commercial use svg files
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Commercial VS Personal Use

What's the difference between Commercial VS Personal Use

If you have been around the crafting world for a minute, you may have come across the terms personal and commercial use in the crafting groups. Some files, fonts, and mockups come with commercial while others come with personal only. While they may seem pretty straightforward, I want to take a moment and really elaborate on why this is important to know and why you should spring for commercial use when you can.

 

Personal use, as the name states, is created for you to use personally. You can make yourself a shirt, sign, or decal with the files. You are not selling the end physical product and there is NO money exchanged once the project is done. Commercial use means that you have the ability to create an end physical product in exchange for money. This means you can sell at the local flea market, you can put your items on Etsy, you can use those stock photos in your business social media accounts to drive traffic to your business. Anything that will even fit your business at the end of the day, the commercial use will save you!

commercial use svg files

Picture this!

So why should you look out for a commercial use license as opposed to personal? GROWTH. If you begin your crafting journey by only collecting personal use files, you could be limiting yourself later. Picture this, one crafty christmas, you have DIY-ed everyones holiday gifts. The hoodie you gave to your Aunt Carol gets some serious attention at her book club and now everyone there NEEDS it, but the file was personal use. Technically (legally and morally) you can not sell the hoodie because DigitalSuzieQ only gave you a personal license and yes “accepting donations” counts as making money – don’t bring that bad crafting karma on you.

 

What can you do in this scenario? Well, you’ll have to check the design site to see if they have the ability to purchase the commercial use file. Oftentimes they will (probably for around $3) but they might not – or worse you don’t remember who you got it from! [Check out this FREE gift to help you keep track of all your downloads] 

 

What if we had Commercial Use?

Now play that same scenario but this time, your amazing digital collection is nothing BUT commercial use files. You can immediately start selling to your heart content and stack that money with Carol’s book club. So while this scenario is a little silly, it does happen! A simple post of “check out what I did this weekend!” can blow up to having 20 orders and now everyone is looking at you wanting to know if you can make that but add sparkles. 

 

Even if you start with the thought of just making for yourself, you never know what might change. Take our recent pandemic for example, when the world shut down, some turned their hobby into a serious business! So while you may not think you need it right now, if you can help it, find those files with commercial use. Your future self will thank you. 

 

Disclaimer – Now I feel silly bringing this up, but I do want to clear up a common misunderstanding about commercial use license. Commercial use does not give you permission to resell the design itself. You can not profit on the design in this way. Even giving away a freebie you can not do that. The design, when you download it, is for you and you alone. You can not share that. You can create physical products but you can not sell the file itself. You may think it’s not a big deal, but as a designer myself, I have to say, please – support our designer besties. They put their effort into the design that they are selling for 3 dollars. If someone you know wants the design, direct them to the site to download from the original party. Even free files, direct them to the right spots.

 

I hope this helps in clearing up the difference between commercial use and personal use. You can find sites here that offer commercial use even FREE commercial use files!

What is commercial use SVG
CategoriesBuilding A Business by

Start A Business

Ready to make money?

With a craft machine, it is so easy to go from crafter to boss babe (or dude!). There are a few things though that you will want to be aware of when starting a business. In this article, we are going to go over all of those to get you ready for the shift from weekend creator to full-time hustle!

1. Shift Your Mindset

Yep, that’s right, you need to SHIFT your mindset. You are no longer going to treat this as a hobby but as a business. You have to be ready to put in serious work to grow this into something that will create income for you. There will be late nights ahead, you will need to have money invested, and you might even need more Starbucks (is this a punishment though?) but the end results will be worth the time you have to put into creating your business. You need to consider your time VALUABLE. Set a plan – even a loose one – of what you want your business to be. You don’t have to realistic right now, just jot down where you picture yourself. You can no longer focus on things that do not serve you and your end goals.

2. Know Your Suppliers

In order to run your business, no matter how big or small, you need supplies! By doing a little bit of research ahead of time you can find out who has decent prices and how many of each unit you need to order to get those prices. While your local craft store may be convenient, oftentimes you are paying for that convenience. 😉 Take into consideration the costs of shipping and their shipping frames when picking your supplier. Have a few of them at the ready to give you the best prices. Check out some of my favorites and our besties lists here.

