Deciding the right platform to sell handmade products online isn’t usually the first thing you might be worried about when you’re starting an e-commerce business.
After all, if you’re like most people, it’s deciding WHAT you want to sell—not necessarily where you sell it.
Kelly K-Hamo was no different.
Actually—let me take that back.
Kelly IS a little different because she traveled down a whole bunch of paths to get where she is today.
First, Kelly served the United States as a member of the Air Force. Once she retired in 2011, she knew immediately that sitting still wasn’t going to be for her. In her words, she isn’t built to “just do nothing.”
She began to clean her closets with gusto, going through them item by item. The piles grew, but she wasn’t sure how to get rid of some of the pieces she’d collected.
Kelly knew about the eBay selling platform, so she signed up and began listing various items.
Then she learned about Etsy. It was a fairly new sales platform, but she saw potential in it. She started putting her vintage items on the site, and they sold incredibly quickly—and Kelly enjoyed the hands-on selling process. She and her husband began to look for vintage items at secondhand stores and any yard or estate sales they could find.
It was her first successful foray into e-commerce.
But for several years Kelly and her husband pursued other options, including owning mall kiosks in three different Arizona cities. It required a lot of time and travel. Finally, the couple decided to close their kiosks.
Kelly hadn’t closed her Etsy store, but things had changed a bit. She saw that the people who were really succeeding were involved with drop shipping…but it didn’t take too long for her to see that it really wasn’t for her. Kelly also returned to eBay selling for a while but missed the positive relationships she’d had with her early Etsy experience. She was feeling stumped about selling platforms.
Then she came across one of my posts.
Pay attention to this: she researched me. A lot
She wanted to know exactly what I taught about e-commerce. It was important to her to know what I did and didn’t include in the 0-100K System. She wanted to make sure it would be a good fit for her.
And yay! She decided that, after all that research, it was right for her.
As Kelly jumped into the system, she started her own online store called White Cactus. She sold home décor and dabbled in other products for the first 6 months. But she decided to start creating handmade items—something she could have full control over.
It began with earrings, which she put together with products she already had on hand. She submitted them to a deal site and her sales took off.
That’s when she realized she needed to know how to choose the right platform to sell handmade products on.
Deal sites like Jane or Pick Your Plum seemed to work for her. But should she sell on them exclusively? What about Etsy? It had always been a good experience for her. On the other hand, she hadn’t loved eBay, but would it work for her jewelry—and for the other items she created?
Well, you’ll have to listen to find out.
I know! How could I leave you on a cliffhanger like that?
But wait—here’s something else you need to know about this story.
Kelly and her husband decided to relocate their family from Arizona to California—which required selling their home (and Airbnb units) and having to live in a military hotel for two months. Still, she didn’t take a break from her business.
In fact, Kelly shipped over FOUR TIMES as many packages as she had the previous year! (And went flying by the 6-figure mark.)
Learn how she did this by clicking on the podcast button above or downloading and listening to it on your favorite podcast platform.
Top 10 Takeaways
- What do you like to do? Start your business ideas there.
- Start selling items so you can begin to understand the process.
- Get to know different selling platforms to see what works best for you.
- Consider what level of product creation you want to have. Simple or intense
- Use Pinterest and other resources as inspiration for what to sell (but don't copy!)
- Keep testing products to see what’s working. (don’t get too wide on product selection. Keep it simple)
- Add other products—especially those that connect to products you’re currently selling.
- Nail your systems down so you can keep going even if everything else is changing.
- Show your customers why your products are unique.
- Recognize when you need help and then hire it out.
Additional Resources
About Kelly K-Hamo
Kelly is a sixth-generation California girl, wife and mom of 5 children aged 30 to 11 at the time of our interview. She is Air Force veteran whose career ultimately took her to Arizona. After her retirement from the military, she became an entrepreneur—flipping houses, operating Airbnb properties, and running mall kiosks with her husband. She also began selling online, starting with clothing from her own closet and eventually selling other products. Since joining the 0-100K System in 2019, she has built a 6-figure handmade product e-commerce business selling on her own website, KellyNaturals.com as well as her Etsy store, kellynaturalsco.etsy.com.
Shop on Etsy: kellynaturalsco.etsy.com
Online: KellyNaturals.com
Special Offer: Use the code WELCOMEFRIEND for an onsite discount
Follow Kelly on social media:
Facebook: @kellynsaturals24Instagram: @kelly.naturals
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