Being in a craft business as is as easy as making your first sale. Most of the crafters and the majority of home-based start-ups have their own family and friends as their first customers. By that definition, you may already be in business.
The first thing that you need to do is visualise the kind of business that you want to set up. How you want to shape your business and how you want to sell will have a direct impact on the steps you take to start.
This is also the point where we highly recommend making a business plan as that in itself is a great visualisation tool. It’s really helps to sort out many issues and problems before they actually happen and result in costly mistakes.
Relax, a business plan can just be a couple of pages. We have spoken at length about making a business plan later on in this book. When dealt with properly, a business plan is a roadmap for your business and service. it familiarises you with many issues that you might overlook otherwise.
Coming back to goal visualisation, how do you see yourself and your business determines how you are going to start.
For example, how big do you see your business growing? Do you want to be a home-based business? Do you only want to sell locally? Do you only want to sell online? Are you looking to target national and international markets? Do you intend to have a brick and mortar store? Do you only want to sell through other craft stores? Do you intend to start a blog and a website? How ambitious are you? Do you want a comfortable income and balance your business life with an indulgent family life? Do you want an aggressive start to your business and look forward to media and press coverage?
These are just some of the questions that you need to answer to know exactly what and how to build.
Two things we want to point out.
One – realise that visualising bigger does not mean you cannot start small. The important thing is to ensure that you take the right steps from start to reach your goals in as streamlined a way as possible.
Two – Everybody has different needs and requirements. You can keep things as quaint as you like and still be very much in business. Do not at any point think that being in a business is only about aiming for the moon and the stars. A business is not just for the risktakers and the high rollers. It is right for you in whichever shape and form that you want it to be.
Take your time and really think about all the things that are important for you. Weigh in every factor you can think of like how much personal freedom you desire, how much money you would be happy making, where do your family priorities fit in etc. Once you know what you really want from your craft business, you are ready to start taking the next steps.
