We're seeing something happen in the world of home business; every day we
hear from people turning their hobby into a way of making a living. This is
particularly so for people with a passion for arts and crafts. If you're in
this market, whose lead do you follow and what to do next?
Crafty entrepreneurs
We've profiled many a crafty entrepreneur on Enterprise Nation! And, of
late, many of them have taken their hobby for arts and anything handmade and
turned it into a profitable and home based business.
Eloise Hall is a perfect example. Whilst working on a hat design, she
started to play with butterfly shapes, mounted and framed them to brighten
up her studio and saw the beginnings of a business as visitors wanted to buy
them. She's now successfully running ButterflyButterfly from her sales room
studio.
Rebecca Shreeve's hobby for creating textile creatures for kids started
whilst she was at University. The hobby has developed, as has Rebecca's
business that's called Quirkles and is run from her parents' home.
These, and many other hobbyists, show it's perfectly possible to earn by
doing something you love. Take a couple of steps and you could be too.
Tell the neighbours .. and then the world
Show off your work to friends and family; to neighbours and people in the
local area. Put a price on your work and promote the fact that it's for
sale. It's a great way to test the market and get the business up and
running. Make sales, increase production, ask for customer feedback and keep
on improving the product and your business process.
When you feel confident enough, move on to a national/international stage
and open yourself up to a bigger audience. There's never been a better time
to do this and never been so many sites to act as your sales platform. Check
these out for starters:
Etsy.com - still the mother of all craft sites, this American platform is
stylish and powerful
Myehive.com - a UK start-up launched in September '08 yet already swarming
with home business bees
Folksy.com - passionate about being champions of cool crafts and design
talent
Allthingsoriginal.com - featuring independent British designers
Dawanda.com - a sales and store place that's spreading fast across Europe
Experiment with these sites and test out the one that suits you most.
Scale to finish
As sales flow in, have the resource in place to scale up and meet demand.
This may involve calling in other crafty folk to help out with production/wrapping/customer care. Which is good news as it means others can
share in the fruits of your hobby too!
Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation [www.enterprisenation.com], the
home business company, and author of 'Spare Room Start Up - how to start a
business from home'
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I have read how you have started your home business from your hobby and I think this is great as I myself do handmade craft cards. I have been looking for the right way to start my own home business, but just don't know where to start and how to go about it, but really like that I have read your story and can see that some people have wonderful ideas. I think that is wonderful and hope it all keeps going so good for you
natazha lathon | Report this comment