Category: Guide To A Craft Business


Start A Jewelry Business At Home

July 24th, 2009 — 3:55pm

Many many people want to make jewelry from home.  Some of these people want to do it out of a hobby or fancy while others would like to establish a business making jewelry.  Even if you are one of those people who want to make jewelry at home as a hobby or for the love of jewelry, I am sure you will appreciate the opportunity to turn your hobby into a flourishing business.

Starting home business is never easy.  Most of the people do not know where to begin.  Starting a home business in jewelry not only requires technical know-how but also requires a certain knowledge about selling and marketing the jewelry that you make.

How would you like to be taken by hand through this whole process by someone who has made jewelry professionally and successfully for many many years?
What if this person happens to be the well-known professional jewelry designer who has made jewelry for several celebrities?
If this person was ready to take you through the whole process of how to make jewelry that sells and give you all the hot tips and guidance, would you be interested?

Starting your own home jewelry business can be daunting in concept figures not only do you need to be skilful and making it will jewelry but you also need to know how of what sells.  You need to be able to create ornaments that people will love to wear.  Even before doing all that you need to have a business plan that covers how you are going to start and what kind of capital you will need to invest in this business.  People wanting to start a home jewelry business can get daunted by thinking that this kind of business probably needs a lot of capital input from them.  What if you could learn the tricks of the trade that allow you to find materials for your jewelry and a really reasonable cost.  What if you could start your business at half the price that you initially thought would be necessary.

Kameron Kay is a well-known jewelry designer that has worked in this field for several years and now is sharing these tips and tricks in an e-book that she gives to people interested in starting at home jewelry business.  This e-book covers all the essentials of starting a and developing your jewelry business to be a successful one.
You will receive exact information not only about learning to make jewelry but how to follow it up with crucial business steps of marketing, selling and profiting.
All this knowledge can be yours and the click of a button when you subscribe for the e-book by Cameron Kay.

Watch this video below to see how she can help you start your jewelry business from home.

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Self Evaluation – Is The Home Business Right For You

March 2nd, 2009 — 3:16pm

Not only do you need to evaluate the business prospects, but you need to evaluate yourself as well. If the business is suited to you, then you need to be suited to the business as well.

Starting a home business can begin with an idea but it needs lots of other factors to fall into place in order to make it a succesful one.

There are listed here in a short order:

Your Skill Set:

Even as you are deciding on the idea for your home business, you carefully need to evaluate your won skills. You and your business have to run together in tandem and harmony. The logical step to take while starting a business is to do something that you are good at or something that you have expert knowledge of. Determine your experience and the know how you posess and shae your business concept accordingly. Provding quality product or service ensures a steeper success curve.

And the best way to this really is by making sure that you start a business in a field that you are familiar with.

Budget:

the budget that you are going to be starting out with will determine several features of your home business. Speaking with the example of our home craft business, you may realise that making any one craft may incur higher infrastructure cost than another. For example, if you are planning to launch yourself in a home business that most league entails sewing crafts then heavy sewing like draperies and carpets will require more expensive and high end machines than if you only intend to make smaller sewing crafts like cushion covers, stuffed toys and apparel. Your start-up budget will also determine the number of people and specialised help that you can hire. The overall production and capacity of the business is highly dependent on the assets and the number of people working for you. Your start-up capital will duly affect these factors and hence your growth rate. While making a budget for a home business you must consider all start-up expenses such as stationery, office equipment, office rental, overheads such as phone and electricity bills, salaries for salaries etc.

Bank Balance:

it is quite common to ignore the fact that 90% of the businesses take up to one year to actually break even with the running costs. In fact the bigger of the business and more time it takes to break even and finally start making a profit. Some of the largest companies took years to recover their investment costs. As you are going to be running a home business your cost of setting it up is probably not going to be that much. But you have to consider the period where you will be required to view it with your own capital. Most of the businesses take time for the clientele to become aware of it and to become patrons of it. Marketing and advertising product or service takes time for it to have effect on your sales. You can safely assume that from the time that you start your home business to the time that you start making a profit on it will take time. This is where your bank balance comes in as you will have to set aside a certain sum to infuse in your business to keep it running during the period read it still gaining popularity.

The Marke Place:

before starting a home business bureau it product or a service that you wish to provide you carefully need to evaluate the market place. Running a business is based on a basic concept of demand and supply. You will need to research the market that you wish to target with your product and service. Researching the trend of your competitors is a good tactic. Various things about your competitors such as the number of similar businesses operating in the area, the extent of their success and the scale on which they operate will help you determine the viability of your own business. You have to ensure that the area of the market that you are trying to target with your product or service is not already saturated with other businesses. If you figure that there is still a good demand for your product then you deem to be more successful.

As we mentioned in the previous point when you are talking about your start-up budget, targeting the market place area that has scope for expansion and a lot more demand will also help you to shorten the period of time in which you break even with your investment and running costs. Targeting a high demand market area will help you to start making profits faster.