3. Understand Licensing

Not all designs are created equal – even if they are FREE. if you are selling your finished projects, you want to make sure you have the proper license. 😉 Most often you will see sites refer to their license as personal or commercial use. Personal use, as the name suggests, is personal. It’s just for you to make and use within your home. You’re not making money for your brand/business in any way. Commercial use allows you to make and sell end products. Most often those end products will be physical, however, you are also able to create digital files as well. If you are looking for sites with commercial use be sure to check the link here and also peep these FREE commercial use sites.

4. Research The Market

I am all for jumping in head first because I get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things that you “should” plan, getting together the PERFECT plan, and ultimately I never finish. If you are like that – *hugs* I am so sorry! With that said, there is something in doing a bit of research before you open shop. (Even after opening up shop, you will want to keep an eye out for trends!) When you think of what you want to sell, take a minute to just consider your prices, what options you will offer to your customers, and if you will take on custom orders. By doing a quick Google search or even peeping at other Etsy shops, you can get an idea of the market prices for items similar to yours. Don’t undercut yourself!

5. Crunch The Numbers

A business won’t succeed if you don’t understand where your money is going. One big thing that you have to know is how much your materials cost!? If you haven’t taken a minute to find your suppliers, seriously, do this now! How much time does it take to create your designs? What do you want to make an hour? Are you spending money on marketing? What are your listing fees on your platform?

For help in understanding what your project costs, you can check out this cool spreadsheet I made to help you break it all down.

6. Making Products

It should go without saying that we need to create our products! I mean, we are here to make money. Creating products will allow you to gain basic vinyl skills that will help you grow your business and create your crafts like knowing how to weed designs, press shirts, and apply decals. These skills and processes will change over time as you find out what works best for you. 

 

Remember practice makes perfect! If you are wanting to make cool glitter tumblers, be sure to visit your local dollar tree and pick up some cheap cups to practice on before committing yourself to that order. By making some products, you can also get an idea of how much time and materials it takes to make your products is. (Now, as time goes on, you will get faster at your craft and supplies have the potential to go down in price – so this might change later.)  With that said, you DO NOT have to create a product for every design you plan to offer. You can, in fact, use mockups to stage products and get insight into a product line before you commit time and money (check out this video here). 

7. Set Up Shop

So you know your numbers, you have your products, and you are ready to get that money but where do you sell? There are so many amazing places that you can sell your handmade items on. Let’s go over one of the most affordable options – social media! Facebook and Instagram have made it possible to grow as a craft business with the use of swip swap groups and FB pages. By posting finished products or mockups in groups, you can get orders through DMs. Be sure to use payment centers like Paypal for business purposes (it protects you and the buyer). Wanting to go a step further? Check out local craft fairs and flea markets. You can rent out booths for relatively cheap for a weekend. 

 

There are other platforms like Etsy (afl) and Amazon handmade.  I love my Etsy shop and it now makes up over half of my monthly income! I do have an Amazon handmade shop, however, it is NOT user-friendly (for me at least) so I haven’t been able to sell on there to give my opinion on their platform.  If you are interested in reading my take on Etsy, you can visit the link to learn more. If you are seeking to drive your traffic and do it “your way”, you can also set up your own website. I happen to run my own site(s) that I sell on through WordPress but you can use Shopify for an easier setup. Each platform has its own set of fees so when deciding where to sell, be aware of those numbers.

8. Time To Shine!

You may have heard the saying if you build it they will come but don’t be silly! We are not sitting around waiting for success to come to us – we are goal getting besties and we are here to shine. You are your biggest advocate for your business. No one will hustle for you more than you. Don’t let a day go by without a post on social media. You don’t want to create SELL SELL SELL posts, but keep engaged with your audience is important. Social media can be one of the BIGGEST drivers of traffic. Think about where your target market hangs out and make sure you show up. The latest fun spot to be is TikTok and if you are not already following me, why not?!

