It has been a long while! Not that any of you is holding your breathe for when I post my next blog. I don’t even know if people are still reading blogs because I’m not. Lol. It’s just been really busy the past few days that I don’t even have much time to go on Instagram and work on my engagement which I would normally have so much time for. That has taken a back seat along with many other things.
Some of you may know that I lost my job last September as a direct result of pandemic. I didn’t really dwell on it much as I saw it coming in fact, I was expecting it. I think being realistic helped me a lot to deal with my job loss. I was in the travel industry and a lot of my friends all over the world have been losing their jobs and I just thought that it’s just a matter of time for me to lose mine too.
I’m still quite lucky because our household of two can survive with just my husband’s salary. Maybe not luxuriously but all of the essentials will be covered – rent, food, electricity and the whatnots. Pubs and restaurants were closed most of the year anyway and we also couldn’t travel so it’s not like we’ve deprived ourselves of those “wants”.
Anyway, I’ve been looking for jobs which isn’t really easy and not doing anything worthwhile is driving me mad. So I’ve kept myself busy with various things like handling instagram accounts of local pubs near me but that had to stop again when another lockdown was imposed on us and all restaurants and pubs had to close again.
So I kept looking for jobs and at the same time, I did some online trainings. My passion for photography kicked in and I thought photoshop would be ideal for me. And so I did some basic photoshop courses on Skillshare and loads of youtube tutorial videos.
I wouldn’t recommend photoshop as a course to anyone who hasn’t used their brain for a very long time like myself. There was a lot of hair pulling and frustrated grunts but I got there in the end. I was able to somehow achieve what I wanted to learn and I now use it in my very small business.
Yes, a small business (a very small one). I launched Litrato.Ldn last 8th of February out of boredom. I digitally transformed my own photos into watercolor painting using photoshop and printed them as postcards. As soon as I launched, I already got two sales which I thought wasn’t bad considering that I did it out of boredom.
I opened my shop on Etsy since it’s the easiest to deal with. I also didn’t want to invest so much money in it in the beginning because I’m not sure how it will pan out in the long run. Also, I think it’s the best platform to get your brand established since they already have a huge customer base who could potentially see my products. The fees are ridiculous though but I’ll keep it this way for now.
I started with a Twickenham Postcard Set of 6 and then continued adding more products everyday because apparently, that’s what Etsy prefers – to have new products all the time. (Photo below is from @wildwindwanders on instagram)
I now have 16 listings in my shop (as I write this post) and so far, the bestseller is the Santorini Postcard Set, can’t blame them because I love it too.
I have also opened another shop in a different platform – Numonday which is the UK version of Etsy but with less fees. Hopefully, I’ll get more sale on that than Etsy.
I have also just launched my custom watercolor painting from your photo option where you can send me your own photo and I will convert it into a watercolor painting.
I’ve had 11 sales since I opened my shops last month and my goal for March is to get at least 20 sales on Etsy and 5 sales on Numonday. So if you’re looking for unique travel souvenirs or travel postcards, do visit my shops and look around. You never know, maybe your next wall decor will come from my shop. That would be super!
Anyway, I hope you’re all keeping well and sane. 🙂
Hi Noemi how are you nowadays?! Like you, I have been away from WP for quite some time too and diverted my attention to YT instead but still a bit slow not that successful but I am very busy with it. I understand how you feel as I cannot find a job too since coming back to New Zealand which is a shame. What more now in these pandemic times?
I am glad you have your own business now. You can also promote it under YT you know more people can see it only if you interact with other channels too. Just a thought. I have tried doing online biz as well in Shopify and unfortunately, it just frustrates me and lost a bit of money in the costly advertisement (I wasn’t in YT that time) so I stopped. I still retain my domain as it can get pricey someday. I wish you all the best! If you can pls check me out on YT too & say hi. PinoySwiss abroad. Yes, sis, I am also a Filipina if you don’t know yet. See ya!