home based craft business plan

How to Start a Craft Business From Home (A Step-by-Step Guide)

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In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards handmade and unique crafts. People are increasingly looking for one-of-a-kind items that they can’t find in stores. This has created a lucrative market for crafters who want to turn their hobby into a business.

Starting a craft business from home is not only a great way to earn extra income , but it also allows you to work on your own terms and pursue your passion. However, like any other business, starting a craft business requires careful planning and execution.

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll show you how to start a craft business from home, from identifying your niche and target market to setting up your workspace and marketing your products.

Table of Contents

How to start a craft business?

Step 1: identify your niche and target market.

The first step in starting a craft business is to identify your niche and target market. This involves figuring out what kind of crafts you want to make and who your ideal customers are. Some popular niches include jewelry making, woodworking, knitting, and sewing.

Once you’ve identified your niche, you’ll need to research your target market. This involves figuring out who your ideal customer is, what they’re looking for in a craft product, and where they’re likely to shop.

Step 2: Create a legal business entity (if needed).

You may not think you need to create a legal business entity , but in some cases, it can be really important – especially if you will file taxes as a sole proprietor or multi-owner LLC. If there’s any chance that someday your business is going to make a lot of money or if you’ll have employees, it’s important that you create a legal entity.

Your legal structure will determine how much personal liability you have for any lawsuits against the business, as well as what happens if someone sues or gets hurt.

Step 3: Get all your licenses and permits

Depending on where you live, you may need to get a business license or permit in order to legally operate. You also may need special licenses for the products that you sell. If your state requires occupational licenses, check your local government website for more information.

Step 4: Write a business plan.

A lot of craft businesses are started by people who work in the craft industry and have years of experience. So it’s important that you show the craft community that you understand what you’re doing by writing a business plan . This is an essential part of your funding application, so make sure it looks professional and explains exactly what services or products your business will offer.

Step 5: Set Up Your Workspace

Setting up your workspace is a crucial step in starting a craft business from home. It’s important to choose a dedicated space in your home that is quiet, private, and has good lighting. Once you have your space, you need to determine your equipment needs and make a list of all the equipment and tools you’ll need for your craft. Then, organize your supplies by keeping everything within arm’s reach and using storage containers, shelves, and drawers to keep your supplies organized and tidy.

Your workspace should be comfortable and conducive to creativity, so invest in a good quality chair, make sure you have good lighting, and keep the temperature comfortable with good ventilation. Depending on the type of craft you’re doing, there may be safety concerns, so make sure you have the necessary safety equipment and follow all safety guidelines when using your equipment.

Finally, make your workspace inspiring. Hang up pictures, artwork, or other decorations that inspire you and make you feel creative. Play music or podcasts that inspire you and keep you motivated. By setting up a workspace that is functional, organized, and inspiring, you can be productive and creative, and set the foundation for a successful craft business from home.

Step 6: Source Your Materials

Sourcing materials is an important step in starting a craft business from home. The quality of your materials will have a significant impact on the quality of your finished products, so it’s important to choose them carefully. To begin, you should identify potential suppliers for the materials you need and compare prices to ensure you’re getting the best value for your money. Be sure to factor in shipping costs if you’re ordering online, as they can add up quickly.

Buying in bulk can save you money in the long run, but only buy what you need and have space for. It’s also a good idea to check for discounts and promotions, as many suppliers offer these deals on bulk orders or for regular customers.

Consider sustainability when sourcing your materials. As a crafter, you have a responsibility to reduce waste and choose environmentally-friendly options. Look for suppliers that prioritize sustainability and consider using recycled materials or upcycling old items to create unique and eco-friendly products. By following these steps, you can source high-quality materials for your craft business while also being environmentally conscious.

Step 7: Create Your Products

With your workspace and materials in place, it’s time to start creating your products. This involves using your skills and creativity to produce high-quality crafts that will appeal to your target market. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different techniques and styles until you find what works best for you.

Step 8: Set Your Prices

Once you’ve created your products, it’s important to set your prices. This involves considering the cost of materials, the time it takes to create each product, and the market value of similar products. You’ll need to strike a balance between making a profit and ensuring your prices are competitive.

Step 9: Market Your Products

After you’ve created your products, it’s time to start marketing them. Marketing is an essential part of any business, and it’s especially important for craft businesses that operate from home. Without effective marketing, your products may never reach your target audience, and your business may struggle to grow. Here are some tips for marketing your craft products:

• Build an online presence: In today’s digital age, having an online presence is essential for any business. Create a website or online store to showcase your products, and consider using social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to reach a wider audience.
• Use high-quality photos: When it comes to selling products online, high-quality photos are key. Invest in a good camera or hire a professional photographer to take photos of your products that show them in the best possible light.
• Offer promotions and discounts: Everyone loves a good deal. Consider offering promotions, discounts, or bundle deals to incentivize customers to purchase your products.
• Attend craft fairs and markets: Participating in craft fairs and markets is a great way to get your products in front of potential customers and network with other crafters.
• Build relationships with customers: Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful forms of advertising. Focus on building strong relationships with your customers by providing excellent customer service and following up with them after they’ve made a purchase.
• Collaborate with other businesses: Consider partnering with other businesses or influencers in your industry to expand your reach and gain new customers.

Marketing your craft business may take time and effort, but it’s essential for building a successful business . By taking the time to define your target market, build an online presence, and build relationships with your customers, you can create a loyal customer base and grow your business over time.

Step 10: Scale your business.

The most common way to expand your craft business is to hire more employees. However, if you want to grow faster than that, you can expand by offering new products or going into a totally different market. For example, if you make greeting cards and want to expand your business, you could start making invitations or selling your cards at a boutique.

If you make doormats, you could expand into selling towels. And if you make soap, you could expand into selling lotions or bath bombs. Another option would be to start up an eCommerce site and sell your products online.

The bottom line

Starting a craft business from home can be an exciting and fulfilling venture for anyone with a creative streak and an entrepreneurial spirit. However, it requires careful planning, hard work, and a willingness to learn and adapt to market trends and customer preferences.

To get started, it’s essential to identify your niche, research your market, and develop a unique product line that sets you apart from competitors. You also need to set up your workspace, acquire the necessary equipment and materials, and establish a strong online presence through social media and e-commerce platforms.

Once your business is up and running, it’s important to stay organized and track your finances, including expenses, revenues, and profits. You should also continually evaluate and improve your products, marketing strategies, and customer service to ensure long-term success and growth.

Starting a craft business from home can be a rewarding experience that allows you to turn your passion into a profitable venture. With the right approach, determination, and creativity, you can build a successful business that not only generates income but also brings joy and inspiration to others.

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How to Start a Craft Business in 14 Steps (In-Depth Guide)

Updated:   January 25, 2024

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According to Business Research Insights , the global craft market could reach $74,457.88 million by 2031. Since it hit $44,120 million in 2021, the craft market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4%. This makes the arts and crafts market a lucrative option for new entrepreneurs.

Whether you want to sell your creations online or open up a small brick-and-mortar store, starting a craft business allows you to make money doing something you love. You get to set your schedule and be your boss. Plus, with the right strategies, you can build a brand that stands out from the competition and attracts a loyal following of customers.

In this article, you’ll learn step-by-step how to start a craft business. From choosing a business structure to marketing your products, we’ll cover everything you need to know to transform your handmade hobby into a successful venture.

1. Conduct Craft Market Research

Market research is crucial to learning how to start a craft business. It offers insight into successful craft business services, current trends, market saturation, and more. To build a realistic craft business plan, you’ll need to use primary and secondary research.

There are several factors driving growth in the craft industry:

• The rise of e-commerce and sites like Etsy have made it easier for crafters to find a broad customer base online.
• Social media enables crafters to market their products and build an audience organically.
• Consumers increasingly want unique, handmade, and customizable products with a story behind them. The DIY ethos has gained mainstream appeal.
• Sustainability and ethics matter more to buyers. Many prefer to support small, local artisans over mass retailers.

While the market is competitive, several opportunities exist for successful online craft business owners:

• Focusing on a niche style or product can help differentiate your brand.
• Offering virtual craft classes and workshops can create an additional revenue stream.
• Partnering with other local artists and makers can help cross-promote.
• Consider an e-commerce plus brick-and-mortar hybrid model to get the benefits of both.
• Using digital marketing and social media to tell the story behind your products and processes.

Starting a craft business today provides huge potential to tap into the growing demand for artisanal, handmade goods. With the right product, branding, and marketing strategies, craft entrepreneurs can build sustainable ventures that stand out in this thriving industry.

2. Analyze the Competition

Thoroughly analyzing the competition is crucial when starting any business, and craft ventures are no exception. Here are some tips on assessing competitors both in your local area and online.

For brick-and-mortar competitors, start by identifying other craft shops within a 15 to 20-mile radius. One way to better understand what it takes to create a successful online craft business is to learn about competitors.

Use these methods to better understand your competition.

• Visit their stores and take notes on their product selections, pricing, store layout, promotions, and customer service.
• Look at their social media and websites to see how they market themselves. This will give you an idea of what your potential customers are already buying locally.
• Evaluating online competitors can begin on marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon Handmade where you plan to sell.
• Look at top sellers in your product category and analyze listings with 50 reviews.
• Make notes on pricing, product photography, descriptions, and shop branding. Look at their production capabilities.
• Search for competitors selling through their websites. Look at their SEO, product offerings, website design, email marketing, and social media presence.
• Review their traffic sources, engagement levels, and conversion rates using tools like SimilarWeb and Google Analytics.

Compiling notes on competitors across all these channels will illuminate what is selling well. It also helps benchmark your capabilities and plan how to excel in areas like photography, branding, and customer service. Analyzing the competition is a key first step in crafting your business strategy.

3. Costs to Start a Craft Business

When starting a craft business, there are a variety of one-time start-up costs to consider before you can begin selling your products.

Start-up Costs

• Business Registration Fees – Expect to spend around $100-$800 to formally register your business as an LLC or corporation depending on your state. This includes paperwork and filing fees.
• Equipment – For crafting, this could include sewing machines, jewelry-making tools, kilns, printing equipment, etc. Expect to invest at least $500-$2,000 on the key equipment needed for your type of craft.
• Website – Developing a website to sell your products online will cost around $200-$1500 depending on complexity. This assumes a DIY site builder vs. hiring a web developer.
• Branding – Logo design, branding, and packaging design can cost $500-$2,000 if hiring professional help.
• Inventory – Initial inventory of materials and supplies to make enough products to open can cost anywhere from $1000-$5000 depending on your craft.
• Real Estate – The average cost of commercial real estate for a small retail space is $15-$30 per square foot per month. Plan for 500-1000 sq ft for around $750-$3000 per month.
• Insurance – General liability insurance typically costs $30-$150 per month depending on industry risk. Product liability insurance may also be required.
• Licenses & Permits – Local business licenses average $50-$500 per year. Seller’s permits for sales tax range from $10-$800 annually.

In addition to one-time start-up costs, online craft business owners also face a variety of ongoing monthly and annual expenses.

Ongoing Costs

• Rent – If in a retail space, rent of $750-$3000 per month. Even home-based businesses should factor in utility costs.
• Loan Repayment – Monthly repayments on small business loans, if secured, range from $100-$500 on average.
• Inventory Costs – Replenishing materials and supplies for production will be an ongoing cost, likely $200-$1000 per month depending on volume.
• Employee Wages – If hiring staff, wages plus payroll taxes and workers comp could cost $2,500+ per month per employee.
• Selling Fees – Marketplace fees like Etsy charge $0.20 per listing plus 3.5% of each sale. Budget 5-10% for total selling costs.
• Marketing – Budget for paid advertising and marketing costs like social media ads at about $300 per month early on.
• Transaction Fees – Credit card processing and other transaction fees add 1-3% per sale.
• Taxes – Federal and state quarterly income taxes, workers comp, unemployment insurance, etc. will need to be budgeted for.
• Shipping Supplies – Budget around $100-$300 monthly for shipping materials like boxes, tape, labels, etc.

Careful forecasting of both start-up and ongoing costs ensures crafting business owners are financially prepared for the investment required to establish and sustain their venture. Building out a detailed 12-to-month budget is highly recommended before launching.

4. Form a Legal Business Entity

When starting a craft business, one of the first legal decisions is choosing your business structure. To start a craft business legally, you must choose from a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), or corporation. The four main options each have pros and cons to weigh:

Sole Proprietorship

This is the simplest structure where you and the business are one entity. No formal registration is required beyond licenses.

• Pros: Easy and inexpensive to set up. You retain complete control and get all profits. Minimal paperwork.
• Cons: You are personally liable for all debts and obligations. No separate business identity. Difficult to raise investment capital. Limited options for taxes and growth.

Partnership

A partnership is formed when two or more people share ownership of a craft business. You can divide management duties, skills, and investment costs.

• Pros: Easy to establish with a partnership agreement. Shared capital, workload, and abilities.
• Cons: Partners are jointly and severally liable. Disagreements can dissolve the business. Profits are passed through to personal taxes.

Limited Liability Company (LLC)

An LLC combines aspects of partnerships and corporations. It limits personal liability and allows more flexibility for profits, losses, and operation.

• Pros: Liability protection for owners. Separate business identity. Ownership can be easily transferred. Less paperwork than a corporation.
• Cons: Requires more startup paperwork and fees than sole proprietorships. Profits directly pass through to your taxes.

Corporation

A corporation is a separate legal entity from its owners. Shareholders own stock rather than having direct ownership.operations

• Pros: Personal assets are shielded from corporate liabilities and debts. Additional options for funding through investors.
• Cons: Most complex and expensive entity to set up and maintain. Double taxation on profits unless organized as an S-corp. Significant legal paperwork.

5. Register Your Business For Taxes

One key legal task when starting a craft business is obtaining an Employer Identification Number, commonly known as an EIN. This unique identifier is used by the IRS to track tax obligations for business entities.

An EIN is required for any craft business structured as an LLC, partnership, or corporation. It also allows you to open business bank accounts. An EIN is needed even if you only plan to sell crafts online as a business owner.

Applying for an EIN is free and can be done entirely online via the IRS website .

The process only takes about 15 minutes. You will need to provide basic information about your business entity such as name, address, and ownership details.

To complete the EIN application:

• Go to the IRS EIN Assistant and select the option to “Apply Online Now”
• Choose your entity type and enter the legal name/address for your business
• Select “View Additional Types, Including Tax-Exempt and Governmental Organizations”
• Choose Sole Proprietor, Partnership, or Corporation based on your business structure
• Specify if you want the EIN for banking purposes and submit your contact details
• Review all entries to ensure accuracy before submitting the application

Once submitted, you will receive your EIN immediately. This number should be included on all tax paperwork and government forms related to your craft business.

You will also need to register with your state revenue department to obtain any required seller’s permits, sales tax IDs, and business licenses. These can be applied for on your state government’s website.

6. Setup Your Accounting

Proper accounting is crucial for craft businesses to track expenses, manage cash flow, and remain tax-compliant. With so many potential deductions for supplies, equipment, home office use, and more, having organized records will optimize your tax liability.

Accounting Software

Using small business accounting software like QuickBooks can automate the categorization of income and expenses when synced to your business bank accounts and credit cards. Features like invoicing, inventory management, and financial reporting save significant time. Expect costs of $10 to $50 per month.

Hire an Accountant

For optimal oversight, partnering with an accountant as your bookkeeper provides an extra layer of financial expertise. They can handle tasks like reconciling accounts, producing monthly profit and loss statements, and identifying potential write-offs. This ongoing service averages $100-$300 per month but ensures accuracy.

Open a Business Bank Account

Keeping business and personal finances completely separate is key. Have a dedicated business checking account and credit card solely for craft business purposes. This makes tracking deductible expenses simple while protecting your finances should the business struggle.

Apply for a Business Credit Card

Applying for a small business credit card also helps build credit history and provides flexibility in financing larger purchases. Limits are based on both personal and business credit scores. Have your EIN ready to include on the application.

7. Obtain Licenses and Permits

Before opening your craft business, it is crucial to ensure you have obtained all required local, state, and federal licenses and permits. Check with the U.S. Small Business Administration for federal requirements. The SBA also offers a local search tool for state and city permits.

One of the first permits you’ll need is a business license from your city or county government. These require completing an application and paying a small fee, typically under $100 annually. Business licenses demonstrate you have approval to operate within that jurisdiction.

If selling products in-person or online across state lines, you will also need a seller’s permit. This grants authority to collect sales tax from customers and remit to the state. Permit fees vary but expect $10 to $800 per year depending on location. Some states may combine this with a sales tax ID number.

For any business with a physical retail space, commercial zoning permits and occupancy permits will be required from your local zoning board. These confirm your business is allowed under current zoning rules and meets building codes for safety.

If producing food products, you must register with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which oversees safety regulations. There is no cost but you will need to comply with rules on packaging, labeling, and food handling. Specific certifications may be needed as well.

Businesses with employees also need both federal and state tax IDs to process payroll. State departments of labor can provide details on requirements. You may need to carry workers’ compensation insurance and unemployment insurance depending on state law.

8. Get Business Insurance

There are risks involved in turning crafting from just a hobby to a full-on crafts business. Obtaining adequate business insurance is highly recommended for craft ventures to mitigate risk. Policies protect against losses that could otherwise devastate your company.

General liability insurance covers third-party bodily injury, property damage, and legal defense costs if customers ever sue your business. Product liability protects against claims directly related to product defects or harm. For crafts, these policies average $30 to $150 per month.

Going without coverage can have severe consequences. A customer injured by an unsafe product could sue you for bankruptcy. A defective candle could cause a fire that destroys your entire inventory. You could face huge losses if a pipe breaks in your studio and ruins equipment.

To get insured, first, assess your risks and required coverage levels. Compare quotes from providers like Hiscox, The Hartford, and Travelers. Apply for general liability, product liability, property/casualty, and other relevant policies. Have your business registration, licenses, and financial details ready.

The application process includes:

• Selecting an insurance provider based on coverage, reputation, and premiums.
• Completing their small business insurance questionnaire in detail.
• Providing any supplementary documentation requested.
• Make your first premium payment to activate policies.
• Reviewing policy documents to ensure adequate protection.

With insurance secured, craft businesses gain peace of mind knowing they have a safety net against unexpected catastrophes that could otherwise sink their company.

9. Create an Office Space

Having a dedicated office space provides craft businesses room for essential tasks like packaging orders, managing inventory, and handling administration work. It also projects a professional image when meeting clients.

Home Office

Converting a spare room into a home office is cost-effective, with no rent needed beyond increased utility costs. It offers convenience and flexibility for crafters working solo. However, it can be distracting to balance professional and personal lives in one space.

Coworking Space

Coworking spaces like WeWork provide an affordable office environment by renting access to shared amenities and workspace. For $200 to $500 per month, you can gain a collaborative community and professional atmosphere without the cost of commercial real estate. It also accommodates growth.

Retail Shop

For crafters selling products locally, combining a small retail space and a back office area can be the ideal setup. Storefronts build visibility and walk-in traffic while allowing room for inventory and order fulfillment. Average retail rental rates range from $15 to $30 per square foot.

Commercial Office

Leasing dedicated office space in a business complex provides the most privacy and room for significant inventory or multiple employees. However, leases average $20 to $35 per square foot with additional buildout, utility, and maintenance costs. Only recommended once established.

10. Source Your Equipment

Craft entrepreneurs need reliable access to quality materials and equipment to produce their products. Equipment depends on the types of crafts you produce and how you sell/ship them.

Here are some options for sourcing these startup necessities:

Purchasing brand-new equipment from specialty retailers allows you to get precisely what you need while covered by warranties. Look for deals at stores like Michaels , Jo-Ann Fabrics , Blick Art Materials, and Woodcraft . Expect higher costs but longevity from new equipment.

Buying Used

Saving money by purchasing used equipment is common among crafters. Scout deals on Facebook Marketplace , Craigslist , eBay, and Nextdoor . Also check for used equipment at consignment stores, auctions, estate sales, and liquidation centers. Be prepared to repair or restore equipment.

Renting equipment on a short-term basis provides access without a large upfront investment. Many retailers offer equipment rentals for fees ranging from $25 to $150 per day. This allows you to test tools before purchasing. Renting extra equipment helps handle temporary production peaks as well.

Leasing essential equipment through dealerships or third-party leasing companies is a fixed monthly expense that can preserve capital. Typically 12 to 36-month terms with buyout options. Useful for large machinery, but confirm lease terms fit your needs first.

