Stay At Home Mom Makes $250,000 First 5 Months

[@HealRelaxBreakfree]

Exact story of my life. My Facebook store where I made so much money got shut down due to copy right issues, mine was a makeup product & it took me 4 years to start all over again. I am enjoying print on demand so far. Almost 3 months now with almost 90 sales. Slow and steady but I love it

[@AprilD85]

How Bizarre and such a bummer. I know your pain! Very hard to lose a business you had been building for years overnight. I will say that this actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me so I really hope it turns out the same for you too. Good luck! :)

[@BarbaraMcClenahan]

I want to say THANK YOU for not being afraid to talk about violating copyright/trademarks laws. I've found that, as I build my own shop, I'm having to compete with others that are violating these rules. It's so disheartening. And let me say, it is hard not to cross that line because I have wanted to...but yeah...a shop will go GREAT for a while but eventually, you will get shut down.

[@CassiyJohnson]

Congrats on taking action April, loved hearing your story

[@AprilD85]

Awe! Thanks so much for all the wonderful information you gave me. I could not have done it without your help! Truly :)

[@cherilvernon5030]

Thanks for featuring April's story! Very motivating, especially when she just started six months ago in print on demand. She pretty much proved that personalization is where is at - which is what you have been saying, Stephen. I've been posting too slowly, the design process I like, but the actual mockups and listing part slows me down. But this video and her comments below show that if you are consistent and just put in the time, it will get easier and faster and start to make momentum. Thanks for the encouragement. Would love to have an update to this video after Q4 to see how well she did in her first Q4. Thank you for the great content.

[@AprilD85]

I am the same! I really enjoy the designing but I hate the mockup and listing part lol. I do like the money though so I keep at it lol! It does get much easier and much quicker though as you go and learn all the tricks and shortcuts. Lots of video's on listing shortcuts out there. I hope to do an update for Q4. I am excited to see how it goes. I will talk to Stephen about this :)

[@HelloCustom]

100% April is the perfect example that it is never to late to start and hard work pays off. April should have her first 6-figure month this Q4 :-)

[@cosmicdownload2025]

she has been in the game before this, just a little different, that should be made known in the title.

[@AprilD85]

Hi! If by "the game" you mean retail then yes. I have worked in retail for about 15 years so I am sure some of the knowledge I gained was helpful to me. This is probably why POD immediately peaked my interest when I learned about it 6 months ago. However, selling on ETSY and selling POD is very different from what I have ever done. I have watched countless hours of videos on ETSY & POD and I still watch them every night when I put my baby to bed because I am still learning. This was all very new to me and I worked very hard to learn everything I could very quickly :) @@cosmicdownload2025

[@26agica]

@@AprilD85 Dear April, that is what i have to learn, how did you learn all the tricks and shortcuts on listings?

[@alibarnes1136]

This is so inspiring. I don't know why I have felt so hesitant to post personalized items but this has convinced me!

[@HelloCustom]

I owe 100% of my success to selling personalized products on Etsy.

[@alibarnes1136]

@@HelloCustom I uploaded my first personalized listing yesterday because of this video! I’ll definitely be getting your software too. That makes it much less daunting!

[@blissessentials524]

Same..I have zero personalized items bc I don't even know how to do that. I'm exactly a year in and only done 32k in revenue, so low compared to hers 😢. This is my sign to add personalized items.

[@alibarnes1136]

@@blissessentials524 We got this! I'm setting that as my goal now and going down a youtube tutorial rabbit hole.

[@AprilD85]

yayyy!! You will not regret doing personalization! @@alibarnes1136

[@rebekahrutt5491]

My store has been open for a month and yes, this is it. Personalization is already on the top of my list.

[@LilyBecca]

I totally agree with personalization being a way to stand out from the crowd. For me, the issue is that my favorite part is actually making the products, so I don't want to use a 3rd party printer. I think I would lose my passion if all I did was make the designs. I'm an accountant, so I spend enough time on my computer. I really enjoy making my products. I find it extremely comforting and it's a wonderful stress reliever for me. I don't want to give it up! When I started sewing masks in 2020 is when I realized that I could make things. I may not be an artist in the sense of bei g abke to draw or paint, but I have always loved crafting, and I was able to teach myself how to sew amazing masks by watching KZbin videos. I then got a Cricut and realized that with the right tools, I could make anything! I now have heat presses, tumbler & mug presses, a hat press, a sublimation printer, an amazing Janome sewing machine that does embroidery, all kinds of materials and blanks, and I upgraded to the Maker 3. I set up my craft room with a computer and dual monitors and my craft room is my happy place.

[@esg9758]

This success is def bc she knows how to drive traffic via social media. I just cannot figure out how to successfully do that! It’s so daunting to me. Way to go! 🎉

[@AprilD85]

Hi!! Thanks so much! I actually was not able to gain many sales through social media like I hoped. I did try in the beginning but I had such a new account and small following that I could not get any traction. I posted a few times but I just didn't have the results I needed. Once my sales took off after I added all my personalized items I just abandoned social media. I really didn't have the time I needed to try to grow a following. I tried to post a few when Etsy started their Share & Save but I didn't get much engagement and I was too busy to keep trying so I just quit and have still not gone back to social media. I do plan to maybe next year when everything settles down because I do think social media can be a great tool but I wasn't able to use it here. I think the key to my success was the personalized items in the niche I was selling in. :)

[@KC-ed1dj]

​@@AprilD85Thanks for clarifying this for us sellers!

[@nram1]

@@AprilD85 Thanks

[@blubreezer]

@@AprilD85I needed to read that. Thanks for sharing with us!

[@AprilD85]

of course! :) @@KC-ed1dj

[@rubyrenery]

April is so calm and confident, she really is a super woman:) very motivating 💓

[@AprilD85]

OMG! This is definitely my favorite comment! I'm not sure it is true but I'll take it! Thank you so much! :)

[@HelloCustom]

Yes! April takes "nap time hustle" to the next level!

[@AprilD85]

😂😂 Nap time is prime listing time for me over here! @@HelloCustom

[@whitegoldyellow]

Amazing story April! Thanks for sharing! 🎉 Congratulations!

[@AprilD85]

Thank you so much! I appreciate it :)

[@evesmith6429]

Where can I find Aprils store on Etsy?

[@kurtg9684]

The number one reason this wonderful and savvy business owner did so well so early was her existing customer base. Having said that, she's earned every penny.

[@AprilD85]

That is very sweet and kind but I did not have an existing customer base that I used for my Etsy store. I just started from scratch and still do not use social media or access my old customer base. I am in a completely different niche so it would be weird for me to even try to use my old customer base. Also, they did not opt into emails from my Etsy store (completely different business) so I was afraid to even try to use my old customer base because I did not know if I could.

[@kurtg9684]

@@AprilD85 sorry about that. I hope I did not offend. It’s amazing what you’ve done!

[@AprilD85]

@@kurtg9684 oh no! Your comment was very kind actually! One of my favorites ☺️

[@momtomaryjean]

How did you manage to get up so many listings so fast. That is what I struggle with! Your inspiring.

[@AprilD85]

Hey! It can be difficult but there are some good tips and tricks on Cassiy Johnsons channel and Simply Shawnas Channel about scalable designs and creating templates for mockups so you can make them quickly. Once you get going you can really become quite fast at it. I will say though I have been working very early to very late for the last 5 months. I try to make new listings every night after my kids go to sleep so I work on them about 9pm to midnight every night. I do not plan on doing this forever but I have to in the "building" phase of my business. I am tired now lol but worth it later :)

[@HelloCustom]

I agree with April that listing templates will be your best friend! Once I create my templates (which I have a video for) I can consistently launch 10 listings a day.

[@26agica]

@@AprilD85 dear April, you are a true inspiration, yes Cassiy and Stephen and Jesse giving me a lot of inspiration but what I did not ever cracked is how to list even 10 listings a day. Could you make maybe a video on this on what is the process you really do to realize this?

[@KateTheMama]

I was about to give up on my Etsy shop. I have had it up now for 8 months and cant seem to pass $300 profit per month. But it's also pretty much on autopilot. No personalization, and very few uploads since October (i gave birth to my 4th child in October). But if you can do it, I can do it. I'm getting back in. Thank you!

[@Yasmin-gk3tc]

Wow just wow Congrats April and thank you Stephen for sharing 🎉❤🙏☺️ Talking to me I will definitely get started.

[@AprilD85]

Thank you!! Starting may be the hardest part lol! Good luck!

[@InfiniteTriztan1111]

I've been doing print on demand too on Etsy with Printful and Printify since 2021, but honestly i can hardly get sales, like 1 sale in a week/2 weeks. I mean, many sellers on Etsy don't sound like this kind of success story, of course there are some successful sellers like her, but most are not, to be honest.

[@AprilD85]

I had a friend of mine start just recently with personalized products and she is currently doing around 5-10 sales a day. Are you doing personalized?

[@karenbellamy1912]

I'm trying to understand the process for Innercircles prints. I have looked at all of these videos saying apply, I apply and nothing.

[@marik1104]

How come there is no link to her Etsy store? I've seen several comments asking this same question. Please include so we can check it out. Thank you!

[@SpeedbirdHeavy]

The lesson here is: always check copyright and trademarks! Even the most inocuous phrases from movies can be trademarked.

