A student who dropped out of university to start her own business is now making six-figures a year having launched - and then closed - an Etsy shop. Olivia Crabtree, 21, started her business on Etsy, with just enough money to make a single product - and was only planning on making enough to pay for food.
She said: "I was a full-time student at the University of York, and I had no money. So I started an Etsy business selling handmade gifts aiming to earn £40 a week to pay for my food shop."
Within three months, Olivia was earning a full-time income from her Esty store. After four months, Olivia decided to make the life-changing decision to drop out of university and pursue her business full-time.
However, things quickly took a down-turn for Olivia. She said: "I started my business with financial motivation in mind. I didn’t have a real passion for it, so when I went full-time I lost my love for it."
While Olivia was feeling unhappy with running her Etsy store, she found something else within the process that she did fall in love with. And that was helping other people. She said: "As it was so successful in such a short space of time, I was handing out advice and tips to other Etsy sellers, who were coming back to me saying that my help had massively increased their sales.
"It was 11pm on a Friday night when I spontaneously decided to set up a small business tips Instagram page to help others out. After around a month of sharing free tips, someone suggested I write an Etsy eBook – which I did. I launched the eBook and earned more in that first 24 hours than I ever had from any other job before."
Olivia took the huge leap to shut down her Etsy store and bring out a range of planners and journals, to help people plan, organise and find success for their businesses. The ‘Dream, Plan, Do’ planner is one of The Small Business Handbook’s bestsellers, and covers all aspects of business planning - including target market definition, USPs, SEO and branding concepts.
Olivia also offers a range of masterclasses, which are *essions that can teach people all about business management, from generating sales to organising a social strategy.
