Craft Business Ideas

Sell Crafts Wholesale and to Consignment Shops

James Dillehay — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:45:09 +0000

Sell Crafts Wholesale

For craft business owners looking to sell crafts wholesale, there’s a new guide that’s full of start up help. It’s also for craft businesses already selling to stores, but want to see some improvement in their craft sales.

Selling crafts in quantity orders can grow your craft business faster than selling one item at a time. A couple of good wholesale accounts will buy far more than one retail customer.

The problem is that if you are not ready to sell crafts wholesale to stores, it’s difficult to make it work. You need to know about pricing, packaging and planning.

How to Sell Your Products Wholesale is an ebook that will save you some of the headaches and lost cash trying to enter this market unprepared.

You’ve got questions:
Is selling crafts wholesale right for you?
How do I price crafts for wholesale?
How much profit can I expect?
How do store owners like to be approached?

How to Sell Your Products Wholesale answers those questions and more. It will show you how many craft business owners lose wholesale accounts – so you can bypass this all too common pitfall.

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New Publicity Opportunities for Craft Business Owners

James Dillehay — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:49:38 +0000

Today was unusually good for publicity opportunities for craft business owners. Normally, I find one ever couple of days, but for whatever reason, there were a bunch. In fact there were 6. You can read them at Craftsu.com, my other site for shoppers looking to buy handmade.

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Free Handmade Product Review

James Dillehay — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:40:38 +0000

Vishruti will put a free handmade product review up on the blog http://promotingetsysellers.blogspot.com/ along with a link to your website.

Contact – vishruti.dev@gmail.com and write FREE PRODUCT REVIEWS in the
subject line. Click here to read the original blog post announcing this offer.

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Art Licensing Networking Group

James Dillehay — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:00:14 +0000

Most of my readers are craft artisans but I know some of you are fine artists. If that’s you or you know an artist, check out Artoflicensing.com a networking group for those involved in art licensing.

From their site description: “This is an online networking group dedicated to Artists, Illustrators, Designers, Product Manufacturers, and Licensing Agents in the ART LICENSING industry. Network, exchange helpful ideas, links & resources, report on trade shows, trends, share info on marketing, copyrighting & licensing processes.”

Related page about the best book I’ve come across for understanding licensing your art and design.

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Craft Business Optimization Tips

James Dillehay — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:48:47 +0000

Every new business comes with learning curves and a craft business is no exception. Sometimes it can all seem to be just too much to take in when you are starting out.

When you feel overwhelmed, slow down. Break down your immediate goal into the simplest action steps and schedule those actions and then just do them, one step at a time. Taking baby steps will not only help alleviate stress, it will give you benchmarks that let you feel good about your progress.

Another way to optimize your craft business is to pay attention to past customers. One of your most important assets is your customer list. If you don’t already have a contact management system in place, set one up now so you can collect and maintain your customer list. You can use Microsoft Outlook or Act! or any simple spreadsheet program.

Stay in touch with your customers by mailing out postcards or flyers of new pieces several times a year. Make sure you include ways people can contact your craft business and place orders.

Another stress reducer is to stop trying to ‘reinvent the wheel’ by learning from other craft business sellers. Read the community forum posts on the sites where you set up shops to sell crafts online. You’ll find answers to commonly asked questions and learn of resources.

Search for and read blogs written by sellers of the site you sell on, like Etsy bloggers or eBay craft bloggers or Artfire bloggers. Learning what other sellers are doing may help you avoid problems and increase your profits.

Reduce your craft business material costs by finding wholesale craft supplies

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How to Increase Perceived Value in Your Craft Business

James Dillehay — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:13:33 +0000

Lots of newbie craft business owners start out underpricing their items because they think of their pieces as commodities. But here is something a craft artist must keep in their thoughts: a commodity is an undifferentiated item that can be bought anywhere.

A handmade craft item can be transformed from a commodity by shifting the value elements in your displays, packaging and marketing materials.

If you want higher profit margins for your craft business, you have to differentiate your products. This can be done in several ways:

1. Quality. People will pay more for a better experience. Producing the finest quality work will convey a promise of pride and pleasure.

2. Branding. Enhance your reputation as an artist by way of including testimonials, awards, reviews, and education in your promotional materials.

3. Delivery. Make it known that your item is available for immediate delivery.

4. Scarcity: Statements like “this is a one of a kind item” or “this is a limited edition series” will evoke the scarcity response.