11. Establish Your Brand Assets

Developing a strong brand is crucial for craft businesses to stand out and attract loyal customers. Some key assets to focus on include:

Getting a Business Phone Number

A professional phone number establishes credibility and provides customers with an easy way to reach you. Cloud-based providers like RingCentral offer virtual phone services with vanity numbers, call routing, voicemail, and more for $20 to $100 per month.

Creating a Logo and Brand Assets

A polished logo and visual identity help craft businesses build memorability and recognition. Services like Looka makes logo design quick and affordable at $20 to $100.

Complement your logo with branded colors, fonts, patterns, and other elements that reinforce your visual style across marketing materials, packaging, etc. Maintain consistency for maximum impact.

Creating Business Cards and Signage

Business cards serve as convenient “leave-behinds” when networking, selling at fairs, or speaking with prospective wholesale partners. Order professional cards showcasing your logo, website, and contact info from printers like Vistaprint for as low as $10 for 500 cards.

Signage with your logo and branding helps drive traffic and sales. Window, sidewalk, and interior signs start around $50.

Purchasing a Domain Name

Securing a short, memorable .com domain builds your web presence. Check name availability with Namecheap and buy for $10 to $15/year. Incorporate your business name and keywords relevant to your craft.

Building a Website

A website establishes an online hub for your business and e-commerce shop. Options include DIY builders like Wix costing $5-$50 monthly, or hiring a web developer on Fiverr for $500 to $5,000 or more.

12. Join Associations and Groups

Joining relevant local organizations provides craft businesses with invaluable connections and resources.

Here are some options to consider:

Local Associations

Industry associations like the American Craft Council and local chapters offer networking, education, and marketing support. Joining grants access to trade shows, seminars, and membership directories to connect with fellow artists and makers. For example, the Texas Commission on the Arts . Membership fees vary but average $50 to $100 annually.

Local Meetups

Attending meetups and trade shows allows craftspeople to interact face-to-face with others in their community. Sites like Meetup make finding local events easy. Look for maker fairs, craft shows, studio tours, classes, and niche meetups to showcase work and gain insights from peers and buyers.

Facebook Groups

With over 1 billion users, Facebook hosts countless special interest groups relevant to crafters. Search for terms like “[City] Makers”, “Handmade Crafts”, or more specific interests to find communities. Larger groups like Small Craft Business Networking – USA and Handmade Craft & Business Network offer discussions and advice amongst thousands of fellow entrepreneurs.

13. How to Market a Craft Business

Implementing an effective marketing strategy is essential for craft businesses to gain visibility and grow their customer base.

Personal Network

To start, tap into your existing network and focus on delighting early customers. Offering discounts or free items in exchange for reviews, referrals, or social media posts can generate word-of-mouth buzz. For example, provide a 10% discount code for every new paying customer they refer.

Digital Marketing

• Run Google Ads with targeted keywords, location, and audience filters to promote your site, products, or grand opening to local searchers.
• Use Facebook and Instagram ads to share visually engaging posts that highlight your products and story. Target by interests like DIY, handmade, and specific crafts.
• Start a YouTube channel creating tutorials, product demos, and vlogs showing behind-the-scenes of your process and business.
• Write blog posts with SEO-optimized titles focused on your products and expertise. Include how-tos, gift guides, and inspirational ideas.
• Leverage Pinterest to curate eye-catching boards showcasing products. Link pins back to your site.
• Share exclusive offers and previews through email and text marketing providers like Mailchimp .

Traditional Marketing

• Design postcards and flyers to distribute at local shops, fairs, and community boards. Include a special offer.
• Take out affordable ads in local newspapers and magazines focused on arts, shopping, and events.
• See if you can donate a product or gift certificate to silent auctions at nearby fundraisers. Include promo materials.
• Partner with complementary local businesses for cross-promotions. Offer packages or joint events.
• Invest in billboards or radio spots on stations your target audience listens to if the budget allows. Tailor copy and offer to medium.
• Reach out to local art galleries that may be interested in showcasing your work during an event

Blending digital and traditional methods that feel authentic will maximize your reach as a craft business and nurture an engaged community around your products and brand. Test different ideas to see what resonates.

14. Focus on the Customer

Providing exceptional customer service is crucial for craft businesses to nurture loyalty and build a profitable business. When you make each buyer feel valued, they become powerful evangelists. Some ways to improve customer focus in your own craft business include:

• Include handwritten thank you notes with each order, which takes little effort but leaves a lasting impression.
• Offer timely responses to questions and customized service that shows you care.
• Include gifts like stickers or earrings with purchases over a certain amount.
• Follow up to see if they have any feedback on your products.
• Aim for quick shipping, responsiveness across communication channels, and constantly impressing customers with your service-oriented mindset.

Satisfied buyers are likely to leave glowing reviews, repurchase regularly, and recommend you to friends and on social media. This organic reach through word-of-mouth referrals is invaluable for craftspeople.

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BUSINESS STRATEGIES

11 craft business ideas combining creativity and entrepreneurship

• Nirit Braun
• Dec 24, 2023
• 12 min read

A craft business involves creating and selling handmade items or products and they’re good business ideas to start for several reasons. Foremost amongst these is the opportunity to turn your hobbies and artistic skills into a profitable venture. But before you go about starting a business , you’ll need to consider which crafts to make and sell. That’s why we’ve put together this list of craft business ideas to help you get started with making money as a crafter .

11 craft business ideas to start today

Unleash your creative spirit and explore the world of crafting with these 11 business ideas. From the art of candle making to crafting exquisite jewelry and offering craft classes, these DIY business ideas offer endless opportunities for artistic expression and entrepreneurial success.

Candle making

Jewelry business

T-shirt design

Soap making

Greeting cards

Flower business

Quilting, crochet and knitting

Craft supplies

Calligraphy

Ceramics and pottery

Craft classes and courses

01. Candle making

A candle business is a type of business that involves the making and selling of candles. Candles are typically made from wax and come in various shapes, sizes, and colors. Candle businesses can range from small, home-based operations to larger-scale enterprises. Here's why starting a candle business can be a good craft business idea for small business owners or artists.

Candle-making is an affordable business to start on a small scale, requiring minimal upfront investment in wax, wicks, fragrances, and basic equipment. Candles enjoy stable year-round demand with seasonal peaks during holidays and events, making them suitable for a broad target market, including home decor, wedding favors, and gifts. It also means candle making can be a lucrative way to make money as an artist . Embracing natural and eco-friendly materials can provide a unique selling point in response to consumer demands. The ability to operate from home reduces overhead costs and online sales platforms expand your reach.

Learn more: How to make a website

When it comes to promoting this type of craft business idea, participating in local craft fairs, farmers' markets, or artisan events can help you connect with your community and build a customer base. It's also an excellent way to test your products and gather feedback.

While starting a candle business has its advantages, it's important to conduct market research, understand the competition, and develop a solid business plan. Building a strong brand, marketing your candles effectively, and maintaining quality are key to success in this industry.

Be inspired: Candle business name ideas

02. Jewelry business

A jewelry business is a business that involves the designing, creation and selling of jewelry. This can include a wide range of items such as necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, brooches, and more. Starting a jewelry business can be a good craft business idea for several reasons.

Jewelry making allows for a high level of creativity and artistry. You can design and craft unique and personalized pieces that reflect your style and vision and then work to turn them into a profitable venture.

Darby Pritchards is a jewelry company based in Oldbury, England. Founders Andrew Darby, Faye Darby, Craig Pritchard, and Terri Pritchard sold their first piece of jewelry in January 2019. Their business began with the Wix eCommerce platform and a little inspiration from their loved ones, “Our wives love jewelry, so we thought, ‘Let's do something mid-range and affordable. Nice pieces that last well.’”

Many jewelry businesses can be started with a relatively low initial investment, especially if you're making the jewelry yourself from home. You can begin on a small scale and expand as your business grows. Jewelry can be sold online, through your own website , allowing you to reach a global audience from your own home or studio.

Be inspired: Jewelry business name ideas

It's important to note that while starting a jewelry business has many advantages, it also comes with challenges. Pivoting from a purely artistic undertaking to a business one is not always seamless. Researching your target market and ensuring the quality of your products are essential for success in the jewelry business.

03. T-shirt design

A t-shirt design business is a business that involves creating, designing and selling custom or creatively designed t-shirts. As part of this craft business idea, t-shirts can feature various graphics, illustrations, slogans or artwork. T-shirt design businesses can focus on various clothing business niches, such as sports, music, fashion, humor, activism or local culture.

Looking for an example? Worst Year Ever is a quirky and fun t-shirt design company that specializes in humorous and topical t-shirt designs.

Starting a t-shirt design business allows you to express your creativity and artistic talents, and gives you the freedom to create unique and visually appealing designs while building a profitable venture at the same time.

You can start this craft business idea with low startup costs, especially if you choose to start a print-on-demand business . Print on demand allows you to create custom-designed t-shirts and other apparel without the need for large upfront investments in printing equipment, inventory, or fulfillment services. You can use a print-on-demand provider, like Printify to do that while you focus on the designs.

T-shirt design is a craft business idea that can be started from home, you just need to create an eCommerce website or online store in order to launch and run it.

Then once you’ve established your brand and customer base, you can expand your product line to include other clothing items, accessories or merchandise related to your designs.

Be inspired: Clothing brand names , Clothing business ideas , Kidswear business ideas

It's important to consider trends, competition and customer preferences when starting this craft business idea. Additionally, understanding the legal aspects of design, such as copyright and trademark laws, is crucial to protect your intellectual property and avoid potential legal issues.

Tip: How to create a clothing line business plan

04. Soap making

A soap-making business is a business that involves creating, crafting and selling handmade soaps. This can include various types of soap, including bar soaps, liquid soaps and specialty soaps, often incorporating different scents, colors, textures and ingredients.

Soap making is a creative and artisanal craft business idea that allows you to express your creativity and artistry through the design and creation of unique soap products. You can experiment with various shapes, colors, fragrances and ingredients to create one-of-a-kind soap. Handmade soaps are popular as gifts for various occasions - holidays, birthdays, weddings and baby showers which can mean consistent demand for them.

Soap craft business examples for inspiration:

Ben’s Basics : real natural soap

The Soap BeeZZ : rich and indulgent all-natural soaps

404 Lather Soap Co: damn good handmade soap with essential oils

Soaps of Babylon : vegan handcrafted, organic soaps

Starting a soap-making business typically requires a relatively low initial investment compared to many other business ideas . You can begin on a small scale and gradually expand as your business grows. This can also make it a good potential business idea for kids .

Soaps can be sold online by starting an eCommerce business , meaning you won’t need to rent a physical store to sell them. Selling online via ecommerce also allows you to tap into a much wider potential market and customer base. Handmade soap can cater to a diverse market, from individual consumers to businesses such as boutique hotels, spas or gift shops.

It's important to conduct market research, understand customer preferences and invest in high-quality ingredients to produce soap that meets safety and quality standards. Additionally, marketing your products effectively, developing a strong online presence and complying with any legal regulations related to soap production are essential for success with this craft business idea.

05. Greeting cards

A greeting card business is a business that involves creating, designing, and selling greeting cards for various occasions and events. Greeting cards are typically made from paper or cardstock and feature messages and designs suitable for birthdays, weddings, holidays, anniversaries and graduations.

As a craft business idea, this type of business allows artists to make a business from their creativity and talents. There’s also lots of room to experiment with different styles, colors and techniques.

Check out this greeting card business Pat-orama for further inspiration.

Starting a greeting card business usually requires a relatively low initial investment. You can begin on a small scale, and as your business grows, you can invest in better equipment and materials. It’s also a business that can be started from home and promoted online this helps to minimize initial investment costs and the financial risk in starting this type of craft business idea.

Learn more: Online business ideas

With the right combination of creativity, business skills, and marketing, a greeting cards business can be a fulfilling and profitable craft business venture.

06. Flower business

A flower business generally involves the arrangement and sale of flowers and floral products. It can encompass various floral business niches, including floristry, flower farming or even flower-related crafts and products.

Depending on the specific niche within the flower industry that you choose to start, startup costs can be relatively low. For example, starting with a home-based flower arranging business, or pressing flowers to make greeting cards, can be a cost-effective way to start a craft business idea using flowers.

Flower business examples to inspire:

Sherwood Roots : local flower farm offering bouquets and arrangements

The Putnam Market: customized flower arrangements for events.

To make a flower business successful, it's essential to have a strong understanding of flowers, their care and various floral design techniques.

07. Quilting, crochet and knitting

Quilting, crochet, and knitting businesses are versatile craft ideas centered on creating handmade textile items through various fabric or yarn-based techniques. Quilting, a beloved tradition, involves skillfully sewing together layers of fabric to create a warm and decorative quilt or blanket. These quilts can be tailored to the customer's preferences, making them a cherished personal item or a thoughtful gift. On the other hand, crochet entails creating fabric by interlocking loops of yarn using a hooked needle. This technique can be used to produce a wide array of items, from cozy clothing and baby blankets to scarves, hats, soft toys, and home decorations like tablecloths and sofa covers.

Knitting, the art of working with interlocking loops of yarn using needles, offers endless creative possibilities. Knitters can fashion unique clothing, stylish accessories, and beautiful blankets. One of the appealing aspects of knitting is the high degree of customer personalization it allows, as you can craft items tailored to specific preferences.

The beauty of these craft business ideas lies in their simplicity and flexibility. You can easily start them from the comfort of your own home, keeping initial overhead costs to a minimum. It can be started as a part-time business idea , depending on your other commitments. Depending on your marketing efforts, they can be scaled up to meet the demands of a growing customer base, making them accessible and accommodating even for those seeking a part-time or side hustle business.

08. Selling craft supplies

Selling craft supplies as a business idea involves sourcing, stocking and selling various crafting materials, tools and supplies to individuals and businesses engaged in crafting. These supplies can encompass a wide range of items, including fabrics, yarn, beads, paper, paints, brushes, sewing notions, needles, patterns and much more. This craft business idea allows you to help artists turn their ideas into creations even if you don’t have the same crafting talent or ability.

Crafting is a popular and growing hobby. People of all ages and backgrounds engage in various forms of crafting, from sewing and knitting to scrapbooking and woodworking. This growing market presents a steady demand for craft supplies that you can then meet. It also appeals to a broad customer base, including DIY enthusiasts, hobbyists, artists, schools and craft business owners. This diversity allows you to target a broad customer base.

You can also consider scaling your business by offering educational content, tutorials or workshops to help customers learn how to use the supplies you sell more effectively. It's also important to stock a wide variety of quality supplies and provide excellent customer service to sell crafts online .

09. Calligraphy

A calligraphy business offers calligraphy services, selling calligraphy artwork and potentially also teaching calligraphy. Calligraphy is the art of writing, often used for special events, personalized gifts, home decor and commercial purposes.

If you’re looking for a craft business idea that’s highly artistic and creative and allows you to express your unique style and talent, calligraphy may be the right venture for you. Calligraphy services can be highly personalized and interesting to create. You can create custom calligraphy for various occasions, including weddings, special events, awards, certificates and gifts. Calligraphy can also be used to make greeting cards or sold online through your website.

Looking to scale a calligraphy business? You can also consider offering calligraphy workshops, and classes as an additional revenue stream while helping others learn the art.

To succeed with this craft business idea, it's essential to market your services and products effectively, maintain a strong online presence with a business website and provide excellent customer service.

10. Ceramics and pottery

A ceramics and pottery business involves creating, designing and selling handcrafted ceramic and pottery items. This can include a wide range of products, such as pottery for everyday use, decorative ceramic pieces, dinnerware, mugs, vases and sculptures.

Handmade ceramics and pottery items have a personal touch and uniqueness that mass-produced items often lack. This can be a strong selling point for your business and make it easier to promote and market. It’s also a way to stand out in a competitive craft market. Another way to stand out is to create custom ceramics for specific customer needs and by offering personalized, bespoke pieces to set your skills and business apart.

Be inspired by these ceramics and pottery business examples:

Bliss with Clay Pottery by Judy Filler: handcrafted pottery artworks

Gigi Pottery : handmade ceramics and studio

Kloe k Pottery : handmade and poured pottery including mugs, bowls and earrings

11. Craft classes and courses

Craft classes and courses are versatile educational programs designed to teach a wide range of crafting skills and techniques. These classes cover an array of crafts, including painting, knitting, sewing, woodworking, pottery and calligraphy, and can be tailored to suit various skill levels, interests, and ages. You can offer beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes, as well as specialized courses for specific crafts or techniques.

One of the key benefits of offering craft classes and courses is the revenue they can generate. You can charge fees for participating in classes, workshops, and materials, making it a viable business opportunity. This business has very low startup costs and lower financial risk, making it accessible for those looking for a low-cost venture.

To diversify your course offerings, consider teaching various crafts to reach different target markets and appeal to a wide range of students with varied interests. Craft classes can be conducted in physical locations, such as studios, community centers, and schools, or offered online through virtual classrooms, making it a flexible business model.

To launch a successful craft class and course business, it's essential to have expertise in the crafts you teach and develop a curriculum that is both engaging and effective. Effective marketing through various channels, offering a range of course options, and providing excellent teaching materials and resources are key to attracting students.

How to turn a craft business idea into a successful business

Turning a craft business idea into a successful venture requires careful planning and focus. Here are some of the ways to do just that:

Master your chosen craft first and foremost. Invest time in developing your skills and ensuring your craft creations are of the highest quality.

Research the market to identify demand for your craft. Consider creating a portfolio of your products to test their appeal and gather feedback.

Create a detailed business plan that includes your mission, vision, goals, target market, competition analysis, pricing strategy, financial projections and marketing plan.

Register your business , obtain any necessary permits or licenses and set up your financial structure. Consult with an accountant to manage your potential business taxes, business banking and financial records.

Develop a strong brand identity that sets you apart. This includes deciding how to name your business , creating a logo and coming up with a unique selling proposition (USP).

Build an online presence through a website , social media profiles and online marketplaces like Etsy ( How to sell on Etsy ). Showcase your craft products or services with high-quality photos and clear product descriptions.

Something that I always heard growing up was that you could be the smallest fish in the sea, but if you have a professional website and branding, people will take you seriously.

When I sent my website to potential retailers early on, we were making seven candles at a time out of my small kitchen. I think it goes to show that when you have a professional brand, the goals and dreams that you have are limitless. (Coal and Canary now) produce more than 1000+ a day from their 10,000 sq foot warehouse.)

Amanda Buhse, Owner + Chief Creative Officer of Coal and Canary

Source materials and supplies efficiently, considering quality and cost. Keep track of your inventory and restock as needed.

Organize a dedicated workspace that's comfortable and well-equipped for your craft. Ensure safety measures are in place if necessary.

Calculate your costs (materials, labor, overhead) and set competitive yet profitable prices. Be prepared to adjust pricing as you gain more experience and market insights.

Develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that includes online and offline tactics. Utilize social media, email marketing, content marketing and participation in craft shows or local markets.

Connect with other artists and crafters. Collaborations and partnerships can help grow your business.

Stay updated on industry trends, continually improve your craft and be open to innovation. Listen to customer needs and adjust your offerings accordingly.

Don't hesitate to seek advice and support from mentors, business advisors and craft business communities. Learning from others can be invaluable.

Other business ideas to consider

Service business ideas

Businesses to start with little money

Unique business ideas

Online business ideas

Low-cost business ideas

Side business ideas

Outdoor business ideas

Home-based businesses

Mobile business ideas

Family business ideas

Business ideas for teens

Small town business ideas

Rental business ideas

Food business ideas

Clothing business ideas

Beauty business ideas

Kidswear business ideas

Dropshipping business ideas

Business ideas for students

Business ideas for teachers

Recession-proof busness ideas

Business ideas for kids

Craft business ideas FAQ

What are some popular craft business ideas.

Creating custom jewelry pieces, such as necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings, using various materials like beads, gemstones, metals, and wire. Crafting handmade candles in a variety of scents, shapes, and sizes for decorative and aromatic purposes. Producing artisanal soaps with natural ingredients and essential oils, catering to customers seeking high-quality, skin-friendly products. Designing and sewing handcrafted quilts, often created for warmth and decorative purposes. Crafting knitted and crocheted items, including scarves, blankets, clothing and accessories, are known for their warmth and style.

What are some of the most profitable craft business ideas?

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The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Craft Business

Click a heading below to jump to that section of the guide.

What you need to know about starting a craft business Creating a business plan How long will staring a craft business take How much will it cost to start a craft business Understanding legalities and insurance for your craft business Marketing your craft business Where to sell your craft products How to promote your craft products

Starting a craft business can be an exciting and rewarding adventure. You can start completely from scratch and learn new skills with the potential outcome of creating a viable business. If you already have a crafty hobby or particularly enjoy a craft, then you can perfect these skills and start selling!

