They are being held tomorrow from 10am – 1pm Eastern and on September 30 from 8pm – 11pm Eastern.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Get a complete tour of the Wordpress Dashboard

• Learn the difference between posts and pages.

• Learn How To Use the Visual Editor to create great looking blog posts.

• Learn about categories and tags and how to use them!

• Learn about Plugins

• Learn about Widgets

• Learn about Themes

• Learn about Exporting/Importing and Backups.

• Get Answers to All Of Your Questions!

These sessions are held in a web conference room, so you don’t have to worry about traveling, hiring a sitter, etc. And it’s only $19 – and that is totally worth skipping the headache of trying to learn this yourself!

For more info and to register, click here.

Why is the Business Name so important?

Well, it’s one of the first things that the public will notice about your company, that and your logo, and then your strap-line (if you have one – and you should). Those three things combine together to make up your brand identity. Thus making your company easy to identify and to understand (both of which are very important in any business).

Take a minute to think of Martha Stewart, and Amy Butler, and Purl Soho. As well as knowing what products they sell we also know what their logos, and their fonts, and their company colours look like (and this didn’t happen by magic!)

I don’t have background in web or graphic design so I can’t help you with that knock-out logo. It’s definitely worth getting a professional in to do that job if you can’t do it yourself, but I can help with getting choosing a craft business name.

Things to consider when choosing a company name:

• Check for the website domain- whatever you choose check to see if the website domain name is available for you to buy. Even if you are not ready for your own website now you may well be in the near future.
• Be descriptive – I think my own business name ‘U-Handbag’ is somewhat descriptive of what I do. I sell things to make handbags – hence the word ‘Handbag’ , and it is you making the handbag, and the bag is yours, and the bag is unique – hence the letter ‘U’.
• Keep it simple – a good name will be short, catchy, and trip off the tongue. A long name is a pain in the butt to write, looks bad on business stationary, and it makes for a hard to remember website name.
• How does it look – this might sound funny, but try writing down your business name choices and collaborate with your logo designer to see how your name looks on paper and importantly how it looks when incorporated with your logo.
• How does it sound – as well as looking good on paper your name should be pleasant to say and appealing to hear. This one is hard to define, but you know how some babies names just sound a bit off and some babies names sound lovely? Well it’s kind of the same for business names…
• How memorable is it - ask yourself and ask others how memorable is your business name. Does it strike a chord with people? Ask people what they feel/what images are conjured up/what judgments are they making when presented with your chosen business name choices. The more folks you can ask the better. This all might sound like a bit of a pain or it even might sound like overkill, but really if you are willing to make your beautiful craft into the early hours then a bit of time spent on doing this research isn’t going to hurt and it’s worth it.
• Careful with the comedy – when used appropriately comedy is great for sales and giving a positive image of a company, but used inappropriately it can make your company look unprofessional. Also things spelt like ‘bagz’ jelwz, etc. etc. etc. can look a bit tacky (IMHO).
• Using your own name – Some folks such as Amy Butler & Martha Stewart use their own names to name their company to great effect, but us mere mortals can’t do that because we don’t (yet) possess the strong brand identity that these 2 women names have. So if you name your business ‘Cathy’s Pottery’ (for example) the business name won’t necessarily be very memorable…
• Look around you - what town do yo work in, do you work on a converted factory, workshop, etc., what famous landmarks are nearby, is there a loved on in your family history that has a nice sounding name, is there a name of a craft technique or craft material that you use that you like the sound of? These are just a few things that might inspire a business name; just remember to keep things relevant.

See also: How to name your craft items in your craft business.

