We recently connected with Emily Pritchett and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. Do you manage your own social media?
As a small business / sole proprietor, I do my best to showcase on my social media a few quality photos or even behind the scenes looks to my creative process. I chose to manage it myself because I don’t post every day, I want to choose when what I post, and I’m not in this “business” to gain a massive following but simply to have fun in creating.
Emily, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My entire life, I’ve always enjoyed being creative but as we all know, life happens and sometimes things we have passion for get pushed to the back burner. By 2019, I was struggling after my job lay off and my stress / anxiety was at an all time high. So, this was my pivoting point of wanting to find more happiness in my life while entering my 30s. I then committed to crafting more, stressing less, and seeking out the things that brings me more daily joy one arts & crafts project at a time.
Between my job searching, this is how my small part-time business EGP Crafts was born! To deal with my stress and express my inner creativity, I wanted to shift my focus on: exploring different art techniques, crafting more bright colored projects, and sharing my content on social media.
It’s now 2024, I’m so proud to still be selling on Etsy and via my website (egpcrafts.com) and that I’ve been consistent with my sales goals each year!
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
I’ve been on Etsy since the beginning of starting my business in 2019, but there’s definitely been changes I’ve made along the way. I used to have my website via Etsy [Pattern] but at that time it didn’t quite meet my needs as a business. By 2020 / 2021, I switched over to Square to gain more online features that I was looking for and explore maybe selling in person too.
I primarily sell on Etsy and yes, the fees have increased but not enough to the point that I’m ready to leave their platform even in 2024. My website / account with Square syncs to Etsy and it also gives me the ability to sell online / in person but keep track of my inventory, photos, and stock counts relatively easy [of course with some learning curves along the way].
This is what’s worked best as a small business / crafting enthusiast, so I highly encourage you to talk to other small businesses, do your own research, and take some risks but don’t ever get locked into any “contracts” with your vendors / online services!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think one of the most important things is keeping the consistency in making my products but also ensuring that I’m using quality materials.
Another thing I like to so is write a hand written note in each order to encourage a review / photo for my online shop / Etsy sales. I create or use scrap sticker paper to make freebie stickers to include in each order and provide a 10% discount for returning customers which has worked out pretty well for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://egpcrafts.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/egpcrafts
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/egpcrafts
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-g-pritchett
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@egpcrafts