5 Guarantee. Take away the risk from shoppers and guarantee their satisfaction or you will return their money.

More ways to increase perceived value of handmade crafts:

Unlike mass produced items, handmade collectibles increase in value over time.

Create a sense of urgency: “Usually at events like here, a piece like this sells and then it’s gone forever”

Offer a wide selection: “choose from six colors”

Create themed lines: create items in themes like cats or dolphins or butterflies or whatever other theme someone might collect.

Compare the item to something of far greater value, like “That’s just like being able to buy a museum piece for the price of ____”

Spruce up your packaging. It’s true that people will pay more for craft items that come with fancy packages.

Feature your displays. Shining display lights on items at trade shows has been shown to increase sales for craft business owners.

Issue a ‘Certificate of Authority’ with each item you sell.

Promote your craft business with photographs and videos. Include more than one photo for a craft item. Show it from different angles.

How to price crafts

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New Service from BigCartel Provides Digital Delivery

James Dillehay — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:42:30 +0000

I know many of you write as well as craft so you may be interested in BigCartel.com’s new beta program called Pulley. Pulley allows you to sell copies of your ebooks and have them delivered to customers upon payment through your BigCartel store. Pulley is in beta, which means its not ready for prime time, but they are inviting testers. See the original post for details.

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National Endowment for the Arts Seeking New Logo Design Proposals

James Dillehay — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:32:46 +0000

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced a request for proposals (RFP) for a new “Art Works” logo – details are at www.arts.gov/artworksdesign.

Proposed logo designs must relate to the NEA in such a way that the proposed logo could stand alone or complement the NEA’s current logo.

Proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February, 26, 2010. Send inquiries to Latonca Harris at harrisl (at) arts.gov or (202) 682-5476.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest annual national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. www.arts.gov.

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New Money Management Site

James Dillehay — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:40:35 +0000

Women have heard it 100 times by now: they still earn, save and retire with less money than their dear male counterparts. Here’s the thing — no one is going to fix financial inequity for women. Not the White House, not Nancy Pelosi, not even Oprah or Suze Orman.

Women have to recognize their own self-worth and create their own wealth by asking for higher salaries and by investing more aggressively. To support this, founder Amanda Steinberg and former New York Times finance columnist MP Dunleavey produce DailyWorth, a free daily email about money management for women. DailyWorth has been featured in Forbes, Inc and SELF magazines.

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Craft Business Owners Over 50 with Etsy Stores Wanted

James Dillehay — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:13:57 +0000

If you have a craft business on Etsy and you are over 50, AARP magazine wants to know about you. for a possible story. Laura Daily is trying to track down craftsmen and craftswomen age 50 and older who use Etsy.com to market and sell their handmade wares. Email Laura query-2a9 (at) helpareporter.com with your name, contact info and the name of your Etsy shop.

Get more help with how to sell crafts

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Hipknitized.blogspot.com Blog for Knitters

James Dillehay — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:00:45 +0000

Just came across Hipknitized.blogspot.com, a great blog for knitters. This stay at home mom posts free patterns, pictures of her work, lists of craft shows in her area and a look into her everyday life.

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Sell Crafts on TalkMarket

James Dillehay — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:29:49 +0000

Sell Crafts on Talk Market

Sell crafts at Talkmarket.com , a television shopping channel hosted by artists, designers, inventors, and creative retailers where they personally introduce their creations through videos created with the site’s video making technology. Shoppers get to see the products demonstrated and meet the people behind the creations.

Talk Market was founded by TV shopping channel veterans who recognize that there are millions of amazing products out there that might never get the chance to be on a TV shopping channel. Craft makers can sell crafts online through brief video infomercials.

The site supplies you with an automatic video creation technology to improve your video presentations. The site charges 20 percent for craft sales plus credit card processing costs of 3 percent. They also have an affiliate program where you can earn commissions.

Learn more ways to sell crafts.

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Using Twitter for Branding Your Craft Business

James Dillehay — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:42:25 +0000

Successful craft artists think about branding their businesses when promoting. Twitter provides a very fast way to build your personal brand, if you use it wisely. What you tweet represents you. I was asked to contribute to the blog post here which features 8 great ways to brand yourself using Twitter.

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Mobile Credit Card Processing

James Dillehay — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:46:39 +0000

Craft Show Mobile Credit Card Processing

Does my craft business need mobile credit card processing?

