Who knew holiday cards could make so much money?

GM. This is Work "After" Work, the newsletter that quenches your business thirst like a Capri-Sun on a hot summer day.

It’s Taco Tuesday! Let’s boogie:

• 🤖  AI holiday cards

• 😂 Meme of the day

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AI HOLIDAY CARDS

You know what crushes it? Holiday cards. 

Notice anything interesting about these 3 cards? 👀

Yep, they’re all fake - made with AI.

Just one year ago this wasn’t possible.

Initially I was thinking “Cards only cost 3 to 4 dollars. How big could this industry really be?” 

The answer: really big. Globally $19 billion and in the US $5 billion.

A lot bigger than I thought. And somehow it’s been increasing in size over the years. 

I assumed since we moved more and more online this industry would start to die. Guess not. It’s set to grow by about 1% per year or decline slightly depending on where you read.

There is one big con though - the margins. On average it’s 10-30%. A lot lower than say, a software business’ at  75%. But still solid.

And getting contracts with the big boys (Walmart, Marianos, Meijer, etc) won’t be easy. According to Reddit, these stores usually want a huge discount since cards are already cheap so it decays your margins pretty heavily. 

But hope is not lost. Guess where else people buy cards from… Etsy and Pinterest.

This Etsy store, PineandIsle, is a one woman show.

She sells cards for any occasion. And her easter ones are amazing 😂 

She started in 2019, and if you have a keen eye you’ll notice she’s had 23,443 sales 👀

With some back of the envelope math I’d guess this store makes ~$10,000/yr in profit.

How’d I get here?
With 23k sales, each is around $4-$5. That’s roughly $100,000. 

She probably takes home around 40-50% of that since she doesn’t have to answer to any of the big retailers that take her margin.

She’s been doing this for ~5 years. So ($100,000/5 yrs) = $10,000/yr, or $833/mo.

Not bad for a business that doesn't require heavy capital upfront. 

But how can you start a successful Etsy store making $10,000/yr?

Here are the 6 steps:

#1 Open an Etsy account

Go to Etsy and create an account and Etsy shop. This will be pretty easy.

You'll set up the basics:

• Your shop name (Make it something elegant like “Pen and Isle”)

• Bank information

• Shop country/currency/language

You'll then have to create a listing. Just make this a draft one, you'll delete it later.

#2 Generate your card images with AI

I can already see the Etsy shop VinylTurtleStudio doing this. And they’ve had 1,482 sales.

Midjourney is by far the best AI image generator out there in terms of image quality and customization options.

It’s also affordable, with plans starting at $10 a month.

To use Midjourney:

• Open the Discord channel

• Go to one of the newbie bot channels

• Type /imagine, and then whatever you want - for example, you could do: “A cute and fluffy cartoon bunny with big floppy ears, animated with a friendly and playful expression, round body with soft fur, large expressive eyes, tiny pink nose twitching, short puffy tail, sitting upright in a grassy meadow with colorful flowers, bright sunshine casting warm light, whimsical and cheerful illustration style” (I just asked Claude AI to write this for me FYI)

The bot will send you four images in 60 seconds, which you can then download and use.

The pictures this AI can build are next-level. Just scroll in the discord channel and you’ll see what I mean 👀

#3 Get customers

Your profit won't be that much per product, maybe like $2-$4. This means you need to get a lot of customers to buy your stuff.

Getting on the first page of Etsy’s search results is the stuff dreams are made of. Why? Most customers buy the products that appear there.

Do you remember the last time you clicked on “Page 2”? This is my point.

Optimizing your shop's SEO will boost your store's visibility on Etsy's search results. Better SEO = more products sold.

Your product tags, title, and description influence how your listings appear on the Etsy search engine.

To improve your ranking:

• Optimize your listing's key elements (title, tags, attributes, categories)

• Have high-quality written and visual content

• Maintain good ratings

• Provide reasonable shipping rates

• Conduct keyword research

Because it is based on what shoppers actually look for, using Etsy's autocomplete and category tools are simple methods of finding keywords.

When you type something into the search bar, Etsy will provide suggestions. These are the search phrases that are most popular with customers around the world.

You'll get autocomplete choices if you type what you're selling into the search box. For example, when I type in "birthday card" I see results for "birthday card for him", "birthday card for her", "birthday card for mom", and so on.

Use those keywords in your product description, tags, and title.

Remember to:

• Use all 13 tags to maximize your chances of appearing in search results

• Aim for longer keywords because they have less competition and are easier to rank for

#4 Stand out with product videos

What's better than pictures when it comes to shopping? Videos!

According to the Etsy Seller Handbook, including a video in your listing increases buyer confidence in your product.

Plus, in a Wyzowl 2022 survey, 89% of individuals claimed that seeing a video convinced them to buy a product or service, which makes sense because a picture doesn't give you everything. It's like trying to understand a plot from a movie trailer - you might get the gist, but you're left with more questions than answers.

Make a blockbuster video that shows the texture, color shade, and extra details of your product that a picture can't convey.

The Etsy Help Center provides guidelines for making product videos.

Here are a few of them:

• Keep them short (5-15 seconds)

• Don't include audio

• Have a resolution of at least 1080px

• Make a video for each listing

#5 Advertise and sponsor your listing

Sarah Peterson opened an Etsy store in 2014, generating over $5,000 in less than four months. How did she do it? Ads!

Directly promote your products on Etsy to make them stand out in Etsy Search. PS: you’ll have to set a minimum daily budget of $1

Experiment with audiences and find what works best for your product.

#6 Focus on product reviews

Customers appreciate product reviews!

According to a Brightlocal poll, customers read reviews more than ever. But that isn't all. Product reviews impact your SEO and conversion rates since Etsy's algorithm considers products with positive reviews to be "good".

That means, with great reviews, your products will be recommended to shoppers more frequently and rank higher in search results, increasing sales. You can encourage customers to post reviews by sending friendly emails and providing discounts or coupon codes.

And that’s all I had. If you have any questions reply to this email I’m here to help. And as always, happy hustling! 💪 

MEME OF THE DAY

😂😂 

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That's all I got for ya today folks!

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.