Why do you want to start a craft business? This is the first critical question you need to answer for yourself. The primary objective of starting a craft business is to turn a profit.
The objective of your home based craft business is to make a profit. The motivation of your business is to enrich some aspect of your customers’ lives with your craft products. Huh?
In other words, focus first on providing craft products that your customers want. Do your research to evaluate the demand. If you’re confident that your products will sell, build a business around these products.
Below are a few of our most popular Handicraft Business Ideas.
- How To Start An Embroidery Business
- Beginning An Embroidery Business
- Custom Drapery Ideas – Start A Drapery Business
- Starting A Decorative Pillow Business
- How To Start A Jewelry Business
- Homemade Halloween Costumes Home Business
- Creative Calligraphy Business
- Ceramics And Pottery Business
- Starting A Cross Stitch Business
- Handmade Invitations Small Business
1. How To Start An Embroidery Business : If you are artistic and love to embroider, you may have wondered how to start an embroidery business.
Designs created with embroidery have become increasingly intricate and more complex with the advent of cutting edge embroidery machines.
The market for embroidered items continues to grow as schools, teams, clubs, and other organizations purchase customized designs. Embroidered items are also popular gifts.
As you think about how to start an embroidery business, first decide whether to work at home or from a retail shop. An embroidery business is an excellent choice for people who want to work from home, but embroidery can also be a viable retail enterprise. Much depends on how much money you have to work with and whether you can work at the business full-time or only on a part-time basis.
Whether you run your business from home or lease a retail location, it is essential that you purchase the most dependable, feature-rich, and upgradeable embroidery machine you can afford. Your embroidery device is your livelihood, so the machine should come with a full warranty. Make sure you have an adequate backup plan in case your machine breaks down.
If you choose to run your embroidery business in a retail outlet, make sure there are no competitors nearby, but that plenty of shoppers already exist in the location you choose. Retail and home businesses both require business licenses and may require additional permits, so contact your local business licensing agencies.
The initial challenge for most small businesses is getting the word out. The same is true as you learn how to start an embroidery business. A strong marketing campaign using traditional and unique methods will be essential. An embroidery business’s ability to create highly customizable designs will be a key draw for customers. Make sure your marketing efforts emphasize this point.
Building a reputation as a talented artist who fills orders accurately and on time will be fundamental to your success. If you are consistently late with orders or make numerous errors, your reputation will suffer and so will your business.
Finding Customers and Growing Your Business
Advertise in local media outlets, distribute fliers, and take advantage of free advertising venues. Create a portfolio filled with examples of your work to show potential customers. If you have a retail store, display all types of embroidery work and designs where customers can see them.
Contact schools, bowling alleys, local sports teams, political organizations, and local clubs to let them know about your embroidery business. Offer first time customers a percentage off or something free. Organizations that work with you once will likely order from you again, so work on building long-term relationships.
Much of your business will initially come from groups, but another market to move into is the gift segment. Personalized baby items, family reunion t-shirts, and custom embroidered items for birthday, anniversary, and wedding parties are all possibilities. In addition to marketing to groups and consumers, approach local businesses about customized embroidery for company uniforms.
Expanding may also include moving a home-based business to a kiosk or retail outlet. A retail outlet might expand by purchasing additional embroidery machines to increase production.
Learning how to start an embroidery business can open the door for you to turn something you love into a successful business. Get started today!
2. Beginning An Embroidery Business : Modern day technology has made it fast and easy for anyone to learn the beautiful art of embroidery and even to start an embroidery business.
Before trying to get an embroidery business to start making a profit, however, there are a few things to consider that will help you begin both successfully and professionally.
It is important that you understand the fundamentals of business and acquire a basic small business education through local classes to get a better understanding of what is required of you.
You will learn all the key aspects of small business ownership such as dealing with state and federal taxes, marketing and promotion, proper licensure for your locale if applicable, and basic bookkeeping and record-keeping.
With an understanding of basic business fundamentals, you will have an edge over other competitors in your field who are ill equipped and have less knowledge than you have.
You may find it beneficial to provide potential customers with photo images of embroidery designs that you have sold so that they can get an idea of your capabilities and talents. Start by taking a typical photo album, and for each item you create place a photo of it inside until you have a substantial collection to present to customers.
