While I was in college, I found myself not paying attention in any of my Public Health classes and teaching myself Illustrator and Photoshop instead. You know those people in the back of classes that are clearly not listening to lectures and are doing something else? That was me. I found designing logos and flyers for student groups way more interesting than paying attention to my professor (and I definitely paid for it the week before exams). As I designed casual birthday cards for friends, my roommates convinced me to start an Etsy shop—and A Jar of Pickles was born.
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When I listed my 4 or so card designs on Etsy, I thought I’d sell maybe 1 or 2 cards that year, but to my surprise, I got my first few orders within a few weeks.
#HANDMADESELLER 43
I didn’t have inventory or any kind of system: I just took the bus down College Ave to Kinko’s to print the card as each order came in and cut up our campus newspaper as packaging!