[@AprilD85]

100% agreed! I was very naive but that mistake cost me. I am actually glad it happened now but I learned a big lesson that day. I actually run everything through USPTO now because it is kind of crazy what all is copyrighted and trademarked!

[@jonathanwilliams3846]

how do you check whether a keyword is trademarked? If you're using it for a t shirt do you check it on uspto for use on t shirts?

[@SpeedbirdHeavy]

@jonathanwilliams3846 yes you can do that. Or you can even try googling 'is xxxx trademarked'.

[@here5D]

✨I might be missing something 🤪 but where’s links to find Aprils shop!?✨

[@nw8204]

Great job April! Such a wonderful and inspiring story for other moms wanting to bring in income without sacrificing everything else. I don't think you mentioned in the video but do you only have a handful of niches you design in continuously? Right now I do my keyword research and create about 30+ designs in each one that seems promising, but recently I started wondering if Im wasting time doing that! If a niche starts doing well for me I'll go back and do more designs like that but otherwise I feel like I have to keep trying to break into new niches.

[@AprilD85]

Thank you! I actually kind of design all over the place but when I find something that is working I double down on it. Put it on other products. Make other variations of it if you can. I do keyword research but mainly for my SEO when I already know what I am making. I like to use Etsy to search. I just look around. What is best selling? What is in 20+ carts? What is on fire? Once I see something coming up a few times then I know it is a good one. So then I think...how can I make this better? What other popular niche could I combine this with and double down. Also and most importantly....can I personalize it? Ryan hogue does some good videos on current trending niches that I like also. Also...I think ads are very important so look into that as well. Cassiy and Shawna have great videos on how to run ads.

[@patriciach_l]

@@AprilD85

[@ultimatecouponlady]

I wonder if this is doable without the pre-existing customer base like she has from her other store. Even though she lost her Facebook and Instagram accounts, I'm sure she reached out to those customers and let them know what her new Facebook and Instagram accounts are and she marketed to them.

[@TaiwoAkande-f2e]

I just came across your page and am going to watch all the video. I’m currently on my third try on Etsy, and this is a print on demand business, so far have only had one sale, paid for ads and listing fee and lot more, am at the edge of giving up, I stopped my ads recently and have got zero views. I work 12hrs shift minimum of 48hrs per week and i still create time to design and list products. It’s really discouraging.

[@AprilD85]

Hi! Awe, I am sorry you are having a rough start. Are you doing personalization? And also doing research on what is most popular and currently trending? My best advice it to find items that are 20+ in carts....find a way to make it better or combine it with another popular design or niche (DO NOT COPY) and most important.....PERSONALIZE IT. Also, watch all the videos out there. I suggest watching Stephen's million dollar challenge and set up your listings the way he says and scrape stores for best selling designs and styles. I hope your store takes off soon!

[@christavinson]

Ok, I hear you, God. I will buckle down and get my etsy store up and going. Thannnnks for the inspo

[@AprilD85]

Do it!! You will not regret it! Be consistent though and really go for it.

[@manifestyourdreams22]

But everyone says Etsy is saturated. Shall we still go for it in February 2024?

[@wf7246]

So inspiring, happy for your success!

[@msedana58]

All these channels ever show are big 6 digit numbers but no one is ever saying what NET profit is.

[@boba5747]

Where we can check out her store?

[@billnoll]

How could somebody not know that Disney (of all companies!) would zealously protect their intellectual property!

[@sarahcapps9251]

@AprilD85 From one SAHM to another, this is super inspirational! Congratulations on your success! If you have any advice on managing being a stay at home mom and growing your Etsy biz at the same time, I’d greatly appreciate it! I’m about 2.5 years in and meeting revenue milestones I never expected I’d meet but am still growing slower than I’d hope. I have a VA doing a lot for me, and I work early mornings, nap time and evenings when I can. And have a babysitter come a morning a week. But I struggle with making traction when I’m working in small spurts. I haven’t come across many other moms in this POD space so overall, was just excited to see another mom’s success! 🎉😊

[@AprilD85]

