HOW TO Start A CRAFT Business
More and more people are looking for ways to make money off of the effort they put into their crafts and would like to start some sort of business to make it more lucrative. I know in my family alone, two of my sisters have participated in craft fairs. One of them still does it on a regular basis every year (the one with the artist painting talent). Although it has paid her well (along with the classes she teaches), it was not an overnight endeavor! She has been doing this for about 10 years and has developed many contacts, as well as being a member of a craft organization which stages craft fairs two or three times a year, along with fairs where a good portion of the proceeds go to a charity organization.
One of your best advertising mediums initially is family and friends. You can pretty much tell how popular your items are going to be by getting their true assessment of the products you are making. Ask them how you could improve on it, or what would you need to do that would make them want to buy. Make sure you design some business cards and at least a brochure (initially) that you can not only hand out, but place on bulletin boards at local shops in your area. You never know where your next order is going to come from.
You can also contact shops in your area that sell handmade crafts and ask if they will place some of your items in their stores. Just be sure that there is some leeway for them in marking up your price for them to earn a profit. This approach would not work as well for large items that are going to take up a lot of floor space, but smaller items that don't take up a lot of shelf space or hanging space is usually something they like to see in order to fill their spaces with no extra work on their part.
Try donating your items to "silent auctions" that are held at local high schools and community centers. They are always looking for new and unusual items to auction off to raise money. It's well worth donating an item in this way for the free advertising alone, because of course along with the displayed item/s, you also get to place your brochures/business cards with the item.
If you do a web search for pointers and tips on getting some attention for your products, I think you'll find that there's not a lot of in depth information out there. One source that I have found that gives you a lot of ideas on places that will buy your crafts and what you need to do to contact these sources can be found in "Crafts Wanted". I thought it was fantastic that someone put all this information together in one package! You might find that you have more business than you can handle!
The main point is to just get started in getting the information out to the mainstream that you have something to offer!
One of your best advertising mediums initially is family and friends. You can pretty much tell how popular your items are going to be by getting their true assessment of the products you are making. Ask them how you could improve on it, or what would you need to do that would make them want to buy. Make sure you design some business cards and at least a brochure (initially) that you can not only hand out, but place on bulletin boards at local shops in your area. You never know where your next order is going to come from.
You can also contact shops in your area that sell handmade crafts and ask if they will place some of your items in their stores. Just be sure that there is some leeway for them in marking up your price for them to earn a profit. This approach would not work as well for large items that are going to take up a lot of floor space, but smaller items that don't take up a lot of shelf space or hanging space is usually something they like to see in order to fill their spaces with no extra work on their part.
Try donating your items to "silent auctions" that are held at local high schools and community centers. They are always looking for new and unusual items to auction off to raise money. It's well worth donating an item in this way for the free advertising alone, because of course along with the displayed item/s, you also get to place your brochures/business cards with the item.
If you do a web search for pointers and tips on getting some attention for your products, I think you'll find that there's not a lot of in depth information out there. One source that I have found that gives you a lot of ideas on places that will buy your crafts and what you need to do to contact these sources can be found in "Crafts Wanted". I thought it was fantastic that someone put all this information together in one package! You might find that you have more business than you can handle!
The main point is to just get started in getting the information out to the mainstream that you have something to offer!
posted by J. Martin @ Monday, February 27, 2006
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