• How to take and edit professional looking photos of your craft products tutorial
• Ways to create buzz about your craft products on the big Craft Websites
• Crafting Heroes interview with Alicia Paulson of Posie gets cozy
• 10 things you’ll need to start selling your crafts online
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amanda Soule of Soule Mama
• Starting up your craft business – Feel the fear and do it anyway
• What to do when people say your handcraft is too expensive
• Ways to market yourself & your craft (on the cheap)
• Hellooo I’m Here!!!! Ways to market yourself and your craft (for free)
• Copyright – ways to protect your content from being stolen
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amy Butler
• Crafting Heroes interview with Amy Karol of Angry Chicken
• Fabulous links and books for your craft business

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I couldn’t think of suitable pic to go with this post so I thought this one would do as a close 2nd . Yummy

After a few seasons of selling my bags in a craft market I knew that I wanted to start selling bag making supplies online. There were several positive indicators that this could be a viable business. So armed with a loan from my family and no knowledge whatsoever of how to go about it I set up my first website. This was how I did it, in the order I did it:

1. Sourcing supplies - I decided upon what supplies I needed to open my shop and then I ordered them to be made in the factories. I ordered my supplies first because I needed samples to be made and approved, the factories would need time to produce the items (which could be anything from 4-6 weeks) and the thing that would take the longest time was that I wanted the items to be shipped to the UK (rather than flown). Shipping is far cheaper than flying but it can take months rather than days, or weeks.
2. Website design- I knew from the start that I wanted my own website rather than sell through eBay or Etsy. I phoned around LOADS of website designers from friends, to agencies to freelancers. I was quoted prices from £200 ($400) – £2000!! In the end I decided that agencies were too expensive and I settled upon a freelancer who seemed to be very knowledgeable in e-comm and I asked someone else to do the website design and logo. I found them both through this Freelancers site. The design process took approx 3 months in all – I intentionally gave them a long time to do this because there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing with asking my opinions on design and re-jiggling and testing. etc.
   
3. I opened a business bank account – keeping your business finances separate from your pesonal finances makes life much easier.
4. I set up a merchant bank account - this type of account receives funds from the sales of my items and sends them in my business account. I chose not to go with Paypal for website payment system because at the time there was bad press about Paypal’s security – this doesn’t seem to be an issue now, but at the time it was. I also wanted payments to take place completely on my site (rather the customer being taken to Paypal pages). Another advantage of having my own payment system is that (in the long-run) this method is cheaper than Paypal, so I can pass this saving onto my customers. Therefore I needed to set up my own payment system – hence the need for a merch, bank account.
5. I set up the payment gateway - because of the above (and me not wanting PayPal) I had to set up a system that processes funds from the sale of my items. The payment gateway takes these funds and then passes them onto my merchant bank.
6. The samples arrived from the factories – 8 out of the 12 custom designs were great so I ordered a shed load of them. The other 4 designs need modifying…
7. I purchased office furniture - good old IKEA they have great office furniture.
8. I purchased postage & packaging stationary - I looked at the dimensions of my smallest and largest items and chose padded envelopes accordingly.
9. The admin part of the website is ready - the part where you upload items and make any changes to your website is now ready and I can start uploading products to the site (even though it’s not live yet).
10. The finished goods from the factories, bag patterns, and the fabrics start arriving – sooo exciting, but loads of work. I have to check through the all of the orders to make sure I have been given the right amount of everything and that all items are in perfect condition. I now have heaps of photos to take and photoshop. I have to go through all of my invoice sheets for each item and price and describe each item. Before going live this process took me 3 weeks of working in it every day.
11. I register myself as a self-employed person - oooerr…no going back now! I tell the tax people of my self employed status and I tell them that I am going to be a sole trader (which is the most basic form in which a company can trade).
12. I’m live; U-handbag lives!!!! - The site goes live on the 11th Nov 2005 and I bite my nails down to my elbows (virtually sitting on my computer) until Michaela in UK makes the shop’s first ever order on the following day.
13. I start looking into pay per click advertising with Google - this is bloody expensive (at least it was because I don’t need it so much now because of my blog).
14. I start approaching various craft mags to let them know I have started my business - most of them aren’t that interested, but a few of them do mention me in their magazine which is great!

