Vlad Kuksenko started a business making dog bandannas and collars a few years ago with only $500. He bought a sewing machine from Walmart, fabric from Jo-Ann’s and launched his Etsy store, TagPup.

This story is really interesting for a few reasons. First, he sold $750,000 worth of dog bandannas and collars in his first full calendar year. Second, he focused on production. He ran into issues with fabric supply early on and ended up driving all around the state looking for specific fabrics that had been ordered. Obviously, this wasn’t a great use of his time so he started printing his own designs on a sublimation printer and then using a roll-to-roll heat press to put the designs on fabric. This meant that he no longer was beholden to fabric store inventory, he could print as much as he wanted to and only had to print what sold. Brilliant.

The focus on production is a consistent story to Vlad’s success. He thinks about his production line like a McDonald’s with every step in the process made as efficient as possible. The first step is the buckle which are bought from China for $3 each and custom printed on with a laser engraver every morning. Then it’s onto the printer and heat press to make the fabric. From there the fabric is cut and then a double needle sewing machine stitches long strips so they’re ready to be made into dog collars. Vlad even custom made some fabric holders on his sewing machine to improve the efficiency. They can now sew a fabric strap for a dog collar in five seconds vs. two to five minutes when they started. From there it goes to the CNC machine to box stitch the collar and then it’s shipped out.

The dog collars cost Vlad $10-11 to make including shipping/labor and he sells them for around $20. He spends $7,000 - $9,000 per month on Etsy ads (or about 10-15% of revenue) and believes that’s key to standing out from the competition.

This is a great example of a business that you can start for a little bit of money and how you can successfully grow it if you create the flywheel of sell, improve production, reduce prices, increase sales.

Other Etsy Shop Tips From Vlad

• Satisfying the key words on Etsy is key, for example, if you describe it as a bumble bee dog collar it better show a bumble bee clearly in the photo

• Photos are key, take the time to post amazing pictures of your products

• He wished he hired photographers earlier in the process, they’re not that expensive and you can mail them the product (A recent photo shoot Vlad did cost $150 for six products)

• The tags and titles in your Etsy listing are the second most important thing to get right

• Scale with machinery and process

• Invest more into machines than into people, you want machine operators, not skilled labor

• Your Etsy store should be like an aisle in a store, a few niche items that relate to each other, not an entire line up of coffee mugs, pillows, etc.

• Read E-Myth

• Etsy ads are underappreciated and if you get them right they will catapult your sales to the top

• Pay attention to your reviews, negative reviews can help you improve your product

• They use ShipStation to fulfill orders, which helps once you have a large amount of orders

• Vlad doesn’t focus on social media, he focuses on Etsy as when people go to Etsy they are looking to buy, not just browse (this is a super important tip, think about intent, not volume)

• Kids aprons, onesies, pacifier clips, wedding products are potentially good products to sell

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