Amy Ta quit the rat race to launch her Seventh Tree Soaps biz on Etsy

FLOGGED in a finance job, Amy Ta quit her lucrative career to start her own business on New Year's Day. Then her life took an unexpected turn. Here's her incredible story.

Amy Ta quit her finance job and tapped into her entrepreneurial spirit to launch her online soap business. Picture: Supplied.

TWO years ago I was still hitting the snooze button on my alarm at 6:30am, preparing to meet a working day spent wishing away the time until I was home again. Like the millions of people heading to jobs they never envisioned for themselves when they were still harbouring dreams of rockstardom or professional sports.

For me, it took three successive 'same-same but different' jobs to realise that I had to break the cycle. If these jobs were breaking my spirit, what would it take for me to reclaim my soul?

I have always been good at money management, and my husband and I were in a position for one of us to take a short break from the rat race. To earn extra cash and to save my husband from taking on extra hours, I decided to invest my time doing something I've always had a knack for - making soap. But now, it was going to be my business.

Giving up a secure income to be my own boss was exciting but a bold move - I fully understood the risk I was taking and planned it out vigorously. I set the goal to have my new business ready to launch on 1 January 2013.

I chose Etsy, an online market place, as the platform for my store, Seventh Tree Soaps. I related to Etsy's mission and its ethics which were in line with what I wanted to do with my soap-making.

Within a week of launching my online shop, I landed my first sale for a baby shower and began receiving orders almost every day after that. I hadn't anticipated such a positive response so quickly, and soon found myself working on something I absolutely loved.

Amy Ta started selling her soaps on Etsy. Picture: Supplied.

A few months in, I was approached by Etsy for a feature on their blog. I was shocked that I was even on their radar. They kindly warned me to stock up on products and to be prepared for a huge influx of inquiries and sales. As soon as it did my sales hit the roof. I was receiving emails from people across the world that had been touched and inspired by my story. From then on I was consistently receiving all kinds of orders, including wholesale and custom requests for special events.

I recently celebrated my first business anniversary. Looking back on the successes, and the few hiccups, along the way, I can't begin to describe how amazing it feels to have achieved something that truly belongs to me.

With that in mind, I have some tips for anyone thinking of taking the plunge to start their own business this year. After all, New Year, new you.

•Love what you do - It's a cliche, but when you're still up in the middle of the night and your eyes are blurry from exhaustion, the only thing that will carry you through is that you love what you do and you would do anything to be able to maintain that feeling.

•Photography is crucial in the online world - Customers are not able to touch, smell or size up items when shopping online. Make sure that your photographs are uncluttered, beautiful and honest. Take the time to know your camera and learn the settings. If you are dealing with smaller items, it helps to use macro settings. Your backdrop and props should complement but not overwhelm the hero item. Flash can be harsh and wash out colours so try to use filtered daylight as much as possible. It also helps to think about how your products fit into a prospective buyer's life and photograph the items with these core elements in mind.

•Customers love variety - Give it to them. You may make the cutest stuffed toy monkey in the world but it won't sell like crazy unless it comes in a variety of colours or patterns and if it has the cutest stuffed giraffe to go with it. It also helps to offer products with different price points. For example, a miniature version of the cute monkey toy for a fraction of the price, a full-sized version, and a gift pack containing a zoo of animals.

•Be open to custom orders - People shop on sites likes Etsy for one main reason: they're looking for one-of-a-kind products. You never know, a customer might inspire your next product range.

•Look beyond our borders - One of the things that I love about Etsy is that it connects people from all corners of the world. There are an abundance of people who have loved ones living across the country or world from them. Shopping for gifts online is an easy and less expensive way to send gifts of gratitude. Create an environment in your store to enable people to do this easily. Offering gift wrapping options and gift sets are ways of doing this.

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