If you also create categories for each type of embroidery creation you do within the album, you will be able to quickly impress customers by showing them what they want as soon as they request it. This will help you to appear more professional, and will promote you as a viable and fully-fledged operation.
It is essential that you maintain a home office that enables you to be organized and to efficiently manage all your dealings both easily and effortlessly. Having an up-to-date computer with e-mail capabilities, a fax machine, and a dedicated phone line is absolutely essential.
Equipment
Having functional and dependable equipment for your embroidery business is fundamental to providing quality work for your customers. It is important to research several embroidery machines that are of interest to you and are within your price range.
Ensure that the embroidery machine you choose has a wide range of capabilities and functions that will allow you to be creative and flexible, and make sure you fully understand its accompanying service arrangement in case something goes wrong.
Invest in quality equipment even high cost, as the old saying you get what you pay for is unfortunately true. Once you have the machine, practice using it thoroughly: the entire success of you embroidery business hinges on this one piece of equipment.
3. Custom Drapery Ideas – Start A Drapery Business : Custom drapery ideas have been an important part of domestic life for many years, and the possibilities with curtain fabric are virtually limitless.
These ideas come from the heart, and aim to truly reflect a homeowner’s style. With a little knowledge and skill, you can promote your own ideas and start a small business with this profitable niche.
Before starting your own business, however, there are a few important aspects of the industry you must firmly understand.
It is essential to understand the fundamentals of business before beginning in earnest. It is highly advisable that you acquire some basic business skills through business management education courses if you do not already possess these.
Knowing basic operation and management protocol will provide you with an advantage over others who are ill-equipped to run a business.
Areas such as state and federal tax laws, accounting, proper business licensure, marketing and promotion, and a good knowledge of your products and drapery hardware are all key foundation requirements for a custom drapery business. Since your business will be small initially, laws for your area may vary and change as you grow in size. You will need to be aware of this.
Once you are past the technical requirements for owning, operating, and managing your business, it will be time for you to get down to the good part: your ideas. Start by writing down and journal all the designs you think of, and then create a good filing system organized by fabric, pattern etc. to access them again later.
If you are going to be contracting out work to a seamstress, keep a file on each potential provider you review. If you are going to run this home based business entirely by yourself, expect a lot of hard work, but also know that your profits will be higher in the long-term.
Promoting the Business
There are several ways to promote your ideas and creations. Browse through the Internet and see how others are offering their services, and be competitive with these. Always keep in mind that the highest quality of workmanship and customer satisfaction should be your first priority.
Satisfied customers will come back and refer their friends to you for your custom drapery ideas.
Custom draperies will likely sell best locally (at least to start). Build yourself a small website and sell local advertising on the internet. It’s easier than you might thing and this type of advertising can really bring in extra customers!
4. Starting A Decorative Pillow Business : When you are starting a decorative pillow business, it pays to remember that this business is just like any other start up business.
There are several planning steps you should follow to help ensure a successful start.
As you plan, remember that a quality product and great customer service are both essential to gaining sales.
You’ll need to create designs that are unique so that your pillows stand out from the competition.
First, put your plan down on paper. This is your starting business plan, and it should contain several areas of interest including why, what, who, how, and how much money as categories. You need to determine how to incorporate advertising, accounting, and insurance besides basic materials as well.
Why? – What do you expect to gain, and why do you think there is a need for it? Do a little research on what is already out there, how much it is selling for, and where they advertise that product. What is your long-term goal for this business?
What? – When starting a decorative pillow business, you want to determine what you need depending on what kind of pillows you want to create and sell. What materials will you need, will you need to take some sewing lessons or are you going to hire someone else to do the work? Are you purchasing pre-made pillows and reselling them?
Who? – Who will be involved in your pillow business? Just you, your friends or family – or will you have employees? Who will help you with advertising advice, insurance purchases, and who will keep track of expenses and cash flow?
How? – Where will you sell your pillows? On the internet, in catalogs, at sales or in local stores? How do you intend to advertise your pillows?
How much money? – How much money will you need to get started? How much will you have in cash and materials on hand? Will you need to find investors, and if so where will you find them?
After you have your plan written down, it’s time to get to work to make it happen. Your plan is your map, so consult it frequently as time goes on and make adjustments as needed. It helps to review it from time to time so you don’t get lost along the way and forget where you originally wanted to go.
