February Revenue: Over 500 dollars!

As some of you already know, it's the copy cat of Handmadeology.

February is over in Japan. In February, I earned 486.80 dollars on my Etsy shop and 60 dollars on my Japanese shop at Iichi. Yes, I reached my goal for the first time , which is to earn over 500 dollars per month!

I was very excited to see this result and 5 minutes after, a bit shocked. I saw people's comments in Handmadeology at Facebook and there are so many people who earn over 1000 dollars per month ! I wonder how...I should sell over 50 items per month to earn 1000 dollars, which seems impossible...

OK, I have my daytime job and come home around 20.30 pm. I usually make one small bag or zipper pouch every day and maybe three to five on weekends. That means I make about 30 bags per month and it's far from 50, that will bring me over 1000 dollars revenue.

I'm thinking to quit my daytime job to concentrate on my online business, but it's still too risky I think. At least, I should keep working outside until my husband's VISA in Japan will be extended three years in September. (Well, immigration office in Japan checks MY income, not my husband's...)

My new collection: Constellation embroidery clutch

I cannot say I am an expert of camping. But as a middle-aged Japanese woman, I often go camping, as my husband love camping. He used to be a member of scout, and he loves eating in the nature.

I don't like old style toilet or not taking bath for 3 days, but I still like camping. Maybe mostly because I can watch stars in the sky. Tokyo is too light to watch stars at night, while my hometown, Oita is wonderful place to do it. We can even see milky ways at my parents place, and I miss it.

Constellation clutch

That leads me to make this clutch bag. I made this especially for wedding, but maybe you can use it as night-out bag, too.

This bag is made with navy blue cotton linen and I added constellation embroidery. Shown here are only Cassiopeia and Orion, but you can ask me whichever you like. The white flower brooch is removable.

It cost 30 US dollars per one, and if you send me a message through Etsy that you read this blog, I will give you 10% discount always :)

Funny search keyword

When you run an online shop, SEO is very important. That't why I check Etsy shop stats and search keywords every day. As I wrote the other day, one of the most frequent keywords is "cross body bag". "Makeup bag" and "Japanese fabric" are also popular.

Some days ago, I found very weird keyword on my Etsy shop stats. That was, "nurse who makes bags from Japanese fabric". You don't believe this? Well, it's true :D

I don't know who come to my shop with the keyword and have no idea whether it's man or woman, but still thin it's funny.

People are different. Very different.

Short trip to Kyoto, Uji

Uji river, Kyoto

Probably everybody who is interested in Japan knows Kyoto. It was capital in Japan between 794 and 1869 and still attracts thousands of tourists every year.

One of our friends has moved to Kyoto due to job and my husband and I visited him last weekend. He lives near Uji city, Kyoto and took us Uji area.

Most of tourists go to Arashiyama to see a suburb scenery of Kyoto, but I don't like Arashiyama any more. It's too touristic. Many franchised souvenir shops and cafes and restaurants plus too many people make me tired and disappointed.

 
But Uji was really beautiful. Even though there are several famous temples and the river, there were not so many souvenir shops and people. You can enjoy walking along the river, and if you have time and like walking, 1 hour walk will take you Amagase forest and Amagase hanging bridge. (We didn't have time...)

Koshoji, Zen temple in Uji

Uji is famous for its green tea and there is a big factory museum called Fukujuen along the river. You can get free Matcha (whipped green tea) there.

So, if you plan to travel to Kyoto, try to go to Uji instead of Arashiyama. If you are my kind of people who don't like walking in crowded streets, you will like Uji more than Arashiyama :)

Jubiiiiiiiiiiii over 1000 dollars revenue on my Etsy shop!

Yesterday, my revenue on my Etsy shop reached 1000 us dollars.

Of course I have to think about all my expenses for example fabric, thread, zipper and metal things, most importantly, my salary. Probably pure profit is around 500 us dollars and it's not so much when I consider that I have had my shop for four months. But still, I am very happy.

After I started my shop, I found my unknown side. I did think I had no hospitality and was not at all service-minded. But when I work as shop owner, somehow I find myself service-minded. Not out of hospitality maybe but out of responsibility, I do everything for my customers. And I don't dislike it. Actually, I like it.

When I interviewed people about their job on my daytime job and when they told me that they felt most satisfied when customers told them thank you, I always doubted it. I just could not imagine people could be happy with the words "thank you". But now I kindly understand, as I feel very glad when my customers write me emails to thank me.

My goal this year is over 50 sales. I have sold 18 sales so far, and I will try what I can to improve my shop!


This is my newest listing on my Etsy shop. Small cross body bag with Japanese fabric from silk vintage kimono.

Valentine rush

I think people rush into buying Valentine's day gifts these days.

Last Saturday, I sold 2 bags.
Yesterday 2 bags were sold, too.
And today, Again, 2 bags.

Probably it's not so many sales for established shops, but for me, it's amazing. In Japan, we just buy some chocolate, so I didn't expect I would get sales. Now I'm afraid what I should do when Valentine is over. I wonder people stop buying gifts???


I took these pictures at a big hotel in Shinjuku. They are decorations for Japanese doll festival, which is on 3rd March. Usually we decorate some dolls, but in particular places in Izu peninsula, that is about 2 hours by train from Tokyo, people decorate these kind of garland. It's called "Tsurushi-bina". Aren't they beautiful?