How To Start a Crafts Business

Most crafters are familiar with the moment: you're feeding fabric through the sewing machine, stringing beads at the kitchen table or embossing a birthday card, so in love with the work at hand that a thought pops into your head: "Could I do this for a living?"

The growing number of Etsy shops and retail stores committed to carrying handmade items (and consumers committed to buying them) suggests that now is an ideal time to launch a crafts-based business. Wondering what it takes to get your creative endeavor off the ground? Here are ten tips from business owners who know.

1. Treat it like a business.
Crafting as a hobby and crafting as a business may be equally enjoyable, but they aren't the same. If you're going to start a crafting business, you need to treat it like a business, which means giving it the attention it deserves. Colette J. Aizen originally started her business, Bags by Colette, on eBay in May of 2008, but switched to Etsy a few months later. "The more I pushed the business, the better it did. I realized I needed to focus on either my business or my day job," Aizen says. She ran the numbers, discussed it with her husband, and took the risk, quitting her job in June of this year to concentrate on her Etsy-based business. Aizen keeps regular hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) every day, just as she did at the office, and so far, business is good. This doesn't mean you should quit your day job tomorrow, of course! But make sure you do some serious thinking about the time commitment involved, and how much energy you're willing to put in, especially if you need to keep your day job and make your business a side project for now.

2. Make a plan.
Creative people are often turned off by the idea of making a traditional, formal business plan, and unless you're applying for a loan, it's probably not necessary, says Meg Mateo Ilasco, author of Craft Inc.: The Ultimate Organizer for Turning Your Crafts into Cash.

"Put together the plan on your own terms. It doesn't need to be spiral-bound like an assignment you turn in. Just try to do a plan for the next 12 months," she says. Include things like short-term and long-term goals, what your market is (as in, who are your customers) and how you will market your business.

3. Establish your own style.
"Don't be too quick to imitate," Ilasco advises. "You make a name for yourself with originality." If you copy the same style of earrings as all of the other earrings you see, how will yours stand out? Keep in mind that your style won't appeal to everyone--you don't need it to. It just needs to appeal to the market you've identified in your business plan. For example, Aizen saw a popular bag style that was selling at a local craft fair and that was the impetus for starting her business. But instead of copying it, she used the bag as inspiration and designed her own product with her own unique touches.

4. Do research.
Assume the role of student and do your homework up front. If you're opening a brick-and-mortar retail shop, you'll need to research locations very carefully and look at what has traditionally done well in any particular neighborhood. If you want to try to get your goods on the shelves in boutiques, investigate the wholesale market and figure out who is buying what. Online-only businesses require leg work too, and places like Etsy have forums where you can learn the tricks of the trade. Also, don't keep your idea a secret for fear it will get stolen, Ilasco says. Part of your research should be talking to people about your business to get feedback. "Ask questions of industry colleagues, potential competitors, new customers, friends, and family," says Jennifer Pirtle, who started The Make Lounge, a London-based venue offering contemporary craft workshops, in 2007. "You'll find that people are gracious and generous and often willing to give you time and help if you ask."

5. Brand yourself.
"Branding is how you package yourself and your business and how you want the world to perceive you," Ilasco says. Your brand is both visual and verbal; from your Web site to your logo to how you answer the phone, everything about your brand should feel consistent. It's your business' personality, and while it may be inspired by many things, it should be unique. Get a handle on your brand with this easy exercise: write down five words or phrases that either describe your product or describe how you want people to perceive your product--words like whimsical, clean lines, luxury, quiet, bargain, shabby chic, modern, nostalgic, etc. Those words and phrases should resonate in everything you do, whether it's your packaging or your email signature.

6. Test the market.
Big companies don't put out products without testing the market, and neither should you. Pirtle didn't immediately take on a real estate lease after coming up with the idea for The Make Lounge. She first ran her workshops in a shared space that she had access to through her full-time job. To try to get a sense of what customers would pay, Aizen listed her first bag on eBay for just $.99 cents--it sold for $42 (a price point she still uses). Other ways to test: do a test retail site (before you pour a lot of money into an expensive web design) or take your goods to a craft fair and pay attention to the feedback you're getting.

7. Foster connections online.
"I cannot recommend blogging enough," says Erin Linneman, owner of Lucky Designs, which specializes in monograms and custom invitations for weddings and other special events. Linneman runs Lucky Designs as a side business (she works full-time), and spends about 10 hours a week on it--much of that time is directed toward her blog, Lucky Me! "It's not just writing my actual posts, but also communicating with other wedding bloggers and professionals, looking for real weddings, DIY projects and ideas to share. Blogging to me not only means posting each day, but also participating in a community," she says. The handmade community is a tightly knit one, and it only helps you to befriend other craftspeople, even if they're doing the same thing you are. "You promote other sellers, and they promote you," Aizen says.

8. Be wary of too much inventory.
"Be careful of investing too much money upfront in inventory," Ilasco says. Making everything to order is one solution. Aizen keeps no inventory; she takes pictures of every bag she makes and can recreate any of them in various fabrics; orders take from one to two weeks. Linneman works with brides to create custom invitations, and is working on re-launching her Etsy shop where brides will be able choose from a standard set of invitations. For brick and mortar retail locations, you need inventory, obviously. This month, Pirtle is opening a retail shop for The Make Lounge, where she'll sell fabric and craft supplies. She always wanted to open the shop, but waited until the business was off the ground before she invested too much money into the retail side.

9. Create a personal experience.
Once you've established your brand, you can use it create a personal experience for each customer. The small details (colorful packaging, pretty tissue paper or handwritten thank-you notes) really matter, especially if you're selling online. When that package arrives on a customer's doorstep, it's their first real sense of who you are, according to Aizen. "I want the customer to feel like they're opening a present," she says. The sale isn't over once you collect the money: if you want repeat customers (and referrals), you have to work as hard at the endgame as you did to make the actual product.

10. Be ready for your big break.
Know what your best case scenario is and be ready for it! A mention in a magazine, on a TV show, or on a blog can shoot sales way up. When you're seeking PR, be ready to meet the demand, Ilasco says. Take advantage of those great jumpstarts you get, and then work to grow your business steadily, at a pace you can manage.