Our ultimate guide talks you through what you need to know before starting your craft business and how you can improve your craft and create your brand. We discuss the legal aspects of starting a craft business and help breakdown the costs that are often involved.

What you need to know about starting a craft business?

Starting a craft business yourself is not a simple process, but if you do your research and put the time and effort needed in, it can be made far easier!

Understanding the market and product demand is a key first step, as well as researching your potential customers and what will be, your current competition. The more knowledge you have behind you before you start, the better!

A fairly important step to make at the start of your craft business journey is understanding product demand. If you are starting from scratch and are unsure what products you’d like to make and sell, search for the latest trends and see what’s currently popular. Try to focus on what you’re interested in.

If you already know what products you’re going to sell, research is still important. Look into trends by season or holiday, so you have a potential plan on how to market and adapt your product according to sales figures. You could also tweak your products to fit the current demand, which will in turn help increase sales.

Without customers, you don’t have a business. Your customers are what drive your sales, your social media accounts and your brand identity. Pay close attention to what your potential customers want from you or from businesses similar to yours.

Following the latest trends will give you a better idea of what your customers want, especially when it comes to colour, pattern and design. It could be useful to search for products similar to yours and see what questions are being asked about them. This will provide insight into what your potential customers will be looking for and how you can cater to their needs.

Competition

Researching your competition is a good strategy that helps you understand what you could be doing better for your business. Keep track of businesses of a similar brand to yours and those who sell similar products.

Following their social media pages can provide useful insight into how they run their business and what works for them. Some businesses may be using a new product to help them in their craft, such as a physical tool or online software. That product could possibly be useful to you! Seeing what other small businesses use to help them craft is a great way to gain ideas for your own business and to enhance your skills.

Remember, researching your competitors is not to be used to copy ideas, but to merely keep an eye on what they are up to and what strategies are working for them.

Creating a business plan

A hugely formal business plan may not be necessary when starting a small craft business, but it is a great way to plan out your business strategies and create yourself a clear pathway. There are plenty of tools and templates online that can help you write an effective business plan- utilize these to ensure that you have a plan that can keep your business on track.

Having a business plan from the beginning not only helps you to organize your business better, but it also serves as a great document to outline your business to future investors or other involved parties.

A basic business plan should include:

• A detailed summary of your business, products/services and brand
• Target market and analysis
• Financial plan
• Future projections

You should refer back to your business plan for guidance when starting and running your craft business. Also, look into updating your business plan in the future when your company has changed and expanded.

How long will starting a craft business take?

This can vary massively. You have to factor in how long it takes you to make your products and whether, due to the nature of your goods, you can create surplus stock or have to create on-demand. If your products are reproducible, you may be set up quicker than someone who’s products are one-of-a-kind.

You shouldn’t feel pressure to have your craft business set up in a certain amount of time- focusing on making quality products is more important.

Allocate yourself time to create products, market and promote them and eventually ship them once you’ve made a sale. The only time limits you should stick to, are any times you have informed your customers of regarding product creation and shipping.

How long will it take before I start making a profit?

Again, this is dependent on many factors. Some of those factors include:

• How quickly you can make products
• How quickly you can sell products
• How many products you sell
• The price of your products compared to the price of materials

It is better to prepare for not making a profit for a while, than be caught out of pocket. You never know when your craft business will take off- take necessary precautions to ensure that you don’t go into any debt, but trust in yourself and your craft. Value your items fairly and don’t buy what you can’t afford- you can’t guarantee sales.

How much will it cost to start a craft business?

Here we break down some of the costs that are typically associated with starting a craft business and explain how these elements can be crucial to your success.

Insurance is an important factor to consider when starting a craft business. There are many incidents that could occur, even for a small business, that could be seriously financially damaging.

A few problems that a small business may run into include:

• Stock damage
• Equipment damage
• Injury or damage caused as a result of your product

These are problems that could be fatal to a new craft business. It is necessary to look into the differing insurance types to see what fits your business best.

CraftCover offers various types of insurance with prices that suit both you and your business. If you are wanting your craft business to grow, there will be added responsibilities that would be better protected by insurance.

Types of craft insurance:

• Public Liability Insurance
• Product Liability Insurance
• Craft Fair Insurance
• Craft Show Insurance
• Craft Stall Insurance
• Arts & Crafts Insurance
• Demonstration and Tuition

Each of these types of insurance cover different aspects of your craft business. If you are considering craft fairs and shows, you are usually required to have Public Liability Insurance before you can take part. Arts & Craft insurance can also be tailored to your specific craft.

Do I need insurance if I am only selling online?

Although you may not be attending craft events just yet, having public and product liability insurance is still essential to your small business. Your products affecting your customers can still cause a legal, public dispute and damages to your stock at home may not always be covered by home insurance. You may also want to cover your computer that enables you to sell online.

CraftCover can help you choose the right insurance plan for your business. Contact us now for further help. Materials

Buying materials for your crafts requires more thought than often allocated. You may be considering having a stock room with enough materials to cover an influx of sales. This may be an expense that you are not ready for- having minimal stock whilst starting a craft business is both acceptable and sensible. Keeping track of your average sales is a good way to understand what stock levels you may need.

Once your business shows an increase in sales, expanding your stock is helpful in ensuring that your products are always available to customers. This can be done easily through bulk buying the necessary craft materials that you require for your products. It usually works out cheaper to bulk buy as long as your sales reflect, or will reflect in the near future, this decision.

If you are just starting out in your craft business, then the chances are you will be based at home. This is a cost-effective approach you can take when you are beginning to create your brand. Once you are making a healthy profit, you may consider renting an office/work space, warehouse space or even renting specialist equipment that you can go and use. This is a large investment and should only be considered once you are sure that you can afford it.

In the meantime, whilst based at home, making an effective work space is key to improving productivity and a healthy work-life balance. Try to separate your craft work from your rest spaces, so that you can alternate between the two easily. Increased focus will result in you producing higher quality products.

Profit Margins

The price of your items could be the deciding factor in whether you make a sale, so you need to think carefully about how much you are going to charge. You should try to avoid extortionate prices but also shouldn’t sacrifice the quality of your crafts so that you can sell them cheaper.

Researching businesses that sell similar crafts to your own will help you to understand what customers are willing to pay. You could even conduct your own market research to gauge product prices. Don’t worry if you don’t get this right straight away, you can always adjust your prices once you are up and running.

Understanding shipping costs massively depends on the product you are selling. Factors that need to be included when deciding shipping costs include:

• Size of your product, therefore parcel size
• Weight of your product, therefore parcel weight
• Materials and their breakability
• Shipping location (locally and/or internationally)
• Shipping speed

These factors will each alter the price of shipping costs. You will need to take an average for each point and use those combined average parcel specifications, to calculate the right price to offer for shipping.

Alternatively, you can offer shipping that’s tailored to each order, making it easier to charge the correct price.

Understanding the legalities of starting a craft business

Figures from the Royal Bank of Scotland suggest that 1 in 5 adults in the UK are ‘hidden entrepreneurs’. This term applies to anyone that earns an extra income in their spare time, which includes selling your handmade crafts . Any exchange, whereby you receive money for your products or services, should be declared to HM Revenue.

If you have realised that your business should be paying tax, you need to give HMRC your income details as soon as possible. By voluntarily declaring your income you will still have to pay the tax that is owed, but fines will likely be reduced. To let HM Revenue know about your second income, you can fill out this online notification form.

Planning for the future of your craft business

Registering as a sole trader:

• Tell HM Revenue in advance of you starting your business
• Fill out a Self-Assessment Tax Return Form with your income details
• You will be personally liable for any problems or losses that affect your business in the future (hence why insurance is necessary)
• Cheaper in the short term

Registering as a company:

• Register with HMRC who will offer some protection – Offers structure in regards to responsibilities and ownership.
• More complex and requires more paperwork

No matter how small your business is, branding is a crucial element to success. Creating that brand identity for your handmade products can be one of the most successful marketing assets. What do I call my craft business?

Think about why you want to start your business, who inspired you and how you are going to do it. A lot of brand names have deep rooted meanings related to their backgrounds or their specific products.

Before finalising your chosen name, it may be helpful to see if it has been taken, or not, online by using a name checking website such as www.namechk.com. Remember, the name you choose doesn’t have a lot of meaning until you give it a meaning and visual identity.

The design element of your brand is a hugely important factor when starting a craft business. Your branding is one of the first things a customer sees when looking at your social media pages, website or craft stall; alongside your products. Getting this right from the beginning will benefit your business greatly when you start selling.

Your logo will determine your customer’s initial reaction to your brand, so it is worth taking time out to create your ideal logo. Research your favourite brands and think about why you like them.

Also, think about how your logo will appear in situ, for example, what it will look like on price tags. You can design a logo yourself if you are confident enough- alternatively, there are many small brands and designers out there who you can commission.

Tone of voice

Do your products portray a cheeky or joking personality, or are they quite formal and sensible? Make sure the brand reflects the products. Remember, your brand voice isn’t always your own voice.

Tone of voice can also be enhanced by fonts and colours. If you’re innovative, maybe an edgy, sans serif font might work best. If you’re a happy, chirpy type of brand, think bold, bright colours.

One thing that many craft business owners overlook is just how important it is to take professional photos of products. You need to have images that capture visitors and give them a reason to purchase from you. You could hire a photographer or take pictures yourself using a high quality camera and good lighting.

All of that hard work into developing your brand’s identity would go to waste, should you not use it consistently. Be sure to follow strict guidelines so that you portray the same image on websites and business cards as to what is used on the business’s social media.

Where will I sell my products?

There are many places where you can sell your handmade goods- choosing the right places is an important factor to consider for your business. Selling your products can be done successfully both in-person and online.

Exhibiting your crafts

Craft fairs and shows are a great way to sell products and promote your brand. There are usually great exposure opportunities and chances to be invited to other, more exclusive craft events. If you are confident in your craft, have an established brand and the necessary insurance, you are ready to start exhibiting!

There are plenty of sites that notify you of upcoming craft events. Take note of all the events you would like to attend in good time, and look into their application processes for participating.

Check out our quick tips on exhibiting your crafts here!

Selling your crafts online

Selling online not only gives you the chance to sell to people all over the world, but is also a cost effective way of marketing your company. It’s important to check that your insurance policy provides cover for selling into foreign countries, particularly the US and Canada.

If you choose to sell products on your own website, you will need to have one that not only looks good, but is also functional for users. This means ensuring that your customers can find what they want on the website with minimum hassle.

There are a variety of sites that can help you sell your products. These fall into different categories:

Your own pages such as a website, a Facebook page or an Instagram page. These pages aren’t specifically for selling, but you alter them to suit your business. These are the pages that you can typically get most creative with, and have most freedom with in regards to content.

Online Marketplaces

These are sites or apps whereby you create an account for your business and upload your items ready to sell. Marketplaces such as Etsy, Folksy, Ebay, Depop, Facebook Marketplace and Amazon Handmade are all free to list on- though some take a percentage of your sales.

These options are great starting points for small businesses as they are easy to set up and maintain, and are popular sites where you could generate lots of sales.

Print-on-demand Marketplaces

These marketplaces are slightly different to the ones listed above. Not every craft will work on these sites. Sites like Redbubble, Zazzle and Amazon Marketplace take your designs and print them on the customers desired product (such as t-shirts, posters or mugs).

This works well for designers, as there is little to no work to be done once the design is created and uploaded.

How do I promote my products?

Promoting your own products is crucial to the success of your small craft business. When your brand name isn’t widely known (yet!), it can be difficult to be seen over larger companies. Promoting your products in-person and online through many different formats will help to spread the word about your products.

There are a few ways in which you can do this:

Establishes you as a reputable brand and allows you to sell away from third-party sites. Setting up a website is not always that simple however, and can require help from a professional. You may want to look into this once you feel as though your business is more established.

A wonderful tool that promotes your brand and allows you to express your feelings and opinions on crafting. If you have the time for it, starting a blog can be simple and effective. You can promote your goods, promote other craft businesses you like and offer tips to other crafters. Blogs may not generate lots of sales but they can establish a loyal customer base and can potentially get picked up by larger bloggers or journalists.

There are plenty of online guides that can help you set up an email list. If you send follow-up emails to your customers after a purchase, or send those customers future emails regarding your business, offers you have or events you are attending, you can potentially find that many of these customers return. The added personalisation is often favourable to customers, especially when buying from a small brand.

Not all of these elements are necessary or suitable for your business. You need to decide what will work best for you, and go for it!

Utilizing social media

Social media is a vital source of communication between you and your customers. Billions of people use social media each day, which is why more and more businesses are utilising it as a marketing tool.

Your following won’t grow over night and you will have to put time into making social media work for your business, but it is definitely worthwhile for any craft business that wants to maximise their sales.

With around 1.35 billion monthly active users, Facebook is great for showing off your products, linking them to your website and getting involved with ‘Facebook Groups’, which are, in essence, communities. There’s a lot to explore on Facebook, including targeted advertising options at an additional fee.

Twitter should be kept quite chatty and requires the most amount of posts per day in order to get interaction. However, it’s a great site to see what your competitors are up to and gain insight into how you can appeal to your target audience.

Pinterest is great for sharing tips and inspiration with the occasional product image- just be sure to use your product selling platform’s link when uploading images.

Instagram is good for humanising your brand. Topics such as ‘behind the scenes’ and close-ups of products tend to go down a treat with audiences on Instagram. It’s worth spending time typing out hashtags in the description to allow people to find your pictures and increase your following.

Get your craft business started!

Now you should have all the knowledge, skills and support to start your own craft business. Be brave, have faith in your products and abilities and get started! We’d love to hear all about your business and how you are getting on, so let us know!

If you would like some extra support in your new craft business venture, take a look at our Business Advice section where we provide guidance relating to craft businesses, insurance and products. We also have a business news section that could reveal important information to you about the craft business industry.

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How to Start a Profitable Craft Business [11 Steps]

By Nick Cotter Updated Feb 05, 2024

Business Steps:

1. perform market analysis., 2. draft a craft business plan., 3. develop a craft brand., 4. formalize your business registration., 5. acquire necessary licenses and permits for craft., 6. open a business bank account and secure funding as needed., 7. set pricing for craft services., 8. acquire craft equipment and supplies., 9. obtain business insurance for craft, if required., 10. begin marketing your craft services., 11. expand your craft business..

Starting a craft business begins with a thorough market analysis to understand the landscape you're entering. It's crucial to identify your potential customers, competitors, and market trends to tailor your products and services effectively. Here's how to approach this initial step:

• Research your target audience: Define the demographics of your potential customers, such as age, gender, interests, and income level. Understand their buying habits and preferences.
• Analyze your competition: Look at other craft businesses offering similar products. Note their pricing, marketing strategies, strengths, and weaknesses to find your competitive edge.
• Assess market trends: Stay updated with the latest trends in the craft industry, including popular items, materials, and techniques. This can help you predict future demands and plan accordingly.
• Identify market gaps: Search for unmet needs within the market where your craft business could excel. This could be a unique product line, customization options, or an underserved geographic area.
• Evaluate market size and potential growth: Use industry reports and data to estimate the size of your target market and its potential for growth to ensure the viability of your business idea.

Are craft businesses profitable?

Yes, craft businesses can be profitable. With the right planning, marketing, and pricing strategies, craft businesses can turn a profit. The success of a craft business depends on many factors, including the type of product you are selling, the quality of your product, and how well you market it.

Creating a craft business plan is an essential step in turning your creative passion into a successful enterprise. It serves as a roadmap for your business, outlining goals, strategies, and the steps you need to take to achieve them. Here's how to draft a plan that will set the foundation for your crafting success:

• Executive Summary: Begin with a concise overview of your business, including your mission statement, products, and objectives.
• Market Analysis: Research your target market, identify customer needs, and analyze competitors to understand where your crafts fit in the market.
• Products and Services: Describe your craft items in detail, the materials used, and any unique selling points or customization options you offer.
• Marketing and Sales Strategy: Define how you will promote your products, which sales channels you'll utilize, and your pricing strategy.
• Operations Plan: Outline the production process, necessary equipment, suppliers, and any staff required to create your crafts.
• Financial Projections: Provide an estimate of start-up costs, projected income, expenses, and how long you expect it will take to become profitable.

How does a craft business make money?

A craft business makes money by selling handmade products such as jewelry, clothing, woodwork, paper crafts, and much more. They target customers who appreciate and value the quality of handmade items. For example, an 11 Steps To Starting a Successful Spice Business business could target food enthusiasts and restaurant owners who are looking for specialty spices to help give their food unique flavors. With a craft business, customers can expect to pay a premium price for the unique quality of their product, giving the business the chance to make money while providing customers with something special.

Developing a craft brand is a crucial step in setting your business apart and connecting with your target audience. It's about creating a unique identity that encapsulates your values, style, and the essence of your handmade products. Here's how you can go about crafting a brand that resonates and endures:

• Define Your Brand Personality: Choose adjectives that reflect the spirit of your crafts, whether it's whimsical, rustic, elegant, or edgy. This will guide your branding decisions.
• Identify Your Target Audience: Understand who your products appeal to, including their demographics, preferences, and lifestyles. Tailor your brand to meet their expectations.
• Create a Memorable Name and Logo: Your business name and logo should be distinctive, easy to remember, and reflective of your brand's personality. Consider professional design assistance if needed.
• Develop a Consistent Visual Theme: Use a cohesive color scheme, typography, and imagery across all your branding materials to build recognition and trust.
• Establish Your Brand Voice: Whether it's product descriptions, social media posts, or customer service, the way you communicate should align with your brand's personality.
• Share Your Story: Connect with customers by sharing the inspiration behind your crafts, your creative process, and the values of your brand.

How to come up with a name for your craft business?

One of the most important steps to starting a craft business is choosing a name. Brainstorm a few options that aptly reflect the type of crafts you will be selling and consider your target audience. Consider whether you want to use your own name, the name of your location or town, or any other descriptive name. Do some research to make sure you don’t choose a name that someone else is already using. Lastly, make sure you thoroughly check for trademarks and copyright issues – it can be expensive to fix any issues further down the line. Taking time to select an appropriate name can help build recognition and trust in your craft business over time.

Once you have your craft business plan in place, it’s crucial to make things official. Formalizing your business registration legitimizes your enterprise, protects your personal assets, and can have tax implications. Here's how to navigate this important step:

• Choose a business structure (such as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or corporation) that best suits your needs and offers the appropriate level of personal liability protection and tax benefits.
• Register your business name with your local or state government unless you’re operating under your own legal name. This may involve a DBA ("doing business as") registration.
• Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS for tax purposes, even if you don't plan to have employees; it helps in opening a business bank account and handling taxes.
• Check with your state and local government for any specific licenses or permits required for craft businesses, such as a sales tax permit or a home business license.
• Understand the zoning laws in your area to ensure that your business operations are compliant with local ordinances, especially if you’re working from home.

Resources to help get you started:

Explore critical resources designed for craft entrepreneurs eager to gain knowledge on market trends, operational excellence, and strategies for expanding their business:

• The Crafts Report : A monthly business magazine for crafts professionals, offering insights into marketing, industry news, and artist profiles. Website: craftsreport.com
• Handmade Business Magazine : Guides crafters on turning their passion into profit, covering marketing, product development, and selling strategies. Website: handmadebusiness.com
• Craft Industry Alliance : Provides industry news, business tools, and a community forum for crafters looking to network and grow their business. Website: craftindustryalliance.org
• Etsy Seller Handbook : Offers extensive resources, articles, and tips on how to succeed on Etsy, a major platform for craft entrepreneurs. Website: etsy.com/seller-handbook
• CreativeLive : Features online classes taught by industry experts on topics ranging from marketing, product photography, to finance for creative entrepreneurs. Website: creativelive.com

When starting a craft business, it's essential to ensure you have all the legal boxes checked to operate smoothly and legally. Acquiring the necessary licenses and permits is a crucial step that can vary depending on your location and the nature of your crafts. Below are some general guidelines to help you on your way:

• Business License: Check with your city or county government to see if you need a general business license to operate your craft business.
• Seller's Permit: If you're selling goods, most states require you to have a seller's permit, which allows you to collect sales tax from customers.
• Home Occupation Permit: If you plan to run your business from home, this permit ensures that your business activities comply with local zoning regulations.
• Professional and Trade Licenses: Depending on what crafts you're making, you might need specific licenses, such as a food handler's license for edible goods or a safety certification for children's toys.
• Special Event Permits: If you plan to sell at fairs, markets, or public events, you may need temporary permits for each event.
• DBA (Doing Business As): If your craft business operates under a name different from your legal name, you may need to file a DBA.

