One of the things that sets Etsy apart from other online marketplaces is its community teams. To quote Etsy: ‘In many ways, Teams are the embodiment of what is most magical about Etsy — creative people who combine forces to make things.’
There are a plethora of teams you can join on Etsy; some local and regional, some for makers with a shared style or process, some for promotion and business development, and some simply just for fun!
So, what is the IDEAS Birmingham Team all about?
Well, first the basics; IDEAS Birmingham stands for: Independent Designer Events for Artists & Shoppers in Birmingham and the surrounding area. We evolved from the existing British Team, Craft Britannia. A number of us from the region wanted to emulate much of what we had there on a local level. We didn’t want to restrict the team to Birmingham alone, and along with our Brummie teamies, we also have members based in the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire too.
Beyond the basics is the ethos that we hold at the heart of the team-
We believe in being an inclusive and supportive team.
We welcome all manner of Etsy sellers, whether you are selling handmade, supplies or vintage; whatever level you feel you are at. We’ve noticed that sometimes teams can seem a little elitist; calling for the best of the best; but we’re not about that. Whether you’re an Etsy stalwart on your million billionth sale, or a complete newbie still awaiting your first ‘kerching’; it really doesn’t matter to us. We believe everyone has something to offer; whether you are shiny polished and perfect, or a little scruffy and rough around the edges! Everybody is welcome, and nobody is better than anyone else.
We believe in working together to develop and grow as Artists and Sellers.
Our team isn’t about being the finished product. If you know your photos are rubbish, your tags are hopeless and your product descriptions are rather flat and lacking- that’s okay, we don’t mind! The great thing about working with a team is that everyone has skills and knowledge they can bring to the table, and by sharing this along with the things we all learn as we go, we can all grow and improve. We also recognise that ‘success’ comes in many different forms. Some of us have a more niche market than others, and success isn’t always about the number of sales or how much revenue you make. Whilst many teams focus on sales and publicity, we are interested in nurturing and celebrating the small personal successes, along with the big ones!
We believe in positivity and integrity.
It can be hard to ‘put yourself out there’ as a maker/designer; so whilst we encourage team members to offer constructive feedback, advice and support, we won’t allow insensitive or malicious criticism. We want all team members to feel secure that they can share their work for helpful suggestions on how to improve or how someone else might market that item, and not see it ripped to shreds! We love to support our team members by promoting and sharing work on social media. We also love to see our team members promoting each other, but we don’t expect or insist upon this, as we would rather you share what you genuinely like and want to share. It’s of little to no benefit to anyone to share work that you don’t like- it dilutes your brand, and doesn’t help the person you share, as chances are your followers are probably not their market anyway. It can also be more damaging to like a page and then not interact, than never to like at all. So by all means-share the love, but only if it’s real!
We believe in colleagues, community and cake!
IDEAS Birmingham is definitely not all work and no play! We think there’s a lot to be said for having a social side, so we also have a chat thread, where you can drop in and just let us know what’s going on with you. We also hold in person and online meet-ups where we can get to know each other…and yes, cake and other foodstuffs are frequently involved! Some teams dismiss chat threads as silly and trivial, but we believe building social bonds strengthens the team, and is just really rather nice too!
So- that’s us! If you are already one of our team members- hooray! We’re really pleased to have you on board and hope you enjoy being part of the team. If you’re not a team member yet, but would like to be involved just visit our team page and join up! We think you’ll be part of something pretty special.