So that’s how I brought U-handbag.com into existence. I don’t know if that’s the best way to go about creating a website as I had no knowledge of how to go about it, but it all seemed to work out fine in the end 

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Starting from the top of the ‘Food Chain’:

• Manufacturers (the BIG league guys) – I’m not in the league of these suppliers, so I don’t have any experience of them. These are factories that you can commission to produce items for you. Often they will have a catalogue of products that they manufacture or you can commission you own designs for them to produce. They usually do not keep items in stock so you cannot order smaller amounts from such suppliers therefore, we are talking HUGE quantities (in the thousands) of a given product. If you can afford the investment this is by far the cheapest cost per unit option.
• Manufacturers (business to business) - I do work with such suppliers. These are factories (usually somewhat smaller than the aforementioned manufacturers) sometimes keep a limited amount of ready made stock, they will have a catalogue of items they produce, and they will also accept custom work for production. The minimum order amounts are typically large (in my experience) varying from 300 – 500 pieces upwards of a given item depending on what the item is. If you can keep a tight control on quality issues and you can afford the investment using this type of supplier is very cost effective solution.
• Wholesalers/agents to manufacturers – I also work with these folks. These suppliers aren’t quite the same as typical wholesalers as they usually work with a very small number of factories. These suppliers will hold ready made stock to sell to you and they will also act as agents for a small number (or one) factories taking your order and passing it onto the factory when the minimum order amount is sufficiently large enough. They will do all of this for a fee. The benefit of purchasing from an agent to a factory is that the minimum order amount will be somewhat smaller. The downsides are that they cost more than the above, if items are not in stock lead time can be a guessing game, and they are devilishly hard to find!
• Wholesalers (not direct to the public) – I also work with this kind of supplier. These suppliers will typically have a large and varied catalogue of items. To be able to purchase products from this type of supplier you will often be required to open an account (which usually involves proving to them that you own a business). The minimum order amounts are for this type of supplier are usually much smaller than that of manufacturers and they vary wildly from minimum cash amount (e.g. £50 – £250/$100 – $500) to minimum units per product. It really depends on the individual wholesaler. These suppliers cost a fair amount more than manufacturers, but the choice of items is usually very good, and the quality of items is usually more consistent than that of manufacturers. Wholesalers are also devilishly hard to find (goodness knows why!)
• Retail /Wholesalers – I also work these suppliers. Some business run a wholesale operation alongside their retail operation. These suppliers are similar to the guys above except the minimum order amounts are usually yet smaller, and they may not be so formal about opening accounts in order to buy wholesale.
• Retailers – that’s what we are! We hunt around for our supplies (and in my case I sell them on) and we process them by turning them into gorgeous handcraft before selling them to the public

I hope this was useful and it wasn’t stating the obvious to you. I didn’t know too much about suppliers when I first started my business and I know I must’ve sounded pretty naive ditzy when dealing with them for the first time!

Next time: I will talk about to approach suppliers and how to deal with them – like what stuff do you ask them in the first instance and what things to expect when dealing with them.

Fore-warned is fore-armed. Do your research and you’ll stay one step ahead.

Here are some excellent web resources for your Craft Business. Bookmark, read, and enjoy:

• Rohm - some of the nicest and well-priced custom garment labels I’ve seen anywhere (thanks for the tip Heidi).
• Vertical Response – Your Marketing Checklist for 2008. Vertical Response provides email marketing services and their site and blog is full of excellent marketing info.
• Entrepreneur.com – a search on ‘Craft’ throws up squillions of pages on the brilliant business info site…
• Design News – make yourself comfortable and have a look at this MEGA post on how-to Social Networking, and Photoblogging. This is a wondrous post which must have taken flipping ages to write. Equally wonderful and useful is 120+ Self Promotion Ideas for designers & Freelancers. Definitely one to save and refer to.
• Lifehack – Increasing your credibility in 30 days: How to brag without bragging. increasing your credibility also means increasing your visibility
• Freelance Switch – 101 ideas to get more Freelance work and Generate more client leads – use these great transferable tips to help you approach new customers, market yourself and get more custom orders.
• UK Craft Fairs - Guide to running a craft business.
• Craft Business – website of the magazine which is full of useful articles.
• eMoms – 94 ways to Keep Kids busy for the work at home parent (I’d say every parent with kids at home NEEDS this post!); Top Ten Working from home mistakes, (yep, we’re all guilty of some of these, you’re not alone).
• The Craft Report Magazine – website of the magazine which is full of useful articles and listings.