Hi Sarah! Thanks so much! I am glad that your store is doing well! It is very difficult doing it from home so I do understand. I actually have my littlest in school from 9-1 each day and then she naps from about 2-3pm each day so I am able to get quite a few hours work in before I get all of my kids at 3 each day. However, in order to do as much as I have done in such a short period of time I really had to buckle down and work every hour I had. It can be hard working from home as no one really holds you accountable and it can be so easy to stop and do other things. I had to set goals each day and make sure that I did my best to get them done. I will say that some days I was setting unattainable goals and that became very frustrating for me. I would be like ok...today I will make 50 listings. That was silly. I learned if I set smaller goals of like 5 listings I was able to stay focused better and then often I would surpass these smaller goals. Also, make sure that you are using the time that you do have to make listings that will sell. Do the research. Our time is precious so we need to make sure we are using it the best we can. As Stephen says...it takes just as much time to make a design that won't sell as it does to make a design that will sell. I like to find designs that have 20+ in the cart and figure out how I can make that design better or combine it with another best selling design or niche and then of course personalize it. The personalization was key for me. That, Combined with the research and the knowledge I gained from other POD sellers and of course some really hard work. I am currently up still until about 1am every night building my new business. I do not plan to work THIS hard forever but this is my first Q4 so I am very busy in the building phase. I went into Q4 with no holiday listings and a goal of 300 listings. I did hit that goal and it is going well for me as a result. It was not without a little sweat and tears though lol. In the beginning I actually remember crying to my husband while working so hard to build my store so quickly. I was working probably 15 hour days and praying it would work. I enjoy staying home with my kids so this was kind of my last chance to figure something new out. I knew that I had to give it everything. I gained all the information I could from every seller willing to give me any information. Stephen, Cassiy, Shawna, Heather, Hannah, Ryan, CU Online....if they are on here spilling secrets I was listening. My littlest was one at the time and it would take me at least an hour to rock her to sleep at night and I would watch videos the entire time. I gained so much knowledge and value from these videos that I was able to create a store with proven tactics that were working for other POD sellers. I still believe personalization was the strongest factor but it was not the only factor. It was the combination of doing personalization with proven research and conversion tactics from other successful sellers that really catapulted me quickly into success. I hope this helps some and I hope that your store is very successful in the future! Best of luck and Happy Holidays :)

[@sarahcapps4357]

Hi @@AprilD85 , thank you so much for your thoughtful response! Especially during the midst of busy Q4! I really appreciate hearing the practical side of things because that's what I'm always trying to manage/structure better to work most efficiently. Love your determination and grit - thank you for your encouragement!!

[@val_banana]

Very inspirational 👏! I am sorry if the question has already been asked or if it was answered in the video (sorry, english is not my first language), but which POD site do you use to create the products?

[@AprilD85]

Printify! :)

[@yayadrew]

So inspiring! Would luv to know how many listings she had each month and if they were all new designs or multiple products with the same design.

[@AprilD85]

Hi!!! I was averaging about 300 a month BUT yes I did put the same design on different products. AND I duplicated designs that I felt like would do really well and changed the SEO to give the double the chance!

[@yayadrew]

@@AprilD85 Thank you 🙏🏿

[@starryeye3482]

Great video! New subscriber here. Is this the HelloCustom channel the same as the personalization platform?

[@ananila8143]

Which is the link to her shop on Etsy?

[@ChronicallyJessie]

This is why you need your own email list!!

[@AprilD85]

Agreed! I just started building mine with @helloeverbee

[@CassieMakesArt]

This is inspiring the heck out of me!! My heart has been telling me to do personalization because I think that will be really rewarding. I have graphic design skills and I want to try making custom blankets to start. Thank you for this video!

[@AprilD85]

Do it! Blankets are a great seller if they are personalized.

[@shageevideo]

That's very motivating for new Etsy shop owners like myself. I have been debating personalization for awhile and this convinces me. Can. April share her shop for motivation?

[@AprilD85]

Hi!!! Thanks! You should start personalizing! I highly recommend. I wish I could share my shop to help motivate but if you read down in the comments I have explained why this is very, very bad for my business and I cannot do that. You can do it though! I recommend watching Stephen's Million Dollar Challenge for motivation!

[@shageevideo]

Thanks for your reply, I will deep dive in the video@@AprilD85

[@HelloCustom]

I encouraged April to keep her shop secret to protect her products, niches, and designs. If you go to our channel and watch episodes 1-6, you will see the same product research, market research, seo, product launch, etc strategies that April used to find this success. You can do it too!

[@valeriapinatelliugarte3761]

What exactly means "personalised" print on demand?

[@fjvickery]

Great video, and great success story April. Would you be willing to comment on your Etsy advertising budget, and how much you spent on advertising the first month, 2nd month, 3rd month? Also, did you offer free shipping? Thank you.

