Are you a homeschool mom with a love of crafting, or thrifting, or printable creation? Would you like a way to make an income on the side while working from home and still homeschooling? Here’s how to sell on Etsy while homeschooling.
I have been selling on Etsy since 2012, and I was able to earn $11K from my shop in the very first year while working in the margins of my busy homeschool mom life. You can do it too and I’ll show you how.
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Why I Started Selling on Etsy
Want to sell on Etsy while homeschooling? That’s what I’ve been doing since 2012 and you can too.
In 2012, our family signed the papers to begin an international adoption. Whew, they are expensive! My husband is a pastor, and I was a stay-at-home homeschooling mom. We didn’t exactly have thousands of dollars in our back pockets to fund the adoption. But we knew God had called us to the journey and we were thrilled to be Making Room 4 One More in our home! That’s how this blog was named.
I saw some chatter on Facebook about some of my friends checking out the Etsy site. I had never heard of it before. But when I looked into it further, it was the perfect combination of using my skills and interests while helping to fund our adoption. And the time commitment was totally flexible, so homeschooling wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, homeschooling and adoption are very intertwined in our family’s story.
So by September of 2012, my little shop, 4onemore, opened on the Etsy platform. I didn’t have high hopes. Honestly, I didn’t really have expectations at all. And so a year later, looking back at $11K in our pockets for our adoption – and all from selling crafts I made in my free time – we were blown away.
You Can Make a Side Income on Etsy While Homeschooling
When I hear from homeschool moms, the common financial and time concerns are:
- you have no family in town to help watch the kids so you can work outside the home
- homeschoolers are usually one-income families
- you want to earn a side income
- you want to have a creative outlet
And I have found that having an Etsy business brings solutions to these common issues. If you’re a creative homeschool mom, I think you should give Etsy a try.
Etsy brings the customers to YOU. Plus, it doesn’t cost much to open up a shop. Other than paying for listing items (20 cents per listing – but I can give you a link for 40 FREE listings!), you won’t pay Etsy another dime until the item sells. So it really is a very low investment risk.
Here’s why selling on Etsy is a great fit for homeschool moms
- you can work from home
- it’s a low risk to open a shop (at only 20 cents per listing)
- Etsy brings the traffic to your shop
- the Etsy site has an intuitive set-up
- you can earn a great side income while homeschooling
- you can have a creative outlet
- you can work in the margins – nap times, after the kids are in bed, Saturdays
- You can work as little or as much as you want
How it looks today
Having a creative outlet away from the kids (even in another room!) is great therapy for me as an introvert. Homeschooling five kids is mentally exhausting, so I use my time in my “Etsy shop” to enjoy the creative process, listen to podcasts while I’m packing orders, and just generally recharge from a full day.
Since we can pack up the school books when we’re done and don’t have the typical after school homework and dinner scramble, I have the flexibility to spend a few hours each afternoon working on orders if I so choose.
The beauty of having an Etsy shop is that you can put as much or as little time into it as you want. In the season when I’m putting more time in working on listings, I do see a successive jump in sales. But if I’m busy with other things, my shop will still be there when I can put more time into it. If you want a peek into my day, you can find it at a Day in the Life of a Homeschool Mompreneur.
How to get started
I hope I’ve convinced you that selling on Etsy and homeschooling at the same time is totally doable! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing just that since 2012.
If you want some more detailed explanations about what’s involved, you can check out this series of posts I wrote about Selling on Etsy.
And if you decide to open a shop, use my referral link for 40 free listings.
Resources to Help You Get Started
Free Etsy Quickstart Checklist
Grab the Etsy Quickstart Checklist for FREE below. This will give you a high-level overview of the most important steps in opening up your shop and beginning to sell.
Etsy Quickstart Guide
Then, if you want a bit more help in the form of an ebook, you’ll love the Etsy Quickstart Guide.
It will walk you through the essential parts of setting up your Etsy shop and listing your first item.
This eBook includes lots of screen shots to walk you through the basics of opening a shop. Plus, I’ll share some of the tools and tricks that have helped me.
- Research an Item
- Keyword Research
- Create a Listing
- Photos
- Tags & Titles
- Descriptions
- Shipping
- Organization
- Tips & Tricks
- Social Media
- Craft Room
This book is for:
- creatives who haven’t opened up their Etsy shop yet
- new Etsy shop owners who aren’t seeing many sales
This product was included in the 2019 Ultimate Homemaking Bundle by Ultimate Bundles!
After reading this book I had the confidence to finally set up the etsy shop I’ve been wanting to start for years. I felt like finally a lot of my questions were answered.
-L.H.
Selling on Etsy Masterclass for Teens
Or your creative teen can start an Etsy shop and count it as elective credit on their homeschool high school transcript using the Selling on Etsy Masterclass for Teens. Use the code HWM20 to save 20%
In this online course, I’ll walk your teen through every little detail in setting up their shop and selling their first product. There is a printable workbook to keep track of tasks and give accountability, along with video lessons.
Plus, your teen can ask questions on the Teachable platform if they need help or get stuck. Your teen can take this course at their own pace and I’ll show you how to count it for credit on the transcript.
Listen to the Podcast
Here’s episode 191 of the Homeschool with Moxie Podcast about what it’s like to sell on Etsy 10 years in, plus my advice for you if you’re just getting started.
