Social Question

Mimishu1995's avatar

Is it a good idea to partner with this person to open an Etsy shop?

Asked by Mimishu1995 (23626points) September 2nd, 2021

A friend of mine talked to me about wanting to partner with me to open an Etsy shop after she saw a FB video in my language on how to make money online. None of us has any experience with Etsy, and the friend doesn’t even know anything about America apart from the usual movie stereotypes. I asked her what her idea for a shop was, but she said she would discuss with me tomorrow. Currently I know nothing about her plan apart from that she wants to design and sell cute stickers.

The thing is, I partnered with her some time ago, on an unrelated non-profit video project for a competition. It was a short funny video to promote a product. She was a really nice and enthusiastic person, but she severely lacked knowledge of how things work. She constantly made decisions that made me sweat heavily. For example, her idea was to make a backstory for the main character to explain how he was “cursed”, and she made a Satanic background right at the beginning of the video, and a lengthy description of several deaths, in a funny video! She also had a very skewed logic and refused to give up on her ideas, even when it was explained to her why she was wrong. There were several other incidents with the video, and that really colored how I felt about partnering with her.

Don’t get me wrong. I like her a lot. She’s a great friend and is supportive of me in things other than work. And even during the video project, she was willing to do extra work when I was too busy with real life. It’s just that I’m worried that she doesn’t have enough professional skills to work on something serious like selling online, and our partnership could lead us to the same path as the video project, only much more serious because it will involves money. Part of me has the feeling of “this time it may be different”, but the other part just doesn’t want to do it.

I’m to meet her tomorrow. What should I do or say?

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15 Answers

Dutchess_III's avatar

Just say “No.”

Inspired_2write's avatar

Research Etsy yourself and get first hand information.
Perhaps start up yourself, many on tht site sells goods themselves and I have purchased over the years from them..its world wide and you would get more exposure.
Usually its products.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

Nope NOPE NOPE ! !

Doesn’t sound like she has any business smarts.

You need smarts for running a successful business.

smudges's avatar

No! Do not invest your money or peace of mind in this person’s idea. You would likely end up poorer, majorly stressed and here at fluther, bemoaning what went wrong!

Make up a reason if you can’t flat out say ‘no’ and let it go at that.

Kardamom's avatar

No. If she doesn’t know what she’s doing, you will end up having to fix the situation to get yourself out of it in the end.

raum's avatar

Be a good customer
and a supportive friend.

Don’t be her business partner.

Mimishu1995's avatar

Thanks for all the answer. I talked to her this morning and she had given up the idea. We just talked about her dream of being a Youtuber instead :) At least this is a much more realistic thing to do than selling online.

smudges's avatar

Glad to hear it! ;)

raum's avatar

My sister is kind of like this. A dreamer that bounces from idea to idea.

Before I would approach it very pragmatically. What we would need to do to make this idea work, etc.

Now I just give her some space to get excited about her idea until her attention span fizzles. Self-limiting on its own.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@raum that’s a nice trick. I’ll keep that in mind.

SnipSnip's avatar

Run, don’t walk!

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