How One Woman Found Her True Passion By Thinking Outside the (Jewelry) Box

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Contents:

Setting up a home-based craft business: top tips

How to sell handmade products

Peacock added that when you drive traffic to a marketplace, you almost always lose that traffic to another competing seller. Buyers are inundated with options on marketplaces. Even if they are sent to your store on a marketplace, the sidebar and bottom of the page are filled with suggestions for similar items from different sellers.

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Having your own website also offers more control. If you rely solely on social media at this point, you will most likely lose traffic. Considering an email marketing service for your business?

Starting up? Write an action plan

If you're looking for information to help you choose the one that's right for you, use the questionnaire below to get quotes and information from a variety of vendors for free: Thinking outside the box about how you sell your products can set you apart from the competition and set you up for continued success. Check out our best picks.

Peacock added that creative entrepreneurs should always be exploring new and unique sales channels. Despite his recommendation to not drive traffic to a marketplace, that doesn't mean a handmade business owner shouldn't have one. Good marketplaces have internal traffic and will give your products more exposure.

More exposure leads to more sales. So, should you sell on Etsy? What about Amazon Handmade?

Setting up a home-based craft business: top tips

You should sell on as many sales channels as you can manage," Peacock suggested. He also said not to be afraid of trying different marketing channels, such as social media, email marketing, blogging, etc. Focus on one at a time to ensure you can measure the results of the selling channel. A sales pipeline is a way of tracking what stage your customer is in leading up to a sale. Albert Wright , a former inner-city teacher working with at-risk kids, wanted to start a hobby that he and his wife, Brooke, could do together.

They took their time to choose the right name for their product, knowing it would be their brand. In , she and other staff at her school formed a Crochet for Cancer Club where students could learn a skill and help people in need at the same time. Ben Coleman , a former eighth-grade math teacher in Fall River, Massachusetts, expresses his artistic side in origami, the art of folding paper into sculptures.

He turned that hobby into The Origami Bonsai Company and sells origami books, kits and products on his website, OrigamiBonsai. Start small , Wright advises. Buy only what you can afford. It was a win-win for both businesses. No matter how fun and exciting your hobby-business may be, you still need time and energy for your day job, home, family and life.

Build your own website.

Schedule your time so you can still take care of the everyday necessities you need to do while your spare-time business grows. Woods uses a color coded system to make sure her calendar includes days for teaching tasks such as grading papers and days and times to spend on marketing, advertising, creating, and practicing her hobby.

Scout the competition to see what others are doing, Woods suggests. How are they photographing and marketing their products? How do they sell and ship products? How easy is their site to navigate? Take advantage of platforms such as Animoto for creating video tutorials and advertising your product, Woods says. Etsy and other biggies are great, but your product may be lost in the crowd.

The two brainstormed and afterward Barnes connected Elizabeth with Jennifer, a woman who runs a small company that offers support to families of high school students looking to get into college. By providing great free value in the form of a blog post, you can get your name and products in front of many potential clients.