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Opening An Etsy Shop – Part 2

Setting Up An Etsy Shop Part 2

In our last blog, we went over how to create a shop and our first listing. In Part 2, we are jumping into finishing up the shop and getting paid! If you haven’t read it first, I would reccomend going back and checking that out. Don’t forget you can get 40 free listings by clicking here! 

What Type Of Seller Are You?

It’s time to distinguish who you are a seller. More than likely you are one person creating an Etsy shop so you would select Individual or sole priorietorship. For the purposes of this blog, that just means that it you are the sole owner of the shop. Now there are many ways that you can see your shop and establish it in the eyes of the goverment, but I won’t get into that here. If you have registered as a corporation, you will need to make sure that you select incorporated business. 

About You

In the next part, we will input who we are. Fill this information out accordingly. 

Banking

Here you will choose where you bank is located and your account information. I reccomend that you open a seperate account for your business. You can find free business checking accounts with banks like Ameris and sometimes credit unions. This isn’t a requirement, but it will help you keep your expenses seperate through out the year making tax time easier. 

Credit Card

On the next page you will be adding in your credit card information. This is for Etsy billing purposes. The age ole’ quote, it takes money to make money is ever so true. Etsy has fees which I will outline in another blog but you will need to have a card on file to take care of these. Now typically, it won’t be a big deal, especially if you use the 40 free listings, you start off in a good spot as each listing will cost you 20 cents. However, if you’re items are selling, Etsy will take their fees out of your earnings to make things easier. Afer you save your card on file, you can now open you shop!

 

Welcome to Etsy!

Congrats! You have succesfully finished setting up your entire shop but the work doesn’t stop there! Stay tuned as we go over additional things you can do in your shop make it pop allowing you to stand out as an Etsy shop owner. I am so excited for your journey bestie, I know you will do amazing things. 

CategoriesBuilding A Business by

Setting Up An Etsy Shop

Let's Build A Shop! Part 1

I am so glad to see you taking the leap into becoming your own boss and creating financial freedom. If you are still on the fence, check out my last post here. Creating an Etsy shop as a whole is pretty straight forward. There are some things that we are going to touch on that will help you build your dream shop but let’s start with the basics – opening the doors. 

 

If you haven’t already, use my personal afl link to get your first 40 listings for FREE! Once you click it, follow the onscreen prompts until. you get to the “Shop preferences page as shown below.  

Shop Preferences

This is the easiest section to fill out as this is all about YOUR preferences when it comes to viewing your shop. All you have to do is select your language, country, and the currency you are pricing your items at. The last question has no impact on your shop, Etsy is just interested in knowing who is signing up for their site.  

Naming
Your Shop

This might be one of the hardest things for any crafter just starting out to decide on. Don’t worry though, if you HATE what you pick, you are able to change it one time without any reviews from Etsy. A third time requires Etsy approval. When it comes to picking your name, you want to have something that can grow with you. I would avoid “DogShirts4Life” unless you are certain that you will always sell dog shirts.

Creating a Listing

It’s time to create our first listing! By taping the “+” box, it will bring you up to the listing pages. We will go over each of those sections together.

Adding
Your
Listing
Photos

The first thing you will do each time you create a listing is to add photos. Etsy allows you to add up to 10 photos, with the first one being what your customers will see in the searches. Make sure your first photo is impactful! I know you should never judge a book by the cover, but with online shopping, it’s important that we put our best face first. While you don’t have to have 10 photos for a great listing, the more you can have, the better for you. Taking multiple photos of your product from different angles and props for size references can help your potential customer understand what they are looking at. 

 

Protip – You can even add photos of your policies, an “About the maker” photo, coupon code announcements for building an email list, or sizing information. 

It's All In The Details

Now that we have our listing photos out of the way, you need to fill out the details that will help your potential customers find you. Etsy’s search allows customers to sort by materials, categories like household decor, party, and bumper stickers. Filling out as much of this information as possible will help the customer find exactly what they are looking for – your product!

