Veil Events: Lindsay Kooser
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Could a file on your laptop be making you money?
Lindsay Kooser, owner of Veil Events, populates her Etsy shop (of the same name) with the planning tools her team uses to pull off expertly organized weddings in Topeka, Lawrence and Kansas City. Thanks to her initial efforts to perfect and brand her forms, today, her online shop practically runs itself.
“It’s making money while you sleep,” Kooser said.
Kooser’s background in design has been key to her success. Before Veil Events won The Knot magazine’s “Best of Weddings” award for being a top-rated planning company, Kooser started as a stationery designer. Back then, her Etsy shop was stocked with wedding invitation suites. But when her career shifted to wedding planning, her shop did the same.
Populated with checklists, itineraries, timelines and spreadsheets, Kooser’s virtual shelves are filled with digital downloads customers can instantly access upon purchase, then customize in Canva. Her customer base is evenly split between coordinators and brides. A large portion is from the Missouri area, but Kooser has sold products all over the United States. Through her tried-and-true documents and consistent branding, all customers get to experience the Veil Events brand.
“We’re still able to help them with their planning, even though we’re not talking to them directly,” Kooser said.
SOMETHING GREEN
While Kooser and her team spend countless hours planning weddings, Kooser admits she doesn’t spend much time on her shop. Right now, she gets a few orders a week and periodically updates her shop withnew templates she’s using in her business.
“I’d love for it to be bigger and get more orders,” Kooser said. “But for the amount of time I spend on it, it’s just extra income for things I’ve already designed.”
While Kooser doesn’t market her Etsy shop, she does actively promote one of her most popular items, “My Wedding Planner,” a physical book she created that comes with supplemental digital resources, on Etsy, Amazon and her own website. Kooser’s advertising efforts of the book gave her shop a boost, since customers who find “My Wedding Planner” often discover her Etsy shop.
PERFECTING HER PRODUCTS
Getting her shop to the point where it was generating passive income took Kooser many hours of gathering files, perfecting them and making them pretty (This is the bridal industry, after all.).
“It does take a lot of time to set up your shop, and you want to do it right,” Kooser said. “But it’s definitely worth it in the end.”
Kooser’s mostly digital inventory is a big change from her days as a stationery designer when she had to not only design invites, but edit, print and ship them. Now, the only physical product she ships is “My Wedding Planner.”
“Digital files are definitely the way to go,” Kooser said.
Even though Kooser generates more sales from Amazon, she said she still feels Etsy is a valuable channel.
“It’s a great avenue. I could easily sell these things on my website, but Etsy helps you generate views to your page,” she said. “I think your products get out there easier when you’re on Etsy.”
HAPPILY ETSY AFTER
For those dreaming about passive income, Kooser’s advice is to consider everything you’ve created, even the simpler items.
“Be creative in thinking about what you have that you could sell to others in your industry,” she said. “Maybe something is just sitting on your laptop doing nothing. With Etsy, you could turn that into a product someone out there is looking for.”
