Byte-Sized Businesses: My A.I. Assisted Biz Blitz - 27
Edition 27 - Tumbler Wrap Update
Recap: At first, I challenged myself to launch two micro-businesses per month with the help of AI. Now I am shifting towards building on top of those micro-businesses. You can get caught up on the details of the challenge in my original post here.
For new readers, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to see a full list and summary of the micro-businesses that have been launched. Not each one will be covered in every weekly edition, but I will be sure to keep you up to date on all of the key points as things progress.
As I am optimizing, I have shifted my efforts towards three of the businesses. Those are Nordic Jo’s Coffee, Consulting/Coaching for the Coffee Industry, and selling Tumbler Wrap Designs on Etsy.
In This Edition
This edition is all about the Tumbler Wrap Business.
A new image trick with ChatGPT.
Sales are picking, but so is ad spend.
The next marketing step.
A New Image Trick with ChatGPT
So far, I have just used mockup images for my Tumbler Wrap Design Etsy listings, but I have seen some others also include the full design image. The key is that they put a watermark over it so that it can’t be easily just copied right from the listing.
I just found a really quick and easy way to do that. I just uploaded my image to ChatGPT and asked it to add a watermark. It took a couple iterations to get a watermark that I liked, but ultimately it worked perfect when I asked it to make it a repeating watermark with a light color font that matches the image.
Here’s an example. You can obviously use a number of tools like Photoshop of Canva to do this manually, but using ChatGPT is extremely quick and easy.
Sales Are Picking, But So Is Ad Spend
Overall, things are going fairly well with the Tumbler Wrap Designs. Sales have been on a noticeable uptick, and overall activity on my shop has been increasing. The downside of this though is that I am also seeing the daily spend on Etsy ads going up also.
As I have mentioned in previous editions, I’m okay with this not being profitable right out of the gate. The general idea is that if I use Etsy ads to build volume to the store, it’s overall ranking will improve and the organic traffic that it receives will increase, and eventually I will be able to dial back the ad spend to become profitable. The idea is that the initial ad spend is an investment to build an asset.
The exciting part is that I am reaching a point where I can start seeing which listings my winners are going to be, and that will let me start optimizing. Part of this will be turning the ads off on the weaker performing listings, but a bigger part will be looking at listings that are getting a lot of clicks and making adjustments to increase the conversion rate. The main tactics that I will take is adding additional images and video to the listing with the goal of demonstrating the key features such as the seamless design technique that I use on my designs.
The Next Marketing Step
On top of the optimization steps that I mentioned above, I also had an idea just today that I think could have a major impact of turning this Etsy shop into an asset. One of the best things that I can do for this shop is create a recurring customer base. The buyers of the designs are running craft businesses of their own and have a continued need for new designs. I want to become a go to source for this, but this can be a little difficult. I have been sending a lot of thank you messages with discount offers, and I have noticed a lot of people favoriting my shop, which is a great sign that people are liking my designs, but I am relatively limited as long as my connection to my customers is through Etsy. Sending too many messages and offers could lead to being labeled as a spammer and possibly even getting shutdown.
I’ve seen some other sellers utilize Facebook groups that you get invited to through ordering something from them, and I think this is a good route, and one that I might take myself. But the realization that I had today is that I can start a very simple newsletter to keep in touch with my customers. It will be pretty simple to execute. To start, I will include a PDF with a link to subscribe in the download documents that customers receive when they buy. From there, I will also include the link in my thank you message. The newsletter itself will be entirely free design downloads, special discount promotions, and new design announcements.
If the newsletter proves to be something that customers are interested in, it will benefit me in a number of ways. To start, it keeps directing previous customers back to my products. That in itself will make the efforts well worth it, but it will actually carry even more benefits. The analytics around views and open rates along with the sales that are generated from it will help me identify when the best time might be to setup up a standalone website. Etsy is nice for initial visibility, but by leveraging the initial sales by creating an audience that can be directed to your own site allows for much more profitable operations with less fees that have to be paid out. Again, this is all about building an asset.
The List So Far
Dough Control - Dough Control was a blog on cash management for small businesses that I originally started a couple years ago, but hadn’t maintained. I decided to revitalize that blog with the help of AI tools like ChatGPT. This will be a longer duration project, with the goal of developing a following before monetizing.
Canvas and Quirk (originally PleasurePrinted) - This was the first Etsy shop that I launched. It features captivating nature scenes on canvas or metal prints for home or office decor. The images are generated by Midjourney and enlarged with VanceAI. The product descriptions are drafted through ChatGPT. This shop has now been transitioned into a general store through which I will be launching all of my Etsy oriented micro-businesses / product categories. Update: This shop was transitioned again to be solely focused on the Tumbler Wrap Designs listed below.
LittleDreamersDen - A second Etsy shop that also focuses on wall art, but on the other side of the pricing spectrum. The same tools are used to create the works, but the finished products are posters rather than the more expensive canvas or metal prints. The focus of this shop is nursery room decor.
The Consulting Gig - I received a request for some costing and supply chain help. To start, I’ll provide as much value as I can up front. The hope is that the potential client will find it worth hiring me for consulting/coaching on an on-going basis. I plan on using AI to boost my speed in compiling research such as lists of potential supply chain partners.
CozyGifted (originally FlickersOfFantasy) - The third Etsy shop. This shop was originally planned to be as a candle shop, but I have pivoted to also use it for other physical items that work well as gifts.
Wirestock - Selling stock images generated with Midjourney. Wirestock is easy to use right in Discord and allows you to list your images for sale across multiple platforms at once.
Tumbler Wrap Designs (Digital Files) - Digital files of designs to be printed for tumbler wraps. These are sold through Etsy to hobbyists and vendors that sell tumblers in which the print designs on.
Personalized Enamel Coated Camping Mugs - The products are items that I am fulfilling through print on demand services with personalization enabled through HelloCustom, an AI software that streamlines the personalization process between Etsy and Printify.
Personalized Blankets - Similar to the mugs mentioned above, these are fulfilled through the print on demand services of Printify with the personalization being enabled through HelloCustom.
Nordic Jo’s Coffee - Not a new launch, but actually my first business. I will be sharing how I am using AI to produce some of my content for Nordic Jo’s.