Etsy has long functioned as an on-ramp to entrepreneurship by creating opportunities for many people who might not have started a business otherwise. For 53% of Etsy sellers, Etsy was the first place they sold their goods. Among Etsy sellers with children at home, this number is 56%. More than two-thirds of the youngest cohort of Etsy sellers (18-24 years old), reported selling their goods on Etsy first. These young, creative entrepreneurs are coming of age in a borderless world where traditional barriers to launching a business are greatly reduced, and more would-be entrepreneurs get their start online. These creative entrepreneurs gravitate toward Etsy because, as a platform, Etsy has minimized many of the inherent risks associated with starting a business, and in doing so, has allowed creative entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses on their own terms. KEY DEMOGRAPHICS ETSY SELLERS BUSINESS OWNERS GENERAL POPULATION8 Median age (years) 37 50 38 Gender (% women) 87 33 51 Education (% college 59 9 30 grad or more) 39 Rural (%) 28 17 1810 Etsy sellers want to achieve success on their own terms. While most Etsy sellers (74%) consider their shop a business, they don’t conform to typical stereotypes of mom-and-pop shops on Main Street. Most Etsy sellers (77%) are businesses of one, and 97% operate out of their homes. Two-thirds of these Etsy sellers prefer to run their creative businesses from home, rather than seek a larger production space. Etsy sellers are motivated to start their businesses for both financial 77% and non-financial reasons. For 51% of Etsy sellers, a financial challenge are businesses of one contributed to their decision to start a creative business, but 67% said they were motivated to start their business as a creative outlet. Other motivations included doing something they enjoy with their spare time (65%), and doing work that allows them to have a flexible schedule (43%). These findings conform with broader trends among microbusinesses: the majority of US nonemployer firms cite being their own boss as the main reason for starting their business.11 Etsy sellers also define success differently. The majority (81%) of sellers want 5 2017 Seller Census Report