You’ve got nothing to lose! Give it a go!

I’ve been trying to find my “life part 2” after being in Big Tech for almost 30 years I’m completely burnt out and now at 58 i wanna do me …I’ve been researching this craft for several weeks and trying to find the courage to at least start (dip my toe in) and see where it goes ..

Oh absolutely. I met plenty of other vendors that did it full time. It is a bit if a lifestyle choice because you’re constantly travelling to the next show/festival. At one point I flirted with the idea of doing it full time (I did this during college and only in the summer) but it would take a ton of commitment and risk to turn it from a summer job into a full time business. Instead I took the easy/safe route and got a regular job after graduating.

Lol. Yup. I’m not 100% sure but I think that may have sealed the deal for my girlfriend, now wife ;)

Me thinks thou dost protest too much.

Best of luck to you, sir.

In the article above I never mentioned ETSY let alone “pushing people off” of it.
(Please read above)

It is unfortunate you are painting a picture and labeling me as a person that would “bully artists” You might be surprised – many people would look at it the other way around. The person that uses a companies website to purposely copy designs/support-material, profit from it and claim as their own original creation can easily be looked at as the primary aggressor and “bully.” (read above)

Obviously my claim is not based on the material – That would be ridiculous (like claiming the use of oil and pigment to paint an image as your own idea which would need to be licensed -lol). I was simply stating that in this digital era people incorrectly assume that everything is up for grabs and you can copy anything for profit. How many people actually read the Terms of Service they agree to? Not many.
https://turbofuture.com/internet/Is-Pinterest-a-Haven-for-Copyright-Violations

Under the cons of the business side of this I mentioned that copycats of “original” designs were a con and a definite “headache” – To avoid potential giant headaches it is recommended that you “package” any creative line carefully. As you stated above “I mean if it’s exactly the same as your design with a clearly similar promo pic, etc. that’s one thing” (Please refer to the example I mentioned in the article)

Competition is a good thing – It creates better goods and services. Theft (unfair competition) can be immoral, unfair, lazy, unoriginal and illegal.

There is a difference between competition and unfair competition.
And some people will even go to the level of slandering their competition with false claims to try and remove competition. For the record “Seems kinda vulgar to push people off of etsy with copyright claims” stated by you was neither stated or implied by me. Having people attempt to tarnish your reputation with false claims is another “Con” not mentioned above…

On that note, what I’m really curious about is if you’ve actually followed through with legal action or if you just have some legal forms drawn up that you use to bully artists and to get etsy to remove competition?

Some people at festivals make crazy good money. If you do enough of them it is definitely 6 figures but tons of work. I daydream sometime of living somewhere warmer where it would be easy to do shows every weekend if I wanted to.

Thank you Miss Mazuma!

Carpal tunnel is definitely a con :( especially if you are doing production. I try to limit the time I will spend on one particular step at a time and then try o figure out alternative methods that are not as bad for your hands, wrists and other parts of your body.

Maybe I’ll see you at a festival down the road!

Cheers!