Home Based Craft Business.com

I recently got an email from Rob at Craft Show Success Secrets with information about a new book that is perfect for those of you who are thinking about how to wholesale crafts.

For home based craft business owners that might be thinking about selling their products wholesale… you know… having your craft item for sale in boutiques and retail stores across the nation. How will you get started? How do you sell to businesses that will stock your handmade items in their shops?

And… what do you do if you get an order for 1000 of one item… and it must be shipped in 30 days?

How will you package your products?

How will you ship your products?

What are standard wholesale agreements and contracts?  and what should you avoid in those contracts to keep yourself out of legal hot water?

What kind of labels do products require?

All these questions and so much more is included in this book… and you can get it today. Really. You just pay for it… and then download it and print it out on your home computer. What could be easier than that? 

Oh… and you have 8 weeks no risk guarantee. If you don't find the book helpful… then you can get your money back. What a no brainer.  :)  Just click on the picture of the book… and you will be whisked away to the exact place you need to be… learning about selling your crafts in the wholesale market.

If you haven't joined up for the mailing list on Rob's site…. your missing out on a lot of great tips and current information.

If you are reading this… you probably already have craft -'itis'. It's the disease of crafting and loving it!

And… you have probably entertained the idea of Crafting as a Business.

It's a logical progression. The most common reason for starting a home based craft business is… we need to make money to buy more supplies to make more crafts!

Now… if you are going to start a craft business… you need to be fairly serious about it. Just making and selling crafts without any business basics is a business doomed to failure.

What do you really need to start a craft business?

Oh all sorts of licenses, checking account, business marketing material, product displays, supplies for an office… etc. etc. etc.

But a business needs a foundation to begin. Not a bunch of stuff! 

Foundation.  Yes…You need a foundation. What is a foundation?  A foundation is the first block that we build our business upon. Block by block… step by step… we build our business based on the first block in our foundation.

What is your foundation?

Is it a dream… a desire… an idea… or a thought of owning your own home business?

No… this is not what a foundation block is. Oh… dreams and such are how we get started with working towards having a craft business, but they are not what a foundation block is.

A foundation block is:

• Profitable product ideas
• Profitable pricing of products
• Profitable marketing

What is the common denominator on this list? Profitable. You shouldn't even dip one single toe into the waters of craft marketing… if you don't know how to be profitable as a craft business.

What??? You don't want to do all the work required to define profitable niches in the craft world?

Here is my advice. More business fail every day… because the business owner hasn't got a clue about making profitable products. You can make products or crafty items all day long… but are you creating a profitable business?

A wait and see if can be profitable attitude is usually the process of most beginner craft business owners. 

Most customers don't need you… You need customers. You need customers that want your product at a price they feel is fair. They want quality products… and something they can understand, but is different enough that they can't buy the same thing at another craft fair… or worse yet… the department store. 

So you many create unusual quality products that customers flock to buy. But… is every item you make and sell creating a profit for your business. 

Do you know how to tell if you are making a profit? If you don't… do not start a business until you do.

You can find books and classes that will teach you how to tell if a product is really profitable. It's easy… it is not rocket science… and your not giving you or your business a fair chance of survival if you don't know this basic information.

Crafting as a business is a great part or full time income building opportunity. Don't sabotage your dream because you don't take the effort to create a profitable crafting business. 

photo  credit: Copleys

Beginners Guide To Quilling Click Here!

What does Paper Quilling have to do with a craft business? Well… if it becomes popular to purchase items that have exquisite quilled embellishments… shouldn't you already know how to use quilling paper and quilling tools?

How old is the art of quilling? 

"I forgot to tell you that my new bonnet flares a great deal, and that I have white lace quilling round the face with little black dotty things in it on stems.

They don't wear those close cottage bonnets now. And aunt has had my dresses made longer and my pantalettes shorter, so that they hardly show at all.

She says I shall soon wear long dresses, I am getting so tall. Alice wears them now, and her feet look so pretty, and she has such pretty slippers: little French purple ones, and sometimes ark green, and sometimes beautiful light gray, to go with different dresses.

I don't care for anything but the slippers, but I should like such ones as hers. Aunt says I can't, of course, as long as I wear black, but I can have purple ones next summer to wear with my white dresses. "

An excerpt from " REAL FOLKS by MRS. A. D. T. WHITNEY 1893":

Quilling Supplies

So it seems that paper quilling wasn't called quilling in 1893. It is however a craft that will never go out of style completely. The popularity of quilling comes and goes… it seems to be in somewhat of an upswing right now. Did you know that quilling is one of the least expensive crafts to get started with? It really only requires a small bit of specialty quilling paper, a beginners book and a few quilling tools.

Art of Paper Quilling: Designing Handcrafted Gifts and Cards