Advertising and Marketing:

in today’s day and age where competition is usually frantic in any proper field of business you will need to rely on a certain amount of advertising and marketing to promote your business. Advertising and marketing costs always have to be balanced to the amount of money that you hope to make from the business. Initially of course this money will have to be a part of your start-up capital. You cannot really afford to ignore this aspect and will need to set aside a certain amount of initial capital for advertising and marketing purposes as well.

Adapting in former techniques like spreading the word around with your friends and family usually makes a lot of difference in promoting your business and helps you save a lot of extra cost.

Craft business from home is actually rather perfectly suited to be initiated with friends and families before you step it up to the next level.

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Craft Making – A Profitable Home Business

March 2nd, 2009 — 2:13pm

In this section we want to cover the basic guidelines of starting your very own home based craft business.  We will try to provide you with all the resources regarding how and where to start making money out of your crafting hobby.  We will try to explain exactly what crafting business is, why you should think of starting one and how to turn it into a profitable home based business.

If you are one of the people who has thought of starting a business from home, and a majority of them and, you probably need to figure out where to start.  Knowing what business you want to start from home is the first crucial step and choosing the right path our mark are for your future success.

If you are a crafter then you are in luck.  You can actually start a business of your own doing something that you love to do and something you are good at.  There is no better satisfaction than doing something for a living that gives you the creative outlet as well.  Having your own business in craft making means that not only do you get financial independence but also get the satisfaction of enjoying working every single day.  You can become a work at home person regardless of whether you are currently employed are not.  Having a home based business provides flexibility in your schedule and life.  It also supplements your income in case you already have a full-time job somewhere else. Of course, accomplashing to start a business while still working somewhere else is really a tall order. Starting a business is tough enough, doing it with divided demands on your time with another job will require another level of commitment from you all together.
If you’re not currently working but want to start earning money then it is time you considered turning your hobby into something more.

As you can see the reasons for starting a home based business may be several.  You may want to earn extra money, or you may just want to break out on your own from your current job with an independent venture.  Having an enterprise of your own is any day more satisfying than working for anybody else.

The advantages of starting a business in the crafting market is that the potential of expansion and growth is huge.  The annual turn over of the craft industry in the United States of America: is in tunes of billions of dollars every year.  There are amazing amount of opportunities out there.  As long as you know how to tap these opportunities and get the right guidance you can avoid the regular and common pitfalls facing small business owners.  We will try and provide all the right resources to ensure that your business is a successful one.
It will be heartening for you to know that starting a business in crafts is probably one of the businesses with the lowest investment amounts.  You have an amazing amount of flexibility with the amount of capital that you want to invest and start your business with.  It is completely up to you to decide the scale that you want to.  You can start with a bang or start small and grow steadily.  And believe me the scope for growth in the craft business is immense..  Not only will you learn from other people’s experiences on this blog but also get to contribute and share your own crafting experiences.

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Selling In Craft Malls

January 10th, 2009 — 10:23pm

Craft malls is a fairly new idea for selling and marketing your craft products. As the name suggests the idea behind it is the same as for a general shopping mall. It is all about setting your craft under a professional and organised platform. You will need to take up space on rent or lease in craft malls and pay for setting up of your space. This will include decoration and furnishing. The advantages of selling in craft malls is that not only does your craft gets sold in a professional environment that provides all amenities that are modern buyer requires such as air-conditioning, restrooms, refreshments etc but you also get to have the potential of setting nationwide.

Major craft malls operate as a chain all across the nation or at least in cities that have the potential of being a major market. While some malls require your physical presence most of the professional ones will send your product for you. Once you have rented out your space and done it up in the fashion that you wish all you need to do is keep supplying them with your products as required.

If you are thinking of selling in craft mall then you will need to verify the credibility of the mall itself. Asking the mall owners on a list of the crafters that are renting out with them is a good idea. You can gain to their idea of the credibility of the malls by judging the success of the people who are already doing business with them. Ideally you should look for malls that three to five years in business. This would prove there is stability and success in selling other people’s crafts.
While getting into signing up a lease with a craft mall for the first time it is a good idea to sign up for the minimum amount of time possible. This will help you gauge the business potential with the minimum lock in of investment.

Craft Malls:

Crafters Market Place and Gifts1403 West Glen Ave.
Peoria, IL 61614
309/692-7238
Call for an information package

Apple Tree Mall
1830 W. Hwy 76
POB 1336
Branson, MO 65616
Call for an information package

A Few Online Craft Malls:

Internet craft malls

This is the same concept has the regular craft malls only that it is a marketplace that is on the Internet. The obvious advantage of having a store on the Internet is that you have the potential of reaching millions of buyers not just all over the country about all over the world. The rules about finding the right craft malls for a product the same as they are with the regular craft malls. You need to contact the buyer of the malls and check the credibility of the store. A moral owner with experience in the crafting business is always preferred.
It gets a little harder to verify the number of people who are actually visiting a particular online store. In order to get a substantial amount of buyers to any online stores requires marketing and advertising. Ask the owner of the store questions pertaining to the marketing tactics used by them and the number of hits that their website receives. Marketing online for online products requires the degree of expertise and professional knowledge. Enquire about the professionals engaged in achieving this or that particular mall.

