EP 9. What's Really Stopping You From Starting on Etsy: The Thoughts That Are Holding You Back

That voice in your head that sounds so responsible — the one that says the timing isn't right, the market is too crowded, you don't have the skills or the time — has a name. I call it the Protector voice. And in this episode we are talking about exactly what it has been telling you about starting a print on demand Etsy shop and why almost none of it is actually true.

I'm walking through four of the most common thoughts that keep women from starting — or from keeping going — and what the other voice, the Possibility voice, knows that the Protector doesn't. This one is part mindset, part reality check, and completely honest. Because I believed every single one of these things myself. And I almost let them stop me.

Follow the show: 🎙️ Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Spotify

Have a question for What You're Wondering? Submit it to melissacarroll.co/question

Find me online: Website: melissacarroll.co Instagram: @TheModernEtsySeller

Enjoying the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it helps other sellers find the show and means the world to me.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hey there, and welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller, the podcast where busy women build, grow, and profit on Etsy. I'm your host, Melissa Carroll, a full-time teacher, a busy mom, and an Etsy seller who's built two successful Etsy shops in the small moments of everyday life. Here you'll find simple strategies to reel behind-the-scenes insight and the clarity you need to stop second-guessing and start moving forward, one intentional step at a time. Let's get to it. Hey guys, welcome back. Today I want to talk about that voice in your head that is so good at coming up with all the reasons you shouldn't do something hard or uncomfortable. And I'm not talking about our inner critic, the one that questions our worth or who we are. I'm talking about that voice that can sound responsible and rational, but is oftentimes holding us back from taking a chance. The one that says things like, but the job market is so bad right now, when you start to consider looking for a new job. Or, but with the economy, now's probably not a good time when you start to think about putting money away for your future. Or how am I gonna fit that in? I'm already so busy when you start to think about adding an exercise routine to your days. That's the voice that I'm talking about. It says things that seem to make sense. Ultimately, that voice is trying to protect us. It's trying to protect us from failure and disappointment and embarrassment, from wasting our time and our effort, or from not knowing how things are going to turn out. I think of this voice as the protector voice. It means well. And if we listen to it, it's done its job. We stay safe from uncertainty and discomfort and possible failure, but we're also stuck. We stay still and we miss opportunities that could genuinely change our lives. But fortunately, we also oftentimes have another voice, one that pushes back, one that says, people do this all the time. It might be hard, but so what? I can do hard things. Why not me? I call that the possibility voice. The voice that encourages and reminds us that we can't possibly know what could be if we don't try. You've probably felt both of them. Most of us walk around with both of them running at the same time, like two open tabs in our brain competing for our attention. I know exactly what your protector might be saying to you right now if you are thinking about starting a print-on-demand Etsy shop, or if you're in those hard, unsettled early stages of a new shop. I know because I've been there and I've heard it. I spent two years talking myself out of starting an Etsy shop. Two years of my protector voice making very convincing arguments about why I couldn't fit it into my hectic life, why I was too late, why there wasn't room for another Etsy shop. And then when I finally did start, when that possibility finally got loud enough, I almost quit too early on my first shop because the protector found a new argument. And actually, that's not even accurate. If I'm being honest with myself, I did quit too soon. I don't know now what could have been had I kept going in my first shop, if I hadn't pivoted to print on demand five months in. And don't get me wrong, I know it worked out. I'm obsessed with print on demand and my shop and my customers, but that doesn't change the fact that I moved on because of false beliefs that I was telling myself, that the niche I had chosen was too crowded, that too many shops were selling similar things, and that I was wasting my time. And I'll be honest and a little bit vulnerable right now, but my protector voice is really loud as I sit here in the early days of this podcast. But I'm choosing not to listen to it. I have learned how to quiet that voice and let the possibility voice take the lead. It's not easy, but I refuse to give in to the doubt. Today we're gonna talk about this as it relates to starting on Etsy. If we zoom out, there are a handful of thoughts that the Protector Voice uses over and over again when it comes to Etsy and print on demand. You'll see these ideas reflected out there in the wild on Reddit threads and Facebook posts and YouTube comments, and they're gonna creep into your thoughts. And I want to walk through four of them today so that you can recognize them and so you know exactly what's true and what to tell yourself when they show up. The first one is that Etsy is too saturated. I'm sure you've heard this before. It shows up the second you start peeking around in Etsy content, and then it feels confirmed when you search a product and see thousands of listings. Your brain immediately goes to there's no room left here for new people. But that is not true across the board. There are areas of Etsy that are crowded. There are some products and some niches that are harder to break into. And note that I said harder. They're not impossible. It can be done, people do it, but it's harder and it'll require more effort. But Etsy is an enormous marketplace, and for every category that feels crowded, there are gifting occasions and specific moments and new niches that have real buyers searching and they're not finding anything. The opportunity isn't gone, it's just different. You can't just throw up