Join me on my journey from launching an Etsy shop to facing low sales, and ultimately considering to pivot toward printed photography, storytelling, and exploring local opportunities in my future new town in Andalusia.
A year ago, I participated in a six-month group coaching program called Launch with Mel Robbins. It was a brilliant program that sadly she no longer offers.
During those six months, I learned an incredible amount, and as a result, I opened an Etsy shop selling my photography. It was a steep learning curve. I decided to start with digital downloads which was a completely new world for me.
It took me three months of preparation. I had to learn about aspect ratios, zip files, mockups, listing videos, and more. And in November last year, I finally opened my shop with its first listing. I had even created a schedule to list one picture per day for the first 100 days.
By March, I had listed quite a few images and had made 9 sales. I wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad, but my hopes were still very high. I figured that with enough listings, things would pick up. Once I hit 125 listings and was still sitting on 9 sales, I booked a consultancy session with an “Etsy expert.” That session happened in May and it was a turning point.
A Shocking Consultation: Misunderstood and Misjudged
The conversation left me in complete shock. I already knew that Etsy was a saturated market, especially for digital downloads, and that breaking through wouldn’t be easy.
The expert began with some basic stats:
75% of Etsy buyers are American
Most are women
Their age range is 25 to 45
Immediately, I knew this wasn’t my ideal audience.
A door in beautiful ‘rose’ village Camon
Then came the part that completely threw me. He asked me to describe my listing process, using an example: “I want to buy a photo of a door in Paris.”
I replied: “That’s possible, provided I have a picture of a door in Paris” and I began walking him through my process.
He stared at me and exclaimed: “OMG — I thought that you had created all your pictures with AI!”
I was floored. All my photos are my own work: all of them taken and edited by me. If he had spent even a few minutes looking through my shop, he would have seen that each listing is marked as not AI-generated. My “About” page clearly states that I take and edit all the images myself.
This expert, who was meant to assess whether we could work together, didn’t even prepare properly. And then he had the nerve to say: “Well, everyone can create images with AI, so there’s nothing special about your listings.”
At that point, I lost trust in him and the word ‘pivot’ came to mind.
Discouragement, Low Visibility, and Tough Choices
The purpose of his free session was to determine if he could help me grow my shop, for a substantial fee, of course. Although he was two minded, he said it could work, but it would take time, a lot of effort, and a substantial investment.
I opted out. Life was about to get hectic with a move from France to Spain, and Etsy wouldn’t be high on my list of priorities for the next few months.
Still, I can’t pretend I wasn’t disillusioned. For starters, I lost a lot of motivation to continue listing new pictures. Then I updated many listings to emphasize that they were authentic photos, not AI-generated images. I had ticked all the boxes to optimize my listings: titles, tags, descriptions, SEO — but despite all that, my visibility was practically zero.
Etsy is a saturated marketplace, and the algorithm seems to favour sellers who already make Etsy money. Without consistent sales, my shop likely won’t surface in searches no matter how good my work is.
What Now? Pivot, Pause, or Push Through?
I still believe my pictures are worth selling. But maybe Etsy isn’t the right platform. Maybe I shouldn’t offer them as digital downloads at all. Perhaps I should present them as finished physical products — framed prints, canvases, or greeting cards.
So now I am wondering: When do you quit? Or pivot in a different direction?
Right now, I feel a little lost. But maybe that’s okay. Maybe this pause is where the next step begins.
We are just about to sign a contract to buy a house in Andalusia, Spain – after almost three months of back and forth with the help of a lawyer.
We spotted this house in mid-May this year and immediately it had a good feeling. First impressions felt right. Even after digging deep and uncovering countless obstacles, we still feel it is the right choice.
When I tell people the story, they look at me with open mouths, amazement, maybe with a touch of irony, and secretly think that we are going to be the next drama on Place in the Sun!
But what they think doesn’t really matter. This is our decision, and it is an exciting adventure we are ready to take on. One of my mottos is: “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” And isn’t there a saying, “They’ll ask you how you did it, when it all works out?”
So yes, we’re just about to sign the contract. To clarify, we are: my sister and her partner, my husband and I. This is the contract where you put down 10%. It is the second contract we have signed.
The first was a reservation contract, which took the property off the market. This second one includes all conditions, obligations, and rights. Negotiating those terms took us ten full weeks. If everything goes according to plan, we will exchange deeds in early September.
Two Different Purposes, One Shared Dream
I am excited and nervous at the same time. For my sister, this house will be a holiday home. For us, it will become our new home. We will be leaving France and become residents of Cómpeta. That change could be story on its own, as it means transferring from the French to the Spanish system.
To nip any raised eyebrows in the bud: I am a European citizen, and my husband is British. Since we are married, his visa situation is slightly different. But let me be honest, I am sure we will still encounter a few hurdles there.
But first… the house!
