Each month we will be interviewing one of our team members to help you get to know them a little better.
First up is the lovely Jennifer from Fairy Fountain Gift Shop and her latest shop Fairy Fountain Kids!
Jennifer's shop is filled with fun jewellery and she has had nearly 6000 sales since opening her shop in 2015!! She also writes a blog all about Etsy and sharing her tips for success!
1. Your shop is Fairy Fountain Gift Shop. Where did the inspiration behind that name come from?
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When I first started making jewellery it was for little girls. I am not particularly "girly" myself so I was struggling to find a name. I came up with Fairy Fountain Gift Shop because the "Fairy Fountain" is a place in a popular game series, The Legend Of Zelda that is full of shiny and sparkly things (as well as fairies!)
The name has stuck as being recognised on social media but it actually does bother me now my shop has gone in new directions! Do I need to change it to fit in with a grungey teenage market? Is it even okay to have this namesake even though my shop has nothing to do with the video game? It's an ongoing
thought process and I think eventually a rebrand will happen!
For me it's anything with a splash of colour. I love making the mermaid/dragon scale items, the faux druzy that reflect the light so beautifully.
I've actually enjoyed playing with colour even more in my second shop FairyFountainKids! I love asking my kids (8+3 year old daughters) what colours they'd like to see with what charms. They help a lot with the creative process for shop 2.
3. You have been selling on Etsy since 2015. What's been your biggest personal achievement since then?
Not sure if this is too controversial - but honestly - coming off benefits. I still receive Child Benefit but now that Etsy is my full time income I've finally been able to stand on my own two feet for the first time since having my daughter at 17.
I have struggled to juggle motherhood and making an income for nearly 9 years so being able to pay the bills is huge for me. I have been to college, done work experience and had a second child in this time but I wanted to find something I could do from home whilst raising the girls. It's finally a reality so I'm very happy about that!
4.Where do you get all your inspiration from for your jewellery?
My inspiration is mainly looking at my own interests and the trending interests of my target market. I am basically aiming at myself 10 years ago with most of my product ideas. I am still happy to wear most of this stuff now (perhaps not the rib cage necklace, I'm less gothy these days hehe.)
For the kids shop it comes from my own two children and their friends.
5. You are incredibly successful on Etsy! Do you have any tips for sellers or anyone thinking of setting up an Etsy Shop?
I have so many millions of tips and things I've learned along the way, that's why I write the blog - to try and teach others! I think SEO, Photos, Policies + Descriptions are absolutely key to success but I'm sure people have heard that one before. My number 1 tip for generating more views, keeping customers in your shop and selling more than one product is to include search links in your description. I have written a post all about it with some nice statistics too. By using search links in your description you can have unlimited categories, themes, ranges and related products.
Your buyer may just buy much more than they originally planned to because you've shown them more goodies they'll just love.
6. Finally, everybody loves your friendship pizza necklaces, but if you were ordering a pizza, what toppings would your have?!?
It was a good friend of mine who asked for the first pizza necklace I made back in 2013 and now they are everywhere! Since these early days I've upgraded that listing a lot just to keep up with the competition. I like to think my silly pizza puns that come on their cards make them an easy choice!
Huge thanks to Jennifer for taking the time to do this interview.
You can find her shop and all her social media links, linked below;
Fairy Fountain Gift Shop
Fairy Fountain Kids
Etsy Help Blog
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