How this woman became the biggest seller on Etsy with $80,000 a month in sales
<img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/54e4b9b4eab8ea922d11959c-600-/alicia-shaffer-three-bird-nest.png" border="0" alt="alicia shaffer three bird nest" width="600">
Alicia Shaffer is the most successful seller on Etsy.
The mom of three started selling boho-inspired hats and scarves through her online shop, Three Bird Nest, in November 2011.
Shaffer wanted to bring in some extra money after the clothing store she and her husband managed in the San Francisco Bay shut down in the recession.
"I would have been thrilled to make $100 to $200 a month to pay for my daughter's dance lessons," Shaffer told Business Insider. "I was really just trying to make a couple sales a week because I had lost confidence in my ability to start a business."
Weeks after setting up a store on the handmade marketplace, Shaffer was faced with getting 90 orders to customers before Christmas.
"I was crying and didn't know how I would get it done," Shaffer said. "That was the moment I decided to stop treating it like a hobby and start treating it like a business."
Shaffer began researching how she could maximize her sales on Etsy.
First, she began focusing on photography.
"When someone searches for a product on Etsy, I want mine to be the one they click on," she said. "That means having the best photos."
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