Here are some useful Craft Business, & Working from Home books (all have good reviews) :

• Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business
• Handmade for Profit!: Hundreds of Secrets to Success in Selling Arts and Crafts
• The Crafts Business Answer Book: Starting, Managing, and Marketing a Homebased Arts, Crafts, or Design Business
• The Basic Guide to Selling Crafts on the Internet
• Country Living Crafting a Business: Make Money Doing What You Love
• The Home Office Solution : How to Balance Your Professional and Personal Lives While Working at Home
• I Love My Life: A Mom’s Guide to Working from Home
• Working at Home While the Kids Are There, Too
• Working from Home
• A View from the Tub: An Inspiring and Practical Guide to Working from Home
• Small Business Taxes Made Easy: How to Increase Your Deductions, Reduce What You Owe, and Boost Your Profits

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If you have any more resources that you think should be added to this list please put them in your comments and I will add them to the list with a linked credit to you

1. Get yourself a separate bank account – it doesn’t have to be a business account, it should just be separate account (with cheque book and debit card) that you use for depositing money from your sales and where you draw money from for your craft business. If you keep this account separate from your personal bank accounts you will be able to clearly keep a track of what you are earning from your business, and it will make doing the accounts sooooooooooooo much easier.
2. Look into what status you will be as a self employed person for accounts and tax purposes - it may not matter so much at the early stages or even if you plan to just run a low-key craft business, but if things are beginning to take off or you are looking for this to be your sole source of income than you need to look into things like tax on earnings etc. Various tax laws obviously differ from country to country. Make yourself aware of what expected of you by asking at your local Inland Revenue, IRS or whatever group of folks deal with that sort of thing. It’s best to do it now rather than get yourself into trouble later down the line! Of course if you’re a bit of an ostrich (like me) you can ask your accountant or accountant friend to sort this out for you.
3. Identify who will do your accounts - and start doing them from the beginning. For my business I have enlisted the services of a friendly accountant because I’m a mathematics MORON.
4. Keep every single one of your receipts for everything that you spend on your craft business – even if that receipt is just for a £0.50 D ring. It all adds up and it all counts because it will save you money in the long run. Keep your receipts in a box or file for your accounts.
5. Packaging & stationary - spend a little time in thinking about how you are going package and present your craft products. Do you want to add in little treats like pins or sweets etc. Are you going to use coloured tissue paper, ribbon, bubble wrap, padded envelopes, what size boxes might you need, what size envelope or boxes might you need for larger or small orders? You’ll also need stationary like packing tape, envelopes, stamps, paper etc.
6. What are you going to call your company? - When you have settled upon a name you might want to consider seeing if the internet domain names are available to purchase (indeed your choice of company name may well be determined by this). Domain names are so much cheaper if they haven’t yet been bought by someone else. If you want to buy a domain name that already exists the owner has be willing to sell that name to you and sometimes they charge crazy amounts of money for the name! If you purchase the domain name now you then have the freedom to set up your own website at a later stage. For my business I knew from the beginning that I was going to trade from my own website so my choice of business name was greatly influenced by what domain names were available. As soon as I came up with the U-Handbag name I purchased both .com and .co.uk domains.
7. Get yourself a digital camera to take shots of your products – you may also want photo editing software (like photoshop) to enhance your shots as well, but if you take clear, well lit shots with your camera I wouldn’t worry too much about photo editing at the very beginning of your business.
8. Branding - are you going to have business cards, labels, headed paper, compliments slips?
9. Separate email – consider getting yourself a separate email address for everything concerned with your craft business – it’s easy enough to get yourself a free email account and having a separate email account will make life easier.
10. Regular access to a computer and printer - I know this may sound really obvious, but last year my printer died and that really messed things up for me because I couldn’t print my order sheets and address labels so I had to hand write everything which was such a pain in the bum (I now have a back-up printer just in case). Also in the past I have had a rubbish internet connection and that gave me sleepness nights, going to an internet cafe to run my business was a nightmare, I have since changed providers.

This is about as good as my math gets.

