Do you think that it’s impossible to sell online without social media successfully? Or maybe you’ve been told that having a big social media following on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok is a must-have in order to be in ecommerce?
If so, you need to listen to this episode of the How to Sell Online podcast. Karen Sennikoff’s has sold more than $170,000 in products through her online store since October 2021. And news alert: she’s done it with an almost non-existent social media presence.
A Bumpy Online Selling Beginning
Karen, like a lot of people, unfortunately, lost her job in 2020. She’d worked from home and wanted to keep doing it, so although she did go back to work full-time, she started an online clothing boutique with a friend. A year later, however, her friend was no longer interested, meaning Karen needed to change gears.
The funny thing is that she decided to start selling something so dang many people think is saturated: t-shirts! Specifically, she wanted to sell sublimated shirts, as she was aware she could get the equipment fairly easily and product shirts from home. Since then, she’s shipped out over 3,000 orders!
Selling T-shirts on Marketplaces
One of the things I loved about my conversation with Karen is that she’s found a way to move forward even without having done things before. For example, she built her online store despite not having experience. She’s also figured out a way to sell online without social media.
How’d she do it? She’s predominantly selling on marketplaces—focusing on trends to choose what types of designs she produces.
On Etsy, she’s found a niche that works for her, and that is performing well. She’s also been diving into Etsy-specific SEO (again, something she’d never done before.)
She was also accepted as a seller on Jane.com. Jane.com is another well-known online marketplace that has a lot of sellers with great items. And the big bonus is that Jane does all of the advertising, which is one reason working with marketplaces means you can sell online without social media followers of your own.
Karen also applied to become a wholesale seller on Faire.com. As she shares in our interview, she wasn’t accepted on Faire.com at first. It took a couple of attempts for her to get the thumbs-up from them. As a wholesale seller, her t-shirts are now being carried in online and brick-and-mortar stores…they might even show up in a store in your town or city!
The Next Steps—Growing Karen’s Online Business
If there’s one thing I love (other than selling online!) it’s getting to coach my students about their businesses. Karen has a lot to look forward to, from hanging out with her 10 grandkids to getting to travel with her now-retired husband. But to do it, she needs to do some things that are necessary, but hard for online sellers.
That’s why we talk the need to stop doing everything on her own, how to find the right people to help her, and the importance of overcoming pricing fears. If you’re feeling concerns about any of those areas (or even if you don’t have your own online store yet) this is info you’ll want to hear.
Top Takeaways
There’s a lot of great tips in this episode, and I had a hard time narrowing down my takeaways. Here are the big ones for me:
- No social media needed!
- Be persistent when applying for marketplaces.
- If you get denied, it might not be the right time. Try again.
- Increase listings in your niche.
- Find your bottleneck so you can grow.
- Hire, hire hire.
- Increase your margins.
- Utilize tools other people have provided.
- Before you hire someone, test them 3 times.
- You don’t need social media to grow your business!
Additional Resources
About Karen Sennikoff
Karen is a wife, mom to 3 sons of her own and 5 bonus children, and a grandmother of 10. She launched her online store, Trendznmore in 2020. She sells her sublimated t-shirts on Etsy, Jane.com, wholesale website Faire.com, and her own online store Trendznmore.com.
Shop with Karen:
Connect with Alison:
- On Facebook: @alisonjprince
- On Instagram: @alisonjprince
- Learn about the 0-100K System and how you can launch and grow your own online business here.
- Listen to the previous podcast episodes mentioned in the podcast here and here.
