Before you begin a craft business you need to purchase some supplies. Once you've got your supplies together you need to spend a lot of hours practicing the craft. The items you decide to sell should be something you enjoy.
Once you've decided on your product you’ll need to get a good camera to take pictures. It doesn't have to be five hundred dollars to take good pictures. You’ll need a good photo/art program to edit your pictures. Pictures are best take in natural light. A few good art programs are Corel Paint Shop, Gimp, or Paint. You’ll need to practice the program to learn how to use it. All three programs have an extensive tutorial to learn how to use the products.
Research both online and offline about the market. Etsy is an online handmade website that allows individual people to sell handmade creations, craft supplies, and vintage items. A seller sets up an account places the item for and waits until a buyer comes along to purchase an item. Finding out what sells and what don’t sell can be difficult. You can check someone’s feedback to find out what sell in their store, but you cannot go by that completely. A good place to find out which shops sell the most is Craft Count. The site has an extensive list of top sellers by country, by timeline, and by category. You can chose the supplies you’re using to find out if there is a market for the item. The Top Sellers by Country tab allows you to pick the country.
Record keeping is one of the hardest parts of having any business, but it is very important. Keeping an accurate record of items sold and not sold will help you improve your business and pay taxes. A good way to keep records of your business is using a software program like Microsoft Office, Open Office, or Google documents.
Once you've taken good pictures you’ll need to set up an Etsy account to sell your items, and, Facebook and Twitter to create a community of followers. You can join with others to offer promotions and giveaways. Sales are a great way to advertise your business. There are a lot of other social networks you can advertise your businesses for free and a fee. Networking with other bloggers is another way to get your businesses out to the public.
Another good place to look for information on starting a handmade business is Gussy Sews. She has an extensive series on starting a handmade business step by step. The Small Business Administration is another place to research small businesses. Using Google to search for handmade business is another way to research handmade businesses. Starting a handmade business isn't easy, but it’s worth it when you can sit back and say I made that myself and someone loves it. It's worth it.
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