What licenses and permits are needed to run a craft business?

The exact licenses and permits needed to run a craft business will vary depending on the location, type of product being sold, and other factors. Generally, you may need a business license from your local government, a tax permit from the state government, and any additional permits required by local laws. Additionally, depending on the type of product you're selling, you may also need specialized permits such as a food handlers permit or a blanket permit to sell merchandise at public events.

Opening a business bank account is a critical step in establishing your craft business's financial foundation, while securing funding can fuel your growth and operations. Follow these guidelines to get started on the right foot with your business finances.

• Choose the right bank: Research banks that offer business banking services and compare their fees, services, and customer support. Consider if you prefer a local community bank, a credit union, or a large national bank.
• Prepare the necessary documents: You'll likely need your business registration documents, EIN (Employer Identification Number), and personal identification to open an account.
• Understand the account features: Look into different account types, fees, transaction limits, online banking features, and any additional services that might benefit your craft business.
• Explore funding options: Depending on your needs, you might consider small business loans, lines of credit, investors, crowdfunding, or grants specifically aimed at arts and crafts businesses or small enterprises.
• Build a strong business plan: A well-crafted business plan can increase your chances of securing funding by demonstrating the viability and growth potential of your craft business to potential lenders or investors.
• Monitor your finances: Once your accounts are set up, use accounting software to keep track of your expenses and income, which will help you manage your budget and prepare for tax season.

Setting the right price for your craft services is crucial for the success of your business. It's the balance between covering your costs, providing value to your customers, and ensuring a profit. Here are some key considerations to help you establish your pricing strategy:

• Cost of Materials: Calculate the total cost of materials used for each item. Don't forget to account for the little things like glue or thread which can add up over time.
• Time Investment: Determine how much time it takes to create each item and decide on an hourly wage you want to earn. Multiply this by the hours spent to add a labor cost to your product.
• Market Research: Look at competitors' pricing for similar items. This helps you understand what customers are willing to pay and ensures your prices are competitive.
• Perceived Value: Consider the uniqueness and quality of your work. If your craft is unique or of exceptional quality, you might be able to command a higher price.
• Overhead Costs: Include a portion of your overhead costs such as rent, utilities, and marketing in your pricing to ensure that all aspects of your business are sustainable.
• Profit Margin: Decide on the profit margin you aim to achieve. This will be added on top of your costs to ensure your business is profitable.

What does it cost to start a craft business?

Initiating a craft business can involve substantial financial commitment, the scale of which is significantly influenced by factors such as geographical location, market dynamics, and operational expenses, among others. Nonetheless, our extensive research and hands-on experience have revealed an estimated starting cost of approximately $7500 for launching such an business. Please note, not all of these costs may be necessary to start up your craft business.

Starting a craft business is an exciting venture that allows you to express your creativity while earning an income. A crucial step in this journey is acquiring the right equipment and supplies that will enable you to produce your crafts with quality and efficiency. Here are some guidelines to help you gather what you'll need:

• Assess Your Craft Needs: Determine the specific tools, materials, and equipment required for your type of craft. Consider the scale of your business and the volume of products you plan to create.
• Research Suppliers: Look for reputable suppliers who offer high-quality materials at competitive prices. Consider bulk purchasing for items you'll use frequently to save costs.
• Quality Over Quantity: Invest in high-quality equipment that will last longer and work better. This can help you avoid the cost and hassle of replacing cheap tools frequently.
• Consider Second-Hand: Explore second-hand or refurbished options for expensive equipment to reduce initial costs without compromising on quality.
• Stay Organized: Purchase storage solutions to keep your supplies organized and easily accessible, which will streamline your crafting process.
• Keep Track of Expenses: Maintain a detailed record of all purchases related to your craft supplies and equipment for budgeting and tax purposes.

List of software, tools and supplies needed to start a craft business:

• Computer: $500 - $1000
• Crafting Supplies: $20 - $200 depending on desired supplies
• Printer: $50 - $350
• Storage Bins/Organizers: $10 - $30
• Computer Chairs/Tables: $50 - 120
• Graphics Design Software (Photoshop, Illustrator): Ranges from free to hundreds of dollars depending on the version and use.
• Point of Sale System (POS) Software: Ranges from free to hundreds of dollars depending on the version.
• Website Design Software: Ranges from free to hundreds of dollars depending on the version.
• Digital Camera for product photography/videography: $100 - 1000+
• Shipping Supplies (mailers, tape, labels, etc.): Varies according to volume.

When launching a craft business, securing the appropriate insurance is crucial to protect your enterprise from unforeseen events. Different types of insurance cater to various risks associated with running a craft business, from property damage to liability issues. Below are the steps you should follow to obtain the necessary business insurance:

• Research Types of Insurance: Understand the different insurance policies available, such as general liability insurance, product liability insurance, business owner's policy (BOP), and professional liability insurance.
• Evaluate Your Needs: Assess the specific risks your craft business might face and decide which types of insurance coverages are applicable to your situation.
• Shop Around: Obtain quotes from multiple insurance providers to compare coverage options and premiums. Look for insurers that specialize in small businesses or craft businesses.
• Consult a Professional: Consider speaking with an insurance agent or broker who can offer tailored advice based on your business's unique needs.
• Review and Purchase: Carefully review the terms of the policies you're considering and make an informed decision. Once you've chosen a policy, complete the purchase and keep your documentation secure.

Marketing your craft services is essential to attract and retain customers, and to stand out in a competitive marketplace. A strategic approach to promoting your business will help you reach your target audience and showcase your unique products. Here are some effective strategies to kickstart your marketing efforts:

• Build an Online Presence: Create a professional website and maintain active social media accounts to display your crafts, share updates, and engage with your audience.
• Utilize Local Markets: Participate in local craft fairs, farmers' markets, and community events to gain visibility and connect with potential customers.
• Email Marketing: Collect email addresses and send regular newsletters with news, promotions, and exclusive offers to keep your audience informed and interested.
• Collaborate with Influencers: Partner with influencers or bloggers who resonate with your brand to reach a broader audience and gain credibility.
• Offer Promotions: Provide introductory discounts or bundle deals to encourage first-time purchases and reward loyal customers.
• Word of Mouth: Encourage satisfied customers to spread the word about your craft services through reviews, testimonials, and referrals.

Once your craft business has found its footing and built a steady customer base, it's time to take the next big step: expansion. Growing your business requires careful planning and strategic decision-making. Here are some ways to broaden your reach and increase your sales:

• Diversify Your Product Line: Introduce new products that complement your existing offerings. Pay attention to customer feedback and market trends for ideas.
• Explore New Markets: Look beyond your current customer base. Consider selling online, at craft fairs, or in different geographic locations to tap into new markets.
• Invest in Marketing: Enhance your marketing efforts by using social media, email newsletters, and paid advertising to reach a wider audience.
• Collaborate with Others: Partner with other crafters or local businesses to co-promote each other's products and expand your customer network.
• Optimize Operations: Streamline your production process to handle larger orders and improve efficiency. This may include investing in better equipment or hiring additional help.
• Offer Workshops or Classes: Share your expertise by teaching others, which can also serve as an additional revenue stream and marketing tool.

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The Best Resources for Starting A Craft Business

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Starting A Craft Business from Home: Where to Begin

Starting your own successful craft business or small business of any kind is no easy task. Being your own boss means you do it all: social media manager, website builder, graphic designer, photographer, editor, marketer, and so on.

When I started my creative business 12 years ago, I spent much of my time stumbling around, trying to find answers so I could compete with the best of them. If you are considering starting a home crafting business, I don’t want you to have the same frustrating experience. I will share my top small business resources for my creative craft business that have helped me grow my profitable business into a multiple six-figure income!

Let me also preface this by saying there are many resources, apps, plugins, and companies bidding for your attention. It can get overwhelming.

While there may be a better fit for some, these are the resources I have consistently used to turn my craft hobby into a successful business. With that said, don’t be scared to do some of your own research and try new things, too.

Before diving into these details, you want to consider your target audience and the niche market demand you will focus on. Whether you want to earn extra income or turn your passion into a full-time job, these resources can help you grow a successful online craft business!

Where To Build and Sell Your Products

You already know what you want to sell, so let’s look at where you want to sell your handmade products or digital goods. A great way to sell is online. You can run your handmade business through an online marketplace, e-commerce shop, or self-hosted website.

There is one important thing I want you to remember: NEVER put all your eggs in one basket. If you are selling on a third-party platform (for example, Etsy ), you need to have a self-hosted site as well that no one can take from you. I am going to give you options for both in my list below.

First thing first: Marketplaces!

Etsy Marketplace

Etsy is one of the most widely known handmade marketplaces to sell on. With over 2 billion sales in 2022, you have likely shopped on Etsy yourself or at least know of them. Etsy is definitely an easy place to get started.

• Cost – 6.5% seller’s fee and .20 cent listing fee.
• Product Types Sold – handmade physical goods, supplies, and digital products.

Etsy Rank Or E-Rank (Keyword Tool For Etsy)

Now, if you are on a marketplace like Etsy, you may be searching for tools to help guide you with tags and titles. I recently started using E-Rank for this after switching from Marmalead .

Etsy Rank is AWESOME for Etsy sellers!

It will grade your listings and tell you how to improve them, let you track competition and search their keywords, tell you your Google and Etsy ranking, convey search trends, provide keyword searches, and so much more. With several of my listings, I saw immediate ranking improvement!

• Etsy Rank is free, or you can go pro for $10 a month.

Amazon Handmade

Amazon Handmade is an AMAZING place to sell because of the number of potential customers who flood Amazon daily. Furthermore, Amazon is a high-quality, trusted brand that buyers recognize.

Selling on Amazon can be accomplished on their main platform or on Amazon Handmade , which was opened in 2017. I sell my book on Amazon, but if I were to sell my paper flowers or craft templates, I would choose Amazon Handmade.

• Cost – 15% seller’s fee
• Product Type – physical goods

Creative Market

I LOVE Creative Market . I use them regularly for graphics and mockups for my websites and products. If you are a graphic content creator, then this is a fantastic platform to sell on. They select the best of the best, and the competition isn’t as saturated as other sites.

• Cost – You earn 70% commission
• Product Type – digital goods

Creative Fabrica

Creative Fabrica is a digital platform where you can sell SVG files, patterns, fonts, or anything digital that works as a design asset.

 Their fees are affordable, and they bring a significant amount of traffic. My favorite part about Creative Fabrica is that they handle customer support for you and only involve you when a file needs updating or correcting. Starting a craft business from home is a lot of work, and this feature is one of the best ways to save time without a lot of extra costs.

Self-Hosted Websites for Your Craft Business (DO THIS!)

Remember how I mentioned putting your eggs all in one basket is a bad idea? Having your own domain is one way to fix that. If you were to choose one of the marketplaces above to sell on, then ideally, you want to have your own website as well.

Why? Think of a marketplace as a rented space. If the landlord wants you out at some point, you don’t have any say in the matter.

Your own website, however, is yours alone. Plus, there are NO transaction fees to pay! That means more money in your pocket and more to invest!

I highly recommend a WordPress website for your online store for your craft business. With WordPress, you can create a store through the Woocommerce plugin and create a blog of your shop. A blog is a genius way to drive more traffic to your shop, which has been a key to my success at Abbi Kirsten Collections.

You will need a host for a WordPress site, and I HIGHLY recommend BigScoots – their customer support is fantastic!

WordPress offers many uses, but my favorites are…

Shopify is a prevalent choice for e-commerce solutions and is a great way to set up a shop for handmade products or digital goods. Shopify also integrates with countless apps to customize your site whole site!

• The Shopify basic plan starts at $39 per month.

2. Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce is very similar to Shopify, except it has existed longer. I have used Bigcommerce to make templates for my online shop. They also integrate with hundreds of apps beneficial to starting a craft business, and I have been delighted with them.

• Costs for these site setups vary depending on your host and the apps you choose. They can start as low as $10 per month.

Craft Business Search Engine Optimization

A website or shop is only as good as its SEO (Search Engine Optimization). You need your site or products to be found, whether starting a craft business or managing an established sole proprietorship. SEO is key in bringing in traffic and customers for any online business.

Luckily, there are tools to help you figure that out!

Yoast SEO Plugin

If you have a WordPress site, you need to ensure you have installed the Yoast SEO plugin. This plugin will help you nail your SEO, which will help your website get found on Google.

When using your Yoast plugin, it will ask you to input a focus keyword. This keyword is what that page or post will be ranking for in Google.

• Yoast is free to install, but they offer a paid plan with some additional premium features, too.

So, how do we find a focus keyword people search for on the internet? Use a keyword research tool!

Ahrefs is an excellent tool for keyword research when I am trying to determine if the keyword I have in mind is something people are looking for. You can have the best idea in the world, but it will never be seen if it doesn’t resonate with people.

• Ahrefs is $99 a month to start.

Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is a fantastic browser extension that will help you see how many people are searching for the same things you are. I have this installed and use it to cross-reference words I find on Ahrefs.

• Keywords Everywhere works with credits and is as low as 1.25 per month.

Rank IQ is my favorite because it allows you to identify keywords by niche and topic. Beyond that, content optimization helps you learn what Google wants to see in your post, which will help you rank better.

If you are just starting a craft business, best practices include using Rank IQ above all else.

SEO Support

Search engine optimization can be overwhelming, especially if you know nothing about it! There are tons of SEO resources available to small business owners and bloggers that focus on teaching the ins and outs of SEO optimization. It’s worth it to take some time to familiarize yourself with SEO – take courses, join blogger Facebook support pages, and start with the basics! When you’re ready, reach out to an SEO expert and support team to help with aspects of optimization that you may not understand or have time to manage yourself.

Photography and Editing for Your Home Craft Business

When starting a home craft business, you need to learn some basics for taking good photos. Photography is key to the success of your product. No matter how pretty your product is in person, you can’t convey that with a dark, grainy photo.

If you are creating digital products, you still need to know how to make your screenshots attractive, create your own mockup designs, or learn how to use software to help you create mockups from stock image purchases.

Equipment For Product Photography

I will not recommend you buy fancy equipment immediately when starting out. You can use a basic camera or smartphone, but I recommend eventually working your way to a DSLR. A professional camera makes a huge difference!  You also want to check guidelines for photography sizes on social media platforms to ensure you sell your crafts using optimized photographs.

When you are just starting a craft business, it’s okay to use your smartphone camera (ideally one of decent quality and not super outdated). You will be fine if you have an iPhone under three years old. Use the internet to find tutorials on how to take the best photos with the equipment you have.

Once you can invest a little, I recommend upgrading to a DSLR camera because you will have many more options for fine-tuning your lighting, filming videos, using external cards for storage, etc. Both Canon and Nikon are great brands.

We don’t want dark or grainy images, so use proper lighting for your photos. Use natural light and adjust your settings to brighten the scene when possible. If natural light isn’t an option or is just not enough, opt for some studio lighting. I use these Newwer lights and love them.

If you are using a smartphone, a light ring may be your best choice and is a space saver.

There are several options for backdrops.

• Simple posterboards or a white wall and table (most affordable and easily accessible)
• Savage paper on rolls for a seamless backdrop (my personal favorite for larger styled scenes and flat lay photography
• Replica Surfaces – I love this brand for straight-on-styled shots with medium to small items.

Photo Editing

Once you take your photos, you need to edit them. Even the most perfect photo always needs a little bit of enhancement.

Photoshop is the obvious choice if you want the most robust tool and plenty of options to fine-tune your photos in a myriad of ways!

• Photo is a subscription service starting at $20 per month.

Picmonkey is the first site I ever started with when I began to edit my images. It is easy to use, beginner-friendly, and has affordable membership levels.

• The first membership tier is free, or you can upgrade to the $5 monthly plan for additional features.

Afterlight is a great app when you are using your smartphone to take pictures. It has tons of editing capabilities to brighten your images, add filters, change tones, crop, clarify, and more. It is worth it if you need to use your phone for photography!

• Afterlight is free to download, and you can go pro starting at $2.99 a month.

Adobe Lightroom

One of the reasons I love to use Lightroom is because it is a one-click-and-done process. I will upload my photos and find the best preset for that particular image. Once I select my preset, I am done and export my images. If you are looking for a way to add a professional touch to your photos, Lightroom presets can help with that.

• Lightroom and Photoshop are only $9.99 per month! And there are tons of free Lightroom presets online!

Once you are finished editing all your images, you are going to need a secure place to store them! Dropbox is my personal go-to choice. They have always been reliable, and I can store them according to my needs. You can start with a free plan.

• Dropbox plans are based on how much storage data you need, so they will vary for everyone, but you can start with a free plan.

Tiny PNG For Image Compression

Compressing final images is super important because you will save space wherever you upload them, such as a WordPress site. For this, I use Tiny PNG . Compressed photos allow your website to load fast (better user experience) and can reduce hosting costs when you have to store that data somewhere!

• Tiny PNG is only $39 per year for pro or free if your image is under a certain size.

After you complete your photos, you may need to take it up a notch with design elements or turn the photo into a Pinterest pin or carousel post for Instagram. Canva provides endless resources for social media templates, elements, graphics, animations, and stock photos.

• You can get Canva Pro for $14.99 per month.

Places To Find Mockups/Stock Photos To Use In Your Handmade Business

Mockups are so useful because they save you loads of time when you need to create a result showing how a product will look or could be used. I mostly used mockup images with my digital products, such as SVG cut files. Here are a few of my go-to resources

• Canva – if you have pro, you have access to stock images that can be used as mockups.
• Etsy – Etsy is full of styled mockups for various occasions and themes.
• Stock image sites like iStock, Shutterstock, Deposit Photos, etc.
• Placeit – Loads of custom smart mockups to place your images perfectly.
• Haute Stock – Beautiful themed collections that stand out from the crowd.
• Pixabay – A free stock photo site.
• Midjourney – AI-generated images great for producing your custom results.

Okay, I know this is long, so take a breather. But isn’t it great when you find a gold mine of resources?! Let’s keep going!

Marketing For Your Craft Business

You want your product in the hands of consumers, so you need a marketing plan. I’ve included online resources to ensure you advertise to your ideal customers, whether you find them at craft shows or in the digital handmade marketplace.

Social Media Marketing And Sharing

You have your product, your personal domain name website is set up, you’ve done market research, and your graphics and photos are ready to go. Now, you need ways to share them so you can start selling your products to a lot of people. After all, starting a home craft business isn’t any good if you don’t get the word out!

One of my favorite WordPress plugins to use is Milotree . It is so simple, yet very effective.

Milotree allows you to connect to your social media channels or email provider, so you can give a friendly popup to your customers, asking them to give you a follow.

This app is a great help for building up your social media channels. My Pinterest grew over 500% with this app!

Go Social Pro By Mediavine

For WordPress users, Go Social Pro by Mediavine is great for placing custom share buttons on your site to encourage readers and customers to share the item on their social platform of choice.

• This social plugin is $34 per year.

Tailwind For Pinterest

Ahh, Tailwind. You may have heard of it, and with good reason. It really is all it is cracked up to be.

Tailwind is a huge time saver when it comes to pinning on Pinterest, which, by the way, is the gateway to success for your products or digital goods!

I have been using Tailwind for two years and have seen consistent site traffic because of it. Plus, they are an approved partner of Pinterest, so you don’t have to fret about your account being shut down when using them.

Running a craft business operating on several social channels is great for exposure, though it can be difficult to keep up with. So choose the next few with care, and don’t overwhelm yourself.

Facebook Page And Groups

A Facebook page, group, or both are great ways to share and market your products or content to your online community. These take time to build and should never be solely relied on. Instead, make them just one piece of the puzzle that brings traffic and income.

Instagram works much like Facebook. The difference is the type of audience. Facebook tends to be a slightly older crowd, while Instagram is a younger crowd. Instagram is great for short-form videos and allows for a more personal touch in your posting.

YouTube has serious growth potential if you do it right and invest a hefty amount of time in it. An ad revenue stream can be opened with YouTube easily, but consistency is key here, and videos take time to learn how to do and are also time-consuming to create.

CraftGawker

This one may not apply to everyone, but if you have a blog alongside your shop where you can share craft-related posts or even your creation process, you may be able to share it on Craftgawker . Craftgawker is another social site, but it can be great if it fits your niche as another outlet to drive some traffic. Plus, it is fun to spend time on!