Listing Title – This is what Etsy will display to the customers so make sure it descriptive of what you are selling. If you are an artist that paints cows and your latest painting you want to call it “Pasture Attitude”. As cute as that name is, your potential customer won’t be searching for that. Instead trying a title like “Cow in Pasture Decor | Cow Wall Art ” will put you into search results that your customers are typing in. 

About This Listing – Here you will select from the dropdown menu who made it, what the item is, and when was it made. There are several options for each one, so be sure to select the best ones for your product.

Category – Etsy allows a wide variety of sellers and products. To browse the options, start typing out what your item is and different suggestions will begin to populate under the box. Take for example our painting earlier, typing “painting” pulls up options like art and collectibles, home decor, and painting kits. By clicking on a suggestion, the space under the box will fill with key terms that Etsy is going to assign to your listing. Be sure to review the terms and if they don’t fit, pick another category by typing in the box again. 

Depending on what you select, each category will pull up additional listing specs like the season, holiday, size, etc. 

Renew – Every listing has a virtual shelf-life. Typically that shelf-life is 4 months from the day you post it or until it sells. By selecting automatically, your listing will renew after every sale (until completely sold out) or after its expiration date.

Type – Here you will choose if you are selling physical or digital products. A physical product is going to be one that you physically ship to a customer and a digital one they will download on their own. 

The meat and potatoes!

While every part of the listing is important, if I had to put it into terms of food, THIS is the meat and potatoes of your listing! 

Description – Add all of your information here. THIS is where you really sell your product and yourself as an artist! Start by describing your piece. What makes it special? What is the size? What material did you use? Why should they buy from you? You can include breaks in your description to include special care information or even links to other products in YOUR shop that are similar in nature. If you have any hidden coupons like buy 3 shirts, get 1 free with code “341shirts” or even free shipping on orders over $50,  this can help you convert to higher sales and can help fill your description with vital information.

Protip – The use of CAPS for titles, formating like — this — and even emojis is encouraged! Now don’t make it look like a 9th graders phone, however, using emojis can help bullet point and draw the customer’s eye to important information. 

Sections – Sections are a useful tool in keeping your shop organized. You can create categories like “Men’s Shirts” “Women’s Shirts” “Seasonal Signs” “Car Decals” and more. You are given 20 categories so give yourself time to think about what groups you should create to help your customers search within your shop. 

Tags – This is where Etsy SEO comes into place. SEO is search engine optimization. What you type in here will tell Etsy’s search bots how you want to show up in search results. Avoid using short terms like “gift” or “painting” as these won’t put you high in the search results. Using long-tail words (what customers are typing in) will help make sure you land where you need to be. Think again about what your customers will be looking for to find your sign. Terms like “Funny Bathroom Decor” “Bathroom Wordsearch sign” “Cute Bathroom Signs”  even “Gifts for new home” can prove to be helpful. If your term is too long, you can fill it out like funny bathroom, bathroom decor putting your terms together. 

 

Protip SEO is a HUGE part of Etsy and to help you better understand it, I recommend checking out eRank. Anthony Wolf, the creator, built the platform with Etsy businesses in mind!

 

Materials  – As the name suggests, this is where you include the material you used for your item if you want. This helps your customers know what they can expect. Some customers have allergies to certain fabrics or metals so this information can help prevent future problems for both the customer and you. These terms can also help with the search so it’s good to add them!

Inventory
and
Pricing

So are you ready to talk numbers? Here you will set the price of your product as well as how many you are selling. You can assign a SKU to the item to help you track inventory if you are producing and storing your products. You can also create variations that will allow you set different price points for each. For example, you sell a decal in different sizes – 3 inch all the way to 20 inches. When you add variations you can make sure that you adjust the prices for each of those sizes.  If you take personalizations on items, you are able to set that upo as well. Be sure to ask for any information that you will need for your customers. 

Shipping

We have finally made it to the end of the line – shipping. Here you are able to select a flat fee OR use Etsy’s built in calculated shipping. You can also let your customers know the processing time (from the date they order, how long it will take you to dispatch the item). After you fill this information out, you can save what is called a shipping profile which will allow you to select these setting in the future for a faster listing process. 

Shipping

We have finally made it to the end of the line – shipping. Here you are able to select a flat fee OR use Etsy’s built in calculated shipping. You can also let your customers know the processing time (from the date they order, how long it will take you to dispatch the item). After you fill this information out, you can save what is called a shipping profile which will allow you to select these setting in the future for a faster listing process. 

We are done...for now

Opening An Etsy Shop – Part 2After filling out all of this information, you can hit that save button at the bottom of the screen! Congrats bestie, you have just create your first listing and are one more step closer to opening your doors. Are you ready to move ahead? Check out Part 2 of opening an Etsy shop here. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the group, I would be more than happy to help. 

CategoriesBuilding A Business by

From Hobby to Income

Let's Make An Etsy Shop!

Can I start a business?

One of the biggest perks of owning a craft machine is the ability to turn a hobby into a money-making dream! Even if you have a job outside, being able to bring a small stream of revenue can be a huge advantage. This is money that you can use to pay off debts (hello student loans!), build a nest egg of savings, or simply just splurge on yourself without feeling guilty.  There are countless platforms that you can sell on to start building your empire, but in this article, we are going to go over the popular handmade platform – Etsy.

Why sell on Etsy?

Etsy, as mentioned early, is one of the oldest handmade platforms. Over the years thousands of shops have opened up. According to Etsy in their 2020 wrap-up, there were over 3.7 million shops on Etsy! Now you might be wondering with MILLIONS of shops already opened, is that marketplace too saturated? Will I be able to create an income stable enough to kiss my 9-5 goodbye? How will I stand out in an ocean of other shops? Those are all very justified questions, however, that same year data shows that Etsy also had over 69.6 MILLION customers! That is a lot of bodies searching for handmade goods. 

 

In recent years, Etsy has started running more promotions, creating commercials, TV shows, and pushing ads to bring in additional customers, spreading the knowledge and reach of this handmade platform. So what does that mean for you? Well, it shows that Etsy is dedicated to making their platform the biggest it’s ever been! When you make money, Etsy makes money, so their focus will continue to be growth in the future. 

What can I sell on Etsy?

You can sell anything on Etsy that you make! We each have a unique gift and style that someone somewhere in the world is going to LOVE. Selling on Etsy will give you access to those people who are looking for and will appreciate your talent. While we all might be using the same SVG files, using the same brand shirts or faux leather, and using the same craft machine, we can all find our spot in the Etsy community. One of the biggest things that will set you apart from Sally Cricut is that you are you. Not only will your skill and craftsmanship stand out against hers, but your customer service will be totally different! Your customers will grow to love YOU and how you handle your business. The way you display your products, how you set your shop up, write your descriptions, will all be a representation of who you are, and while some copy, no one can replace YOU! 

While you play with your machine, think of the projects that you love creating the most and really think about what you can put into your shop. If you can’t pick a favorite project, no worries! You can build your shop in a way that will allow all of your interest to flow until you are able to hone in on what you really want to do or what your shoppers are most looking for. I am sure you have heard “find a niche and stick to it”. I am here to tell you the exact opposite. You DO NOT have to have a niche to start with! A niche can find you. When I first started in 2017 and even into 2018, I was all over the map. I had shirts, tumblers, decals, paper crafts, keychains – the list goes on and on. Around August 2019, I took a hard look at what items really sold well in my shop and found out that one theme, in particular, sold well above anything else. I knew from that moment that my niche found me! I began to shift my business in that direction and the results have been insane. 

How can I sell on Etsy?

Setting up a shop is one of the first steps that you can take on your journey to building a different financial future. By using this link here, you can get your first 40 listings for free! While this process is pretty straight forward, it’s the work afterward that will begin to test your commitment to creating a shop that will stand the test of time. Are you ready to become an Etsy seller? Follow along with me as we go from start to finish on opening an Etsy shop and the things you need to fill out first!