sales and dealing with inconsistent sales—as the top barrier to achieving their business goals. These month-to-month income fluctuations complicate the overall financial security of sellers who earn income outside of traditional full-time employment. Without a steady paycheck, Etsy sellers must manage short-term income volatility over the course of the year. They also lack protection from more catastrophic income loss, which unemployment insurance provides for traditional workers. The need to manage income fluctuations also prevents many independent workers from saving for the future, through retirement savings vehicles or pre-tax spending accounts. Access to benefits Unlike traditional employees, Etsy sellers and other independent workers do not have the same access to a conventional safety net offering paid leave, unemployment protection, disability insurance, and worker’s compensation. Paid family and sick leave are vital to the health of the economy. Yet, over one-fifth of Etsy sellers (22%) say they wouldn’t be able to take time off from their creative business for the birth or adoption of a child, and nearly a quarter (24%) say they wouldn’t be able to take time off for a long-term illness or injury. This figure jumps up significantly for top revenue grossing sellers, with 44% reporting they would not be able to take time off from their creative business for a long-term illness or injury. Etsy sellers benefit from a healthcare insurance system that offers access to coverage outside of the traditional employer-employee based structure. Sellers who focus on their creative business as their sole occupation tend to rely more heavily on non-employer-based coverage. Forty-one percent of Etsy sellers who focus on their creative business full time get their healthcare through a spouse or partner, compared to 31% of all sellers who are covered, and 39% are covered via state and federal exchanges and Medicare or Medicaid, as opposed to 25% of all sellers. Overall, 85% of Etsy sellers report having health insurance, which is slightly below the total percentage of insured individuals across the country (89.5%).19 Unsurprisingly, those with health insurance tended to feel more financially secure than those who were uninsured. Administrative burdens Time is the scarcest resource for all entrepreneurs, but it’s especially valuable for Etsy sellers, many of whom manage every task related to their business. For roughly every hour an Etsy seller spends making or designing her products, she spends another hour on all the other aspects of running a creative business. 11 2017 Seller Census Report