[@AprilD85]

Hi! Thank you! So for the easiest part of the question lol No, I do not offer free shipping. I hide some of my profit in shipping and charge $6.99. I learned this from Stephen's Million Dollar Challenge. As far as ads, Yes! I think ads have contributed largely to my success. However, I think you only want to use ads to add fuel to the fire and I think the fire was started with personalization. Once I started consistent sales around 10-15 a day I set my ad spend at $100 a day and noticed an immediate increase in sales the next day. I left them at $100 a day for the first few months but as my sales started to increase and ad spend was being maxed out early I increased them to $200 and then eventually to $300.. Ads were a challenge for me to understand initially but Stephen has a some great videos talking about running ads. Cassiy has some great videos explaining when you should start running ads. Shawna has one of my favorites that teaches you how to turn off irrelevant keywords that are wasting your ad spend! This made a big difference for me. I also really like Hannah Gardners videos on ads talking about how Etsy is a business and they like ad spend basically. She also has a good one talking about ROAS. Good news is, since it is pay per click, if no one likes your designs...you have nothing to worry about lol. If people do like the designs though then you are putting them where they can see them easier when they may not have ever seen them at all. I am no expert though so I do suggest watching their videos. :) Hope that helps.

[@fjvickery]

Thank you for the great information!

[@EleanorJoyLifeCoach]

Etsy will close your shop down eventually if you sell Disney products because it is copyright infringement.

[@AprilD85]

OHHHHH I will never go anywhere near that again. I search every design I make on USTPO. Lesson learned there!

[@JobjobJob-f6e]

Well Disney just lost the rights on Mickey copyright. It is expired and now is public domain ❤

[@embeee2011]

@@JobjobJob-f6e😮😮😮

[@mignonmykel3571]

@@JobjobJob-f6e Not all Mickey -- just steamboat willie mickey

[@EleanorJoyLifeCoach]

No, they only lost the right to Steamboat Willy. Here is the actual statement. In January of 2024, the copyright officially expires to Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse as they appear in Steamboat Willie (1928), created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. In a statement to The Associated Press, a Disney representative emphasized that artists cannot freely use more modern depictions of the famous Mouse.@@JobjobJob-f6e

[@ginforbreakfast2436]

Interesting post what do you mean by a personalized product? Is it adding the purchasers name or picture to products?

[@KiaraWilliams-Wilson-mp2pc]

Yes. Allowing the buyer to choose things like babe, color, photo, etc. :)

[@thepharmacistwiththesuitcase]

Can we have the links of her pages?

[@SusanKupelian]

What a great story April!! Just wondering if you are selling internationally as well. I also have an Etsy store but only sell in the USA. I have often thought about adding international but have been afraid to step out in that arena. Just wondering if I am leaving money on the table. Seems like I might be...

[@mckennasmyth1143]

What’s her Etsy store called?

[@jerritanner275]

Thanks for sharing!

[@Krisvides]

What is her shop called?

[@SandyJ144]

Very encouraging :) Can this work for someone in Europe? :)

[@jeff_f]

“Makes”. What’s the net profit?

[@AprilD85]

Hey Jeff! I ran a break even strategy most of my first big month because I saw it in one of Stephen's videos but I am around 28-30% profit on my items. I do run Etsy ads too though. Net profit is very good though ;)

[@sweetbeep]

​@@AprilD85you mean you had the prices low enough to just break even to gain traction and up the algorithm, and then you increased the price after that?

[@lisafromnewyork]

This is very inspiring. I second Cassiy's videos, and I'm also in her course. Now I'm inspired to try personalization for my new shop.

[@HelloCustom]

Yes, Cassiy's channel and content is amazing!

[@lisafromnewyork]

@@HelloCustom I'm thinking of starting a YT channel to document my progress in 2024 using her course. Will see how it goes!

[@AprilD85]

Yes! Cassiy is where I started. I actually have not done her course yet but I bet it is worth it! Watch Stephens Million Dollar Challenge also. I know he couldn't finish with it but you get everything you need in the first 6 videos! :)

[@lisafromnewyork]

I'm going through it again@@AprilD85 but I did watch the videos the past few days. Interesting! So you basically didn't just do shirts but perhaps a few different products too?

[@lisafromnewyork]

@@AprilD85 how are you handling orders if they are multiple? For example, have you had a HC order along with a non-HC order? My understanding is the orders are canceled to go to HC to get sent back to Printify. That's the one aspect I don't understand if I run into this issue. Thanks!

[@hydroponichomestead]

Wich personalization store did she use

[@hooked_fish]

What company for print on demand used ? For Etsy

[@karenwindham534]

This is something I would like to do! Someone please tell me where to go to learn how to for a complete beginner. Thanks !

[@AprilD85]

I learned how as a complete beginner from Stephen's Million Dollar Challenge and watching Cassiy Johnsons videos.

[@abdinooribrahimderiye641]

etsy is not available in my country. any advice please

[@dallasj22266]

Myshopofy store ?

[@SquirreldomIsFreedom]

Where can I find April’s KZbin?

