Etsy Seller Interview with Vee and Karla of LittleHaloJ (2024)

How LittleHaloJ got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

Hi, we are Vee and Karla, and together we have created LittleHaloJ. We design and sell all sorts of printable party items and games. We have everything from trivia games to scavenger hunts. We each have children of similar ages, and we were always looking for fun, affordable games and party items for them. When we couldn’t find exactly what we wanted, we decided to make our own. Friends and family liked our printables, so we created LittleHaloJ and started selling on Etsy and our website, littlehaloj.com

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

Since we first started selling, our Teen Treasure Hunt has been one of our best sellers! We love seeing how popular they are, and we are so grateful to our customers for their support. We have come a long way since we first started, but this is close to our hearts. We haven't changed this at all since we began, and it still sells really well. We are always working on new and exciting products. They are perfect for birthday parties, sleepovers, or just a fun night in with friends.

Another favorite is our Girls Games Bundle, which includes Check your Phone, Birthday Quiz, and This or That. We love how this looks and the people who buy it also love it too.

As Treasure Hunts and Scavenger Hunts are popular for our audience, we recently created this fun Birthday Treasure Hunt and it is selling really well.

Another favorite and popular item is this Fun Family Feud Printable. This is great for family game night or any party.

We also love making and selling game bundles, and this Family Reunion Games Bundle is one of our most fun and popular ones. We love that families are getting to use them and have so much fun.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

We opened our Etsy shop in late February 2021 with a handful of products, and it took about 3 weeks before we made our first sale! It is hard when you are starting out as a new shop with no reviews or sales history. But once that first person had purchased and left a review, the sales just started rolling in.

We have recently started dabbling with paid Etsy ads, but before that it was all organic. To help with driving traffic to our store, we research and try to use tags and keywords in our listings with clear descriptions and images.

Managing LittleHaloJ

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

We are currently running our business with just the two of us doing it all. It is manageable as all of our items are printables, which means people purchase and instantly receive a PDF that they can download and print at home. Therefore, we do not have to ship or physically fulfill any orders. Once a customer purchases one of our games, Etsy automatically delivers the printable file to them.

We do get a few enquiries from customers who are new to buying printables and will ask us how to download their order. We include instructions on how to download on our listings, but there is messaging back and forth with people who need some extra help. We pride ourselves on having etsy badges for being a star seller, speedy replies and rave reviews.

To run our shop we use canva, affinity designer, xero, Etsy seller’s app, and aweber for newsletter emails.

The future of LittleHaloJ

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

We would love to work on our business full time as we both enjoy the creativity it offers. In order to free us up to do this, we are working towards our Etsy store replacing both of our current incomes. We are hoping to get close to or reach 6 figures by the end of this year, so it might happen sooner rather than later. which is very exciting.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

I think the best advice we can offer is that if you have been thinking about doing it, just start! Decide on a niche area and work on about a dozen products that you are proud of. Do your keyword research, put up the listings and see what happens.

Also be consistent with updating listings or adding new products. Etsy likes to see that you are always active in your store.

‍Some sellers really get inspired by hearing numbers. Feel free to share these if you like.

Question: What is your average profit margin?
Answer: Approx 70% once you take out all of etsy fees

Question: What is your shop’s conversion rate?
Answer: Conversion rate is approx 3.7% - 4%