Email Marketing

When starting a craft business, learning to market your products is a big deal if you want to make some real headway. Email is a great way to generate sales when starting a home craft business. There are a lot of email providers out there.

I have personally tried Mailerlite, Mailchimp, Drip, and Convertkit. After much bouncing around,

I decided that Convertkit is by far the best option and the one I plan to stick with from here on out.

Convertkit allows you to tag subscribers so you can market more effectively to the right person on your email list. Plus, Convertkit has good deliverability, unlike its competitor, Mailerlite, which has had numerous issues. In the end, Convertkit won out.

• Prices will vary for this based on your number of subscribers.

Leadpages/LeadBoxes

Leadpages is a powerful marking tool. Leadpages is a landing page system that lets your readers or buyers focus their attention on one call to action.

They work wonderfully with tripwires (limited-time offers) and upgrades for products. Leadpages also integrates with your Convertkit account, so it will collect your sign-ups when you use their Leadbox function.

I also like to use Leadpages to build a page with all my social links, shop links, and blog links, then use that page as my URL on Instagram or Facebook to help people find exactly what they are looking for with one click. Nifty huh? The bottom line –  try Leadpages!

Shipping Materials

Unless you sell digital products only, you will need some shipping materials for your products.

To save money, it is always best to buy in bulk. I find places like Amazon often have bulk mailers that are easy to purchase in the size I need. I like to buy cute envelopes like these if I can!

When printing your customer’s shipping info, it is best to use sticker mail labels like these.

Adding a little something extra to your products, like thank you stickers , tissue paper, coupon flyers , and your business card, is always a plus; not to mention, it makes your customers feel like they’ve received the handmade shop treatment and will keep them coming back for more!

Good shipping providers are essential as well. Look into ShipStation , which can be integrated into many e-commerce sites to process orders and shipping details from your customers!

Craft Business Administration and Organization

Now that you know what you need when starting a home craft business, you will need tools to keep you organized!

Wave is a good free finance tool to use when you are starting out. However, I recommend switching to Quickbooks when finances grow and become more complex. It is important that, no matter how much or how little you make, you always report your taxes. We may not like it, but we do have to give Uncle Sam his cut.

Google Calendar

You can make your life easier by using a calendar system like Google Calendar as a scheduling tool. Chances are you won’t use this when you are just starting, but when you acquire some help or perhaps are working with people to build something in your business, you may need a tool to keep you all on the same page!

I love using Trello as a way of making lists. My head constantly overflows with ideas, so I need a way to write things out quickly. One reason I love Trello is that they have an app. So whether I am out with my phone or at home on my desktop, I can keep all my lists and notes synced!

I also use Trello to organize my completed content and attach images to their cards so it is visually easy to see what I am looking for!

Airtable is an advanced spreadsheet system that can create tables for project management, SOPs, tracking data or sales, and much more. Currently, we are using this to create detailed SOPs and project processes for our team!

Final Notes: Starting a Craft Business with the Right Resources

I know that was a mega-crazy brain dump. But I can say that I have personally used all these tools at one time or another and found them vital to starting a home craft business and keeping it running smoothly.

If you feel like your brain is running in circles with all this info, it’s okay. Take a breath. Pin it for later and work through it slowly. You don’t have to do all these things overnight. Work up to them.

Are there any other tools you recommend I add to this list for starting a home craft business? What are your favorites? Tell me in the comments!

Wishing you creativity and success!

About Abbi Kirsten

Welcome to my colorful corner of the internet, where we play with vibrant crafts and unlock your creative magic! Hang out with me and get lost in a fun array of projects, tutorials, and products, from stunning papercraft ideas to flower templates, Cricut help for beginners, and endless crafter’s hacks. 

Join the  Member Vault  and participate in my monthly Craft-Alongs in my  Facebook group to access all the magic!

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Thank you for these resources! This is one of the more helpful articles I have found. 🙂

WOW! Yes, this is a lot, but it is all very helpful for those of us still deciding if/when to launch a home craft business. I will be following you and your tips. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

This was very helpful. Thank you. I have been looking to start a small side business with the cards I make and this gave me a lot of ideas!

The course was awesome! I found it easy to follow and very helpful. I’m a bit overwhelmed with the “start your own business information. There is so much that I’m still left wondering where do I begin…

Hi! I am glad to hear you love the course! Starting your own business will pose a lot of specific questions to each person’s business. What are your top 2 or 3 questions specific to your business and what is your business about?

OMG WOW! I am so THRILLED to have stumbled onto you page. I am in the process of getting my business up/running and you just flat out made my life easier! Bless you for you thoughtfulness!!

Monthly Plan & Checklist for a Handmade Business

“Organization” may not be at the top of everyone’s goal list by I’m sure “making money” is. In order to make money and run a profitable business…you must be organized. You should have a plan well before you go into a month and have implemented tasks that are going to bring you sales.

Sales are not instant.

Sure, you can send a newsletter to your email list and generate a few sales instantly. But getting those people signed up for your newsletter, creating content and building trust and interest so subscribers open your newsletter, click links and buy, typically takes months of work.

To get sales next month, you should already have a plan and be implementing the steps.

Let’s stop treating our businesses as a hobby and flying by the seat of our pants.

Instead, let’s take a hard look at our numbers, what we need to make in revenue and profit to be able to call our operations a successful business and determine what it will take to get there this month.

This is a general guide for a handmade business BUT it absolutely requires your expertise.

Depending on the type of business you run, the products you make and the schedule you follow, you may be able to use all of the ideas mentioned here, some or none of them.

No one (myself included) can give you be-all and end-all advice to run your business. Use articles like this to inspire and guide you but apply your expertise and knowledge to make the ideas work for you.

DOWNLOAD THE WORKSHEETS HERE:

Monthly Checklist & Planner

The free checklist & planner worksheets no longer include the weekly calendars to plan each day of your week. For a full planner and explanation on how to plan your entire year, right down to each day, please view THE SUCCESS PLANNER .

GOALS & PLANS

You should already have a sales goal you’d like to hit for the year. If you don’t, set that goal now, subtract your earnings from the months that have passed and distribute the remaining amount between the months that are left, giving a higher goal for busy months and a lower goal for slower months.

For example, if you’d like to earn $15,000 for the year and you made $3500 in January/February/March, you’d divide $11,500 by 9 (for the 9 remaining months from April – December) to have a goal of $1278 each month. But you may know April is a slow month, May is busy and June falls in between. So you might set your sales goal to $800 for April, make up that $478 in May with a $1756 goal and $1278 for June.

*Be sure you’re mindful of revenue vs. profit when setting goals. If you’ve priced your products following the popular formula: materials + time = costs x 2 = wholesale price x 2 = retail price , your profits will be 75% of your revenue.

Meaning, if you sell $1250 revenue, you profit $937.50. If you want $1250 profit, you must sell $1667 in revenue.

Each month, you must pay attention to your:

• Return on Investment (ROI) for tasks you spend your time and/or money on
• Conversion rates

Please check out THE SUCCESS PLANNER if you need help understanding your profits, ROI, or conversion rates, how to calculate them and how to improve them.

Use the printable worksheets ( Monthly Checklist & Planner ) to:

1) Write down your sales goal from last month

What did you hope to earn last month?

2) Write down what your actual sales were for last month

Did you hit your goal? Exceed it? Come in under? Adjust your future goals accordingly.

For example, if you were $200 under your goal, you may tack that $200 on to your next month’s goal to stay on track for your yearly goal. Or that $200 may be distributed evenly among the remaining months.

3) Write down your sales goal for this month

What do you hope to earn this month?

4) Write down your main focus for this month

If Mother’s Day is a holiday that generates a lot of sales for your business, “Mother’s Day sales” might be your focus for May.

If the upcoming month is typically slow for your business, you may focus on “product planning” or “producing stock” to prepare for upcoming busy months.

List one or two areas of business that will get your focus this month.

5) Write down your focus for each week of the month

Look at the current/upcoming month by week 1, 2, 3 and 4. What are the important tasks, events, dates, etc. of each week?

You don’t need to get into details, simply write the big events for each week. For example:

Week 1 – Update online shop with new seasonal theme

Week 2 – Run promotion to clear out last season’s stock

Week 3 – Launch new collection

Week 4 – Participating in craft show this week

6) Write down important to-do’s for this month

List any important tasks that must be completed this month.

Again, don’t get into details, simply jot down anything you must remember (e.g. application deadline for Father’s Day craft show, take sewing machine in for servicing, etc.).

7) Write down important dates in upcoming months

Look at least 3 months ahead to see what’s coming up and what impacts your “plan” and “prepare” tasks.

You don’t want to go into a month without a plan. This month you should be prepping for next month (e.g. prepping stock), planning for the month after that (e.g. planning new product lines) and have the month after that in the back of your thoughts (e.g. be aware of events you want to participate in or important dates).

List important events, holidays, deadlines, etc. for the 3 months following the month you’re about to head into. For example, if you’re heading into, or are in the beginning of May, look ahead to June, July & August.

BUSINESS STAGES

To help stay organized, I’ve found it helpful to look at business in three main areas:

First, you must create a product, then you must market that product so people are aware of it and then you must sell that product.

Each area (create, market & sell) requires your attention each month. The tasks that fall under each area will depend on the sales channel(s) you use. Here I’ll cover the main channels for handmade businesses:

• Online (e.g. your website or Etsy shop)
• Events (e.g. craft shows, farmers’ markets, etc.)
• Retail (e.g. selling wholesale to shops & boutiques)

For more sales channels, marketing channels and marketing methods handmade businesses should be using, check out HOW TO SELL HANDMADE BEYOND FRIENDS & FAMILY  or THE SUCCESS PLANNER

You can also join the free 5 day challenge: BEAT LAST YEAR’S SALES , to receive a free sample chapter and a few lessons from HOW TO SELL HANDMADE BEYOND FRIENDS & FAMILY. Check out details and join the challenge here .

To ensure I’m not just focusing on tasks that need my immediate attention, I like to break tasks into:

• Plan – looking 3+ months in advance, these are tasks that require thought, but not a lot of action yet.
• Prepare – looking 1+ month(s) in advance, these are tasks that must be completed for next month. Working on them now ensures I’m prepared and staying ahead of schedule.
• Present – looking at the current month, these are tasks that must be completed this month.

Take a look at the sales channel(s) you use (which are broken into: online, events, & retail on the checklist) and read my suggestions for tasks you could work on this month when it comes to planning, preparing and presenting: creating tasks, marketing tasks and selling tasks.

I would love to say I’m always this organized and am always prepared months in advance, but of course, there are times I get off track, become overwhelmed, lazy, etc. It happens to all of us.

Don’t let this plan, or anyone else’s, let you feel like you’re off track or doing something wrong.

If you’re currently feeling overwhelmed, eliminate low-value tasks and focus on ones that are going to make you money. Before you go into any task, question whether it will directly or indirectly lead to a sale.

Are you spending time posting to Facebook when no one seems to be paying attention to your posts and it always leads to distractions? Maybe skip Facebook posts for now and focus on that next newsletter, which always seems to generate a couple of sales.

Are you spending time in your craft room making more products when you haven’t sold any of the first ones or figured out why they’re not selling? Take a break from creating and focus on your USP, brand, marketing skills, sales channels, etc.

It’s easy to feel like you  have to do it all in order to be successful. But the successful businesses got to where they are by prioritizing what’s most important to get those sales, getting their head above water and then slowly building on.

Look ahead 3+ month in advance and start thinking about new products you may want to introduce based on holidays or shopping events.

Begin creating stock for next month. Purchase materials at the beginning of this month (if they haven’t already been purchased) and begin production (or continue with production).

Tag and package current product so it’s ready to be shipped.

Prototypes for next month’s products should be completed so they can be photographed and photos can be uploaded and edited in time to update your shop at the end of this month or beginning of next month.

Start planning your marketing for 3+ months in advance, based on the marketing channels and methods you currently use.

Plan your newsletter schedule and topics.

Look ahead several months if you plan to send press releases. Magazines operate similar to retailers; several months in advance. Download the media kits of magazines you’d love to be featured in and get an idea of when deadlines are for advertising. Although you’re hoping to be featured, not advertise, it gives you an idea of when they plan to have an issue of a magazine drafted.

Generally, you should be planning 4 – 6 months in advance for any magazine issues you’d like to be featured in. For example, if it’s the end of May, it’s likely too late to be featured in magazines issues coming out before September; it will be less rushed for you to focus on pitching ideas for October, November and December issues.

If you need help in the marketing department and ideas on marketing channels and methods, check out HOW TO SELL HANDMADE BEYOND FRIENDS & FAMILY  or join the free 5 day challenge to receive a sample chapter and a few key lessons from the ebook.

Prepare marketing for next month. If you’re running ads, prepare the text and images so they’re ready to go.

Do you need to prepare images or text for social media marketing? For any social media platforms that allow you to schedule posts in advance, do so.

Draft blog posts for next month.

Keep in mind, with blogging, it takes time for your blog post to bring in traffic. You can generate immediate traffic to a blog post through your newsletter but if you’re hoping to build your organic traffic through SEO, get those time-sensitive posts up weeks before a holiday so Google has time to pick them up and show them in search results.

If you rely on the press for marketing, start drafting press releases for issues 4+ months away so you’re ready to send them next month (remember, magazines typically work 3 – 6 months in advance so you must follow their schedule if you hope to be featured).

*Search the name of the magazine you want to pitch to along with “media kit 2018 (or current year)” to see if they post their media kit online. In their media kit, they may share the topics that are covered in each issue of their magazine or the general theme for each month, which gives you a good guideline to follow. If their November issue is all about Thanksgiving and winter prep (hair, skin, wardrobe, etc.) you should be thinking about product or story ideas that can fit within the Thanksgiving/winter prep theme.

You should be marketing your current products by sharing them on social media posts, in blog articles, in newsletters, etc.

Send any press releases this month to meet closing dates for issues coming out in 3+ months.

Look ahead 2 – 3 months and determine what type of online shopping events are coming up.

Plan what it means for your shop to implement a new theme based on the season, a holiday, a shopping event, etc. Will you need to update your banner, props in your photos, run a promotion?

Photoshoots for next month’s products should be scheduled this month. Photos should be edited and uploaded so you’re ready to create listings and update your banner at the end of the month or beginning of next month.

Be sure you don’t go overboard with props or themes and keep everything on-brand. Here are some tips on properly photographing your products .

The banner or home page image can get a refresh, shop announcements may be updated with order deadlines to receive shipments in time for certain holidays, promotions you’re running, listings updated with new images, titles, tags, etc. to align with current month/season/holiday and what people are searching for.

For example, you may be selling the same product in summer as you did in spring but updating the images to use more colorful/summery props or changing titles from “Bridesmaid Earrings for Spring Wedding” to “Bridesmaid Earrings for Summer Wedding” may give your listings a boost.

You may want to clear or give less of a spotlight to last month’s products so your online shop doesn’t look outdated. You may run a promotion and mark down stock, move listings to a different category/page of website/location, or simply update photos and listings to give them a refresh.

Start thinking about and researching products for events you plan to sell at that are 3+ months away. If you’re participating in Farmer’s Markets and outdoor festivals in the summer, keep in mind; people likely don’t want to haul big or heavy objects around the market or festival so you may want to plan some smaller, impulse-buy items.

Work on building stock for any events coming up next month, or even the month after.

If you’re participating in craft shows this month, stock should be completed. Work on finishing details for that stock: tagging, packaging, pricing and packing into containers for transport.

If you have craft shows coming up in 3+ months, plan when, where and how you’ll market the event to your fans, followers and existing customers.

You may roughly mark the week that marketing will begin through social media, newsletters, etc. plan when to start sending mailers or handing out flyers, etc.

Marketing materials should be prepared this month for any events coming up next month. You’ll need flyers, images to share on social media, newsletter drafts, etc.

What’s the benefit of someone visiting you at the event? Are they going to find some of the best upcoming trends? Be sure to share the benefit in your marketing.

If you’re participating in craft shows this month, your marketing can begin now. Start posting to social media, encouraging people to mark the date in their calendar and post reminders in the days leading up to the event. What you post and how often will depend on the marketing platform. MAKE MORE MONEY AT CRAFT FAIRS explains in detail how to properly market for a craft show.

Mailers to existing (local) customers should be sent and flyers for the event should be handed out.

A newsletter should be sent this month, the week of the event, to encourage local customers to show up. Give them an incentive to shop with you at the event, instead of online (e.g. special discount if they print a coupon you share, new products available at the event only, etc.).

Look ahead at least 1 – 3 months to be aware of upcoming events you’d like to participate in and mark the application deadlines in your calendar. It’s also never too early to start thinking about how you might create an attractive display. Event organizers love to hear you’re putting thought into it.

If you have events scheduled in the next few months, you should be working on your display and gathering props, display fixtures, signage, etc.

Consider props and colors that will be a fit for the month or holiday the event is organized around.

If you’re participating in a craft show this month, you’ll be setting up your display and selling on those allotted days. Be sure all display props are gathered and ready to go. You should also have your sales pitches determined (if selling doesn’t come naturally to you).

If you need help when it comes to researching, applying, preparing and selling at craft shows, check out MAKE MORE MONEY AT CRAFT FAIRS  or sign up for the free 5-day challenge: 5 DAYS TO A STANDOUT DISPLAY . It’ll walk you through how to create an amazing display with a strong message.

Retailers typically buy product for their stores 3 – 6 months in advance. The bigger the retailer, the further in advance they shop for and buy product.

If you’re planning to work with small boutiques, they may buy a month or two in advance. You’ll have to get to know each retailer you want to get your products into and inquire about their buying schedule.

Prepare prototypes so you’re able to create lookbooks and line sheets for seasons that are 3 – 6 months away.

You may be continuing to work on stock for orders placed last month/this month.

Retailers typically update their sales floor with seasonal stock, a couple of months before the season arrives. For example, summer stock typically hits the sales floor in April or May.

Be sure your product is completed and ready to be shipped so it arrives at stores in time for when they’re updating their sales floor.

Define how you will market your upcoming (3 – 6 months away) product line to retailers and which retailers you will market to. What’s the theme of your lookbook? When is your photoshoot and do you need to line up a photographer or props?

Set up appointments with any local retailers to stop by with the *appropriate season’s lookbook, line sheets and/or samples. (*appropriate meaning if it’s May and they complete their buying 3-6 months in advance, you’re presenting fall or winter products). Here are 10 steps for getting your products into new stores.

Mark dates in your calendar to follow up with retailers after you’ve had your initial contact (after they’ve received your lookbook in the mail, by email or after your meeting).

You may follow up with retailers you’ve met with but who haven’t been in touch to place orders. Check to ensure they received your lookbook (if you mailed/emailed it) or ask if they have any questions/want to place an order if you had an in-person meeting.

Plan which retailers you will approach in 3 – 6 months and how you would like to expand the retail side of your business, 3 – 6 months down the road.

Prepare invoices for retailers you’ve sold the current season’s or upcoming season’s stock to. Some retailers will want to pay net 30, 60 or 90 (meaning they pay their invoice 30, 60 or 90 days after they receive your product) so prepare invoices to be sent based on the payment terms you agreed to.

Each retailer will specify when they want orders shipped so prepare any orders so they can be shipped and arrive at their store on time. You may be shipping seasonal stock 1 – 3 months before the season arrives.

If it’s been 30 days since your order arrived at a retailer with net 30 terms, send the invoice this month. If it’s been 60 days since your order arrived at a retailer with net 60 terms, send the invoice this month. And if it’s been 90 days since your order arrived at a retailer with net 90 terms, send the invoice this month.

As mentioned, be sure you’re not blindly following the plan and you’re adjusting it to fit your business.

This article does not cover any operational tasks, such as paying bills, filing taxes, answering emails, etc. Please be sure to mark any important operational tasks in your calendar as well.

If you’d like an even more detailed guide, additional worksheets, and a plan that makes hitting your sales goals inevitable, please check out THE SUCCESS PLANNER.

When you’re not sure what a business like yours should do when it comes to creating, marketing, and selling (e.g. you’re not sure which social media platforms to use), try researching your competitors. This article will walk you through how to uncover your business’s best practices before you even launch your business.

Finally understand why your hard work isn't resulting in more sales

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Hey, I’m Erin 🙂 I write about small business and craft show techniques I’ve learned from being a small business owner for almost 2 decades, selling at dozens of craft shows, and earning a diploma in Visual Communication Design. I hope you find my advice helpful!