Our future home lies just outside Cómpeta, a charming white Andalusian village located 450 meters above sea level, a feature we hope will help with the extreme summer heat. And yet, we are only 15 kilometers from the beaches of the Costa del Sol.
We had a few non-negotiables when house hunting: proximity to the coast and access to a lively town or village. This property ticks both boxes.
Built in 2005 on rural land, the house has legal status which is a huge advantage in Spain. In contrast, properties built illegally in the last six years risk being ordered to be torn down. We hopefully have avoided that bullet.
Design, Limitations, and Excitement
It is a spacious house, with enough room to divide it into separate quarters for my sister and us, along with shared indoor and outdoor kitchens.
One challenge with rural land is that extensions are not allowed. Sure, you could try (and I bet many do), but you also risk being told to take them down. We have accepted this rule and are brainstorming creative, ‘legal’ ways to work within that limitation.
Tree with a shady purpose
I am a big fan of natural shade, and luckily, there is a huge tree on the property that provides exactly that, a beautiful, leafy canopy. I can already envision creating a little paradise under its branches.
So yes, we are well on our way to owning a house in Spain. It is basic for now, but we see so much potential to turn it into a true jewel. And then there’s the land, almost half an acre. As a passionate gardener, I can’t wait to get my tools out and start shaping it.
But… that’s a story for another time.
Plot Twist in our Contract?
Just as I was finalising this story, we received an email that has put us back to square one.
For those who are just discovering me….welcome! My husband and I currently live in Limoux, southern France, but we are in the process of making a move to Spain. In fact, we are buying a house in Andalusia.
It all began in mid-May when my sister spotted a listing of a house near the stunning white village of Cómpeta. The plan is to buy the property together, and since she had more flexibility timewise, she flew to Málaga to check it out.
From four months visiting and researching the Costa Blanca, we were already well aware that buying in Spain is rarely straightforward. And surprise, surprise, we’ve had more than a few issues. So many, in fact, that we still haven’t signed the main purchase contract or paid the standard 10% deposit.
We did sign a reservation contract, which required a small deposit to take the house off the market. Thankfully, we hired a lawyer from the start, which turned out to be one of our better decisions. We have since uncovered things we didn’t even know we should be looking for.
What’s a DAFO, and Why Does It Matter?
Looking back, it seems even the current owner wasn’t aware of some of the issues. He bought the property in May 2025 through a forced bank sale, which often means a good deal, but sometimes comes with surprises.
In the autumn, he began a few formalities with the local council, including starting a DAFO process or so we were told. For anyone unfamiliar, a DAFO is a certificate confirming a rural property’s legal status, protecting it from fines or even demolition.
As it turns out, there was no DAFO process underway. Our lawyer did some digging and found that the process hadn’t even been initiated. It was the local technical architect who took the initiative, inspected the property, and came up with a list of requirements to obtain the DAFO.
It’s a fairly long list but luckily, we already knew (and accepted) over half of the needed improvements.
Buying a House in Andalusia Comes with Surprises
What we didn’t know? That we wouldn’t be able to get a water supply until the DAFO is approved. Bit of a red flag, especially since we will need water to do renovations. A proper Catch-22.
On top of that, the current septic tank doesn’t meet modern standards, and despite there being power sockets throughout the house, we apparently don’t have an electricity supply either. Yep, it is starting to sound like an off-grid project.
Still undeterred, we asked our lawyer to relay all this to the seller and get his perspective. After much back-and-forth, we’ve come to an agreement, albeit an unconventional one.
Aerial shot of the house we are chasing
An Unusual Agreement, and a Glimmer of Hope
The seller has agreed to:
Install a new septic tank and cover half the cost.
Get electricity connected.
Somehow, don’t ask us how, arrange a temporary water supply from the neighbour. (Are they old mates? Did he bribe them with olive oil? Who knows!)
On top of that, he’s willing to leave a significant sum, probably close to 20% of the purchase price, in an escrow account with our lawyer. If we don’t manage to secure the DAFO within a year, we will get that money back. Fair enough, considering we might be facing some extra costs.
Confused? Complicated? We are too! You might even be wondering why we’re going through with it at all…
Honestly, I’m just incredibly relieved we hired a lawyer—because there’s more to this story. But that’s for another time.
In my last post, I announced our upcoming move from Limoux to Andalusia. To put it in perspective, I would like to elaborate a bit more on Limoux. It all goes back to 2014 when I did what possibly some women might dream of but never actually do.
While living in Brisbane, Australia, I took a few months’ sabbatical and headed by myself to southern France to find a house. We had created a list of criteria, and with those in mind, I explored a part of France that is now known as Occitanie.
I did indeed find a few houses that could be an option. At that stage my husband joined me, and we put down an offer on our current house in July 2014.
The house exchanged in October 2014, and I returned to France to pick up the keys and prepare the house as a rental. It needed a heating system, a ventilation system, and some other improvements. I had to connect utilities and internet, and I had to buy furniture, bedding, and kit out the kitchen. It took me five weeks to do it all. I even found our first tenants on the central square in Limoux.