[@ErinKennedy-kr3uu]

Hey April, congrats on an amazing start! I’m feeling in the same place as you were - mum with young bub, watched a lot of videos and have just made a start on posting listings in the last week. I’m finding it hard to find enough time to post the quantity of listings that I know I need - did you use a particular strategy to get faster at posting? I was working til midnight and up at 6 but had to dial back a bit because my baby wakes through the night so I was surviving on 4hrs sleep just trying to get some up for the Xmas period. Any tips on getting faster with posting?

[@AprilD85]

Hey Erin! Thanks so much! It is kind of a slow start until you find a rhythm. The beginning was very hard for me as I kept getting overwhelmed. Just keep going. I would say make sure that you are designing things that are being searched for. Find things in 20+ carts and design in that niche or take that design and find a way to make it better or add more value to it so that it is different and better. I also really love scalable designs. Shawna does a lot of videos about this. I did find that creating mockup templates inside canva helped me to create my mockups faster. Truly though. Once you really get going you get better at it and faster. I would say just be consistent if nothing else. Sometimes I put my kids to bed and I am so exhausted but Im like no...I will list two items before I go to bed. It's exhausting at first but it pays off in the end and next year I will not have to work as hard. Good luck!!

[@fjvickery]

April, Thank you for the great information! It will help a lot.

[@ErinKennedy-kr3uu]

@@AprilD85 Thanks so much for your reply, I really appreciate it. Great advice, I'm not super across the ways to do good product research for in demand items yet - I have Everbee so am working out how to use that and have used the method to create a master list that was shown in the POD Million Dollar challenge, but I did it before Halloween so I need to redo it so its more relevant to Xmas I think. Thanks again!

[@oliareckziegel5837]

Hi April! Thank you for such a great story and motivation! Would you mind to share how did you learn to make designs with Canva. I feel almost overwhelmed from watching different videos on KZbin about the process of making the design with Canva. Thank you so much for your help!! Best regards, Olia

[@KOK-sc8ez]

@@AprilD85Hi did you continue with children’s products since you had experience there? I often find the kids POD products to be overpriced and low in stock.

[@marys.5050]

Great interview! Thank you. April, I’m curious how many hours it takes you per day/wk just on the fulfillment side?

[@AprilD85]

Thank you so much! So right now it is more than normal lol because Q4 has ramped up and it is getting a bit crazy. I also do not have all of my designs on Hello Custom yet so I am still doing several manually and this takes time. However, On a normal day with the use of Hello Custom I should only be spending about and hour a day going through my approval cue for my personalized orders and of course the other orders fulfill themselves. Truly, once every personalized item is on Hello Custom my goal is to work about 3-4 hours a day. This includes listing, customer service and personalization. Right now though, I am so new and I did not have any listings going into Q4, I am working morning to night. Without Hello Custom I would not be able to keep up with my orders.

[@thebeccad]

How do Etsy sellers keep up with all of those personalized items? Don’t you have to manually go in and edit the design every time you get an order? That sounds like a lot of work

[@Gilpinrealtorteam]

What is personalized print products?

[@lovesaysgo]

What a great success story! Thanks for sharing

[@AprilD85]

Thank you so much! :)

[@marikavernon7332]

@@AprilD85wow April! This is amazing. I’ve been slacking off with Etsy but your story completely boosted my motivation. How many listings do you have posted now?

[@AprilD85]

Thank you so much!! Don't slack...I think consistency is also key and I have a theory that Etsy rewards you for consistency (may or may not be true lol). I now have over 1k listing. I started seeing consistent sales around 300 I would say. @@marikavernon7332

[@fanceypantsable]

I would love to know what products she sells

[@Bekind95]

April, I was wondering what category you are selling in as this is where I am stuck.

[@AprilD85]

I am actually selling in several niches and categories. I will say that I started in some pretty saturated niches as well. The beauty of personalization is that with a good personalized design, even in a saturated niche, you can still stand out.

[@Bekind95]

@@AprilD85 Thank you!

[@lisafromnewyork]

@@AprilD85 are you selling for various items? I watched this in the middle of the night, but I can't recall if you mentioned selling only shirts, or other items. Either way, this is super interesting as I've been scared to do personalization thinking it would take up too much of my time. But I am curious about starting this for my new shop. Especially since it appears one can scale quickly. Thanks!

[@tiphneydelprado3039]

what does she mean "personalized" her items?

[@politesmile7812]

If she sold $250,000 worth of products, what percentage is considered her profit? About 20%? I’m curious

[@jmspegel]

Well how much cost vs sales?

[@koreanpizza17]

YYOOOO!!! THIS IS THE 2ND VIDEO IVE WATCHED ABOUUT PERSONALIZED PRODUCTS!!! I need to delete my digital listings ahahaha. Thanks for sharing!!! Amazing job! Great Coach!