Have been reading and following your tips and advice for several weeks now. Have been working on a new Shabby Chic line of practical items, not just frou frou shelf sitters. I am giving this line one year to succeed. If it does not go over in this southwestern little mountain community I will use it in my own living room and sewing room as they are already Shabby chic and have been for over 20 years LOL I just didn’t know it at the time I put together this look. I appreciate all the good advice you have given us and will let you know if this season is better than last and try to analyze why it is so I can continue to be successful. Thank goodness Hubby and I do not have to make a living at this. We are retired and doing it for fun, and a way to stay brain active.

Thank you so much for this post! It is awesome to see it written out this way, so precise and easy to follow. This will help me get more organized and boy do I need that!

Such detail is so appreciated!

Erin; Thanks for another great update on organization. I hope to approach some retail businesses for my Garden Artwork. I thought of a new aspect to make it different from others in the market place. I am getting positive feedback from my newsletter. Joyce

wowwwww Thank you so much I really appreciate all the good advice you have given. Sometimes we need to recognize the simple true in life, and that is THERE IS ANGELS AMONG US, people who love to help others, and are there quiet helping, Made Urban THANK YOU so much!!!

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Create a Craft Business Plan

Develop a craft business plan for the upcoming year, and set your business up for success.

This 18-step action plan will guide you through strategic choices and help you become more focused and ready to maximize opportunities as they arise.

When you see the words "business plan" you might immediately think of the traditional kind of plan that requires things like market analyses, organizational charts, and detailed financial projections.

Don't panic!

We're not talking about writing a colossal formal business plan. As a craft business owner, you probably don't need a formal business plan.

You do require a roadmap designed for the needs of a handmade business to help you:

• create products shoppers will love
• meet important deadlines (like craft show application closing dates)
• set smart goals
• and use your time productively

Create Your Craft Business Plan

Here's what we're going cover to develop a craft business plan that will help set you up for success for the upcoming year:

• Research craft trends for 2022  - So you can create products that reflect what shoppers want to buy.
• Set realistic goals  - So you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish in the upcoming year.
• Build effective work habits  - So you can get down to work and get things done.
• Research juried art shows & studio tours  - So you don't miss important application deadlines. Selling at craft shows requires a surprising amount of advance preparation.

Research craft trends for 2022

In December, companies like Etsy and Pinterest release trend reports for the upcoming year. January a great time to dig into some of these reports, see what customers might be searching for in the coming year, and decide if and how you want to reflect some of those trends in your own business.

Action Steps:

1. Learn about craft trends for the current year

Each year, I review the newest trend reports with an eye toward understanding trends that are most relevant to craft business owners. Check out my article  Crafts That Sell Well - updated for 2022  to see what design trends might impact your sales in the coming year.

2. Find design trends on Pinterest

I follow several companies that publish fashion and decor trends predictions and share their reports on Pinterest, so you can find them quickly.

I have three boards for 2022 - one for color trends, one for spring / summer, and one for autumn / winter.

Here's where you'll find my 2022 boards:

• 2022 Color Trends
• 2022 Spring / Summer Trends
• 2022-2023 Fall / Winter Trends

3. BONUS: Check out some trends reports yourself

If you want to take a more comprehensive look into trends predictions for 2022, go beyond my article and Pinterest boards, and check out the original reports yourself.

I couldn't possibly report on every trend for the year, so there are plenty I didn't cover. You might find something inspiring for your own business in one of these reports:

• Pinterest Predicts 2022  (Pinterest's report on searches trending for 2022)
• Etsy Marketpplace Handbook Early 2022 Trends Report  (Report on searches trending on Etsy going into 2022)
• More Home & Fashion Trend Forecasting  (List of several trend forecasting sources I follow)

4. Decide if you want to reflect any of the trend predictions for 2022 in your business

Do current trends fit with your brand? Would embracing certain trends advance your craft business plans and goals? You'll need to determine for yourself the right balance between trendy and classic for your company.

5. Decide how you will reflect 2022 trends in your business

If you do want to embrace a trend or two, you'll need to decide how that will look. Will you incorporate hot colors? design motifs? a specific type of product? a particular frame of mind or philosophy?

Of course, you can reflect trends in your product design, but there are also other ways to embrace trends. You could reflect trends in your craft booth merchandising, your product packaging, or your communication with customers as well.

Set realistic goals

Realistic, motivating goals that are in line with your values should be at the heart of your craft business plan.

A business plan is a road map to get to a specific destination. Your goals are the destination.

Time spent reflecting on your core goals and values will help ensure you make plans, decisions, and commitments throughout the year that will lead you to create the type of business you really want.

6. Define your priorities

You can't possibly do it all, so you need to decide what's really important. What do you want to do extraordinarily well, and what are you willing to let go of to achieve that goal?

If you  set compelling priorities , you can actually accomplish more by doing less but doing it better.

7. Consider where you want to be long term

When you know where you want your business to be next year, you'll be able to make better decisions about how to invest your time.

With your  ideal business goals  in mind, you can work out the steps you need to take to get from where you are to where you want to be. You'll be better equipped to make strategic decisions to work on projects that support your vision instead of bouncing from day to day on tasks that don't lead to your big picture goal.

8. Tie your goals to actions, not outcomes

For the most part, you can control whether you follow through on a commitment to action. You can not control the outcome. So if you want to stay motivated to accomplish something big, your goal needs to revolve around actions, not outcomes.

The  SMART goal setting  technique is all you need to set realistic, motivating goals that are tied to actions.

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9. BONUS: Reassess your values, priorities, and goals

If you're up for investing some time to make sure you're really building a business that's in line with your values, you need to read Busy: How to Thrive in a World of too Much by Tony Crabbe.

I've read stacks of popular books about setting and achieving goals.

Honestly, I didn't like many of them.

Most other books on the subject assume you have total control over vast swaths of time. You just need to learn to use all of that time well.

I don't have vast swaths of wide open time. I'm willing to bet you don't either.

That's why Busy is the one book about priorities and goal setting that completely blew me away.

The book centers around the assumption that your time is finite and precious. It completely changed my perspective and transformed how I approach life and business goal planning.

Build effective work habits

What's at the heart of achieving your smart goals and following through on your craft business plan? 

Habits will get you further than willpower. Willpower is finite and requires emotional effort and energy. Habits, once established, happen automatically.

Research shows that habits account for a full 45% of our daily behaviors ! If you can consciously develop more constructive habits, you could potentially get 45% of your day right automatically.

10. Determine the habit you want to build

Remember, you can't do everything, and often you can accomplish more by doing less. So choose one or two habits that will have the biggest impact on the goals you set for your business.

Commit to building those one or two most impactful habits.

Stay focused.

Don't let yourself get distracted by other enchanting ideas. You can add more habits in the future once the first one is more firmly established.

11. Use proven habit building strategies

Habits work on a predictable cycle:

• cue (the trigger)
• routine (the established behavior)
• and reward (the benefit from the routine)

If you can recognize and redirect the  habit cycles  that drive your own routines, you have a much better chance at changing them successfully.

12. Manage your motivation

Even with the best habit cycle in place, you'll need a degree of motivation to persist through inevitable low points. Your reasons to continue have to outweigh your reasons to stop.

If you find your motivation is slipping, use some of these strategies to  boost self motivation .

13. BONUS: Learn habit building strategies that Suit You

There's another book in the achievement genre that has actually been extremely helpful to me — Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin.

The book is written around the premise that were are all different, so different types of habit building strategies will work for different types of people.  It shows you how to use practical, actionable strategies that suit you and work with your natural inclinations, not against them.

If you want to take a more comprehensive look at habit building, I think you'll find a lot of value in the strategies that are taught in Better Than Before

Research juried art shows & studio tours

If you're new to selling at craft fairs, January might seem shockingly early to start planning for shows that won't happen for another 6-11 months.

Many shows open up the application process several months in advance. If you want to start selling at a few craft shows this year, you need to start planning sooner rather than later.

14. Find craft shows & studio tours that interest you

Your local arts association or crafts guild will be an excellent resource for finding shows in your area. They probably even publish an annual  craft show directory  for your area. 

15. Note important deadlines and application requirements

A craft show directory is a great starting point for finding shows in your area, but occasionally craft show directories contain mistakes. When you check deadlines, go directly to the show's website so you can be sure you're getting important information directly from the source.

Important craft show dates include:

• when applications will be available / the first day you can submit your application
• the application deadline
• when those who are accepted will be notified
• booth fees due date
• show date(s)

While you're checking deadlines, you can also look for other important information about the craft shows that interest you such as:

• organizer contact information
• how to apply
• where to get an application
• application requirements (be sure to check the requirements for product and booth photos)
• show location
• any unusual show rules
• information about past show attendance if available
• any information available about types of vendors (e.g. Is the show for handmade items only? Are there limits on the number of vendors allowed in each category?)

All of that information will help you to  assess each craft show  and decide which ones you'd like to attend. 

Art studio tour  organizers also typically start accepting applications for both spring and fall tours quite early in the year. If you think you might like to participate in your local studio tour, start your research now. Your arts association will have information about that event as well.

16. Get fabulous photos of your products

Your product photography can make or break your craft show application. Whether you hire a pro or take the photos yourself,  craft product photography  is no place to cut corners in your juried art show applications, particularly if you're applying to more competitive shows or if you're applying to a competitive category like jewelry or painting.

You might not need to start your applications in January. That will depend on the deadlines for shows you'd like to attend.

Just don't wait until the last minute to  apply to juried art shows  that interest you. Complete your applications thoroughly, carefully, and in a timely manner.

18. Plan to attend as a customer if you won't be a vendor

There may be shows that interest you but you can't attend this year because you're not ready for them, or you were not accepted. Put those show dates in your calendar, and plan to attend them as a customer if at all possible.

You'll be able to check out the vendors, see whose booths are full of paying customers, and learn what works so you'll be ready to apply to those shows in coming years.

More Craft Business aCtion Plans

Craft photography tips.

15-step craft photography action plan shows beginner product photographers everything you need to know to take great photos of the items you make to sell.

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10 Profitable Home Business Ideas to Make Money From Home (2024)

Looking for work-from-home business ideas? Good idea.

Renting commercial real estate, warehousing, or office space can put massive financial strain on a new business. In contrast, many home business opportunities are quick and easy to start.

But there are so many home-based business ideas out there — which one should you consider?

Some work-from-home business ideas require an upfront investment to get the ball rolling — and some require just $39. Also, some home-based businesses are easier to start if you can turn a spare bedroom into an office or workshop — others are easy to run from your dining table.

So, what's the best work-from-home business idea for you? In this article, we'll explore 10 of the best home business ideas that you can start quickly and easily.

(Disclosure: This website is a part of Shopify inc. media properties. Although we strive to publish objective, accurate, and factual content, this article may contain biased opinions.)

Start selling online now with Shopify

10 Profitable Home Business Ideas You Can Start Today

While there are countless ways to start a home-based business, here are 10 of the most approachable home business ideas to consider:

• Sell handmade products
• Purchase products in bulk and sell them online
• Start a dropshipping business
• Start a print-on-demand business
• Purchase an existing ecommerce business
• Start a subscription box business
• Teach online classes
• Start a service-based business
• Sell digital products online
• Build an online following that you can monetize

1. Sell Handmade Products

Do you love to create things at home? If you love crafts or art, why not sell your handcrafted products online? For example, you could:

→ Click Here to Launch Your Online Business with Shopify

• Make candles
• Create jewelry
• Create pieces of art
• Make homemade food
• Design and sew clothing
• Knit clothes and blankets
• Craft wooden furniture

Whatever you like to create, selling handmade products is a great way to turn a passion into a work-from-home business opportunity.

There are two main ways to start selling handmade products online:

• Sell through a marketplace such as Etsy
• Create your own online store using a platform like Shopify

That said, you could also sell via both channels with Shopify's Etsy integration .

If this home business idea has caught your eye, start by writing a list of everything you could create. Then, do some online research to see what other people are selling.

2. Start a Dropshipping Business From Home

If you like the idea of running an online store, but you're not sure what to sell, consider starting a dropshipping business from home. Plus, this is a home business idea with low startup costs.

Dropshipping is a type of ecommerce in which sellers don't need to purchase or store the products they sell. Instead, sellers partner with dropshipping suppliers who manage the inventory and ship products directly to customers on the seller's behalf.

Check out the image below to see the dropshipping business model in action:

Pretty cool, right?

The best part is that starting a dropshipping business from home is as easy as 1-2-3 thanks to dropshipping apps like DSers .

Here's why: You can use DSers to start selling dropshipped products online today — just sign up for Shopify , install the Dsers app , and search for products to add to your store.

3. Start a Print-on-Demand Business From Home

Similarly, if you like to create art and eye-catching designs but don't want to make products yourself, you could start a print-on-demand business from home.

Print-on-demand is a type of dropshipping in which you can sell products that are customized with your designs, such as:

• Apparel: T-shirts, hoodies, leggings, yoga pants, etc.
• Footwear: Sneakers, boots, flip flops, etc.
• Accessories: Jewelry, watches, phone covers, bags, bottles, face masks, notebooks, stationery, etc.
• Homeware: Mugs, towels, bedsheets, cushions, blankets, throws, etc.
• Art: posters, wall hangings, stickers, magnets, etc.
• Electronics: Headphones, speakers, etc.

Check out some common print-on-demand products in the image below from Printful :

To start this work-from-home business idea, sign up for a Shopify account and choose a print-on-demand app to install , such as:

4. Purchase Products in Bulk and Sell Them Online

Another way to sell products online is to buy products in bulk — also known as 'wholesale' — and sell them individually. 

When you purchase products in bulk, you can get a lower cost-per-unit than if you buy them individually. Then, when selling the products one-by-one, you're able to increase the prices to create a profit margin.

So, where can you buy fantastic goods in bulk?

Start by researching products on business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce marketplaces like Alibaba and DHgate.com .

You can then create an online store with Shopify to sell your products to consumers.

Plus, instead of selling products individually to consumers, you could also purchase products in bulk and sell them to retailers in smaller quantities — this is called wholesaling.

5. Purchase An Existing Ecommerce Business

If you don't have the time — or the inclination — to set up a home-based business from scratch, you could always buy an existing home business opportunity via the Exchange marketplace .

This website facilitates the sale of ecommerce businesses in a range of niches. Plus, you can buy an established business or a relatively new business.

This may sound pretty complicated at first, but in practice, it's pretty straightforward.

Start by browsing the home business opportunities listed on Exchange. When you find a business you like, consider reaching out to the buyer to find out more information. Then, if you decide to purchase the business, Exchange will facilitate the… well, exchange.

On the other hand, if you want to start businesses but you're not interested in growing them to their full potential, you could create and sell ecommerce businesses on Exchange. 

It's also possible to 'flip' businesses — or to put it another way, buy a business, improve it, and then sell it for a profit.

6. Start a Subscription Box Business From Home

Why sell one product at a time when you can sell a bundle of products every month to the same person? This is what subscription box businesses like Birchbox do. 

Plus, Google Trends shows how interest in subscription boxes has boomed in recent years:

This home business idea is a fantastic way to grow a sustainable income, thanks to the recurring revenue generated by ongoing purchases.

You can sell almost anything as a subscription box, too, such as:

• Fashion accessories
• Indie records
• Homeware and kitchen gadgets
• Information products (such as up-to-date industry reports)
• Food, such as snacks or sauces

What's more, you don't necessarily have to sell products — you could also rent them. For example, Haverdash rents clothes.

To get started with this home business idea, sign up for Shopify and use the built-in subscription management tools. 

7. Teach Online

If you have in-demand skills or knowledge and a talent for teaching, consider sharing your knowledge via online video calls

Popular subjects taught online include languages, maths, science, and business. But there are no limits to what you can teach, so you could also teach things like music, sewing, or even DIY!

According to PayScale , most online teachers earn between $10.18 and $39.87 per hour, depending on their level of experience.

There are countless online teaching marketplaces that will help you to connect with students and manage your classes, such as:

Plus, there are plenty of feature-rich online teaching platforms to help you create incredible virtual learning experiences, such as:

8. Start a Service-Based Business From Home

The need for digital services is rampant — from designers and developers to digital marketers and doodlers, there's a need for virtually every talent.

If you're wondering what service you can offer, here are 20 service-based home business opportunities to consider:

• Graphic designer
• Web designer
• Transcriber
• Marketing writer
• Resume writer
• Photo or video editor
• Social media manager
• Digital advertising manager
• Data entry clerk
• Virtual assistant
• Career coach
• Marketing consultant
• Management consultant
• Finance consultant
• Calligrapher

Some of these home business ideas offer more income potential than others. So, make sure to do your research to choose the right service-based home business idea for you.

To get started, consider signing up to a freelance marketplace like People Per Hour , Upwork , or Fiverr .

You could also create a website and then find clients independently by networking and pitching.

9. Sell Digital Products Online

If you've mastered a particular skill or subject and don't want to teach online or provide a service, you could package your knowledge and experience in a digital product.

Selling digital products is a fantastic home business idea because — like dropshipping — there's no need to source or manage inventory or ship products to customers. Plus, once you've created a digital product, it doesn't cost anything to replicate.

So, what types of digital products can you sell? Here are 20 to consider:

• Written templates (résumés, scripts, marketing emails, etc.)
• Spreadsheets
• Illustrations
• Graphic templates
• Editing presets (for videos, images, or audio)
• Online tools
• Membership sites
• Audio (music, samples, podcasts, etc.)
• Research (statistics, reports, etc.)

For example, Gabriella and Andrew Morrison sell courses and house plans to help people build tiny houses on their website Tiny House Build .

10. Build An Online Following That You Can Monetize

If you love creating content, you could build an online following around a particular topic or niche and monetize your audience.

If you're interested in this home business idea, you need to choose a way to build an audience. Now, there are many ways to create a following online — for example, you could:

• Grow an Instagram following
• Build a YouTube audience
• Create a blog and grow your readership
• Grow a Twitch following
• Build a TikTok following

Once you have a relatively large following or plenty of website traffic, how can you make money? In essence, there are three ways to monetize an online audience:

• Brand sponsorships: Get paid to promote a company's products (also known as ' influencer marketing .'
• Affiliate marketing: Promote a company's products or services and earn a commission.
• Sell products: Create and sell physical or digital products to your audience.

For example, Adam Enfroy built a blog that reviews many software products. In the image below, you can see his blog post reviewing the Shopify platform:

This blog post contains Adam's affiliate link to Shopify . As a result, whenever someone reads the post, clicks the affiliate link, and signs up for Shopify, Adam will receive a small sales commission.

FAQs About Home Business Ideas

• How do I start a small home business?

Wondering how to start a small home business? Here are 8 steps to starting an online business:

• Choose an online business model that suits your business
• Identify your target market
• Identify the problem that your business is solving
• Know your competitors and how you are different from them
• Choose a sourcing strategy that your customers will love
• Set up your payment system so you can get paid 
• Test your business idea in the simplest way possible
• Create your marketing strategy to start promoting your business
• How do I make money from home business ideas?

There are many ways that online home business ideas make money. You could charge per product, create subscriptions, build affiliate links, and so much more. Once you have decided your business model you can start brainstorming the exact home business idea for you and get started.

Choose A Home-Based Business Idea and Get Started Today 

There are tons of profitable home business ideas out there to choose from. So, if you're wondering, "What business can I start from home?" Here are 10 of the best home-based businesses to consider:

• Sell products you make at home online
• Start dropshipping products with Dsers
• Sell print-on-demand products
• Buy products in bulk and sell them online
• Purchase an existing business on Exchange
• Sell subscription boxes
• Teach online
• Sell digital products
• Build and monetize an online following

When deciding which home business opportunity to pursue, try to capitalize on any skills and experience you have — and consider following your interests or passions.

Which home business idea has caught your eye? Let us know in the comments below!

Want to Learn More?

• How to Use Shopify: A Quick and Easy Shopify Tutorial for Beginners
• What is Dropshipping: Things You Need To Know Before Getting Started
• Shopify Pricing Plans: Which Shopify Plan is Best For Me?
• Do You Have an Entrepreneurial Spirit? Find Out Here (With Quotes)

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Starting a Craft Business: Legal Structure & Setup Guide

This weeks question comes from Caroline, who wants to start her own Home Craft Business , but she isn't sure how to go about setting up and registering her Craft Business, or what legal structure she should adopt.

This is a really good question, because to get on the right footing with HMRC and other authorities, you need to make sure that your Craft Busines is set up correctly and has the right legal structure.