The central square in Limoux with its iconic church
A Rental Journey and a New Life Chapter
From 2014 until 2017, while in Australia, we rented out the house. We marketed it as a semi-long-term holiday rental, had 20 tenants, and received 19 five-star reviews on TripAdvisor. We are still in touch with some of the tenants! As a matter of fact, our Swedish neighbours are repeat tenants—and they bought the house next door.
Our street in Limoux and view from our house.
In the meantime, we had decided to leave Australia after living there for 25 years, and we made the move in 2017. In fact, I went first, as my husband had to finish his contract. One daughter decided to move to Melbourne. The other came four months later, as she had to say goodbye in a lengthy way.
From 2017, our life has been a mix of living in Limoux, travelling, and doing house sits. Don’t think we are retired as we certainly are not. We picked up all kinds of work and in 2019 I landed my current online gig.
Finding Our Feet and Income in France
We learned that you encounter two types of expats when you move to a popular expat location: those who are retired with an overseas pension, and those who still need to create an income. We fell into the latter category and that takes creativity and a flexible approach. In the beginning, I did everything: cleaning, changeovers, gardening, painting, and photography.
The work is out there, but it may not be your ideal job from the start. The trick is to tell everybody and to check out the Facebook groups. I found enough, and then via via I found what I do now.
Life in France is good, but for some reason, France and Australia do not connect in every way. One of the flaws is that you can’t get your Australian pension in France. People have campaigned, written letters to important people but all without result. Just over the border in Spain, we can claim our Australian pension. In fact, in almost every Western European country, it’s possible—just not in France.
River Aude – peaceful scene but it flooded 3 times since we were here.
When It’s Time to Move On
So we knew that when the time comes, we would need to make a move……again. We love change, so it didn’t matter to us. We have come across some expats who didn’t realise this pension issue. Could be a bit of a problem!
Over time, we explored Spain. A house sit here and there, and many visits to my sister, who had a house near Rosas. During the last two years, the focus was more on research, and we spent six weeks around Valencia in 2024. This year we aimed for the Costa Blanca and explored that region during Spring for four months—only to find out that it was not for us.
Andalusia came on our radar, and the rest is history—and for other stories.
I’m in my sixties, we are starting a new chapter and life is shifting — again. After eight beautiful years in France, we are about to put our house in Limoux on the market and are preparing to begin a new adventure in southern Spain. Together with my sister, we’ve put down a reserve offer on a house near Cómpeta in Andalucía. As a matter of fact the Contracto de Arras is being prepared as we speak. It seems like it is really happening!
France was good to us. The rhythm of life in Limoux, the beautiful square – definitely one of the better ones in France, the wine, the landscape, the people — all part of a chapter we truly loved. But life evolves, and so do we. Our decision to move is a blend of practicalities, lifestyle choices, and the rising cost of living in France. Spain has been on the radar for a while, and it’s time to go for it.
Central Limoux – our hometown for 7 yearsIl y a toujours une fête à Limoux – always something going on!
Our research so far
It all began with a winter trip in 2024, when we explored the region between Valencia and Castellón. Uninspired by what we found, we decided to head further south this year, spending four months exploring the Costa Blanca. We chose this area, hopeful it might finally offer what we were looking for.
Surprisingly, it didn’t. Lovely in several aspects, but not quite us for many reasons. Our search is complicated because we are looking for a property that can be divided in two independent sections – one for my sister and partner and one for us. Our research shifted further south although we always said that that the South of Spain might be too hot.
We discovered in the Costa Blanca that we don’t mind the heat after all we lasted in Brisbane for 17 years. We dislike cold, wind, grey skies—Limoux and Costa Blanca had too much of that this spring.
The whitewashed villages and rolling hills of Andalucía felt just right. Slower pace, warmer winters, and something that felt closer to the life we envision.
My sister found a place that ticked almost all the boxes, went to view it, and came back with a “yes.” We now will have a garden, a pool, olive and fruit trees. We’re not in a village but not isolated either — the best of both worlds. Cómpeta itself is a beautiful, white Andalusian town with a community feel and creative energy.
Embracing this new chapter with gusto!
The next few months will be all about transition: selling the house in France, downsizing, learning Spanish (I started in January and still have a long way to go), navigating tax and health systems, and of course — the actual move. All this while still working a 30-hour job. It’s going to be exciting, overwhelming – probably both.
This move isn’t just a relocation. It’s a deeper shift — toward community, simpler living, growing some of our own food, eating well, restoring a home with love and intention. It’s about carving out a wholesome and sustainable life in our later years.
This is the beginning of a new chapter. I’ll be sharing the process here — the ups and downs, the practical tips, and the joys of starting over in a new place. If you’re 50/60-plus and wondering whether such big changes are still possible — let me tell you, they are.
I’m living proof and I know I am not the only one!