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Here is a list of items that I used to bring the Craft Market where I had my own stall:

1. Change in bills and coins – which I stored in a market stall holders apron (which I sewed myself – in fact I ended up selling 30 of these aprons to other traders because I made my apron pretty and I made it from dotty oil cloth…just a thought).
2. Flask of hot choccy, or coffee. Tasty pack lunch and snacks – you could of course leave your stall to buy your lunch from a shop, but I always thought that leaving your stall was not ideal, even with another trader watching the stall for you.
3. Fold-up chair and cushion - cushion is important, believe me! Happy bum = happy trader.
4. Stationery – pens, scissors, bull-dog clips, strong tape, cleaning cloth, rubber bands, string, stapler, plastic bag for rubbish, lighting (if not supplied by the market) bags for customers to carry their items, and a note pad (for recording sales and for making notes, I also made notes about things like observations about customer behavior, what seems to be popular, idea for selling new items etc.)
5. Marketing materials – business cards (placed in attractive box), small signs (i.e to advertise the material content, or special offer, etc.) a large sign displaying your company name and logo, with website, and contact details to put in front of your table.
6. Extra inventory to re-stock your table - I always thought it was best to have a well stocked but not full looking table. It’s best to re-stock you table rather than put everything you have for sale on display (or it might look as if you have loads to sell, but it isn’t selling!)
7. Bring some WIPs - that way you can sit and make stuff during quiet moments. Passers by like to see the artist at work because it gives your handmade items more credibility. I thought that making more craft to sell looked better than reading a newspaper or a book.
8. Stall Decorations - it’s a nice idea to pretty up your stall; it will set your stall apart from other stalls and it will add warmth and personality to you and your products. Choose a few (too many and you’ll create clutter) props that relate in some way to your craft items.
9. Stall accessories – lighting and multi adapters (if not supplied by the market. If you can have a spotlight or two than you should because a well-lit stall attracts passers-by and your products will look better in the light), lots of big sprung clips (great for keeping awnings, and table cloths under control) a tablecloth, and if necessary fabric for a roof and walls, or a tent (I’d keep it plain so the focus will be fully on your products and not on the patterned cloth), table, display racks or shelves as necessary.
10. Personals - headache pills, plasters, hand cream, tissues, seasonal clothing (hat, mittens, scarf, etc.) camera to take cools shots of your table (to put on your crafty blog of course!)

The first place in which I sold my crafts, Greenwich, in London. There is where it all began for me…

Have fun at the fair!

• you could sell your crafty goodness straight from your blog or website without the bother (and maintenance) of having to set up an online shop, or having to list your products on another site would you be interested?
• Would it help if it was quick and easy to set up and you could also sell your crafty items from anywhere within your blog/site (such as individual posts, side bars, and links to page from within your site…heck yeah!
• Lastly would it be handy if you didn’t have to pay a percentage on each sale you make, instead you pay a low monthly fee for unlimited sales? All sounds pretty good for me!

Well E-junkie enables you to do all of the above and more. E-junkie provides working copy-paste shopping buttons for you to sell your digital items (i.e pdf patterns, images, tutorials, music, etc.) and tangible items (i.e. and and all of your craft items). E-junkie’s shopping cart system work “inside” your blog/website rather than opening in a pop-up window (which is great because because your customers don’t have to leave your site to purchase your products. For digital items, E-junkie automates the digital delivery of your items (so you don’t have to do the ’sending’). For tangible items, E-junkie handles the shipping, packaging, tax calculation, and inventory management. The shopping cart supports PayPal, Google Checkout, and Authorize. Net.

You can paste buttons like these onto your site/blog and hey presto you can sell your stuff! To see a demo look here.

