Seller Handbook

In early 2014, Lane Huerta was doing laundry when her 3-year-old daughter Clementine grabbed a warm sheet, fresh from the dryer, to wear as a cape. Lane’s husband picked up Clementine and flew her around the house. As the two played together, it hit Lane. “Hey, I sew, I print,” she recalls thinking. “Let’s try to do better than just bedsheets and beach towels.” Lane had been selling silkscreened tea towels on Etsy since 2008, but she switched the focus of her shop Lovelane, to produce imaginative children’s clothing and accessories, inspired by her daughter.

Before launching her business, Lane, who studied art, lived in San Francisco after graduating from college. There, she worked for two different artists: a fashion designer and a poster designer. Lane and her husband moved to Savannah, Georgia, in 2006, so she could focus on her own art during the day and bartend at night. Her business grew, and Lane reached her goal of quitting her day job — or in this case, night job — to sell full-time by the age of 40.

Since then, Lovelane’s popularity has surged, making it possible for Lane to hire several interns and employees who work together in her studio. It's also earned her some major press from outlets including the Huffington Post and Today.com. She’s even made the leap to wholesale. Lane recently took part in the Etsy Wholesale Open Call and earned an opportunity to work with Land of Nod. Showing no signs of slowing down, Lane plans to employ even more seamstresses to help speed up the production process.

Lane likes to think of her successes as a “happy accident,” a term her grandmother, a painter, often used to describe her work. “The timing has been serendipitous,” Lane says, attributing part of her success to the resurgence of superhero movies and television shows. Still, she admits that passion plays a role. “You have to be passionate about it. It has to be in your DNA,” she says. “With that, you can make it work.”

Lane chatted with Seller Handbook writer and Etsy Success Team Captain Tess Duncan about that passion — and how she’s handling the growth of her thriving business.

How have you approached hiring to handle your brand’s growth?

Things took off so quickly. I wasn’t expecting them to happen as quickly as they did. “Everyday I’m hustling” is sort of my motto. It is a hustle, but in the best way.

I realized I needed to hire more help last spring. A lot of my employees started as interns. At first, I would do all the printing, and one of my former interns, Jaime, would do the cleaning up and pulling and mixing of ink. Then, Jaime started doing the printing, and I started doing more paperwork. Now, she’s my print goddess, and she can use the studio when there is a downtime to do things on her own.

That’s been a nice transition. It was really natural and organic to take those baby steps. Hiring interns first was perfect. It was comfortable and not as scary for me. If they truly have a passion and want to learn, and they want to put some time in, those are the people I want to work with. If there’s a passion, then you can teach someone something and how you want it done.

What’s your strategy for delegating work responsibilities among your employees?

Now that I’m getting help, I realize that you have to relinquish some control. You have to train people well, and you have to find the people who complete the puzzle, who are good at the things that you’re not good at. I write out all the tasks that I really want done, and then ask, “What do we need right away?”

For example, I have a friend who's working with me and keeping me in line until I find another administrative person in the office who can help with the calendar. I don’t like filling out Excel spreadsheets every day, all day long, which we really need for our production schedule. But I’ve found someone who’s better at it that might want to take that role on. That’s how we’re handling it. Paying more money to make more money. You do have to spend a little bit to make a little bit more, and I’m making that investment in finding a good support team.

When did you realize you wanted to start selling wholesale and what have you learned?

I always felt like that was a personal step to another level of success, a “big-girl-pants” kind of thing. It just seemed natural. If you have a shop, the Etsy platform is the perfect vehicle to start on wholesale.

But you need to make sure that your numbers make sense. Don’t just say, “Oh, that sounds like a great idea.” Really work your numbers. Be honest with yourself when setting prices. Ask yourself, “Can your production handle it?” You need to have a good calculation of your wholesale price, as well as your retail price. You sometimes need to increase your retail prices to make wholesale work for you. It took me a while to get my numbers right, and I still am tweaking things a bit here and there. We’ve raised our prices, and we’re selling more. It’s all about perception of value.

You should also consider minimum orders, especially with the first order. We have a minimum order amount. It makes it worth it for the maker, and the retailer will have enough of your collection to tell a great story with your goods — or at least carry multiples of several items in your collection.

How do you maintain a good working relationship with retailers?

Put yourself out there and talk to them, building a relationship so they have you on their radar. Say, “Listen. Because it’s a handmade product, if you want something for Halloween, we need to have our orders in by July.” Be honest with yourself about production timelines, so you’re under-promising and over-delivering. I’m trying this out and working to not feel guilty about it.

All photographs by Lyn Bonham.

Has someone in your life inspired a new item or design in your shop? Share in the comments below.

Come see Lane Huerta of Lovelane speak about her business at the Etsy Up conference in New York City, on August 11-12, 2016. Get your tickets now.