Straight to the point: I closed my Etsy shop. The site brands itself prominently on products like clothes, craft goods, bags, shoes, etc. It didn't serve me so well in the instant downloads arena. Maybe the lack of success is to be blamed on my hustle game... which was non-existent. I say that only because other shops in the same category seem to thrive with plenty of downloads and reviews. In part, I know it was a mindset issue. I viewed Etsy as passive income, but in reality, running an Etsy shop takes some serious work. Gotta work the algorithm-- cross promote with businesses and influencers to get those reviews, churn out new stuff frequently to get priority in search results, and so on and so forth. It's also important keep in mind the eyeballs generally on Etsy. It seems most people gravitate toward sprawling landscapes or architectural points of interest (like the Golden Gate Bridge) or cute animal graphics.
In any case, I tried something and it didn't work out. That's ok. Move on. This journey will have plenty failures... but I'm working toward more successes.
