We were lucky to catch up with Riannon McCord recently and have shared our conversation below.

Riannon , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Absolutely. I love that Etsy offers the vacation mode button on the site and you can set an automatic reply as to how long you’ll be gone or anything else you’d like your customers to know about your vacation time. My shop is seasonal in the cold months so that includes all the big holidays and I still make sure we get lots of family time and vacations.
If I don’t close my shop I will update the info stating it will take longer than my usual shipping times to allow for the time I’m gone and have never had an issue.
I think as a small business owner and still being a mom and wife, it’s so important to take time away and be present as time won’t slow and the littles will grow.
So I make sure that time is taken away and it refreshes me as well when I come back and get to working on orders.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Riannon, I am mom to two littles (11 & 7), a boxer pup, and have been married for 14 yrs. I taught myself to knit 11 years ago when we moved our family to CO.
Over the years I’ve expanded from only kids scarves, to scarves for adults, beanies/hats, baby blankets, ear warmers, and lots of custom orders.
Everything is handmade to order and I do my best to find the softest and most long-lasting yarns I can.
My baby blankets are a baby shower gift favorite. I use thick & soft yarn that is knit loose so it’s super cozy yet breathable for those littles who like things over their face (like my son did).
I find people love our scarves to give as gifts, as an added accent for family photos, or as a treat to self because they’re so warm.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

I feel the best source for new clients has always been word of mouth. I find lots of new customers may have had one of my items purchased for them or their kiddos, they like it so much they then go directly to my shop and order more, and so on.

Also doing marketing on the Etsy site directly does bring much more traffic over time and this has led to many new but also returning customers that buy from me each year.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building an audience on social media has taken lots of time and effort, but in the end is very worth it. I started solely marketing my items on my Facebook account and getting sales directly from people messaging me there. I then started a KozyKids Instagram account and put lots of time into marketing there.
I feel consistency in presence on social media plays a big factor in building that audience as well.
Word of mouth is also a huge help in building a social media audience as I have many people over the years who continue to share my posts, tag my shop in their posts with the items they’ve recently purchased, or just simply continue to shop at my site.
Also engaging with customers on my pages or even in emails when orders are placed or a customer has question builds those relationships that keeps them coming back and telling others about my shop.

Contact Info:

• Website: Etsy.com/shop/KozyKids1212
• Instagram: @kozykids1212
• Facebook: KozyKIds

Image Credits
rachelrumplephotography.com @miss_christinaelaine