How Ana Built a $70K Etsy CV Template Business

Turning HR Skills into Digital Products

Ana Colak-Fustin had spent years guiding job seekers as a recruiter and coach in Krakow. Yet she saw a clear gap: most candidates struggled to build a polished CV. Instead of limiting her help to one-on-one sessions, Ana started designing templates that carried her strategic writing tips directly into customer hands. That small shift from coaching to product creation set the stage for a brand new revenue stream.

Launching ByRecruiters on Etsy

In early 2018, Ana balanced a full-time HR role with evenings and weekends spent on her Etsy shop. She invested 25–35 extra hours each week into product design, keyword research, and shop optimization. Her goal was clear: never quit her day job until her side income hit a reliable $2,000 per month. By marrying her field expertise with simple, clean layouts, she distinguished her templates from competitors packing in generic placeholder text.

Building Traffic Beyond Etsy’s Algorithm

After earning just $4,000 in the first 15 months, Ana realized she needed to expand beyond Etsy’s built-in shoppers. She turned to Pinterest, creating pins that linked straight to her listings. Over time, Pinterest drove 35% of her traffic, with evergreen pins collecting clicks for years. This multi-channel push prevented reliance on any single platform and boosted her monthly revenue.

Mastering SEO from Day One

SEO wasn’t an afterthought—it was the foundation. Ana researched the exact phrases her ideal customers typed into search bars, then wove those keywords into product titles, descriptions, and image tags. This constant tweaking improved her shop’s ranking and delivered a steady stream of organic views without extra ad spend.

Scaling to Full-Time Entrepreneurship

Once her side hustle consistently hit the $2,000/month mark, Ana took a 12-month garden leave from her HR position. That period of focus led to a leap: within months she was surpassing her target, ultimately reaching over $70,000 in total sales. Confident in her model, she left her corporate role to sell full-time and launched a dedicated website, expanding into direct sales and consulting projects.

Key Lessons from Ana’s Journey

• Balance risk by keeping a steady income while testing new ideas.
• Infuse digital products with your professional insight to stand out.
• Diversify traffic sources to avoid platform dependency.
• Prioritize SEO early to drive organic visibility.
• Use clear financial milestones as go/no-go markers.
• Expand beyond marketplaces into direct sales and services.