Here are some more features of E-junkie (here is the full feature list):

• To help you increase your sales, E-junkie offers feature like ‘discount management (which is handy for the holiday season) and affialiate magament. E-junkie also offer you the option to list your items in Google Product Search.
• You can also keep a behind the scene track on visitor behavior because E-junkie is fully integrated with Google Analytics. This way you can gauge the success of your marketing, or you simply study visitor behaviour to improve your sales.
• Even though E-junkie simplifies the selling process, you can still completely customize “thank you” emails and pages.
• Unlike other shopping mall style sites, E-junkie does not charge a percentage on each sale. There is just a low flat monthly fee based on product catalog, and there is no limited to the amount or number of transactions

Here are some Crafty folks who are already using the services of E-junkie on their sites/blogs (here is the client list):

• Montissori by Hand – Patterns (pdf & hard copy)
• Mocimochi Land – Patterns (pdf)
• ShabbyMissJen Designs -scarpping kits and bits
  
• N.Design Studio – web & image design
  
• Felted Handbag Workshop – guess!
• How To Look Good – e-books (I have one of these and they’re excellent)
• This is the list of all the crafty folk selling with E-junkie.

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Does this all sound good, do you want to start selling your crafty goodness this afternoon/evening? Cool! We’ve wangled another super duper exclusive discount for CraftBoom! readers. With our promo code you can use E-junkie on your site/blog absolutely FREE for 3 months!!:

• Just type in the the Promo code: CRAFTBOOM when you register for E-junkie and you’re good to go! This code has no time limit. Happy selling!

Right, so last time we looked a ways to market yourself and your business for free, this time we’ll look at way to market our craft business on the cheap (I have written down what I have done for my own business in italics):

• Get yourself a blog This is my favourite way to market myself and my business. I use my business blog to promote my products, give my customers an insight to who I am, provide tutorials (that use my products), showcase the bag making skills of others. By doing these things I hope introduce bag making to people who have never made bags before, increase the trust that customers have in me as the owner of my business, encourage others to go into business themselves, and create a little corner (that is less formal, and more casual than my shop) for us bag makers to congregate. Having your own blog gives you another web link (that you can get out there in the internet), and a platform in which to talk about you, show off your craft photos, show off your craft, talk about the craft process for example. I have found blogging absolutely invaluable to my business, and I can’t recommend it for your craft business enough! I use Typepad (which only costs me £4.50 a month – bargain!) because it was recommended to me, I think they look good, and I like their type list function. I had never blogged before I started (Nov 06) and I’ve learned it all on the way. You don’t need to be a computer geek (the help you need is in the help pages). Here are a few well known blog providers, some of which are free (I don’t know about the ones in other countries, sorry!): Sixapart (who provide 4 different types of blog depending on your needs), Wordpress, and Blogger.
• Get yourself your own logo - It’s really worth getting your logo designed by a pro (you can also approach the owners of good looking blogs and ask them who designed their banners, and lots of web designers have their own blogs, see if you can set-up a trade with them!). If you are rubbish at drawing (like I am) don’t attempt to design your own logo yourself because it will look unprofessional and this may well turn potential customers off. In the beginning I had no idea what I wanted for my logo. I just knew that I wanted it to look friendly, approachable, craftish, not too young, and not particularly old. My designer (who is experienced in logo design and branding) and I worked on the logo together and we eventually settled on the final design, font, and colour after almost everyone of my friends said ‘yep, that’s the daddy!’
• Get yourself a strapline (as defined by Wiki). A strap line is a useful bunch of words that serve to reinforce /inform (in a quick & simple way) just what your craft business is/provides. I’ve had my strapline “Love Bags, Make Bags” from the beginning and I hope that from reading it, it is obvious to the reader that my craft business is involved in handbags, and handbag making. When my strapline appears alongside my logo is serves to inform people of what my business is (in case you can’t tell from looking at the logo in isolation.

