I learned about Jenna Lou Dauer through Rochester’s Post-Bulletin. Jenna was a high school student who started a business out of her home because she was bored and was looking for something to do.
“I was in high school and just bored so I started sewing. I ended up with so much stuff I didn’t know what to do with it.”
The 20 year old has now spent the past two years selling her handmade products online. It’s been so successful that she quit her job and is taking a leave of absence from college to focus on her business.
Most of Jenna’s sales come through Etsy.com, a website that allows people to sell their handmade creations.
“Etsy does a good job of promoting and helping you. I learned a lot of what I need online. Etsy has a lot of resources and forums. I had a million questions, and there are a lot of people who were willing to share and help.”
Jenna says that the key to success in selling your products online is to create a reputation for excellent customer service: “When you’re dealing online there are so many things that can be confused. You have to really communicate well with people, be patient and polite. I communicate with people all over the world. Just meeting different people is fun.”
Jenna now divides her day up with four hours of making products and four to six hours of managing the business. It’s been so successful that she is now expanding her business to sell designed patterns for products instead of the finished products themselves. “Those are selling like crazy. I want to get more into that. I’m really enjoying being a designer more than the manufacturing.”
Photo by Post-Bulletin.
Selling Your Products Online
April 24, 2008 by Rich | 2 Comments
In Crafts, Ecommerce, Internet
Sara on April 24th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Hats off to this young lady. She has taken an opportunity and created something real from it. I wish more of our youth had goals and dreams to accomplish things and become great citizens!
“When you can’t be there….bVisual”
Mariel Milby on April 28th, 2008 at 5:37 am
I’m motivated to start my own bag business online because of this lady. The only problem i see is my target market online because in my country, most people have no access to the internet.