From MMO Failure to Million Dollar Success on Etsy: The Journey of Not Selling Cheaply

Hello everyone,

I've been following this community for a while now as a POD maker, and today I want to share my story in hopes of getting support and answers to questions about Etsy from people.

Getting to know MMOs for the first time

When I was in high school, I stumbled upon MMOs and Ecoms through Donnie Chu's videos on Youtube. Although I found it interesting, I wasn't really interested, because at that time I still thought I would pursue Marketing after graduating from university.

However, after passing the Hanoi Foreign Trade University, events hit when my father was seriously ill and the Covid pandemic broke out. During my time at home, I started learning about MMOs as a way to make money to help my family. I chose to do affiliate marketing on Instagram with Clickbank, promoting Leptitox weight loss products.

Thanks to diligent research and learning from courses and blogs, I got my first order on January 4, 2020. This is a day more memorable than my birthday.

I kept doing it and gradually reached the first $100, $200, then $1,000. However, it was also at this time that I decided to stop because I realized that the product I was promoting had quality and ethics problems. Even though I am making a good income, I still believe that this decision is the right one.

Meet the Helper

After that, I joined the school's mentoring program and was lucky enough to meet an older brother who has become my mentor until now. He has been very supportive of me on my way to Etsy.

Together with a few friends, I started my business with POD on Etsy. However, the first 6 months were a series of difficult days with accounts constantly locked and no revenue. The group is almost desperate and in debt.

Luckily, by October, we had our first account to sell.In the last 3 months of the year, we achieved revenue of more than $100,000, enough to pay debts and pay salaries to employees. Although there were still some obstacles such as a $10,000 hold account, we were confident that we could do it.

The following year, we had over $1 million in sales on Etsy. However, this success also comes with many lessons in account management, problem solving, team management, and workflow.

From First $1k in MMO to $1M with Etsy: Journey and Lessons

Hello everyone,

I am currently doing POD (Print On Demand) and have just participated in the contest on the main nick. I don't know if there are many brothers in the group who are selling on Etsy, I hope to receive support from you. If anyone has any questions about Etsy, please leave a question below this article, I will try to answer them all.

Getting Started with MMOs

In high school, I started learning about Marketing to decide on university. Once I happened to watch a video about MMO (Make Money Online) and Ecom (E-commerce) on Donnie Chu's channel (the video is still on YouTube), I was quite interested but only stopped at the level of research, not too passionate. At that time, I thought I would pursue Marketing after graduating.

After passing the Hanoi Foreign Trade University (FTU HN), my life entered a difficult period. My father was terminally ill and the Covid pandemic made me go back to my hometown and stay home for a long time. During this time, I felt depressed and wanted to find a way to earn money to both support my family and take care of myself. I decided to go back to MMOs and start learning ways to make money online.

I chose to do free traffic on Instagram with Clickbank, promoting Leptitox products - a weight loss drug. With a desire to learn, I have found many blogs and courses by experts such as Anh Ngoc, Hoang Sy Cuong, and international courses. Although in retrospect, that account may seem like spam, there are still buyers. Actually, it's pretty easy to make this kind of MMO, and I've had my first orders. January 4, 2020 is the first day I earn money from MMO, a day I always remember and celebrate every year.

Shaping and Decision

I continued this work, gradually increasing my revenue from $100 to $200, and finally achieved my first $1k. However, I decided to stop. The reason is that the product does not seem reliable, customers often complain and ask for a lot of refunds. Although I had a decent income at the time, I felt that the decision to leave the MMO was right for my conscience.

Meet the Instructor

After that, I worked a few other jobs before starting my journey with Etsy. When I was in my second year at school, I participated in a mentoring program that connects alumni and students. Although I couldn't find a mentor suitable for the MMO industry I wanted to study, I invited an alumnus to join the program. Even though we both missed the first round, I still made an appointment to meet him to talk and ask him for help in selling POD sales. To this day, he is still my mentor, and I am very grateful for his support that has helped me achieve my current success.

Difficulties and successes

At that time, I also had to take a one-month military course. I invited a few friends to start a business with me, and they have been with me since the first days. We faced a lot of difficulties in the first 6 months: no account to sell, the account was locked constantly, and the financial situation was negative about 200 million VND.

Fortunately, in October of that year, we got our first account to sell. In the last 3 months of the year, we achieved more than $100k in revenue, enough to cover the loss and pay our employees. Even though we had another $10k in our account, and at the end of that year, we went from zero, went back a bit and crawled back to the starting point, but the important thing was that we had faith that we could do it.

The following year, we had over $1 million in revenue with Etsy. However, the journey was not easy, and we learned many valuable lessons about managing accounts, money, teams, and workflows.

Conclude

If you have any questions about selling on Etsy, managing your account, or your experience in the process, ask a question at the bottom of this article. I will try to answer all your questions.

Cảm ơn mọi người đã đọc và chúc các bạn thành công trên con đường của mình!