I’m guessing that this guy will have to think up a better strapline…

• Get yourself some labels – and place them on your craft. If you have a pretty logo, in nice colours it will look great on a tag or label and when you put these labels on you craft items it will make them look more professional. When things look more professional the perceived value (what something appears to be worth) increases, making your product look like it is even better quality. Include contact information on your label such as website or telephone number becuase as the owner shows off his or her new craft item (bought from you) you can bet that he or she is going to asked where it was bought from. Also, your craft item may be given as a present and the new owner may well want to know how the get their mitts on more of your craft items. Use you craft items to promote you! You can make your own tags (have a look at these yummy ones,) and/or you can have woven labels made for you. Here are some manufacturers I can think of (there are lots more, have a search on Google). Cashes, Charm Woven, National Weaving, and Clothing labels 4 u.
• Get yourself some stationary - such as business cards (did you have a look at the Free business cards yet?) postcards, or get creative and think up your own ‘little calling cards’ that you can put your business info on. In the past I have received cute ‘business cards’ that have been made from quilted scraps, cute key rings made from bottle tops, and wire window decorations all of which the creators have used as ‘business cards’. They are so pretty that they haven’t gotten lost or been thrown away! The more attractive and or useful something is the less likely it is headed for the trash, plus they also make you think nice and positive thoughts about the creators (which is important!). If you have a Flickr account (which is free) you can also make up your own Moo Cards, and postcards which are also popular and dead handy becuase you can use pictures of your craft items.

As soon as I hear of more marketing tips like these you can be sure that I’ll write ‘em down and share them with you. Do you have any little cheap and cheerful marketing tips that you use, and you would like to share with us?

• Confidence - You need to believe that your handicraft is lovely. You love it. Will other people love it enough to pay for it? Of course it’s also helpful to heed the opinions of others. Invite friends & family, one and all to give you constructive criticism about your crafts, and be prepared to take some of their advice.
• Enthusiasm - Remember: enthusiasm is infectious. . If you make your craft with passion and enthusiasm it can’t help but show in your products. I try to make bags that I would be happy to be use myself. In this way I feel proud to sell my bags. I’m also so enthusiastic about bag making that I want to help others give it a try and enjoy it like I do.
• Determination - Running your own a business is incredibly satisfying, but it ain’t all plain sailing. You will have quiet days, days which are too busy, suppliers that let you down, competitors to deal with, … etc. etc. I have to deal with all of this and more, but I love my business so much I’m determined to not be beaten by these potential hurdles.
• Flexibility - Whilst it’s helpful to have a game plan when running a business, it’s beneficial to be able to anticipate change and be prepared to react to it. You’ll need to keep an eye on what the competition is doing, what the up and coming trends are, and what becomes seasonably fashionable.

Yep, I do kind of like sewing! I loved sewing bags so much that I had to DO SOMETHING with all of the bags I was making!

Research is the key.

Ask friends and co-workers (and anyone else who you feel will give you an honest answer) for their opinions about your handicraft. Ask them questions like what they like, and don’t like about your handicraft. What would they wiling to pay for it? Do they have any suggestions for improvement? Ask as many people as you can and jot down the answers in a big note pad. I still have mine from when I started my business. It’s filled with precious info such as market research, suppliers lists, and wish lists of things that I wanted to sell, etc. all in one note pad . It not only has great sentimental value, it’s of great business value too.

Another wonderful source of (free) research is the internet. Have a look at the many internet craft forums, Etsy, and Craftster for example. Get involved by becoming a forum member and ask other members questions about your work. You’d be surprised at just how helpful other crafters are. For me, one of the nicest things about working in the craft industry is the crafting community, they really are a warm and friendly bunch :0) Internet forums are also great to learn about craft trends. It’s always a good idea to be in the know about what’s hot, and what’s not!

Here are some great internet resources that I use regularly to keep abreast of craft trends:

• Etsy
• Craftster
• Crafty Crafty
• Get Crafty

That’s my baby. U-handbag!

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am COMPLETELY obsessed with my little business. I have learned so much so far and I love to learn about new ways to keep my business fresh and competitive. In CraftBoom I want to share with you my business experiences (good and, erm, not so good!) in the hope that it may help you (yes, that’s YOU!) turn your craft business daydreams into a fulfilling and exciting reality. If I can do it; so can you! I’ll give you handy tips from what-not-to-dos to making your products look their best. I’ll do my best to make all my instructions clear and concise. I’ll cross the Ts and dot the Is. But really, this is all about you and your ability to wow us your handicraft gorgeousness and earn some bucks all at the same time. Sounds good! It sure will be. Let’s have some fun!

But first you must remember the 3 rules of Craft Business Club:

1. You will TALK CraftBoom Club.
2. You will DO CraftBoom Club.
3. You will LOVE CraftBoom Club. He! He!