It is common not to meet the owners of online craft malls personally. You may need to send in your craft for reviewing by the mall before they decide to put it up for you in their online store. This is a normal process.

A few online craft malls:

The Crafters Market Place
http://www.crafters.ca/
Coomers Craft Mall Online
http://www.procrafter.com:80/

Quilted Bear
http://www.quilted bear.com/

A World of Crafts
http://www.craft.com/menu.html

The Handmade in America Show
Free space to crafters
http://www.craft-fair.com/

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Selling Your Crafts To Gift Shops

January 10th, 2009 — 9:55pm

While the most obvious method of selling your hand made crafts is selling them as a part of your own business, it is often profitable to market them to other sellers and businesses. Gift shops spring to mind. As a business unit you will probably start with a single outlet for your crafts but if you choose to supply two other traders you can have multiple outlets for your art. For this you will have two fine and target the right kind of outlets that will be able to market your product effectively. There are several journals and craft reports that are published that list gift shops and galleries that major traders for handicrafts items.

You can also look around in and around your area to find such shops and galleries. Finding outlets for selling your crafts is the first step. Once you have managed to compile a list you need to contact them in her professional manner and inform them about your company and your crafts. It is the good idea to design a professional cover letter that can act as an informative document regarding your company, the product and the terms of business. In case you have a brochure your company means that as well.
Most businesses that will want to source products from you will want to work on a wholesale basis with the credit applying every 30 days. This means that they will want to order the craft in a relatively large quantity and be you for it on a 30 days based cycle. You can set a minimum orde for wholesale, since you will be selling at reduced prices. This is a normal practice when selling your products wholesale.
Be sure to follow up your communication after a week or so by making a call. The shop owner may or may not be interested. If he is not enquire if there is a chance for an opening in the near future. Be friendly and professional. Most of the craft business owners look forward to new and fresh crafts and new craftsmen. If someone does not have an opening at that point of time does not mean that they will not be another in the near future. Establishing contact and making a pleasant impression is key to future gains.
Do not be hesitant to call as calling craft businesses is very much a part of this industry and mostly all craft business owners expect to get calls. In fact they are propitiated of new craftsmen getting in touch because it is by the infusion of new and fresh crafts that their business stays profitable.
Sometimes a business owners may not have the time to respond to mail in spite of being interested in ordering from you. Making a phone call takes care of this problem.

A few craft shops:

The Francisco Enterprise
562 143rd St.
Caledonia, MI 49316
616/877-4185

The Front Room Publishers
P.O. Box 1541
Clifton, NJ 07015

Lifestyle Crafts
2164 Riverside Dr.
Columbus, OH 43221
614/486-7119

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Craft Fairs

January 10th, 2009 — 9:33pm

If you are a crafter and interested in having a craft business of your own then you surely must consider marketing and selling your crafts through a craft fair, regardless of whether you are a beginner or not. Selling through craft fairs is a very old and yet are very popular tradition. But the truth is that it does involve quite a bit of travelling. So while it can be fun and adventurous it is not for someone who is pretty much settled in one place. There are several options available to you if you want to participate in craft fairs. It is up to you to decide the aggression with which you want to participate. There are certain fairs that keep travelling all the time while there are some that happen at major seasons and in major cities every year. If you do not wish to travel a lot you may wish to participate in the few select craft fairs to showcase your products. Participating in craft fairs happening in your own area will save you cost such as travel expenses and shipping.
If you are planning to have a booth for yourself to sell you will need to have a credit card merchant status so you can accept cards for purchases. This helps the matter what form of business you are running, to boost sales.

You must also be clear about the major concept of participating in a craft fair. Do not expect to make a great deal of money in your first few participations. Participating in the craft fairs in and around your area will help you develop a better network for a long-term business growth. You might also make important business ties and meet with key participants in this industry. The crafting industry in the United States of America has shown an amazing growth over the past few years. It has grown by almost 50% and as an annual turn over of more than $1 billion.

You will also gain insight and first-hand experience as to what crafts hotselling and what your competition is doing. The great thing about the crafting industry is that it is a fairly friendly and amicable community. People are ready to share their knowledge and experience. A craft fair can be one great opportunity for you to learn from other fellow crafters.

Here is a place to find craft shows:

Sunshine Artists Magazine
1700 sunset drive
Longwood, Florida 32750
West Art
P.O. Box 6868
Auburn, CA 95604

The Crafts Fair Guide
P.O. Box 5508
Mill Valley, CA 94942
This guide is put out four times a year, in time for you to apply to the shows. The crafters who attended the show previously critique every show in it.

Show Organizers:

Harvest Festivals
1-800/321-1213
Call for vendor information.

Steve Powers
619/731-9371
Call for vendor information.

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