5 things I learned in the first month of opening a sticker shop
7 min read
Hello everyone! I would like to dedicate this blogpost to reflect a bit on my first month starting my small sticker shop and being an small business owner. At the end of September, I opened lilalicreates shop here on Shopify and on Etsy. I'll count 1st of October as the start of my small business. In this blog you will read my 5 things I learned after I started my small sticker shop. Of course, I learned much much more than just these 5 things, but I thought to just keep it concise for now, maybe I will share other learned points a bit later!
1. Have a long term vision and goal
After a long time of doubt, I finally started my online sticker shop, since that is something I would like to do. It's a long journey and not easy, especially in the beginning. Having a long term goal and vision will keep me going why I have started and continue the sticker shop.
2. Go at your own pace
I knew a lot of artists are so so so talented, but I never knew that there were so many many talented creative people online! I often get impostor thoughts after scrolling on Instagram and then I would push myself to be more productive. Often I needed to remind myself to go at my own pace, all creatives started from the first post. They have dedicated their time, love and energy into creating art they love and hopefully one day I will be joining them too.
3. Don't throw all eggs in one basket
For me there were a lot of confusing moments when choosing which platform to sell my stickers: Etsy vs Shopify. After careful thinking I decided to do both. Who knew that creating listings from scratch would be so much time consuming... And each platforms has their own way. I am quite happy that I choose to do both Etsy and Shopify. Because I have learned which platform suits me better or what I like more. These learnings are also important.
4. You're not alone, build your community
Creating art, being an artist / illustrator etc, is actually a quite lonely journey. I often doubt and have discussions with myself with three different roles haha. Sharing posts, reels and stories on social media platform such as Instagram, Tiktok, Cara and Threads and seeing that my art contributed a bit to their happiness is such a wonderful thing to experience! For me, as long as it brightens up your day/ hour/ minute/ second. I'm very happy already! I also love to see what lovely illustrations/art other creative people share for my own inspirations!
5. Balance creativity with other stuff
Quite a few times I wish I could create all the time without doing the filming, editing, posting and uploading on the website and social media. So I definitely need to figure out the balance of time management, and balance drawing and creating with the non creative stuff. Let's keep things fun!
These were the highlights of what I have learned for the past month. At the end of each month I will reflect on my journey in these kinds of blogs. Maybe I will also make vlogs out of this :) Thank you for reading! If you have read until the end, I want to give you a digital hug to you, you deserve it! ✨💜