[@AprilD85]

Do both!!! Do it all!! :)

[@HelloCustom]

I owe 100% of my success to selling personalized products on Etsy. With tools like HelloCustom that can automate it now, it has never been easier.

[@koreanpizza17]

@@HelloCustom wait do you own hello customs??😱 I just learned about it few days ago from ryan hogue.

[@wf7246]

@@HelloCustom i might like to try personalized items, but do you need to post a lot of listing for personalized products?

[@GGGThree]

No one should think copyright infringement is okay.

[@shreddingmoments4115]

Did she make $250,000 in profit or sales? Etsy takes like a 30% cut, and then the print on demand company you work with takes like 60%, so I think in profit she probably made $25,000 which is still pretty decent money, but of course saying she made $250,000 sounds better. It would be more informative if she said what profit she made, though.

[@puluqemil]

great video, great content!

[@alicevolcom85]

Amazing, wow the success it qwesome!!!

[@sweetbeep]

Which POD does hello custom integrate with?

[@AprilD85]

Prinitify

[@sweetbeep]

@@AprilD85 ..thanks. that is all?

[@HelloCustom]

@@sweetbeep Currently just Printify, but they have a huge library of products you can sell.

[@sweetbeep]

@@HelloCustom ..their quality is hit or miss unfortunately.

[@heidib8146]

Can anyone provide April’s Etsy shop name?

[@tatata1543]

Scams R Us.

[@Anonymous-ze2mu]

Is Etsy still messing up POD with the mockup saga?

[@denisebrown5341]

I subscribed to your channel bc of this video!! WOW!!

[@SquirreldomIsFreedom]

I subscribed to April's KZbin channel but it only had 19 subscribers and no content. So, I subscribed to this channel. :-)

[@Moongirl68]

I’ve heard that you can no longer sell POD on Etsy unless it your own design. Do you make your own designs?

[@AprilD85]

I do make my own designs. I am not sure on wether or not you have to though.

[@Chowan30]

what was her profit from the $250K? Did she spend any $$ on etsy ads. Any paid ads outside of etsy?

[@AprilD85]

Hi!!! I did answer these in detail in some previous comments :)

[@HelmetVanga]

What does personalized item mean? Does she put especfic names on baby clothes like James, Chloe, etc? English is not my native language. Thanks

[@AprilD85]

exactly :)

[@mybeloved1]

How is she generating so much traction on her products? How does personalization work?

[@AprilD85]

I think the personalization is how I generate so much traction. Personalized products stand out from the rest. Stephen has lots of videos on how to personalize products.

[@wongrita3228]

Amazing！❤❤❤

[@aivexuviet11]

Personalized but what' s type of product?

[@AprilD85]

Hi!!! I try not to give away too much information as far as niche's and products as there are people who will try to find my store and copy all of my things and ruin my business. I commented on the comments on why we cannot give out shops and other information. However, if you go watch Stephen's Million Dollar Challenge or some of this other videos, he tells you what products to design :)

[@lisafromnewyork]

@@AprilD85 I'm just seeing this after asking my question. I was already going to check that out, so I will now. :)

[@aivexuviet11]

@@AprilD85 I think you are marketing for this Channel🤣🤣🤣.

[@AprilD85]

lol 100% I am but not because I was asked to but because it worked for me! I just want people to know :) I'm also marketing for Cassi and Shawna and some other youtubers that I have never spoke to but their channels are why I am here. @@aivexuviet11

[@sabrinajolie2465]

​@@AprilD85thank you for your honesty and straight forward answer. God bless 🙌

[@sparklehouse5466]

What is personalization

[@redesign5096]

It all sounds great but it would help if you actually showed April’s storefront on Etsy. Or provide references to her Etsy and/or website.

[@AprilD85]

Hi! Unfortunately I cannot do this for two reasons. You will notice that none of the youtubers give away their stores. This is mainly because this is a very good way to ruin our business. I cannot have people flood my store just to look around and see what is going on and what I am selling and then leave without purchasing anything. What this does is tell Etsy that people do not like my items enough to buy them. Etsy works off of the responses by customers basically. The more people are liking and buying items from my store....the more Etsy shows that store to people. If people start roaming around my store and not purchasing, this tells Etsy that people do not like my items. This messes up my conversion rate and lowers my rank on Etsy. Etsy will stop showing my items and my store to people. It is a very easy way to kill my business. I use to wonder this same thing when I was watching all the videos until it was explained to me. Also, reason number two....there are literally people who will try to copy your entire store or at the very least all your best sellers. I don't feel like fighting that battle either lol. Sorry, I wish I could but it is dangerous and my store supports my family so I cannot risk it. Feel free to ask me any questions and I can try to be helpful :)

[@KC-ed1dj]

They can't share her site because the bad actors will quickly copy everything she is doing down to copying her designs EXACTLY and she will potentially lose her hard earned sales and have to compete with a ton of folks who a basically thieves. .

