Jason Malinak - Etsy-preneurship: Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Handmade Hobby into a Thriving Business

Contents

Cover images: Corkboard Ruslan Dashinsky; Paper Rusm; Fabric Petekarici (all from iStockphoto)

Cover design: Paul McCarthy

Copyright 2013 by Jason Malinak. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

The term Etsy is a registered trademark of Etsy, Inc. This publication has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by Etsy, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Malinak, Jason.

Etsy-preneurship: everything you need to know to turn your handmade hobby into a thriving business/Jason Malinak.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978-1-118-37838-0 (pbk.)

ISBN: 978-1-118-46173-0 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-46175-4 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-118-46176-1 (ebk)

1. New business enterprises. 2. Strategic planning. 3. Industrial management I. Title.

HD62.5.M35195 2013

658.11dc23

2012026652

Dedicated to my wife Katie, my son Ezra, my daughter Joy Elle, my parents, and every Etsy seller who practices Etsy-preneurship!

Foreword

I first met Jason in the Etsy forums in 2007 when we both started selling on Etsy. His Etsy shop name was JJMFinance, and he was always answering Etsy sellers questions about taxes, bookkeeping, or finances in the forums. We got to know each other better starting in 2010, when we both realized we loved helping Etsy sellers run their businesses more effectively; we decided to start working together on various projects as a creative outlet for our passions relating to running a business on Etsy. We can talk about Etsyand the knowledge, tools, and skills that will make Etsy sellers thrivefor hours!

Jason is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Treasury Professional (CTP), which means he knows his stuff regarding bookkeeping, taxes, and financial matters. He knows the needs of entrepreneurs, because he is one himself. We talk a few times every week, tossing around our latest ideas about how we can help Etsy sellers. He is not your typical bean counter; he is always thinking and seeing opportunity. His firm business foundation is built upon knowing tax regulations, legal requirements, bookkeeping standards, operational procedures, building business plans, and making smart financial decisions. He passes this foundation on to others through this book, Etsy-preneurship .

I call Jason the Spreadsheet King, because he can create a spreadsheet for any business problem and take a complex subject and make it manageable. His tools are always easy to use and extremely helpful. Right now, thousands of Etsy sellers are using his small business tools and spreadsheets, which he has created for hundreds of different tasks, from bookkeeping to social media marketing to goal tracking and everything in between. He has written many articles and has shared some of his spreadsheets with Etsy admins in the Etsy Seller Handbook .

One of Jasons strengths is his ability to teach others complex topics and to communicate these topics in everyday language. How many people do you know who can explain small business tax regulations in a way that doesnt make you fall asleep or become confused? Running a business on Etsy has thousands of moving parts, and it is great to see Jason put together such an organized resource that tells Etsy sellers what they need to know in an easy-to-digest fashion in Etsy-preneurship .

His analytical abilities are extremely helpful for Etsy sellers to run a better business. Jason can see answers that are lying beneath the surface of a spreadsheet full of numberstelling stories and spotting trends that are not seen at a first glance. In the appendixes, his remarkable analyses of Etsy shops and the Etsy marketplace by the numbers provide new insight into understanding an Etsy shops performance and the Etsy marketplace. He can make graphs communicate trends that give Etsy shop owners a competitive advantage.

Jason and I work together on Handmadeology Pro ( Handmadeology.com/pro ), where each month we bring Etsy sellers more in-depth information on selling on Etsy. Handmadeology Pro is an extension of the day-to-day blog of Handmadeology. Jason and I brainstorm on the best information, tools, and training that Etsy sellers need right nowand Pro members receive these every month. We cover topics including increasing Etsy sales and traffic, marketing on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest), branding your creative business, blogging, small business taxes, staying motivated, and the list goes on!

As a team, Jason and I work extremely well together. We bring different skill sets that complement each other. My marketing expertise and knowledge of social media and Jasons ability to simplify complex business topics help make us the perfect team.

Jason is a valuable resource to the Etsy community, and his experience in helping Etsy sellers turn their dreams into thriving businesses is unparalleled. He enjoys hearing the success stories of Etsy sellers he has helped. I believe that part of Etsys growth can be traced back to Jason providing confidence to Etsy sellers in the how-to, day-to-day details of running a business on Etsy. He provided bookkeeping solutions specifically designed for the needs of Etsy sellers before many Etsy sellers even realized they needed to perform bookkeeping.