Plans for the year ahead
In late October last year, we (the leadership team – Rob, Sophie and Jayne) realised that in the run up to Etsy Made Local, those team members not involved were very quiet and we’d lost some of our community feel. We decided to look again at the team’s purpose and try to find a way for our activities to benefit the wider team, rather than just those that taking part in Etsy Made Local.
Since then, Rob has made the decision to step down as team captain in order to focus on running his ‘bricks and mortar’ shop. Sophie and Jayne will continue as co-captains with Dania as team leader. With the continuing help of our amazing committee, we will expand upon and put into practise the ideas we had.
The aim of the team has always been to
- Provide opportunities for team members to meet fellow local Etsy sellers.
- Provide learning opportunities and sources of information to help team members develop their Etsy shops and businesses.
- Provide a space for team members to ask questions about selling on Etsy.
- Celebrate the practise of craft and the skills used to create products by team members.
In 2019 and beyond, we will deliver these aims by
- Organising regular events, both social and learning based.
- Maintaining a supportive and inclusive community, both online and in person.
- Publishing regular blogs and newsletters to keep in touch with non-Facebook users.
Photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash
How is this different from before?
We’re just changing the focus a little – more self-improvement, less self-promotion!
We’ll change how we use our social media channels to reflect this and you’ll see the content start to shift from promotional posts about sellers, their products and events, to ones aimed at Etsy sellers (rather than Etsy shoppers). We know that most of our social media followers are team members and other business owners, so this makes perfect sense. It’ll reduce the workload of the committee members who look after our channels and help to include team members who don’t use our Facebook group.
We’ve already shared the news with you that for the foreseeable future, we won’t be hosting selling events for team members (you can read a little more about this here) and that decision still stands. However, we will actively encourage you to share stallholder opportunities at existing events via the Facebook group. We’ll also continue to let you know of other markets and events that we get contacted about.
If you wish to apply for Etsy Made Local events, here are other local teams that may be running Etsy Made Local in 2019 and who accept team members from the Sheffield area:
Leeds: https://community.etsy.com/t5/Team-Leeds/gp-p/21180
Barnsley: https://community.etsy.com/t5/Crafty-Business-Barnsley/gp-p/29685
Nottingham: https://community.etsy.com/t5/Nottingham-Etsy-Team/gp-p/24681
If and when these teams are confirmed as hosts by Etsy, we’ll let you know straight away.
Sustainability
Some of the educational events that we plan to put on throughout the year will need to be charged for. We’re committed to keeping our events affordable and hope that you will find them good value. Every event will be budgeted to ensure that we can cover the running costs (including annual expenses like our website and insurance) and that we have the cash flow required to advance book venues / guest speakers for events.
On a related note, you’ll soon be able to book on to team events via our website. This will reduce a lot of admin for us and make it quicker and easier for you to buy tickets. You’ve only ever been able to pay us via bank transfer but will soon have the option of paying by credit or debit card, as well as wallet options like Apple and Google Pay.