You can get your decorative pillow business going in several ways. You can do all the work, you can hire others, or you can purchase pre-made products that either need decoration or that are ready to sell. Find sources on the internet by putting what you want into your browser, and then look at several websites for information.
If you are making new creations, continue to practice your craft business and experiment with new fabrics, textures, and design styles. Do you want to expand your business to include other items such as pillow covers? Do you want to offer special pillows such as throw pillows or wedding and baby pillow designs?
Start your new business with a plan, then follow it through. Starting a decorative pillow business is the same as most other businesses: if you know where you’re going and have the passion and drive to get there, you’ll have no problems!
5. How To Start A Jewelry Business : Put your love of beautiful things to work by learning how to start a jewelry business. With a little know how and creativity, you can make and sell your own line of unique accessories.
Unlike many other crafts, initial jewelry making skills can be acquired easily, so even beginners can make beautiful jewelry right away, and in little time.
There’s room for growth too, as an artist. By acquiring more jewelry techniques and intricate skills, you can continue to offer fresh and trendy works of art.
As a business idea, jewelry making is a great one, particularly for a home-based enterprise. With only the cost of jewelry supplies and tools, you can focus most of your budget on marketing.
Getting the Skills
If you don’t know how to bead, or you need to improve your skills, take some classes. Beading stores usually offer classes where instructors will help you make specific designs. The staff is also usually helpful when you ask for help with a particular technique. (They also like it when you buy your supplies there – but more on that later.)
Craft stores, libraries and bookstores also have tons of books and magazines on jewelry making. Online beading websites also have ideas and instructions.
As you look at them, you’ll find yourself drawn to certain types of jewelry or material.
You may enjoy beading with Swarovski crystals, or using various metals to create unique looks. You may prefer the delicacy of bead weaving or making funky designs with chunky natural stones. Whatever direction pulls you, work at perfecting your technique.
Anticipating the Trends
Because jewelry is an accessory, you’ll need to anticipate the upcoming styles so you’ll have jewelry that matches the season’s colors. Looking at fashion magazines or websites such as fashiontrendsetter.com can give you an idea of styles and colors for the upcoming season.
When learning how to start a jewelry business, it’s just as important to keep pace with the latest styles as it is to perfect your jewelry making ability.
Getting Your Supplies
Although you can buy your supplies from craft or bead stores, it is usually much less expensive to buy them online. You can stock up on your basic bead supplies online, and just buy specific items you need immediately from your local store.
In addition to the beads and findings you’ll need for the specific design, you’ll need basic beading tools, a good workspace and good lighting. You’ll also need storage for your supplies and completed designs.
If you’re planning to sell your jewelry online (which we would strongly recommend), consider the number of jewelry combinations you sell carefully. If you have component versions to each product (for example, different chains, chain lengths, bead styles and colors), the number of products you have to sell can quickly skyrocket. Taking photographs of each of these products, writing up descriptions, and stocking can be very time consuming.
For example, a friend of mine started a guitar pick jewelry business and website. She designs and makes amazing earrings, bracelets and necklaces using chain, crystals and guitar picks. However, if she considers the different combinations of chain style, length, pick style and colors, etc., she has thousands of product combinations to manage.
While this may be okay for offline sales, managing all of these combinations online is difficult. She’s in the process of trying to simplify her online operation with the goal of still providing a wide selection of guitar pick jewelry choices while limiting the maintenance effort for her website.
Selling Your Work
Once you’ve developed a collection that highlights your skills, it’s time to sell your products. You can start by having a home show and showcasing your work in a jewelry display. Invite friends and neighbors and serve refreshments.
Sell the items you have in stock, and offer to take orders for others. Promote items that your guests can buy as presents and put them in pretty gift boxes.
Attend craft shows and set up booths at town festivals so more people can see your designs.
Wear your designs often and have your business cards ready when someone compliments you on your jewelry. Take pictures of your jewelry with a digital camera and include them on a website.
Make sure to keep good records of supplies used for each design so you can duplicate the production process more easily.
Visit boutiques and see if they will display your jewelry to sell. Teach a jewelry making class to others to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
Learn how to start a jewelry business – keep creating, and your home business will soon begin to sparkle.
