A Business of Crafts Learning Module by Craft Labrador
Introduction
There are many reasons why people start a craft business – to earn more, to be able to take advantage of tax deductions if you are already selling crafts, to be your own boss, or to earn a living doing something creative. Running a business is a creative activity too. Many of the skills you use in making your crafts can help in making your business successful.
When you are making a craft item that you are going to sell, you have to consider the materials you will need – how much you will need and how much they cost. You will have to take into account how long it takes you to make the item and how much you will be paid for that. If you have leftover materials you will take into account whether you can make another item from the leftovers. You have to know who you will sell it to or how you will sell it and how much you will sell it for. If you are preparing for a craft fair you have to take into account all the materials for all of the items and all of the time it took to make them. You have to think about who will buy your products at the craft fair, and what sort of thing they will be looking for.
If you are thinking about turning your craft making into a business, imagine that the craft fair lasts a whole year long. How would you plan to make and sell a year’s worth of crafts? You would need more materials, but you might save some money by buying in bulk. You will be making more of the same type of crafts, so you might be able to make them at the same time and streamline your production methods – saving time overall. You would be planning how many items you would have during the year and could advertise that to potential customers. Suddenly you find you are doing business planning.
In this learning module, we will go through some of the things you might consider when starting to plan a business. We will also provide links to resources and agencies that can help. There are many agencies in Labrador where you can get help for free at all stages of planning or operating your business.
We hope that this information might help you to discover if starting a business is the right direction for you to take.