Starting a Craft Business Legal:

When thinking about starting and setting up your Craft Business ,   you need to consider which legal structure will best suit the way you intend to do Business, as this will affect:

• The Tax & National Insurance that you pay.
• The Records that you have to keep.
• Your Financial Liability if your Craft Business runs into trouble.
• The ways that your Craft Business can raise money
• The way management decisions are made about your Craft Business.

Before starting a Craft Business , I therefore suggest that you seek some advice to determine which Business Legal Status would suit your Craft Business best, based upon your goals and objectives.

There are several legal structures to choose from, including:

• Sole Trader
• Partnership
• Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
• Limited Liability Companies (LTD)

If you're not sure which legal structure would suit your Craft Business best, it's a good idea to get advice from an Accountant, Solicitor or seek advice from the Business Support Helpline at www.gov.uk/business-support-helpline .

This is a UK Government run Business Support Helpline, which provides invaluable Business start-up advice , including information about grants, which are sometimes available to certain groups starting a Business. 

In the majority of cases, most of my customers start their Home Craft Business as a Sole Trader, as this is usually the simplest and quickest way to start and set up a Craft Business.

Setting your Craft Business up as a Sole Trader, has the advantage that there isn't much paperwork to do and there are no registration fees to pay.  But in order to legally set yourself up as a self-employed Sole Trader, there are several things you must do.  

Check-list for Starting a Craft Business:

• Register as Self Employed with HMRC.
• Obtain any permits or planning permission that you may need from your local authority.
• Contact your local authority to find out whether you need to pay Business Rates.
• Contact HMRC to register for VAT if you expect to have a turnover which exceeds the VAT threshold. (This is currently £82,000 p/a for 2015/2016).
• Set up a financial record-keeping system
• Put your name on all of your Business stationery, including letters, invoices, receipts and cheques.

Both The Business Support Line  and The Citizens Advice Bureau   provide additional information on a wide range of self employment topics and can also provide a list of other organisations to contact for specialist advice, so I would encourage you to get in touch with both of these organisations, for further help and advice.

in addition, you can find valuable resource at Victress Entrepreneurs Ltd on how to begin making money, selling crafts at home, including  how to write a Business Plan and how to Start your  Business. 

Don't forget that when you register for any of my  Craft Business Courses  you'll receive my comprehensive Business Start Up Manua l and Marketing Guides which you'll find invaluable for starting and setting up your Craft Business .   In addition,   as a member of www.thekeepsakeguild.co.uk you will continue to receive on-going Business help and support, both from me and my network of around 100 Guild Members Worldwide.

So, Caroline, I hope that this has answered your question and that you have found this weeks Q & A Session helpful?

Remember, if you want weekly tips and advice on starting your ow n Home Craft Business , please subscribe to my Youtube Channe l and you'll be notified each time a new Video is uploaded.

Don't forget, if you've got any questions at all about starting or setting up your own Home Craft Business , please leave them in the comments below and I'll do my vey best to answer you in a future video.

Starting a Craft Business can be overwhelming, start by downloading our FREE Guide here:

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Working remotely and starting businesses from home have grown in popularity over the past decade. Currently, in the United States, millions of self-employed individuals have acted upon home business ideas and work regularly from their home.

There are plenty of compelling reasons to want the flexibility that working from home can offer. If a change in lifestyle is what you’re after, then you’ll want to take a close look at your skills and interests to figure out which of the many work-from-home jobs suits you. To help you in your exploration, we’ve gathered this list of 40 of the best home business ideas.

Home business ideas

Any office worker can probably tell you that they've had a daydream about quitting their job and starting their own business. Luckily, in this technological age, this dream can more easily become a reality. If you have a computer and internet connection, there are home business ideas aplenty, including those with low startup costs (if any) and flexibility for stay-at-home parents.

Here are 40 of the best home business ideas to consider:

1. Freelance writer

If you’re a great writer, then you could make a great freelance writer. And best of all, freelance writers work from all over the world. Whether you want to sit in your neighborhood cafe all day or country-hop all year, this job could apply to you.

Of course, successful writers need to have a firm grasp on grammar and tone, superb editing chops and the ability to do their own research and synthesize content that they might be unfamiliar with. It could help if you become an expert in a few different fields, like technology or small-business finance, and it’s always important for all freelancers to know how to market themselves and network with potential customers.

You might be asked to write anything from a blog post series to an industry white paper, website copy or email newsletters. The more you’re familiar with, the better off you are.

And finally, don’t forego the possibility of writing your own e-books to sell on Amazon and similar websites. With basically zero publishing costs and low design costs, this is another way your writing can benefit your bank account directly. (You could even write an e-book about freelance writing — the possibilities are endless.)

2. Virtual assistant

If all of your friends know you as “the really, really organized one,” then being a virtual assistant might be the home business idea for you.

When busy executives reach a point in their careers where they can't manage all the calls, emails, appointments and smaller responsibilities on their plates, that’s where you come in. As a virtual assistant, you would use your phone, email, computer skills and any number of online tools and applications to handle their online calendars, schedule appointments and meetings, make reservations, purchase tickets, set up reminders, organize events, file documents and more.

If this kind of work isn’t your thing, then it might sound a bit unglamorous. But if you’re the type of person who color-codes their planners and sends out Google calendar invitations for coffee dates, then being a virtual assistant could be a fun and fulfilling job — that you can do from home.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

3. Researcher and fact-checker

From perusing old academic essays or case files to analyzing bibliographies or carrying out some market research, you can establish yourself as a professional researcher and fact-checker. Various types of businesses within several different industries need researchers and fact-checkers. Establishing a niche may help you better market your services.

You need to be organized, meticulous and skilled at communication. If that sounds like you, then add this to your personal list of home business ideas.

4. Social media manager

Today, every business, brand and public figure needs social media to engage with their audience, stay relevant and boost brand awareness.

And as it turns out, many companies pay pretty highly for people to manage their social media accounts well. If you can stay on brand, share content appropriately and reply to customers intelligently — while getting those precious likes, hearts, retweets and upvotes en masse — then you could be a killer social media manager.

5. Blogger and affiliate marketer

While managing a blog in and of itself won’t net you any money — in fact, it’ll cost you to purchase a domain, upgrade the appearance and run marketing campaigns — there are a few ways for you to monetize your blog. You could offer up advertising space, which is a useful but typically minor revenue stream, but a lot more money is often found in sponsorships and affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing, a sort of product placement, will let you receive payment from companies in return for advocating for their goods and services. Although this might sound a bit iffy, if you truly do recommend that your readers try out these products, then it doesn’t need to come across as sales-y or insincere. Readers will understand that you need to make money somehow, and many will appreciate your recommendations if they’re accurate.

6. Freelance designer

If you’re more of a visual person, then the freelance lifestyle can still work wonders. Try your hand at designing posters, flyers, or online advertisements for companies that don’t have the time or talent to do this work themselves.

As a freelance designer, you’ll build an online reputation and eventually have control over the projects and timelines you manage. Try out Behance and other freelance design sites to check out your options.

7. Freelance coder

Becoming a freelance coder is an especially great home-based business idea since it’s already a very commonplace gig. Whether you want the flexibility of being your own boss, enjoy taking on a wide diversity of projects rather than working with a single company, or prefer to travel instead of staying in one place, you've got many reasons to pursue freelance software development — even though technology companies and startups offer their own perks as well.

8. Online thrifter

Have a unique eye and the salesman’s pitch down to a science?

If so, you might want to consider running your own online thrift shop. Whether you focus on fashion specifically, another category of product, or prefer to amass collections of interesting items from all over the internet (but especially eBay), there’s always a strong demand for items with a story .

Give your store a compelling, memorable identity, and it will be seen as much more than a simple consignment store.

9. Data entry guru

It might not be the most lucrative or stimulating job in the universe, but data entry can certainly give you the funds you need to work from home or abroad. Plus, data entry jobs rarely require a lot of time or attention, unlike many on this list of home business ideas. You can listen to your favorite podcasts or audiobooks as you work your own hours.

Moreover, since all you need for data entry is a computer, this is certainly a home business idea with low startup costs — if you already own a laptop and have a reliable WiFi connection, you're pretty much all set.

10. College consultant

If you’re a top-notch editor with a deep understanding of how college admissions works — including standardized test preparation, personal statement requirements, supplemental essay requirements, applicant statistics and even financial aid — then you might be able to snag a rather well-paying job as a college consultant. Some families are willing and able to pay, and pay well, to make sure their kids submit the best possible applications to their dream schools.

This is by no means an easy job, as it requires a lot of knowledge and skillsets, but it can bring in a lot of cash for a home-based business.

11. Online tutor

Whether you’re an expert in a certain subject matter, like calculus or biology, or you’ve secured top scores on standardized tests, like the SATs or MCATs, you may be able to share that knowledge with current students looking to get an edge.

So if you have a passion for teaching, are up to date on the formats and policies of the tests you plan to instruct students on, and feel comfortable handling the content, then it might be time to start an online tutoring business.

And just like with the rest of these online home business ideas, you can easily service customers over the phone or, in this case, a video conferencing program like Skype or Zoom.

12. Translator

If you know multiple languages, then this is the home-based business idea for you. As a translator, you can service businesses and clients in a number of different ways. You can translate articles, press releases, e-books or other written work. You might also translate videos, podcasts or contribute to international closed captions for a variety of visual products. Moreover, you might connect with international businesses to serve as a translator for meetings or phone calls.

With experience in more than one language and access to the internet, you'll be surprised about how far-reaching your home translating business can extend.

13. Cybersecurity consultant

With even the biggest businesses around the world being subject to data breaches, cybersecurity is more important than ever. If you have experience with software and IT, a remote job as a cybersecurity consultant might be one of the best home business ideas for you.

From the comfort of your home, you can work with different companies to test their programs, software, backups, firewalls, encryption and generally assess potential threats to their network and advise them on the best cybersecurity practices. Although this may be one of the home-based business ideas on our list that requires the most training and education, it can be a highly lucrative position if you already have the knowledge, or are willing to work to obtain it.

14. Transcriptionist

Can you type extremely quickly while listening to someone talk? If the answer is yes, you might consider transcription services. Like data entry, this might not be the most exciting of our home business ideas but is certainly low-cost, flexible and you can get started very easily. There are all kinds of companies out there who hire freelance transcriptionists, as well as specific services that employ individuals to transcribe audio for various clients.

15. Travel planner

If you frequent websites like TripAdvisor and Yelp and are well-traveled yourself, you might extend your travel expertise to others as a home-based travel planner. You can use your experience to plan and book trips for your clients — manage hotel reservations, flights, excursions, create itineraries and offer tailored recommendations.

For families looking to go on a two-week vacation or couples planning their honeymoon, hiring someone to handle the details, big and small, of their trip, can be invaluable. Plus, in working with different hotels, resorts and vacation attractions, you'll start to build relationships with the staff — and possibly, receive discounts or perks that will make traveling on your own even easier (you might even start a travel blog while you're at it).

16. Fundraiser

If you have any prior experience managing campaigns and events, or simply have an electric personality, you might consider starting a freelance fundraising business. As a fundraising consultant, you'll have the opportunity to market for a business or cause and talk to prospective donors about how and why they should contribute to your campaign.

This home business idea is great for individuals with a background in nonprofit or government work, as well as former marketers or salespeople. If you have excellent people skills and a drive for meeting goals and getting results, this can easily be the right business for you.

17. Medical billing and coding

Although this job may require some form of medical background or schooling, it can be easily profitable and sustainable. Medical billing and coding connect health care providers, patients and insurance companies. As a medical biller and coder, therefore, you would work with patient records to determine the correct codes that are then verified by doctors and sent to insurance providers.

This career is a great business idea for nurses looking for a change; they can easily utilize their prior experience and relationships to succeed in this kind of self-employed role.

18. Video producing

With the prevalence of video in social media and marketing, the need for video producers and experts has only grown in recent years. Even if you don't have prior experience cutting and editing video, this is an online-based home business idea that you can easily learn and teach yourself with classes, tutorials and general guidance from the online video community.

Moreover, video production can transcend a number of different industries, styles and goals. As a video producer, you'll not only have the flexibility of working from home on a variety of projects, but you'll also have the ability to utilize your creativity on a daily basis.

19. Publicist

Looking for a way to combine your public speaking, communication and writing skills? You might consider serving as a freelance publicist or public relations consultant. You can greatly appeal to smaller businesses or individuals who can't invest in full PR teams or staff, but still need this kind of assistance for their organization.

As a freelance publicist, you may handle press releases, emails, social media — essentially, assisting with all facets of your clients' public-facing presence.

20. Customer service representative

Many companies now outsource their customer service to home-based representatives, so you should have no shortage of potential clients in this field. After all, any service- or product-based organization is more than likely going to have some kind of customer support need.

As a customer service representative, you'll be able to work with individuals online or over the phone and talk them through any issues they're having. If you have a communicative and approachable personality, this could be a great option for you.

21. Pet sitter or dog walker

As a pet sitter or a dog walker, you'll get to spend time with other people’s animals while they’re at work or on a trip. Simply follow your client's instructions, as well as your own experience and expertise, to provide care and comfort to these pets. It’s an easy way to get paid, especially if you’re an organized and trustworthy individual with a reputation for or history of animal care.

22. Arts and crafts master

Consider putting your knack for arts, crafts and design to use as the manager of an online store. So long as you believe your creations can find a market and sell at a profitable price, there’s very little stopping you from signing up as a seller on a site like Etsy and carving out your niche. While it might be a tough business, there’s plenty of wisdom out there to learn from.

23. Accountant

If you’re currently an accountant, transitioning to remote work might be as simple as letting your clients know that you work remotely now for reasons of convenience or perhaps hanging your own shingle out to start your own firm. On the other hand, if you’re looking to enter the industry (virtually or not), you should be aware of the training and certifications necessary.

24. T-shirt designer

The U.S. apparel industry is a $225 billion dollar market, and as it turns out, the T-shirt business is relatively quick, easy and painless to get into.

So if you’re interested in entering the eclectic and diverse T-shirt business with an idea or brand of your own, rejoice: This is certainly one of the best business ideas for setting your own hours and calling your own shots.

25. Cleaning service

If you love — or just don’t mind — cleaning up after others, then starting a cleaning business could give you the flexibility you want without forcing you to sit at a computer all day long.

However, this is an endeavor that could certainly grow into a much larger company if you’re successful, meaning that, eventually, you’d probably have to get an office and hire staff.

26. Massage therapist and wellness expert

Over the past decade, the massage therapy industry has grown nearly 20% with no indication of stopping. If this statistic interests you, then you might want to consider entering this burgeoning field.

After getting your massage therapy certification, along with the business license and massage equipment needed to work from home, you can turn your house into a local massage parlor for clients to come to, relax and improve their health and wellness. Plus, you could combine your massage therapy with a more holistic wellness practice or a nutritionist practice — but make sure to check your state’s licensing laws before offering dietary advice or supplements to customers.

27. Personal trainer

As a personal trainer, you could make house calls, visit a gym or let clients come to you (if you have the necessary equipment). You need to be very knowledgeable about everything from proper exercises for different body types to how to motivate people who want to get healthy. You should feel comfortable getting close to your clients in order to learn what works best for them.

Although a certification may not absolutely be necessary, it’s not a bad idea to find out if you can get one in your state before starting up, just in case.

28. Interior decorator

If you have an eye for composition, organization and feng shui, think about starting an interior design business . Partner with local furniture stores and design businesses (with your clients’ knowledge) to get good deals, help decorate public spaces and business interiors as well as houses and apartments, and let everyone in and outside your network know that your services are available.

29. Event planner

Everyone plans events — but not everyone lives and breathes it. Do you love coordinating food and drinks, invitations, scheduling conflicts, music, gifts, goody bags and every other aspect of the parties or events you’ve set up?

From birthdays to weddings, corporate get-togethers and local conventions, the world is your oyster when it comes to events to plan. If you’re passionate about logistics, then this could be the home business idea for you.

30. Caterer

If nobody you know can stop talking about your cooking, then maybe it’s time to charge for your services and talent and start a catering business .

While you won’t necessarily be able to do all of your catering work from home — you may need to use a commercial kitchen and will likely have to hire some part-time employees to help during events — much of the organization, planning, marketing and actual business work can be done wherever you like.

31. Bed-and-breakfast manager

This idea is for the folks who live in popular tourist locations, or would like to move to one. With some preparation, planning, tidying, cooking and a dash of advertising (made easier by services like Airbnb), you can convert your home into a bed-and-breakfast for weary travelers to rest in.

Keep in mind that you need spare bedrooms or a guest house for your customers, and you might want to invest in your cooking and decorating skills to leave a lasting positive impression. Good reviews go a long way in booking out your house for the future.

32. Florist

With a green thumb and a knack for crafts, you might consider opening a floral business to sell flowers and floral arrangements. Depending on your location, you could grow your own flowers, sell and arrange them at home; or, you can outsource the flowers, but still manage the whole of your operations from your own house.

33. Day care manager

Provided you have space, you can start a day care business by supervising a few children during the day — and expanding with staff to accommodate more kids as your business expands.

A day care can be an important business in a local community, especially if your town doesn't already have one. Plus, if you have any experience with teaching or kids, getting into this business will be quick, easy and rewarding.

34. Rideshare driver

Although not home-based per se, becoming a rideshare driver, with Uber or Lyft can offer the same flexibility and freedom as a business that's physically based in your home. As a rideshare driver, your business will more or less be based in your car, and you'll be able to choose your own hours and be your own boss. With the popularity of ridesharing apps continuing to grow, there's no shortage of clients looking for rides, especially if you live in a tourist area or near a big city.

35. Photographer

By starting your own home photography business, you can manage the operational side of your endeavor right from home and travel as needed to meet clients. If your home is particularly picturesque, you might even consider bringing clients there to take photographs or set up a home studio for portraits.

If you want to venture into event photography, you can market your services and look for clients who need professional photography for weddings, graduations, engagements or other events.

36. Landlord

If you have an extra room or guest house on your property, you might consider renting the space — or even investing in a separate property that you can market to renters. As a landlord, you'll be responsible for the upkeep of the property and dealing with any issues that arise with your renters, but you'll generally have flexibility in your business and be home-based.

37. Hair stylist or makeup artist

Are you the person that your friends come to for help with hair and makeup? If so, you might decide to start a home-based salon or makeup artistry business. You can set up a small place in your home with good lighting and the tools you'll need to service your clients, as well as create an on-the-go kit to offer hair and makeup in your clients' homes.

You may find that your hair or makeup business is particularly busy during prom and wedding season, which will be the perfect time to continue to market to new customers. If you have downtime during seasons, you might consider starting a hair or makeup blog or YouTube tutorial channel as well.

38. Eldercare

If you're passionate about helping people and have any experience in personal care, you might consider starting an eldercare business. Nursing homes can be expensive and people are often hesitant to put their family members in full-time care facilities. Therefore, you might decide to offer freelance care, traveling to your clients' homes and caring for them as needed. Keep in mind, you'll want to make sure you have any certifications and the proper training you need.

With the growing popularity of craft and local beers, you might consider brewing beer in your own home. Although this home business will require research, training and equipment, it can be sustainable if your properly market and sell your product.

Or, if you're particularly attracted to the brewing process but don't want to get involved in all of the other areas involved in selling beer, you might look into contract brewing, where you help beer companies make and package their beer. Either way, this can be a great hands-on business, especially if you like experimenting and figuring out how the best beer is made.

Even with all of the different brands and clothing stores out there, people are still going to have those moments where they need a piece of clothing fitted or repaired. If you have any skill with a needle or sewing machine, you might want to open up your own home tailor shop. As a tailor, you can perform fittings and alternations for dresses and suits, as well as repair damaged clothes.

Moreover, you might find there's a market for sewing personalization that you could capitalize on as well, especially for sports teams uniforms, wedding gifts, company swag and more.

Start Your Dream Business

Tips for starting a home-based business

Owning a home-based business is a dream that many people have. The good news is, the process is much more straightforward than you might think. If you're already working from home, contracting or freelancing, you may be able to turn your marketable skills into your own home business. Consider the following steps:

1. Craft a business plan

All businesses are born from a solid plan. Your home-based business is no different. Decide your company's purpose, figure out what service or products you will offer and set measurable targets and goals. You should also determine business financing options if you need initial capital to get started. Your business plan may adapt as your company evolves, but it's the foundation your company will grow upon.

2. Carve out a dedicated workspace

If you're new to working from home, you may think the kitchen table or couch makes for a perfect workspace. Unfortunately, when you're running your own home-based business, you may need a designated space to manage your business. This space does not have to be large and can always grow with time, but it should be separate from daily distractions in your home. If you don't have a second room to utilize, consider setting up your workspace in a spare bedroom or another less-trafficked room. You'll appreciate the privacy when you're taking work calls.

3. Choose a business entity

When planning home business ideas, you need to decide what type of business you want to form. Each business type has its own advantages and disadvantages, so make sure you do thorough research before deciding on one.

You don't have to form your own business to work from home, but doing so can be beneficial when filing your taxes and separating personal and business expenses.

The bottom line

If you're exploring small-business ideas from home to find the one that will be cost-effective, fit your skills and inspire you—we hope you found the right idea on our list; or, if not, you at least came up with a brilliant home business idea of your own.

The market for working from home (and home-based businesses) continues to grow, especially in small communities and niche markets. If you're intent on shifting to a home-based career, then, the opportunity is out there to start, sustain and even grow your own business.

On a similar note...

Step-by-Step Sample of a Craft Business Plan

• Mary Rajotte
• Categories : Entrepreneurs , Business
• Tags : Office entrepreneurs topics business planning

Reality Check

Having a passion for arts and crafts is a great place to start, but that does not mean you should completely overlook the importance of having a solid plan to back up your interests.

While being passionate about your product is a great place to start, you need to put a plan into place that will help you to start, build and grow your business. That is where this sample of a craft business plan can help you to focus on your goal of being a small business owner.

After putting all the pieces into place, implementing them is much easier, and your excitement for your passion project will translate into a passion that is reciprocated by your customers.

Photo: Melodi2

Creating a business plan will provide you with a solid basis from which to start your craft business. Generally, most business plans follow a similar format , and this sample of a craft business plan includes the following areas:

Executive Summary

Mission statement.

• Product/Service Descriptions
• Marketing Plan

Financial Information

The Executive Summary pinpoints the main bulletpoints of your business, offering a quick glance at the most important aspects of your small business and what you hope to achieve. These can include:

• contact information for your business
• a brief description of you & your business
• your objectives & how you will achieve them

Sparkle Jewelry Designs is a handcrafted jewelry business with a focus on modern styles with an edge.

Our ideal customers are females between the ages of 20 to 40. Our clients pride themselves on wearing fashions that express their individuality and they choose our designs for their creative styles that are both fashion-forward and can be worn for years to come.

The Mission Statement should include your intentions for your company

• trends and how you fit into the marketplace
• be specific with your goals & think beyond simply being a success in your target market

Our clients love fashion but they are not satisfied with mass-produced, cookie-cutter accessories. They seek out our brand for our attention to detail, custom designs, and the personal touch that comes with our handcrafed designs.

Product/Service Description

This section should include information on what makes your product special.

• What is your unique selling point?
• How is your product different than what is currently available in the marketplace?
• Do you do something faster, better or in a way that is innovative when compared to your competition?
• What benefit does your product have for your customers? Does it solve a problem or fill a hole in the marketplace? How does your product uniquely enhance their life?

Each piece in the Sparkle Jewelry Designs line is handcrafted in limited edition batches.

This provides a much sought-after appeal to our pieces, while offering unique designs that are handcrafted to the highest standards specifically for our customers.

This also allows us to apply the highest level of craftmanship to every piece in the Sparkle Jewelry Designs line.

Marketing Plan: Reaching Your Target Market

This section should be completed following a market analysis that will determine the three main components of your marketing plan.

• your target market

• your competition and how you plan to compete

• marketing expenses & how you will market your crafts

Sparkle Jewelry Designs are currently sold via our online website, which receives traffic flow from our various social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

We plan to market our jewelry via these online spaces, as well as through various blogs that our shoppers read. Our sales will be tracked online via Paypal, which we will use to collect payment, as well as run & print monthly reports of all sales & expenses.

Sparkle Jewelry Designs is located in downtown Toronto, which gives us access to various crafts shows, artisan markets and trade shows where we rent space to sell our wares .

Our clients love fashion but they are not satisfied with mass-produced, cookie-cutter accessories. They seek out our brand for our attention to detail, custom designs, and the personal touch that comes with our handcrafted designs.

Photo: Andres Rodriguez

This section should include information on sales, expenses and cash flow expectations .

• what start-up costs will you have?
• how will you source supplies?

Since Sparkle Jewelry Designs will be run from our home, our start-up expenses will be minimal. Our expenses will be web hosting, domain registration and minimal advertising costs. We will also need to purchase packaging materials for our orders, and to pay a minimal fee for each sale by using Paypal as our payment processor.

We expect our cash flow to be more lucrative during Fall (for holiday shoppers) and Spring, with a slow-down in Summer months, as online traffic and shopping in general seems to slow down in those periods.

Final Thoughts

While your aim is to make your business plan as professional as possible, don’t think that you cannot be creative with your business plan. Creating a small craft business plan will allow you to see your entire business laid out before you, and give you a snapshot of how you can live your dream and make money doing so.

Inserting your personality and the passion you have for your craft business idea will translate into a compelling document that will help you propel your business forward.

• How to Write a Simple Business Plan
• Best Craft Business Ideas
• Top 5 Work-from-Home Arts & Crafts Jobs

You can create all the lovely crafts you want, but if you do not have anyone to sell them to, your business is not going to go very far. When creating a home-based craft business, you need to determine who will buy your crafts, and why. Take the time to identify your prospective customers, and where you will find them. Your customers can be individuals or businesses. You can sell your crafts at craft fairs, online, or as consignments. This article will give you a few ideas of how to determine your market, as well as how to best determine your potential earnings with your craft business.

Who Will Buy Your Crafts?

When you are busy creating a craft, do you think of where it will end up? Who is going to buy your craft, regardless of what it is? You need to ask yourself, or envision your potential customers. Your customers can be individuals, or they can be businesses that sell hand-crafted items. Your options are nearly limitless in finding customers, thanks to the global access provided by the Internet.

Not only do you need to figure out who you are going to sell your crafts to, you need to determine their likes and dislikes. If your crafts are useful and functional, what types of needs do they serve, or problems will they solve? For example, if you make bird houses or bird feeders, you will obviously be providing shelter and sustenance to birds. If you make dolls, you will make small children, and some adult doll collectors, very happy. Your crafts, whether they are developed for use, functionality, or design, will meet the needs, desires, and likes of many different individuals.

Who do you envision as your best customer? Children, teenagers, adults? If adults, are those adults younger, middle aged, or seniors? Do your best to identify your future customers and what motivates them, or will motivate them, to purchase your crafts.  

Targeting Your Prospective Market

Before we get too far in determining a market for your crafts, remember that the reason you started your business, was because you enjoyed crafting. We want you to continue to enjoy crafting and creating works of art with your hands and creative skills. Once again, reflect on why you are opening your new business, and what you hope to achieve. If you merely want to share your skills and the pleasure you gain from your crafts with others, financial rewards may not be as important as other factors, including producing quality, long-lasting products that provide years of pleasure and enjoyment to others.

However, if you are going to make your crafting business succeed, you do have to take some time to understand customer desires and needs. A few steps can help you determine such needs, including:

• What age group are you going to initially target with your crafts? For example, which age group do you see benefiting, or being most interested in, the type of craft you produce?
• Test your potential products by asking friends and family members of different ages to rate your products in terms of interest. This way, you will be able to focus your crafting ideas to meet the needs of specific age groups, attitudes, and preferences.
• Ask friends or family members, or even your first clients, if they have suggestions or ways you can improve your crafts to ensure their marketability. For example, you may like bright, vibrant neon fabrics for your quilt, but others may find such colors unappealing. Determine which range of colors may appeal to the greatest range of individuals before spending the time it takes to create a quilt in order have that finished product appeal to more individuals.
• Take the time to research the potential demand or desire for the type of craft you are producing. For example, if you live in a desert mountain community, your business creating fishing lures may not be as lucrative as that same business located on oceanfront property could be.

Do your best to create a niche for yourself and create crafts that are not typically common in your neighborhood or community. For example, wicker or twig crafts are especially popular in areas like Tennessee, but are not so common in the western half of the U.S. Native American crafts may appeal to a broad range of people in all geographical areas, even overseas, so do a little homework and see what is popular out there. While you may not sell many of your twig crafts in your county, you may sell like crazy elsewhere. The same goes for antler crafts in Colorado. Antler crafts are very popular in the Rocky Mountain states, and may not have the same selling potential for a southern Californian, or someone from the eastern seaboard.

Keep your products unique and interesting. Take the time to visit a number of stores in your area to determine whether your craft, or type of craft, is easily purchased, or if you are able to offer a different take on crafts that are readily available.

You will also need to take the time to find out what crafts are popular at the moment. What was hot last year may not be marketable this year. Who is buying your crafts, and where are they most popular? Do your best to set yourself apart from others and create crafted products that have a wide appeal to the most age groups.

Remember that developing any business takes time, and that goes for a home-based crafting business. You may experience some fits and starts, some mistakes, and quite a few challenges. However, by carefully assessing the types of craft you choose, identify your target market, and the prospective desire for your specific crafts in that market, you will find yourself achieving the steady and growing clientele that soon extends beyond the borders of your neighborhood.

You can determine the interest, appeal and potential demand for your craft by participating in craft shows or fairs in your area. You may even start smaller, asking your friends and family members to take a look at your crafts, and determining appeal that way.

Remember that the most important aspect of starting a crafting business, is to identify who is going to buy your crafts. As you get started in your crafting business, you may need to develop a plan of action to help you stay on track with your goals. Many home crafters create a business plan, but unless you plan on expanding, and need loans to fund your business, a business plan is not always necessary.

Nevertheless, business and marketing plans are excellent ways to help you determine goals and achievements, and may help keep your business on track, organize your business efforts, and help you achieve your highest earning potential.

Most crafters starting a home-based business do not feel they need a business or marketing plan. While this is true, for the most part, a business plan does not need to be utilized solely to present to funders, lenders, or business partners. A business plan may also be designed to offer goals, milestones, or marketing potential and growth for your home-based business. While it is not mandatory, it certainly can not hurt to create at least a basic marketing plan to help guide the direction of your home-based craft business.

A traditional business plan can be created for your home-based craft business scenario. Because we certainly do not want to bore students with the long, drawn-out explanation of various aspects of marketing basics, we will just touch on topics of a marketing plan that might benefit you and your business, as you develop and grow.

Later on in this article, we are also going to discuss how you can determine your earning potential, both short-term and long-term.

A Brief Glimpse Into Business Plans

Traditionally, business plans are created to offer customers your mission statement, or your goals, regarding your business, as well as the type of products your business offers. Obviously, crafters will be able to offer a variety of crafted products for clients.

On top of that, traditional market plans offer an analysis that offers a focused glimpse at the target markets , or types of people you plan on selling your products to. This portion of the business plan is designed to anticipate future growth of your business, include information about possible competition, and a variety of marketing strategies you can employ for the growing success of your business.

Again, when you are first starting off with a home-based craft business, it is a good idea to know who your competitors are, but because crafts are so diverse in both style and construction, this is something you may not need to worry about, unless you decide to open a shop, or unless there is more than one social crafting group or guild in your area. If you realize there are four quilting groups in your neighborhood alone, you may want to find a unique quilting idea or angle before trying to market your quilts.

A business plan typically provides financial projections , or how much you plan on earning every month, on your business. The financial portion of a business plan will also include information regarding expenses and a profit and loss statement. Again, while you want to make money with your business, it is a good idea not to set your earnings potential or projections too high for at least the first year or two after opening a home-based craft business. If you make more than you planned, great. If not, you will not be disappointed. Remember, it takes time for any home-based business to get off the ground.

Home-based craft business owners need to give neighbors, friends, and surrounding communities time to get to know you, to realize your services are available, and to spread word of mouth regarding your business.

This brings us to the marketing strategies that you will use to broadcast your business. This part of a business plan is also known as management strategy. This portion of a traditional business plan explains what types of strategies or avenues you plan to take to market your business, grow your business, as well as how and when you plan to make these changes or growths.

Big or Small - A Marketing Plan Determines Where You Want to Go

Big or small, your craft business should have short-term and long-term goals in terms of earnings, growth, and future development. Again, the need to develop a marketing plan depends on what you are selling, how much of it you want to sell, and whether you have future plans for growing your business.

For those of you crafters who definitely want to grow their business, you need to have some kind of an idea of judging where your particular craft niche, or business, currently stands, where you would like to see it end up, and then plotting avenues or ideas on how to get there. The marketing plan is basically an outline of how you define the basic avenues or strategies, as well as costs, of how to get there.

For crafters, a marketing plan may be fairly simplistic. You start at Point A, and want to get to Point B. First, you need to consider a variety of questions.

• Ask yourself if you have any ideas about how you get from Point A to point B.
• Is it a matter of creating more product?
• Is it a matter of determining whether your crafts are priced too high, or too low?
• Do you need to spend more time marketing or advertising your products? For example, do you need to extend the demand for your craft beyond your immediate neighborhood, town, or county? Have you thought of ways to go national or even international?
• In order to help your business grow, you also need to determine costs versus revenues, the cost of packaging and mailing services, and the cost of your supplies.

Such questions should be developed into a marketing plan that you can understand and follow. You do not need to be formal when it comes to devising a marketing plan for personal use, and can even write it on a white board, a piece of legal paper, or save it as a Word document in your computer. Some form of a marketing plan is essential to anyone who wants to create a growing home-based business.

Determining Earning Potential

When determining your future earning potential, you also need to ask yourself some questions. For example, who are your best customers? Are they individuals, friends, or businesses? Do you see long-term sustainability with your crafts?

Are you capable and willing to take the time and effort to find new marketing avenues and sources for your crafts? This means marketing your crafts beyond your county line, state, or even country if necessary. The best way to do this is to determine what motivates your potential clients to buy your crafts.

When seeking a specific market, decide who you are going to target as primary customers. Show friends, family, or peers a sampling of your crafts and test your market. What was their reaction to your craft? Did they show satisfaction, pleasure, or just polite comments? Did you ask these people how much they would pay for such items?

By asking these questions, you will be able to determine how much your potential clients may be willing to pay for your craft, whether they would buy it in the first place, and whether or not they would purchase such items year round, for special occasions such as a birthday, or during the holiday season.

Whether or not you have decided to develop a marketing plan, a business plan, or simply of list of things you would like to accomplish with your home-based craft business, the first thing you need to do after completing those crafts, is to sell them.

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Garden tours, plants sales and more ways to spend time among flowers

Visit Maine's botanical gardens or get a sneak peek of what your neighbors are growing in their back yards.

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One of the loveliest ways to ease yourself fully out of the post-winter blahs and into springtime is to quit being a wallflower and instead surround yourself with living, blooming plants.

From botanical gardens to plant sales and garden tours, it’s time to make like the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” and while away the hours, conferring with flowers.

The waterfall at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay. Photo by Tory Paxson, Courtesy of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

TOTALLY BOTANICAL

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay is open for the season, daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maine Days are May 31 to June 2, when anyone with a Maine driver’s license or state ID gets in for free. Ditto for dads/father figures on Father’s Day (June 16). Advance registration is required. With more than 300 acres of gardens and natural spaces, including a waterfall, there will be plenty to see, smell and bask in the scenery.

Here are more things to do in Boothbay

A tour group walks on the boardwalk at Viles Arboretum in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Viles Arboretum is a botanical garden in Augusta with 6 miles of trails and more than 20 botanical collections. It’s open daily from sunrise to sunset, and admission is free. There are 224 acres with all sorts of flora and fauna to discover. Leashed dogs are welcome, and the visitor center is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Viles Arboretum offers medicinal plant walks, and although the May 18 session is full, you can still register for the June 15 and Sept. 14 events, lead by herbalist, homeopath and flower essence practitioner Debra Bluth. Tickets are $25. Advertisement

The Mount Desert Land & Garden Preserve has four areas to explore on its property in Northeast Harbor: the Asticou Azelea Garden (dawn to dusk daily), the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden (noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday from July 9 to Sept. 8, reservations required), Thuya Garden (dawn to dusk daily, June 15 to Oct. 14) and Little Long Pond Natural Lands (hiking trails and carriage roads open dawn to dusk daily). On June 26, at the Wildflowers of Little Long Pond event, participants can wander around the garden’s fields and forest, spotting wildflowers along the way while practicing how to identify them.

Joyce Saltman, right, and Beth Anisbeck embrace a tree for 60 seconds during a tree hugging event sponsored by Portland Parks and Recreation, at Deering Oaks Park last year. Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer

TOURS AND MORE

2nd Annual Tree Hugging 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Deering Oaks Park, Portland. portlandmaine.gov The tree hugging is a family-friendly community gathering to celebrate Portland’s many trees. Park ranger Liz Collado will lead a sensory awakening and forest bathing session. Along with tree hugging, there will be a storytime, and you can touch a forestry truck and meet naturalist Noah Querido and Portland city arborist Mark Reiland. Just down the road, you’ll find Fessenden Park, on the corner of Brighton and Deering Avenues. The tulips have arrived, and it’s worth a visit to see them.

McLaughlin Garden Lilac Festival 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 24. McLaughlin Garden and Homestead, 97 Main St., South Paris, $5. mclaughlingardens.org You’ll find more than 125 varieties of lilacs at the McLaughlin Garden Lilac Festival. Explore on your own or take a guided tour led by a horticulturist. There will also be family-friendly activities, and you can shop for native and unusual plants.

4th annual Woodfords Community Garden Tour 1-4 p.m. June 8. Woodfords Corner Community in Back Cove, Deering Highlands, Oakdale and Deering Center, $20 suggested donation. woodfordscorner.org Presented by Friends of Woodfords Corner, this self-guided tour features at least 10 gardens. As you make your way down the list, you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised by all of the hidden havens bursting with flowers, plants and impressive yardscaping elements.

Peony Society of Maine 23rd annual Garden Tour 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 8 and 15. Both tours start at 1348 Ohio St., Bangor, $5 donation. peonysocietyofmaine.net You’ll visit multiple gardens in Bangor, Winterport, Ripley and St. Albans, and your senses will be filled with countless peonies. A peony plant will be raffled off at the end of each tour. Advertisement

Hidden Gardens of Historic Bath 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 22. Sagadahoc Preservation Inc., 880 Washington St., Bath, $40. sagadahocpreservation.org The Hidden Gardens of Historic Bath house and garden tour features several homes in North Bath. Every stop on the tour will be a treat for your senses and may motivate you to make some of your own magic when you get back home.

Garden Conservancy Open Garden Days 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 29. Beckett Castle Rose Garden, Singles Road, Cape Elizabeth, $10. gardenconservancy.org You’ll see plenty of roses as well as ocean views at Beckett Castle, which sits right on the water, with views of five lighthouses. The castle was built in 1871, and its rose garden features more than 70 varieties of heirloom roses. A 50-foot stone tower doubles as the rose arbor entrance to the castle.

PICK A PLANT SALE

Tate House Museum’s Annual Plant and Herb Sale 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 18. Tate House Museum, 1267 Westbrook St., Portland, 207-774-6177.  tatehouse.org The wide selection includes perennials divided from the museum’s 18th century reproduction garden. Visitors can also make their own “seed bombs” and get a sneak peak at a new installation by artist Ashley Page from 10 a.m. to noon.

Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland Spring Plant S ale 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. May 18, Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland, 217 Landing Road, Westbrook, 207-854-9771.  arlgp.org   Perennials, house plants and more will be on sale, and plants that don’t have specific pricing are “name your own fee.” Anyone interested in donating plants or pots to the sale should send a message to [email protected] .

Taking Root Plant Sale 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 1, Tom Settlemire Community Garden, Maurice Drive, Brunswick, 207-729-7694.  btlt.org This annual sale is organized by the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. Proceeds benefit the Common Good Garden, which provides food and gardening education for the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program. Master gardeners will be on hand to help shoppers choose their best options.

Scarborough Land Trust Native Plant Sale and Spring Festival 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 1, Broadturn Farm, 388 Broadturn Road, Scarborough, 207-289-1199.  scarboroughlandtrust.org Visitors will find native plants, food vendors, local artisans, guided nature walks and activities for kids. To preorder plants, visit the Scarborough Land Trust website.

Maine Audubon Society Native Plants Sale and Festival 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., June 8, Gilsland Farm Audubon Center, 20 Gilsland Farm Road, Falmouth, 207-781-2330.  maineaudubon.org More than 75 species of native wildflowers, shrubs and tree seedlings will be available, along with workshops, info tables and experts.

Staff writer Megan Gray contributed to this report.

Related Headlines

Headed to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens? Here’s what else to check out in Boothbay

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