6. Homemade Halloween Costumes Home Business : A business in homemade Halloween costumes might be very seasonal, but there are huge profits to be made when the market is active.
Because of the relatively small amount of time involved in running the business against the amount of time you can invest in the enjoyable aspects, this is a perfect first business to try.
As with any business, start your business in homemade Halloween costumes with a written business plan. This is your map for success, and will keep you on track to where you want to go. Refer to it frequently and make any adjustments as needed.
Firstly, write down your goals for this business why you want to do it, who will help you, and where you want to base yourself. Then create a money chart to determine how much cash you need to start yourself up. Organize this so you can clearly understand what you want to get from your home business.
Realize that you are working with a custom product, as this is a giant selling point for you. Also decide if you will make each costume differently or have few designs that you duplicate. Will you design for adults, just make kids’ costumes, specialize in accessory items, dog costumes, or perhaps even Halloween decorations?
Get quotes on materials and set down some sketches for costume ideas. From these drawings, figure out how much material you will need to produce the quantity of items you need to make. Finally, look around for the materials and find the best deals.
Next you’ll need a sewing machine and an ability to sew. Consider whether or not you’ll take lessons in this, or whether you’ll employ someone else to do the work for you. If you’re doing it yourself, set aside some space and get working!
Make sure your general business insurance liability is in force as soon as you have helpers working with you or when you rent space and have any expensive equipment. You don’t want to start out with a loss.
Check the calendar for any seasonal business, plan your year ahead, and produce well before Halloween so you can start advertising and shipping about three months early.
On the expenses side of things, industry averages indicate that you should expect to pay about 67% of your total income on expenses, with about 52% just on materials. At first, you may want to run this business alone, but later as you expand you will need hired helpers and possibly models for shows, more ads, and so on.
Advertising is your best friend; plan it carefully and effectively. For local markets you can use flyers, small ads in local papers, and maybe even get into some local stores or malls to present a little costume show.
Expand carefully and only as the market demands, because many companies have gone down due to too rapid expansion and getting caught up in excessive expenses over their incomes.
The most important step to success is making your plan for that success. Be sure you do this first, and your homemade Halloween costumes business is sure to be ghoulishly successful!
7. Creative Calligraphy Business : If you have an artistic flair for fine writing and penmanship, why not consider starting a calligraphy business?
Working with your clients you’ll develop beautiful, handwritten works of art ranging from letterhead and stationary to paintings and sculptures.
There are about as many Calligraphy styles (hands) as there are Calligraphers. Find existing styles you’re good at while developing some of your own.
As is the case with most arts, practice is the key to this craft. With practice you’ll not only get better, you’ll also be able to complete your projects more quickly. Focus your sales efforts in areas where calligraphy is in high demand: weddings, graduations, festivals, etc.
Differentiate yourself by expanding your works to include techniques such as gold leaf, embossing and engraving.
When prospecting for new clients, send a letter of introduction, with a sample of an invitation or addressed envelope you have done. Your price list should include:
- Prices for hand-lettering the items which will be reproduced by the printer or engraver
- The invitation
- The response card
- The reply envelope
- Any directions-to card
- Any other component to be included with the invitation
- The dinner menu for the event
- Prices for hand-addressing
- The outer envelope to the recipient
- The inner envelope with the parties’ names which contains the entire invitation package
- Place cards
- Prices for assembling, applying postage, and mailing (be sure to take into consideration you may have to lay tissue between the various components of the invitation, and this can be very time consuming)
Running Your Calligraphy Business
Using a scrapbook for a portfolio, make up a few invitations on fine papers so that you will have calligraphy examples to show potential buyers. Affix the invitations to the pages with nice photo corners, and arrange them neatly so that your portfolio looks professional.
Do not put prices in your scrapbook, as you may need to adjust them from time to time. Simply keep the price list inside the book, and be sure to have a calendar handy for the current year and next year.
Before you begin to do work for someone, get a calligraphy business agreement in writing. Party planning can be very stressful for people, and the more professional you are, the easier it will be to deal with a worried host or hostess.
The agreement should include the total number of everything you are to provide, the final dates you are to provide each portion, and the final cost. If the job includes addressing invitations or making place cards, the contract should specify a number of extras so that if you make a mistake, you will have enough matching stock to finish the job.
