Starting Your Own Crafts Business And Start Making Money

A craft is a pastime or a profession that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. While people may start their crafting business out as a hobby, it can soon evolve into a money making operation. This isn't always a smooth transition,so you need to change your attitude if you want to make something out of it. You need to decide if you want to make money. The only people who can make a living in a crafts business are those who decide to get serious about money and profits." So if you've been tinkering with the idea of actually selling your crafts, but haven't really put your heart into it, now is the time to decide if you want to continue as a hobby or make it a business.
The Market

Your customers can be friends and neighbors, people from your community who attend shows where you display your crafts, or the world at large reached through wholesalers and sales reps. Some artisans have had success selling their products through Tupperware-like home parties. If you plan to go the wholesale route, hook up with reps at gift shows, which you can locate by calling local and regional chambers of commerce and convention centers, reading gift-industry publications or contacting associations.

Needed Equipment

Your equipment will depend on what crafts you'll be turning out. If you're already crafting, chances are you have the necessary equipment. But take a good look at what you've got and decide if there are other pieces of equipment you could use to make your work life faster and easier--remember, the more pieces you turn out, the higher your income will be.

Make Crafts that Make Money

Now that you have decide to make money out of it, there's a good chance you'll create what you like, but what about your future customers? Will they like it as much as you? It's easy to get attached to your work and think everyone will have the same warm fuzzy feelings about your products as you do.The biggest mistake you can make - is to make what you want to make and not what people want to buy As with any new product or service, test marketing is key to any crafter's success.

How to Market and Sell Your Crafts

How much to charge? While craft/street fairs are still a great place to sell your wares, don't discount the power of the Internet. "The only way to sell on the Internet is to apply the same marketing you use off the Internet. Your site needs to be attractively designed and easy to navigate." Once your site is nice to look at, it's time to let people know it's there. "It's the same with the Internet, you need to advertise."

Quick Tips  

• Resell to current existing buyers. A big mistake crafters make - is failing to sell to their existing customers. It is recommended you collect names and addresses of those who have bought from you before. That way you can notify them of new products you're making and what fairs you'll be attending.
• Pay close attention to current trends. Be sure to keep up with what colors are hot because they change every year.
• Be sure you aren't selling what all the hobbyists are selling. There is a fine line between giving your customers what they want, and yet still using your creative side. Always keep trying new ideas. You can't build a business on patterns of others. Copyright issues can be a problem in the crafting world Don't violate the legal rights of others! Make your own patterns. The longer you craft the more creative you will become. It's just a natural skill you can develop.
• The biggest reason most crafters fail to make money with their businesses is a lack of business management skills. It's not just crafters, any business can run into the ground because of this. The facts are, not all creative people can manage money and time.
• Don't get locked into the thought that the only way you can make money in crafting is to sell the products you've made. Some of the most successful people in the craft business go on to write, teach, sell their designs or publish their own books. Teaching is a great way to make money in the crafting field.

Steps To consider before setting up

1.  Think About Why You Want to Start a Crafts Business

Maybe you want to turn a hobby into a moneymaking business. Perhaps you’re just fed up with your day job and want to make the transition from working for someone else to working for yourself. Are you spending too much time at the office and feel a home-based craft business will give you more time with your family? Whatever the reason, and you might have more than one, sit down and give this question some serious thought.

2.  Get Good Practical Experience

Opening a crafts business, especially if you plan to use it to replace your day job, isn’t something that you just wake up one day and decide to do. If you want your craft business to be a success you need to have experience ranging from basic design to complete construction.

3.  Go to School if You Need to Hone Your Craft-Making Skills

It’s never a bad idea to take a class in your field of arts or crafts to advance your basic skills. Watching the instructor and your peers just may show you a better way to set up your workbench, perform your craft or you may get a referral to a fantastic vender. It’s also a great way to network, which can be helpful when growing your craft business.

4.  Select Your Business Entity

Every choice and necessary business action you take in the start-up phrase of your craft business can vary based upon the type of business entity you select. If you don’t have any prior experience working for yourself, it’s a hard decision. Luckily, you only have three choices from which to choose: sole proprietorship, flow throughs or corporation.

5.  Identify Your Customer

Before you hit the drawing board you have to consider who your potential customers are. A starting point is the age old male versus female demographic. However, male or female is too broad - you can’t stop there. Take this further by considering exactly what type of product you wish to handcraft.

6.  Narrow Your Focus

When you first start your business, don't take on too much and be all over the map with your product line. Concentrate on what you do well and with time and experience expand from there.

7.  Check Out Your Competition

If you have too much competition, you don’t necessarily have to abandon your dream - develop a niche that is not yet saturated. On the other side, if you don’t have any competition, this may not be a good thing. It could be there is not enough of a market for your art or craft to make it a viable business.

8.  Find Vendors

You need to find vendors that have wholesales terms so you can buy with a discount and establish terms. You also need this information because if you don’t know how much your vendors are going to charge you for the raw materials to make your product, how can you set a reasonable retail price? This also helps you figure out many items you have to sell to realize your personal or financial goals.

9.  Set Up a Work Space

The great thing about most craft businesses is that they are ideally suited to operate as a home-based business. If that’s your plan, look around your home and map out where you will store inventory, take care of the business details like bill paying and make your craft product. If you’re planning to rent a shop, this expense needs to factored into your cost of doing business.

10.  Write a Business Plan

Many business owners think they only need to prepare a business plan to get outside financing from a bank or other lender. Not true. A business plan is your roadmap to success. All craft businesses should have one so you can anticipate problems and come up with solutions