and told them that I was done that was I remember being so nervous I kept pushing it off I was like I'm not gonna do it and then I was about to get a really really big project so like I went into the project meeting with my boss and he was about to tell me and I was like um before you give me all the instructions I'm leaving oh my gosh that had to have felt so good especially because you were like having you know issues and didn't want to be there so we what a powerful moment so you really were only making money at your print on demand business what like you know mostly November December January February so like four months into making more than you make you're like you know what I'm gonna take a chance and I know I can make even more if I just keep focusing on that so that takes a lot of Bravery that's amazing that's so cool so then what happened so yeah then with my story I just like kept kind of growing and learning and it's so funny when you look like some of my best days that I thought that I hit in like November December I thought I would never hit again and then moving into 2022 it was when I really started like one understanding what my niches were what products for me were selling the best and yeah I kind of just like even on the slower months and then I was hitting what I was hitting sometimes in the holiday months of 2021 so yeah 2022 was amazing in terms especially like Q4 but I was able to keep it up up for me some of my best sellers have always been sweatshirts so I did have a little bit of a lull during summer months which was like sad but I feel like people are always buying like sweatshirts and stuff and I oh I have I put everything on t-shirts as well so it's it's still sold but yeah in the winter months or where I really see the results wow no that makes a ton of sense I've had a lot of luck with sweatshirts as well partially because I do a lot of holiday stuff like Thanksgiving Christmas that type of thing but I think yeah I I sell more sweatshirts every year than t-shirts but I put the designs on both too so that makes a ton of sense so let's try and take some actionable tips because I think as inspiring as your story is I know everyone watching wants to figure out how they can replicate it too so when you quit your job in February and you for four months we're making more money than you made at your normal job do you have any idea how many listings that you had at that time at my Peak I had about I think only eight 800 listings was I think my Peak listings and it's actually gone down now because I turned off a lot of my oldest listings that are like I can see those are never going to sell I think I'm at like 700 now but my goal I'm right now back in like a major re-adding spree to get to a thousand yeah and I think that's something important to remember because over the almost three years now that I've been selling I've done thousands of listings just trying different styles trying different niches and then when you find what works you just capitalize on it and do more of it and it sounds like that's a lot of what you've done once you've done well in a niche then you make a lot more designs for it added to other products yeah exactly yeah once I have the best seller I'm putting on like the sweatshirts I've started with adding tote bags I feel like hoodies are getting really popular right now so I've been trying to add some more things to hoodies as well but yeah that's exactly it when I find something that's working I'm like okay we're gonna be focusing on that for like the next two weeks and getting as much similar product as possible right instead of competing with a bunch of other are sellers why not compete with yourself at the same design to other items make different versions of the designs I definitely do the same thing so I know it's easy to look at Christina's story and be like oh well she just got lucky or you know something but she really it sounds like you had to do the work you had to do hundreds and hundreds of listings we try lots of different things and I know that sometimes people on the internet sell that this is like a a quick get rich quick business and it might seem that way but it is a lot of work not to say that it's hard right it's a lot easier than you know a lot of other types of things you can do but you do have to put that time in and that effort to get a little bit better with every listing you do so you can look back you're like oh those first ones are terrible but look at all the money I'm making now exactly that's why I do tell people like you have to actually enjoy this to make it work because it's not like do two things it's a lot of Designing and listing and if you hate the process then you're not going to be successful like I've had so many friends like even my fiance was like should I start a print on demand store and I'm like would you like it and he's like no but then don't do it like no then you should not do it that's funny yeah I feel like you never know until you try I know that when I first got started no one I know wanted to do it with me they didn't see the potential which is fine they didn't watch all the YouTube videos but then I remember the first month that I made like four grand profit one of my sisters was like okay what is this all about and she hasn't taken it quite as seriously but one of my sisters I think just hit about 4 000 sales in her store since starting and then about two years into me selling on print on demand and now I've sold like 700k my other sister was like okay maybe I should do it you know yeah 700 sales after just getting started in the last couple of months and she doesn't spend a ton of time on it because she's still working full-time but you know I think sometimes people like don't think they like it until they see how much money you can really make at it eventually that's true maybe I would like it if I get paid money for it yeah exactly my sister just started her store as well and I think she stayed around like 200 Sales but she adds like one thing every two weeks so she's like very very slowly growing it as well but yeah she started seeing the results slowly I think she was extra inspired because she came to join me here in Bali for a little bit and now she's like I'm out of work online as well you could do it that's amazing well I think that's one of the biggest benefits to print on demand too is that you don't it's not all or nothing you know you can do a ton on it one week not touch it for two months you know I know some people who have stopped doing it for six months or a year and then get back into it and keep going with it and make sales and so it really is there waiting for you in the amount of time that you have to give to it you know if you can only give you know an hour a week sure it's not going to grow as fast as you want but you're still building towards your own business and passive income well semi-passive obviously there's still customer service but you know once you do all the work and how all your listings up you know I haven't put up a new listing in my store in months and I still get money every single day so that's awesome it eventually gets a little bit more passive you know yeah big enough I've actually hired a VA to do my customer service now because I realized