For creative people, making small craft projects is second nature, and many people often use hobbies such as knitting, crochet, sculpting, and felting to soothe their anxiety and relax after a hard day at work. Alongside the benefits that these pursuits offer to you personally, they can also help you to make a little money on the side. Many online platforms, like Etsy, are specifically designed to allow you to easily showcase and sell your homemade goods and turn your hobby into a profitable side-hustle.
Selling your products, and even building a small business out of your crafts, can be the ideal way to take your passion from a hobby into something much more. You probably won’t become an overnight success, but with a little hard work and perseverance, you could potentially create a profitable business that will really take off. There are a lot of people out there selling handmade crafts, and each has their own technique, so selling your products is a great way to share your creativity, passion, and personality with a range of new people.
If you’re interested in taking your crafting one step further, here are some of the best ways to make money from your handmade products and share your creativity with the world.
Work Out What Products You Want To Sell
Some of your crafts might be simply basic productions that you enjoy for the process of creating them, rather than the finished product. However, if you have an original idea or can create something stunning that other people have commented on, like beautiful handmade jewelry, then you should definitely think about sharing it with the world and offering it up for sale. Talk to friends and family about the products that they would want to buy and what they’ve never noticed elsewhere before, then create a selection of crafts to test out on customers.
Buy Your Materials In Bulk
Purchasing crafting equipment and materials can be costly if you continue to buy them from retailers like you did when you just enjoyed crafting as a hobby. Now that you’re going to be selling your products you need to find a reputable wholesaler who has bulk craft staples that will allow you to experiment with new techniques safe in the knowledge that you’ve got lots of spare products ready to sell. Don’t make the mistake of buying too much at once, as you will end up with loads of costly stock to store that you won’t be able to shift quickly. Only buy what you need and will enjoy using.
Set Realistic Prices
When you first start to sell your products, you need to make sure that they’re priced correctly so that you don’t scare people off. Have a look at similar products and see how they’re priced. Try to work out how much profit you will make after you’ve factored in all your costs, including materials, postage and the cost of displaying and selling your product. Try to make a little profit, but remember that some items, like jewelry and paintings, maybe time-consuming, meaning that you won’t make a lot of money out of them until you’ve established a reputation and brand.
Research Your Competition
While you’re working out what prices to set, look into how other crafting businesses promote and sell their products. Have a look at how they photograph their products, the range they have on offer and any specific styles they’ve focused on so that you know what you’re competing against. Find the top sellers on certain websites and try to work out if there are any techniques they use that you could incorporate into your own approach.
Figure Out The Best Way To Sell Your Wares
Selling your products through an online marketplace will allow you to reach a variety of customers from around the world, but it can also lead you to feel disconnected from the process of selling your crafts. If you want to take a more traditional approach, then consider finding a local car boot sale or craft fair where you can showcase, promote and sell your products. You could also combine the two approaches and enjoy the best of both worlds.
Learn New Skills
The homemade crafts and gifts market are both highly competitive, so to increase your chances of appealing to customers make sure that you’re constantly updating your stock and learning new ways to create quality products. You can find art classes in your local area with Superprof who have over 1000 teachers listed on their website to touch up your skills and make sure that you’re up to date with the latest trends in the arts and crafts market.
Ask Friends For Help
In the beginning, when you’re starting to sell your crafts and really getting your business off the ground, you’re going to need all the help you can get, so ask your friends for any assistance they can provide. You might know someone whose day job is in marketing, or who is passionate about photography, so use these skills to your advantage and offer to give them free publicity in return for a little help. They’ll understand that as you’re just starting out, you’re not in the position to pay them properly for their work and appreciate everything you can do for them in return. Many people love helping with passion projects and so they’ll be more than willing to lend a hand and help to make your dreams a reality.
Listen To Customer Feedback
After you’ve sold your first few products, contact the customers who bought them and ask for feedback. This could be in the form of a few quick questions, or you could even ask them to review your product online, as this will give you an additional promotion. Make sure that you listen to the feedback they give you and try to incorporate this into your strategy moving forward. For example, if they say that they were hoping for a wider selection then try to create a more varied product line to meet this need.
Create And Promote Your Brand
Once you’ve got your business off the ground and started making a little money from your crafts, it’s important that you keep the momentum going by promoting your products. Create a brand and push it online through social media, as well as at any physical events that you attend. Create an eye-catching and distinctive logo and then include this on all your craft related communications so that you can increase your brand recognition and get people talking about your creations.
Keep Crafting Even If Your Business Doesn’t Work Out
Not everyone achieves success in selling their craft creations, so if you find yourself getting stressed and not enjoying your crafting anymore then stop selling your products and return to the way things were. There’s no shame in quitting, and it’s better to give up if it’s not making you happy than carry on selling your products and becoming miserable. If you are still enjoying your crafting then carry on and try your best, but remember that big profits aren’t everything.
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