[@AprilD85]

unfortunately this is true :( @@KC-ed1dj

[@Laura-je2uw]

Why would you want to see her shop? She gives all the advice you need. Imagine you had a successful shop and hundreds of people who also want to have success with etsy would visit your store. You should know that especially for digital and pod products copycats are a huuuge problem. By referencing your store you are basically killing it.

[@jonathanwilliams3846]

@@Laura-je2uw juna is very open about his shop. i went thru this with elke clarke--many of the alleged successes she featured sounded too good to be true and there was no documentation.

[@laurenarington2431]

Do you make each one on your own?

[@lovesaysgo]

Can’t wait 🎉

[@blissessentials524]

I am convinced to add my first personalized listings in my store today, im a year in thid month and im not even at her level, not even 5% I havent done it bc im too scared id make a mistake and bc i dont even know how to do personalized items. I'd have to watch some youtube videos on how to do that.

[@AprilD85]

DO IT!!!! Cassiy has a really good video I watched on personalization and then Stephen has some videos showing how to set them up with Hello Custom so you aren't having to do any extra work!

[@pat4005]

@@AprilD85What is "Hello Custom"?

[@107tatiana]

That's funny bc all these videos say we can make thousands of dollars doing POD on Etsy, and yet a long with opening my shop a few months ago, I tried doing four mugs through I think printify and I made no sales 😑

[@AdalydGracia]

What is personalized items? Sorry for the ignorance

[@AprilD85]

Oh no, thats a great question. I just make designs where I allow their name on the design. So if I were making a coffee mug I would make a design that I could also put their name on. Like "World's Best Teacher - Mrs. Johnson". They can add their teachers name to the design so this is the personalization part.

[@BogdanPredko]

Sorry, where is the million dollar challenge? Where do I find it?

[@jonathanwilliams3846]

it would be interesting to know how much her inst a gram was involved in growing her business.

[@AprilD85]

Hey Jonathan! Pretty much none and thank goodness because I hated trying to chase followers and engagement on social media! I did answered this in detail in one of the comments already also :)

[@outofnesters]

What did she mean by she got on 300 listings? What listings? I'm sorry if this has been asked, and I missed it somehow. Thanks!

[@AprilD85]

I listed 300 products.

[@rMeghann]

Is the name of her Etsy shop mentioned anywhere?

[@a.b.4052]

What is meant by personalization? Is she doing shirts with photos printed on them that she had made, so no one else has those print designs? Is that the meaning?

[@gaylahuerta2443]

I don’t see link to April’s channel. April who?

[@sarahade9184]

How does the funding work with having $54,000 in POD sales?

[@mr.e-manm5062]

Or do I have start new products in hello custom?

[@thegodpreneurpodcast]

What's the profit though? Print on demand is so expensive... I do all my printing in house and I hate it lol BUT it is where I make all of my profit....

[@KOK-sc8ez]

Same. What kind of printers do you have? I do sublimation and recently decided to stop selling my mugs because I hate making them and packing / shipping is annoying but POD mugs have really bad quality a lot of the time and the good POD ones are so expensive it’s hard to compete. Even the guy who owns this KZbin channel prints his own products with employees, not POD!

[@AnysNadhilah]

Is there any example of what she sells

[@nram1]

Sorry if this was answered. Is she using this software?

[@AprilD85]

Yes, I use Hello Custom 🙌🏻

[@nram1]

@@AprilD85 Thanks

[@100percentliving]

So inspiring! Congratulations. My only issue with HC has been that it seems like most of what I design is always toooo large in a pdf file to upload to their site. I had a very simple design as well and same issue. Anyone else experience this? Their website is such a great resource.

[@AprilD85]

I have not experienced this. Are you designing in Canva? I do all my designs at 4500 x 5400 px and then download them as pdf and upload them. I have never had it say the file is too big.

[@100percentliving]

Yes same. Two were Ai generated plus added on to. The other was watercolor style trees with a quote. They all then downloaded as pdfs that were 37mb. HC file size max 25mb.

[@HelloCustom]

If the file is over 25MB but within 5000X5000 pixels, then the clipart in the design is too large in file size. If you compress the clipart, upload back to your design, the file size will be smaller, but the print quality will be the same. 37MB is very large :)

[@100percentliving]

Thank you!

[@jeb5678]

What type of personalizing?! I’m confused. I know there are so many types of personalized items. What is she talking about?

[@didamobi9487]

Don't rely solely on Etsy as they could shut down your store without warning. That's what happened to me.