Paid business/esty programs

[24VOLTS]

I am wondering if anyone out there has ever bought into these step by step Etsy or start your own business, entrepreneur programs?

I see a lot of the people out there who say they can help you get started and make money.  It seems more and more prevalent with with the handmade market and people wanting to start their own business.  I have been skeptical of these step by step programs as to their true purpose other then giving someone a steady income (the person selling the program).  Most of the time when I listen to them they talk generally and I think they just like to hear themselves speak.

If anyone out there has tried one of these I would love to hear your experience and what you thought.  I am not one of these people trying to sell you a step by step program just some one who is curious about if they were worth your time and money and your thoughts.

Thanks,

Phill

 

[fredk]

Never tried one but I had occasion to investigate the claims by a number of them.

Basically, the only people who they help and make money are themselves. Like pyramid schemes I suggest you keep clear of them. As you are asking about them I presume you are not the gullible type to fall for their hype.

How you can set up as a business in your area is vastly different to me in my country, to someone in Oz or in France, Denmark, Norway,  yet these bods claim their way suits everyone

It used to be said; Put 'easy' and 'make money' in the title of any book and it'll be a best seller making you millions - same now for internety things. People fall for the 'easy' and 'make money' spiel. 

In your life circle there are numerous people who are self employed or have small companies. Get to know them and ask them questions. Most will respond positively as long as they don't see you as a rival. This will be cheaper and much more effective.

[Tugadude]

I have no experience with any of this, but Fred's comments sound spot-on to me.  

There are times when I'll do a search to look at examples of leatherwork and invariably some examples from Etsy storefronts pop up.  I click on them and visit their shop to look around.  It is amazing to me how many shops have little-to-nothing going on.  Very few products listed, very few sales.  Obviously there are some doing well, but it makes me wonder about it all.

I too would beware of something like this.

[rodneywt1180b]

I haven't tried any.  I tend to be on the skeptical side when it comes to easy money.  Check out people like Fuzzy & Burch (sp?) on YouTube.  There is a lot of good free advice out there to check out before you spend money on it.

I did my own research for my canes. I sell them as a hobby and a little side income.  I'm not trying to make a living at it.  

I decided on Etsy for my sales platform due to it's big enough to be known and low startup costs.  It has it's downsides but to me is better than most. It runs around 9% of total sales and shipping in fees.  Don't forget shipping in your costs either.  Shipping can get spendy in a hurry.  I recommend staying with small, light, easily shipped items. Canes almost qualify.  Another option would be electronic sales.  No material or shipping costs at all that way.

I researched shops selling canes similar in quality to mine.  I got a good general idea of what was selling, what they were selling for, and how many sales I could expect a month.

The busier shops that had been at it a while were selling around 3 a month and that worked out to what I averaged to.  I've  started working at a part time job recently  and have had other projects for the last few months so haven't been making as many lately. My sales have slowed to match the lower inventory in stock.  If you're using Etsy 20 or more listings will give you better exposure than just a few and good key words so the search engines can find you are a must.

I recommend doing your own research on what you want to sell.  Don't run up a lot of unnecessary start up costs and don't quit your day job just yet. Also don't compete on price.  There is always someone who can and will produce the same item cheaper. 

 

[toxo]

There's no such thing as a free lunch and with very very few exceptions every single thing that passes your eye from day to day is designed to part you from your money. Whether it's a film, a play, a fluffy puppy playing with a toilet roll etc etc. And until we learn to stop idolising the pound note it's only going to get worse.

[Mark842]

My opinion is if they can teach you how to make money doing something, they would be doing that something and keeping their mouths shut about it as less competition is always better. The fact that they are selling "How To" make money doing something means they make more money selling the how to method because the method is bunk.

[eeroyale]

Ditto to all!

[Handstitched]

On 1/25/2020 at 12:10 AM, fredk said:

Basically, the only people who they help and make money are themselves. Like pyramid schemes I suggest you keep clear of them.

Bingo !! I've seen these marketing schemes ( scams)  advertised  late on TV at times, but like FredK said, the only ones making any money are the ones selling it , with gullible people that paid to  look at screens with fancy grids & graphs  with some twit with a stick pointing at them . 

As for pyramid  scams, ( selling cleaning products...have a guess?)  sheesh,  some bloke tried to get me into one  about 30 years ago. At the start, his hand shake was warm ,  happy, full of smiles,  very greeting, enthusiastic. The pro mo  video he showed was fast fancy cars, fancy mansions, wealth galore  etc. but  when I figured out what it was in about a minute, and  I  refused, his hand shake was cold,  loose, and dejected .  And besides , the crappy old Toyota parked out the front was a bit of a giveaway . If it was that successful , he'd have nice Merc or Beemer . 

HS

Edited February 23, 2020 by Handstitched