SolveYourProblem
Article Series:
How To Start
A Craft Business
Your
Hand Made Craft Business:
Labor of Love
by SolveYourProblem.com
If you began your own hand made craft business,
then odds are you started it because you enjoyed crafting and
hoped to make some money from your hobby. To survive
in the craft business you absolutely have to love what you
do. If
you started your business just to make money and not because
you loved your craft, then you won’t have the dedication and
staying power to make it in the craft industry. A person’s
passion for crafting shows in the end product as well as in
all the little touches.
But perhaps you did start your business out of love for the
crafting. Since then though you’ve lost some of that original
spark and you’re finding it difficult to muster the same enthusiasm
about your home made products. This can be a disheartening
experience and you may reach the point where you consider giving
up your new business because the enjoyment just isn’t there
anymore. How can you keep that original joy in crafting alive
when you make the switch from hobby to business?
Start Small
It’s important to start small when launching your new hand
made craft business. Try out your crafts at local craft shows
or through family and friends. You should borrow little or
no money to get your business started. Monthly loan payments
can cripple a small start-up craft business – an industry that
is fickle at even the best of times. Not depending on your
new craft business for all your financial income will take
some of the pressure off and allow you to just enjoy the process
of crafting and selling.
Manage Your Time
With any small business, people have difficulty keeping traditional
working hours. When starting your new craft business you will
most likely not be working 9-5 at it. Odds are you’ll keep
your main job and just devote time to your new start-up in
the evenings and on weekends so you have enough money to make
a go of it. You need to be realistic in terms of what you can
accomplish. If there are four local craft show that you want
to participate in all within a two week span of each other,
are you really going to have enough time to create enough stock
for all of the shows? You have to figure out how much you can
produce and stick to that. Running yourself ragged is one of
the quickest ways to lose the enjoyment of crafting. Remember
you also need to keep a life-work balance. Even though you
enjoy crafting, you can’t do it 24-7. You need to make time
to relax and see family and friends.
Experiment
Some times it is important to away from the business end of
things and concentrates on the crafting itself. Experiment
with new techniques and materials. This process can refresh
you and you might even come up with some really unique new
products for your next craft sale.
Talk to Others
It is really important to have a support system in place when
starting a new venture like this. Family and friends can be
a huge help with your new hand made craft business, but a lot
of time they lack experience and expertise in the industry
itself. It is important to develop your own kind of crafters’
network – other crafters who you can turn to and learn from.
The best way to meet other crafters is at local craft shows.
You can also join or start a local crafters’ group or guild.
This can be a monthly group that meets to share stories and
learn from one another. This group could also develop into
a means for all of the members to market and sell their crafts.
Many craft guilds hold yearly sales where all of the members
showcase their work. You can start small by hosting a craft
show in one of your members’ home or renting a community center
or church basement if everyone contributes a bit. Feeling part
of crafters’ community will make all the difference when things
get rough.
As with any new start-up, starting your hand made craft business
will be difficult and at times frustrating. The most important
thing is to keep your passion alive however you can so it truly
is a labor of love!
# # # # # SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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