To protect your calligraphy business, you should ask for at least 50% down payment for each component, and have the person responsible for payment sign the agreement. Get final payment before turning over any the components.
Be sure to draw up your contracts to include sales tax, if your state requires you to collect it on your services. (Check with your Department of Revenue as to obtaining a seller’s permit, and find out how often you will have to turn in sales tax you collect.)
If you are assembling and mailing, you will have to be certain anything that is to be pre-printed is in your hands in plenty of time to get together and in the mail by the date the host specifies. So look at the calendar and be sure there will time enough to get everything done.
It is wise to either ask the buyer to provide the stamps, or calculate the postage and ask the buyer for a check so that you can purchase stamps yourself; that way, you are not putting up your own money.
Have the post office weigh an assembled invitation so that the amount you ask for is accurate, and so that the host does not have any returned for insufficient postage.
In between invitation projects, you can create works of art to market to gift stores. Make up samples of framed inspirational quotes, poems, signs with first names, and the like. Ask a store to display them, with a sign indicating that they can be custom ordered. Work out an arrangement with the owner as to how you both can make a good profit, and decide on a lead-time you will need in order to get the work done.
If you are furnishing the items framed, take into account the extra time to have that done (and the expense, as well.) It may be best to charge by the letter for these types of items, with framing being additional. Ask the retailer to collect 50% of your fee on any orders received.
You won’t have to pound the pavement in order to market your products; just find a few appropriate outlets for it, and the orders will follow! As your calligraphy business grows, you may want to consider teaching your own calligraphy classes.
8. Ceramics And Pottery Business : People have used pottery in trade and commerce for nearly 8,000 years making the pottery business one of the oldest businesses known.
There are also nearly as many pottery styles as there are potters!
With this kind of history on your side, why not start a pottery business?
You have all of the equipment – the wheel, the kiln, the tools, and you have been making your pottery as a hobby.
You would love to start selling it, but aren’t sure how to go about it without opening a shop or spending money advertising yourself.
Well, the good news is that you have a number of options for starting your pottery business!
- Identify shops and galleries in your area that would be a good fit for your style of pottery. If you do modern or abstract pieces, they would not be suitable for a country-look furniture store, for example. Find a metropolitan-look store instead.
- If you make large format pottery pieces, seek out decorators and upscale furniture stores. Their customers are often people with large houses and offices, and occasionally something large is needed to fill a certain space.
- Let local non-profit organizations know that you could make gifts for board members or small items for fund-raiser souvenirs.
- Make ceramic beads and pendants and market them to bead stores and jewelers. Take it one step further and contact web sites that sell artisan-made jewelry components, and get the name of the person to send samples to so that you can follow up with the person.
- Get into local craft shows. Have information about you, your pottery, special techniques and glazes that you use, and how to care for and use the pottery and place in the bag with purchases. Send postcards out to your friends and family with the event information, and have guest book at the shows so that you can start a mailing list.
- Send a letter and brochure to the large businesses in your area who meet with clients in their offices. They might be interested in custom coffee service sets with their logo or company colors on them. They might also be interested in holiday gifts for clients and employees.
Selling Your Pottery
If you sell pottery at retail yourself, you will need to check with your state Department of Revenue as to whether or not you need a seller’s permit and whether or not you need to collect sales tax and turn it in to the state at regular intervals.
If your pottery business sells products at wholesale to shops or web sites, you may need to ask for the company’s sales permit number in order to show that you were not supposed to collect sales tax on those transactions. Price your pottery in such a way that you make a profit, and that the retailer can also hope to sell them.
In other words, be flexible—what you don’t collect at the time of the sale may be made up by selling in volume. You will have to weigh whether it is worth your time and effort to sell more items at a lower price.
Galleries may take items on a consignment basis. You should have a signed consignment agreement, and often the gallery will provide it. You need to have an inventory list detailing every piece and its value, and have a gallery representative sign that he or she received it.
Check with an attorney or accountant as to what kind of business entity you should have for your pottery business, if any. If you bought your kiln and other equipment in a different tax year than you began selling your pottery, check with your accountant as to turning the items into business assets and being able to expense the items on your tax return.
While you are handling the details of setting up your business, keep on producing your pottery, and soon, you will be ready to roll out your first product line!
9. Starting A Cross Stitch Business : There can be big dollars in a cross stitch business and selling hand-made items if you know how to find your niche and sell your brand.
Factories churn out thousands of similar products that are popular until everyone in town has one.
If you possess the skills, a cross stitch business will introduce a unique market buyers will find very attractive.
The first step for any company is licensing and tax registration. City, county, state and federal licenses may be required for even a home business. In addition, you may have to undergo an approval process by the zoning board if you live in a residential area.
A good starting point for finding the proper tax and license requirements on the state and federal level is the Small Business Administration. Your local revenue office can assist you with city and county requirements. Paying self-employed taxes should be taken into account when setting your merchandise prices.
If you don’t already have it, a supply of completed cross stitch patterns is essential. You have to be able to show samples of your work not only to potential customers, but also to lenders if you plan to get a business loan.
Inventory for your cross stitch business should also include basic supplies like blank invoices and order books, letterhead, income and expense journals and a mileage record for your automobile. These can be computer based, but always keep paper backups so an unexpected computer glitch doesn’t keep you from making a sale.
The first few months of your new business will be split about halfway between work and marketing. You have to let people know who you are and what you are selling. Ask local stores if you can leave fliers with a sample or photos of your work.
Visit wedding shops or specialty home decor stores and talk to the managers about doing special embroidery work.
You should also consider entering your wares in art shows and quilting bees. These usually require an entry fee, but the exposure will be worth it. Hopefully, you will sell enough to get that money back anyway.
Maintaining and Growing
Keeping a set schedule will go a long way in being successful. Self-employed business owners almost universally say maintaining consistent work hours, even from home, is essential to keeping up your motivation and project completion.
The close work of needlepoint can grow tedious for some people after a couple of hours. Take breaks just as you would in an office, and you will be much more likely to keep it up.
Your cross stitch business can be as small or large as you want it to be if you explore new avenues. Consider setting up a shop online. Hundreds of internet hosting providers have ready-made templates and store fronts for relatively low cost.
Offer classes at your local community center or community college. Put the word out that you are willing to travel a certain distance, for compensation, to teach in other communities as well. Your cross stitch business can begin to grow exponentially when you have a wider base of customers and friendly word-of-mouth advertisers.
10. Handmade Invitations Small Business : If you are creative and artistic and have a head full of ideas that need expressing, starting a business making handmade invitations can be a wonderfully rewarding home-based business.
Handmade invitations are viewed as extraordinarily special. The recipient sees them on a very personal level and is touched deeply by the importance of the message written in them.
Artwork that is hand depicted on custom invitations is not overlooked as it often is with preprinted invitation cards, either.
Handmade invitations were once thought of as the economical way to promote an event, however now they have become chic and are set apart from impersonal pre-printed corporate produced invitations.
Weddings, bar mitzvahs, family reunions, baptisms and other important events can be announced in a personal way with cards. Other times, such as when thank you cards are needed, are opportunities for your business too.
By your becoming the source for the cards for these special events, you and your creative talents will be held in high regard, appreciated and admired by many.
Should you decide to turn your creative talents into a business for yourself, take a little time to consider the importance of a few foundational business essentials that will help you maintain a good image.
It is important that you acquire basic knowledge about matters such as local state and federal tax laws, proper licensure if applicable in your area, accounting and bookkeeping procedures, customer databases and records, successful viable marketing and promotion, and any items you will need for your home office.
It is essential to have an up-to-date computer with e-mail and fax capabilities as well as a business phone line with a number directly associated to your custom invitation business.
Starting The Creative Process
It is important that you get information from each customer accurately, so enquire about the color schemes and basic ideas that they would like presented. Remember, this event is special to them – it is all about the customer, so everything you do must be tailored to their wishes. Even if they tell you vaguely only what they want initially, it is important to get more details from them as soon as possible.
Once the invitations have been created and accepted by the customer, retain the original invitation inside a portfolio to show to future potential customers. Showing potential customers samples of your prior work proves to them that you have a track record and that you truly mean business.
There are many avenues for marketing and promoting yourself to potential customers. You should go online and search out others who are promoting the same type of material and learn from them to become competitive.
Always remember that your work is your own, and you alone can add a touch of grace to each invitation presented. When the intended recipient receives it, they should be truly touched by it. This will make your client use your handmade invitations again and again and also pass the word out to their friends and other contacts.
