"Don’t be afraid to invest in a mentor or coach" with Melissa MacDonald
/
Photo Credit: Amy Parsons Photography
Melissa is a mom of three, and the Etsy strategy coach behind Sweet Spot Marketing. She teaches Etsy shop owners how to earn a full-time income from their Etsy shops, WITHOUT having to put in full-time hours. As an Etsy marketing strategist & business coach, Melissa is dedicated to helping Etsy entrepreneurs build a thriving online shop that gives them the opportunity to live the life they want.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
Since 2008, (yes over 14 years!) I’ve had multiple full-time earning Etsy shops across a wide variety of niches. I desperately wanted to be able to stay at home with my babies and not work full-time, outside of the home. This resulted in me working like crazy in my Etsy shop in hopes that it would provide me with a full-time income, which it did- but it came with a price. I became increasingly unhappy because my full-time Etsy income meant me still being away from my kids, “locked up” in my tiny 3rd story craft room - creating, packaging orders, photographing products, social media management, etc.
So I decided to pivot, and implement specific systems and strategies that would enable me to still earn a full-time income from my Etsy shop, but on my terms, which for me, was part-time hours. Fast forward to today, my husband and I (he comes from a business brokerage background) teach Etsy shop owners how to scale their shops to a full-time income without putting in full-time hours on the Etsy “hamster wheel”.
What inspired you to start your business?
After seeing how successful my Etsy shops were, I kept being asked to help other Etsy shop owners to grow and streamline their own Etsy shops. So in 2015, I decided to pivot and focus specifically on coaching and helping other Etsy shop owners who wanted to scale their Etsy shops to a full-time income but did not want to spend full-time hours to reach their goals.
Where is your business based?
Beautiful eastern Canada, specifically Charlottetown PEI. (Yes, where Anne of Green Gables was based!)
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
I started offering my Etsy coaching services on some freelancer sites, like Upwork and Fiverr. The results I was getting for my clients quickly led me to be a top freelancer on both of those platforms. In 2021, I moved off of those platforms and established my own coaching business with my own independent website.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Social media by far! Specifically taking full advantage of the Instagram platform.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
As I brought on more and more coaching clients, I quickly saw the need to learn how to not only balance my business and family life but also how to maximize my efficiency with the time I did allocate to work.
Two specific changes really helped me and ultimately changed the trajectory of my coaching business.
1. Investing in learning a CRM system that would enable me to be as efficient and organized as possible. For me, this was learning and creating systems in Asana, (my absolute favorite software program to keep me and all my students on task!).
2. Investing in hiring mentors to further help me streamline and grow my coaching business. Hiring mentors has made the most dramatic difference in the financial health of my coaching business.
How do you stay focused?
As a busy mom, I have dedicated work time and dedicated family time. When it's my work time, I use the time blocking method of getting things done, and I have this all clearly laid out in my Google calendar. Time blocking has allowed me to get so much more done in a shorter period of time.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Most Etsy coaches offer “one size fits all”, downloadable strategies for Etsy success. Evidence shows that trying a one size fits all strategy does a huge disservice for Etsy shop owners. In order to have real success in a short period of time, Etsy shop owners need a strategy that is custom to them, their shop, their niche, their shop goals. I only offer personalized, 1:1 coaching services for this reason. It truly is the quickest and most reliable way for Etsy shop owners to reach their specific goals.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Instagram! Taking full advantage of all the current options Instagram has to offer has really grown my database of coaching students. Using reels, and video specifically has enabled me to reach a large number of my target audience.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Don’t be afraid to invest in a mentor or coach! Personally, investing in a mentor that has very specific experience in my type of business has increased my income in ways I would have never done otherwise.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
My favorite app is by far, Asana. This app allows me to organize all of my tasks, assign them due dates, and communicate with others on my team in a very organized manner. The automation it has built-in also ensures I’m not wasting any time. My favorite blog is the Etsy blog! (no surprise!) As someone who loves all things Etsy, this blog keeps me up to date on trends and what’s hot in the Etsy marketplace. My favorite book is “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod. This book literally changed my life in that it helped me create systems and processes to set me up for success in all areas of my life. I even ran my first 5K after implementing a lot of the strategies outlined in his very motivating book.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
I have so many - but if I had to choose one, I would say Loom. I use this tool multiple times per day to record quick videos to communicate with my team, and even to create video content for my coaching clients.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Hailey Johnson, from Influencer Course Accelerator! (also a well-known YouTuber). She is a busy mom of 3, but she’s been able to grow a digital business from home to multiple 6 figures. Her tips and training have helped my business immensely.
How do you balance work and life?
Making the best use of my time as possible, only focusing on things that matter in my business and personal life, and either delegating the rest or saying no. So instead of spending hours on multiple tasks that are important in my business, but not vital that I have to be the one doing them - I have an awesome virtual assistant that takes care of all those various business tasks for me. In my personal life, instead of spending hours cleaning my house every week, I’ve hired that out so I can instead use that time to spend with my family. Even using apps such as Instacart for grocery shopping has saved me valuable time on mundane tasks, so that this time can now be spent doing other important things in my personal life.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Hiking outdoors and being in nature as much as possible is by far my favorite way to decompress.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
So much! Currently, we are finalizing plans with other expert coaches in their particular fields, such as product photographers, TikTok coaches, etc to be able to further enhance our coaching clients' experience and results from working with us. We are also planning on hosting our first live in-person Etsy coaching workshop event for our local area.
How can our readers connect with you?
By email at info@sweetspotmarketing.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetspothelp/