How to Start an Arts and Crafts Business

With huge corporate companies churning out machine produced lines of 'arts and crafts' at cheap prices you have to be realistic and realise that passionate entrepreneurs will find it hard to compete but you have something that this global monopolies lack:

1.) Originality ~ You offer one off items that are not massed produced and that your costumers will not find elsewhere. You are the leader in your very own niche market.

2.) Sentimentality ~ Items mean more to a person when they come with their own story and history. Each handmade craft you offer started off as an idea in your head and people want to know what inspired your craft, little anecdotal tales about its creation. They like the idea of you slaving for hours over their perchance as the care and effort gives the item greater worth which leads into point number%u2026

3.) The Personal Touch ~ Relating an item to a person instead of a franchise means that your customers are helping local artists and supporting their neighbours and this makes them feel connected to you and your success.

4.) Customisation ~ You can offer what check out clerks can't, a custom made product. Your customers can have an active part in designing their very own purchase because that's what you do anyway - take one idea and vision at a time and create something from it and because you're the crafter as well as the customer relations officer and seller, you have the power to tweak your designs to suit the individual and t the end of the day people will pay more for the perfect item than the I like it a lot but wish I could change that black to brown%u2026

First and foremost you have to really love what you do or the whole business will be soul destroying. Trust me, I've been there. Some Examples:

I trade at a well established, weekly arts and crafts market in a capitol city, ok it's Belfast but still. Have are some of my personal experiences:

Customers browsing, handling everything because shop etiquette and basic human politeness doesn't seem to cover markets, screwing their nose up at things and being scandalised by the prices. When you have spent hours on your creations and people treat them car boot junk it's easy to get disillusioned so you have to have a thick skin and realise that art is a matter of personal taste and that you CAN'T please everyone - don't fall into the trip of trying, it's better to specialise in one area well then try to cover everything badly - you can't compete with the specialised stalls.

On the flipside people will praise and adorn your work but often still won't buy - that's because in this economic market people just can't afford luxuries so don't take it personally.

I love this example - I sell because a lovely couple, the husband is a phenomenal painter and has a brilliant work of the Titanic, set sail on stormy, icy waters and do you know what people have said to him: "That band their on the ship should be yellow, not white!" He's response: 1. Artistic license 2. Were you there? 3. I thought all the photos of the Titanic were in black and white, it's amazing that you could see yellow!

Yes, people will criticise and nit-pick but these are your creations, you do them for yourself and personally I want to sell to people who will actually appreciate them.

Haggling ~ Just yesterday my next door neighbour had a person try to argue over 20pence! And the item only cost £2.50 to begin with. Sometimes haggling is good. When you price your items, the price has to be competitive but still make you a profit. Have in your mind an idea of the lowest price you would go to and stick couple of pounds more on it, most people will pay it but some will barter you down because they like to think they're getting a bargain deal. DON'T go below this price. I once had a girl try every trick in the book to get me to come down for eight whole pounds! I wouldn't and if they like the piece enough they will give in, she did, if they don't than someone else will appreciate it enough to pay a decent price for it.

Before you Begin:

1.) Choose your craft - you think this is obvious, well not so much, you see there's no point in making replicas of other people's work unless you can find a way to do it for considerably less money and undercut the market but that's just mean. Choose a craft you are good at and enjoy enough to add your own personal flair to it. The best arts and crafts businesses will offer something a little different that you can't get elsewhere because it's your UNIQUE STYLE. Specialise in a niche market where you can offer original and quality products. You have to find yourself before you will ever find a customer base.

2.) Google - Check out the competition. What do you like about their products and marketing, what draws you in and encourages you to buy and what kind of price are they charging and can you compete with that without bankrupting yourself. If you can't then you've got to compensate by offering your customers a completely unique experience and have a 'hook' that makes your products different and stand out.

3.) Test the market - it's a good idea to try samples, all big businesses do it. Give your friends and family a product, ask them to use it or wear it for a few weeks and then pester them with questions: Was it durable, did it do what it was supposed to do, what would they improve and what price would they pay for such an item, even would they bother buying something like this at all if it wasn't a gift. Check how marketable your stock is and its demand before investing any more money making more.

4.) Branding ~ Choose a business name, something catchy and easy to remember. Choose a colour scheme for display boxes or bags. Think about getting online and merchandising - vistaprint is the most common outlet here - they offer custom made banners, flyers and promotional material.

5.) Raw Materials ~ Research your suppliers. Buying in bulk will often cut your costs so you need to plan exactly what you will need for say 50 products. Make a list and then find the cheapest supplies you can. Shopping in specialised craft stores is expensive, it's often better to go directly to wholesalers and eBay - seriously - you can pick up bulk supplies far cheaper if you shop around online.

Where to sell:

Unless you have the experience and finance to go straight into a retail unit with the rents, utilities, rates and business plans then you will probably start off as I did - craft fairs, markets and house parties.

1.) Internet again ~ search for craft forums in your area as they will list upcoming events, and great resources such as suppliers or books that have helped others get on their feet.

2.) Once you've done a few fairs talk to the other stall holders and exchange contact details to form a crafters ring - it's the best way to stay in the loop as fairs and events are rarely publicised and hard to find out about so help each other by sharing information.

3.) Once you get started you will find that craft fairs all have different rules and regulations. The larger fairs can charge up to £200 for a weekend pass whereas the smaller, often church or charity run events will usually be about £25.00 per table. Some will demand that you fill in a health and safety risk assessment and many will want proof of insurance ->

4.) Insurance ~ Public liability insurance covers you in case someone gets hurt accidentally - this can be as simple as tripping over your sheet covering your stall, or knocking into your stall and products falling on them and will usually cover damages and stock as well as regrettably there are opportunistic folk out there that will snatch your money box or even stock right off your table. Trust me - it's happened. In Northern Ireland and the UK the Market Traders Federation is normally recommended for insurance - they cover you up to 5million in public liability and it costs approx. £80-100 per year. I've also used Ian Wallace who offer similar cover.

5.) A great outlet is word of month and offering craft parties to showcase and sell your stock in people's homes. You might demonstrate how to make a few items, have a few parties games like 'favourite embarrassing memory of your host' or 'Chinese Whispers', 'Guess the Song' where you play maybe 30secs of a music track and offer a small prize to the winner. You might have a themed event or even buy a load of cheap beads and do some teaching so everyone has a souvenir to take home. If you're among friends taking pictures of them wearing your items or using them can be great publicity for a future website and gather testimonials as people like to buy from someone they trust.

6.) Online marketing is key in this day and age but there's far too much to cover in this lens so I'll pen another - kept an eye out!

Creative display:

Your stall or shop needs to be visually attractive to incite customers in. I always have a talking point or focal point of interest to engage customers. It is a good idea to offer products at a range of prices from cheap to expensive and prominently display one of your favourite and most costly items, even if it's not for sale. Here are some examples of great display ideas:

1.) I'm a photographer so one thing I used was old fashioned cameras as a talking point or some 'not for sale' equipment that you actually use in the creative process.

2.) I also sell handmade jewellery and invested in buying a couple of expensive display items to draw the eye and also for product photography (which incidentally I offer if you want to email me go to my website http://www.esikcretions.com or my photography website http://www.elwoodprints.com

3.) Layers - layers are good as firstly they conserve space and secondly are visually attractive and look professional. When I couldn't afford much I used cheap long window boxes/pots, turned them upside down and covered them with a pretty table cloth.

4.) Light - Jewellery certainly looks better when twinkling in the light so directional table lamps are great but not always ideal if electricity is hard to come by. I have used candles but for health and safety you have to make sure the lames are exposed and no one's going to get burnt - lanterns are good for this. Battery powered LEDs are also good for that little extra sparkle.

5.) Seasons ~ Be aware of the market and what people are looking for at any given time of year and provide it for example, hearts and flowers and red displays for valentine's day, fairy lights and reds and golds for Christmas, spring colours and fluffy chicks at Easter etc oh and Hallowe'en is always fun - I always dress up as it makes you seem more personable and engaging.

Quote From:~ http://www.barbarabrabec.com/homebiz/crafts-industry_importance-to-economy.htm

"Over 84,000 surveys were mailed directly to craftspeople who earned all or part of their living from the sale of handmade products, and CODA released the results of its study of 7,500 completed surveys on April 1 at the CODA 2001 Conference in Asheville, NC. Here are some of the surprising facts and figures that were released at that time:

There were then 106,000-126,000 craftspeople working in the United States.

These business owners (79 percent of whom were homebased) were generating sales of between $12.3 to $13.8 billion per year.

The average gross sales/revenue per craftsperson was $76,025.

Income from craft activities comprised 47 percent of household income on average, and 22 percent of craft households were deriving all of their income from craft.

Retail sales accounted for 52.9 percent of annual sales, with just over one-half of these sales being made at craft fairs.

The average craftsperson derived 27 percent of annual sales from wholesale, and 11.2 percent from consignment to galleries."