any old generic item and expect that it's going to sell. You might have been able to do that a few years ago. You can't do it now. Now it's about being more thoughtful, more specific, more intentional, and that's actually a good thing because it means the people who take the time to understand the buyer and to create something that connects are going to be the ones who stand out. And another thing, something that I think a lot of people miss when they're researching ideas is that there is a lot of sameness out there on Etsy. The same messages and designs and ideas all recycled onto different products with slightly different fonts. And what that means is that there is an opening. There are room for products that are a little bit different and a little bit better. And if you stick with me on this podcast, you're gonna hear me say those words a lot. So instead of asking, is there room? Start asking, where is the gap? Because next week's popular design might not even have been created yet. The possibility voice's response to it's too saturated needs to be, there's opportunity here. I just need to find it. Okay, the second thing that you may be telling yourself is that it's too late. Similar, but not the same. This one doesn't come from what you see, it comes from what you've heard. If you listen to YouTube or podcast content about Etsy, then you've heard success stories. And while success stories can inspire us on our good days, they can also sometimes make us feel like we missed the boat. I remember feeling too late before I started. It was 2023, and every story of success seemed to be from someone who had started during COVID. And not only did they have success, they had rapid success. And I just felt like, damn, I missed it. And maybe that one sticks because there is some truth to it. Etsy, along with e-commerce in general, did grow during that time. And we did miss it. That particular window of time, it's gone. But so now what? So now nobody should start an online business? No, that's crazy. People are starting and growing profitable online businesses in Etsy shops every day. And so when it feels too late, the possibility voice needs to remind you that people are opening shops every day and making money. So why can't one of them be you? The third one is I don't know how to design. Because you picture needing to be artistic or naturally creative or fluent and complicated design tools. And that feeling gets even louder if tech isn't really your thing. First, like with anything, you will get better over time. The more you work that design muscle, the stronger it'll get. You have to give yourself grace in this area early on, knowing that your design skills will improve the more you do it. But here's something else that is especially true in print on demand. So much of what sells is not complicated design. I am a huge fan of text-based design. Words on a product. Other creative details and design elements can be added, but they don't have to be. Your focus with text-based design becomes creating a clear message. One that makes someone feel emotion, words that make someone feel like they just found the perfect gift. My first, and actually I think it was my only bestseller of a t-shirt had text on it. It was actually a 12-letter acronym, and I had them on the shirt in a square. So it was like four letters, then four letters, then four letters. I can't tell you what it was because it was inappropriate, and this is a family-friendly podcast, but it sold because the letters meant something to the niche it was intended for. And I think that was really my first indicator that words were enough to create a product people wanted to buy. And now I do it all the time. As for the tools you'll use to create your designs, many are incredibly straightforward and even intuitive. I personally use Canva. Before Etsy, I had never touched it, and now I teach my eighth graders how to use it. You could watch a few beginner videos and be creating your first design the same day. So when that protector voice is telling you you don't have the design skills for an Etsy shop, let your possibility voice remind you that it isn't about creating something complicated. It's about creating something that means something. The fourth thing you may be telling yourself is I don't have time. And this one needs no explanation. We are all busy. I will never stand here and tell you that you are not. But what I will tell you is this you need to stop thinking about building the whole shop because that is way too overwhelming. Instead, you need to think in terms of small steps completed in small moments. You have to build your shop one little intentional step at a time. And then it's about systems. When you build the right systems at the beginning, like your systems for creating designs, for writing listings, for setting up your shop, everything gets faster. Not a little faster either, a lot faster because you are not starting from scratch every time you sit down to work. You're running a system. Now, I also hear from a lot of people that they genuinely feel like they don't have a single spare minute, not even one moment to give. And I get that, that feeling is real. Finding time when your life is completely full is its own conversation. And it's one I'm gonna come back to on this show. We'll talk about time management strategies that could work in all areas of our life, simplifying the whole process and making this work for the life you actually have. But for right now, when the protector says you don't have time, the possibility needs to remind you that you don't need unlimited time. You just need a plan for the small moments that you do have. So there you have it, four thoughts that are stopping you from starting on Etsy in order to keep you safe and secure from the unknown. But I want you to remember that safe and stuck feel the same after a while. And the opportunities you don't take have a cost too. You just don't see it right away. Someone is starting a print-on-demand Etsy shop today. They're figuring it out one baby step at a time. They're building something real in the small moments of a very busy life. Why couldn't that be you? I hope this episode inspired you to push through the doubt and consider the possibilities. If you enjoyed it, share it with a friend and make sure you're following the show on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss future episodes. I'll see you next week.