It All Started With A Glass Of Beer: How Matthew Cummings Began The Pretentious Glass Co.

May 2024 · 4 minute read

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After Matthew Cummings focused on his side hustle, it gave him a sustainable business making $750,000 a yr. Cummings is a glass sculptor who decided to create a line of beer forte products that would go along with the wonderful arts business. Initially, his handiest investment was once a $500 invoice that he allocated to his products' logo and some pictures. He then put his products on Etsy, and the relaxation used to be history, as they say, it.

Etsy is an internet marketplace the place artists and artisans promote their handmade and vintage goods. Cummings started his online business nine years in the past, his glass studio most effective had one sale at a time, and step by step, his sales at the website increased. Eventually, he started earning 98% of his current income through the website. Pretentious Glass Co, the glass trade of Cummings, has reported a sale of $750,000 in 2020 by myself, which is double his $375,000 earnings in 2019. Even earlier than the Pandemic, he already has superb sales at $375,000 and about $100,000 – 120,000 a year make the most of his art galleries.

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How Matthew Cummings Started Pretentious Glass Co.

Cummings started promoting on the website in early 2012 when he used to be looking to generate further source of revenue and get started selling some of his nice artworks. He was searching for a extra financially stable source of revenue, and promoting on Etsy gave the look to be the solution. Pretentious Glass Co. produces wobble glass which has about $25,000 to $40,000 per 30 days overhead prices.

The concept of handcrafted beer glasses was once an concept from a get-together Cummings had with his artist friends. They meet every month in a courtyard simply out of doors his studio in Louisville, Ky. Cumming then wanted to surprise his friends with beer glasses that he created on his glass blowing studio; each and every glass has fingerprints of his pals on it. Most of his buddies laughed and cherished the glass, and one of them uttered, "This is so pretentious," which is where he got his trade identify.

Scaling His Idea

After Pretentious Glass was once born, he started researching for glass designs, and just after six months of research, he was able to create prototypes and take a look at them with his pals. His beer glasses vary from $30 to $65. The most expensive beer glass is an English beer mug with a textured diamond trend that sells for $65. He listed the merchandise on Etsy as a result of he thinks that striking up a website online on his own is a lot of paintings. He additionally lacked the knowledge of e-commerce, and Etsy already has an in depth market succeed in which is able to assist his target audience reach his trade temporarily. He selected the tags like glassware, craft beer, and whisky so that consumers interested by consuming would see his listings.

Growing His Etsy Store Into A Massive Business

Cummings got a fair share of luck when his product was featured on Etsy's big day's checklist, the place he earned a lot of attention from Etsy customers and got sales to spice up from the characteristic. Etsy sends out emails to their customers about featured merchandise, and Cummings' products are among those merchandise mailed out to consumers. Cummings believes that the use of Etsy as a platform to promote his products made him steer clear of first-time business owners' errors. Etsy also has a community of sellers where he gets to seek and share advice with his fellow sellers or even get lend a hand from Etsy experts.

Cummings is one of the current 5.2 million dealers on Etsy who're actively selling merchandise. The number of people dealing in the 2nd quarter of 2021 has higher 67% compared to closing yr's 2nd quarter. Sellers have used the platform to save lots of on the prices of building web pages themselves and access different online tools. Etsy also helped the dealers succeed in a lot extra other folks than in the event that they promote on their own. The list price of 20 cents according to product and about 5% fee on gross sales, or about 12 to 15% if the deal came via the offsite advertisement.

Most sellers on Etsy use the web site to do a side hustle, but a substantial percentage of sellers do make a dwelling off the website. In a survey of Etsy in 2021, about 30% of the sellers on the website online are selling on Etsy to make a dwelling, and it is their sole source of source of revenue. Average dealers on the web page have generated about $2,355 in gross sales last 12 months or $196 per month.

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Sources: Wallstreet Journal, City View Mag, CBS News

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