The Backstory to this Etsy Seller’s Overnight Success with 100 Sales in Her First Month

Have you ever wondered about the backstory to a successful business launch? How long did that overnight success actually take to achieve?

For Lois Calli-Smith, the process started decades ago. Lois has loved sewing since she was a little girl. Sewing was her favorite hobby growing up and she always dreamed of working as a full-time artist. After studying art, textiles, and photography in college, she decided to focus on textiles and design and has been designing and selling textile accessories for the past 10 years. She recently launched a new business, Molko, where she sells PDF sewing patterns that even beginners can follow along with and make their own pencil cases, zippered pouches, and other accessories.

“I had the idea to design and sell PDF sewing tutorials in 2018, but I never had the extra time to execute it,” Lois explains. A global pandemic seemed just the thing to give her the nudge to make her dream become reality. Secluding herself in her studio, she worked day and night on the new business idea for months while simultaneously running her primary textile accessories business. “Molko was launched in June 2020 and it feels wonderous to see my business up and running after all these years of dreaming about it. I feel as though I am at the start of a very rewarding journey teaching people how to sew their own accessories.” That hard work paid off. In its opening month, her Etsy shop sold over 100 items. She currently has sold 257 items through her Etsy shop.

Lois felt she had an idea that could gain traction, “I know that there is a large community for all things DIY and crafty. People love to craft and to learn new skills and I don’t think that will ever change.” However, transforming that idea into a viable product had a learning curve to it. Lois says that explaining the sewing process via written text was new to her. How much detail was too much or not enough? She wanted her tutorials to be simple to follow and enjoyable to use. So, she enlisted the help of her mother, a novice at sewing to test out her very first PDF pattern. “This test was really helpful as I could see from the look in her face when certain steps needed simplifying or made clearer.” Lois has been sewing for so many years that her sewing speed was almost a hindrance to this new business. She had to learn to slow down her sewing process to be able to write clear steps and take clear photographs of every step along the way.

Some of Molko’s overnight success may be due to the timing of the current global pandemic. “With the world in lockdown, people saw the perfect opportunity to dust off their old sewing machines and get behind their creative desks. It was the chance to learn a new skill, or reignite their love for an old one, finish off that project they started 6 months ago, and even start a new business of their very own.” But it’s more than that. Having a website that is enjoyable to look at and browse is important. Lois also gives credit to her learning to take good-quality photographs of her products to catch the eye of people browsing her site. She also put considerable effort into her SEO, determining the best keywords to use on her site and in her social tags and listings.

Lois suggests that an important part of making your business a success is believing in yourself. As she says, “One of my favorite things to say is ‘If you believe, you will achieve,’ I fully stand by that.” Losing confidence along the way and developing negative thoughts may be inevitable, but you have to be able to push those thoughts aside and not let them get in the way of fulfilling your dream. To keep a new business going, Lois urges others to never stop learning and be mindful of the constantly changing business environment: “When a company that we rely on, such as Etsy or Facebook announces changes in their algorithms or business platforms it is essential that we know what to expect and learn how to adapt to keep our businesses successful.”