customer service was just not my like favorite thing so I started with a VA this year that's been amazing any tips on the VA because I've been a little bit scared to have someone give like give them access to my apps you know account any tips on where you got them and finding someone to trust yeah I think it was um online jobs dot pH um so she's from the Philippines and I did through four different rounds of testing like an English test um a customer service how you would respond tests a logic test and then the final interview so I think I had like 500 applicants and brought it down to like three interviews and then went from there and to be able to trust her I did it like we signed contracts like confidentiality contracts and tried to remind myself like when I worked at nine to five I definitely had information that I had to be trusted with I was like to do this I have to find someone like trustworthy and it was definitely scary I think I'm I'm so lucky she is fantastic super sweet super kind I might meet up with her during this trip since I'm not too far away but yeah it's just like different rounds of testing and that's pretty much it if you ever needed some like tips I can write down my process as well I actually had one of my friends like I said I'm very lucky to have people who have their own businesses he's got a team of 20. so wow he worked with me to create like the questionnaires and work on like this filtering down and then even like went through how to train her um with me so that was extremely lucky wow well and I don't know if I've mentioned it yet I'll probably add it to the intro but Christina does have her own YouTube channel see you online and so that might be some great YouTube content to make because I'm sure a lot of people sitting at home are like well I would like a VA so definitely would love to hear more about that for sure now here we're sitting in 2023 you've been doing print on demand for about a year and a half pretty seriously then if you started in October of 2021 and how many sales have you actually got on in that time yep so I'm just shy of 10 500 sales so it's not as crazy as like um like crazy people but it's been and like I'm still way making more than my nine to five with X I think some people don't realize how much money is in a few thousand sales right right and you know it's not like you know if you want to make millions of dollars with print on demand you're going to be sorely disappointed that takes so many years to build up the momentum and get the compound interest of every year of all the niches you know I think that's an eventual goal that you could probably reach but just like any big business you're not going to build that overnight that's not how it works you have to build a sustainable business and if you make you know a reasonable income at your job you know thirty thousand to eighty thousand dollars a year in your salary or your income being able to replace that with print on demand like you said could be 10 to 12 you know 10 to 15 shirts a day is all you need to sell if you're selling maybe ten dollars profit per item to be able to fully replace that income so so when you kind of break it down like that I feel like it feels a lot more attainable yeah exactly and I tell people just how like if you tip I feel like it's probably your charts too like it's so compounding like you said the beginning is very slow but just one sale can start equaling three sales can start equaling of five sales because you're just constantly like ranking higher finding new best sellers adding more so I just love that about this as well that is like I never want to stop because you just know how much each new listing could possibly bring you in the future I've had one recently start selling last week that had been listed for like four months never sold and then suddenly it's just started selling every day oh awesome cool that's amazing I love that it really can compound and roll like that so I think that's super inspiring I think your story is amazing it really took a lot of grit and a lot of trust in yourself to say hey I know that I'm going to be trusted with the time and if I put eight hours in a day instead of going to my regular job that I can make the this happen and not have to go back and I think that's so cool so any other big advice that you'd give to someone who's maybe not seeing the results that they want on Etsy right now of things that you really have honed in and worked on that you think are getting you those consistent sales now I think for sure working on I kind of mentioned it earlier but like super specific niches one of my students we actually went over their store and I did not understand what they were selling at all there was like t-shirts that had like a joke about a career I never heard of a career I did not understand the inside jokes of it but on their first month they were already making 30 sales and then they were one of the fastest growing stores I'd seen just because people who were not inside that Niche could not design for it they had no clue what the inside jokes were so I feel like the closer you are to a niche and the more you can create products for that Niche that maybe other people can't compete with they can't copy you because they have no clue what you mean but the people in that nature are super passionate about it and they feel like wow this shirt was made for me because it's so specific and I think as beginners that's the best way to go I see so many beginners start with just a nurse shirt and a teacher shirt and a positivity shirt which a lot of people start with think the more creative you can be when you first start the better now I think that's really really good advice niching down combining different niches together are great ways to make more money and there's a lot of money to be made in nurses and teachers and positivity but if you're just getting started and you're not good at designing and you don't understand SEO and you don't understand mock-ups then it's harder to compete with the people who already know what they're doing so I think that's super super good advice and I really appreciate you coming on here today with us Christina to share your story I think it's just demanding me so inspiring so definitely everyone go down to the link in the description and subscribe to Christina's channel so you can follow along with her while she travels across the world as a digital film ad well I'm here 10 inches of snow definitely I'll be jealous when you're on your cruises so it's okay yeah yes I will send you pictures while I'm on my cruise then you'll be jealous now yes all right well it was so nice to meet you and you have a great rest of your day all right thank you so much we'll talk soon bye foreign [Music]

Channel: Cassiy Johnson

Views: 48,807

Keywords: etsy interview, etsy success story, etsy print on demand, print on demand etsy, printify print on demand, printify and etsy, how to sell on etsy, selling on etsy for beginners, how to start an etsy shop, how to sell print on demand, how to sell t-shirts online, etsy shop for beginners, etsy pod, etsy dropshipping, selling on etsy, etsy shop

Id: iILYKoJEEHU

Length: 26min 28sec (1588 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 21 2023