If you sell craft items at craft shows, fairs and festivals, you will lose sales if you fail to offer customers the option to pay by credit card (If you sell only online at eBay, most buyers are used to paying with PayPal, so you don’t need mobile credit card processing.)

How can my business accept credit cards?

How do you obtain the right to accept credit cards? Usually, you just apply. For festivals and other public events, you may want to consider getting mobile credit card processing through a merchant account where you can accept credit cards with cell phone access.

What is the best credit card processing company?

The first criteria is that the proccessor adheres to credit card processing standards. Your bank probably offers small business merchant accounts and that’s a good place to start since they know your history. Since there is a credit check involved in the application, it may be easier to get approved where you already have a checking account.

You can also google the phrase “mobile credit card processing” to find other providers.

Always research any credit card processing service before signing up with them. Learn if they are a legitimate provider and have a + business rating. Beware of credit card processing free offers. They may indicate a scam.

If you are new to accepting credit cards, don’t worry as most providers include some kind of merchant account education.

There are good reasons to offer a variety of payment options.

1. Customers like to pay for their purchases in a manner of their own choosing.

2. Providing a choice of payment options makes you look like a trustworthy business.

3. The more options you provide, the more credibility you borrow from trusted names like….Visa Mastercard Discover American Express PayPal (your customer’s bank if you accept personal checks.)

If you sell online from your own website, consider providing a “mail order” form webpage for those people who don’t want to use a credit card online. And for sales offline, offer your customers mobile credit card processing.

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CraftyCraftersExpo.com Craft Show Approaching Deadline

James Dillehay — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:43:58 +0000

Spaces available at the Crafty Crafters Expo, but the deadline is approaching. All vendors are eligible for a special drawing of $25 of their crafts booth space at a future Expo.

They are also taking applications for February. After that there won’t be an Expo until May, July, September and finally November and that will conclude the 6 for the year.

They are getting applications also for their Festival in August. Applications and information about the fest is available online at links below at The World of Faeries site.

www.theworldoffaeries.com
www.craftycraftersexpo.com

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Crafting Flops Wanted for Craft Business Mag

James Dillehay — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:01:14 +0000

Crafts Report writer Patrice Lewis wants to know about your flops. She is looking for successful, established craft business owners to give their examples of products or ideas that flopped. Perhaps nobody bought the item. Perhaps people laughed. Perhaps it fell apart in a customers hands. Perhaps all of the above.

Yes, it was embarrassing. Tell her HOW or WHY. But did it teach you a lesson? What kind?

Patrice is looking to keep this article lighthearted, even funny, so give her your best examples of what you goofed up but how you kept your sense of humor about it. More important, “tell her what you learned.” What did you do differently later on so as not to repeat the mistake?

Please DO NOT reply by saying you have all kinds of info and that she should contact you. Instead, write at length with your story and advice. Be sure to include your business name and website so she can give you credit. Please put “HARO Craft Flops” in the subject line of your email and send to patrice@patricelewis.com Deadline is January 12, 2010

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Publicity Opp for Unique Ideas for Valentines Day

James Dillehay — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:47:55 +0000

Networking Witches is viewing test products for review for their Bewitched Valentines Event and a Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) Event. They also have an up and coming Easter Event as well.

Networking Witches can also sponsor a giveaway for your business. When it is over they will contact you with the winners information so you can send it. Please take a look at their site and see if they are a good fit.

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Neat Trick to Sending Promotional Postal Mail that Gets Opened

James Dillehay — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:00:53 +0000

Do you use postal mail to send promotional material to your customers? The way to increase the number of opens is: replace that single first class postage stamp with six or more ‘less denomination’ stamps. The more individual stamps you include the better. Recipients will get curious and want to open your letter.

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PR Opportunities: Creative Ideas for Valentine’s Day Gifts

James Dillehay — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:46:23 +0000

Here are some last minute valentine gifts PR opportunities. Hurry, because the reporters have imminent deadlines.

If your craft items make creative ideas for valentine’s day gifts, NetworkingWitches.com is seeking info on Valentine gift items to feature on NetWorkingWitches.com, gifts for (all ages) men, women, children, even for pets. Especially interested in green gifts for Valentines? Send your creative Valentine ideas to Rose by email RoseRedNeckWitch (at) gmail.com. Use “Valentine Feature” in the subject line. Deadline is January 11, 2010.

100CafeStreet.com – a Dessert Blog is looking to feature some of the most beautiful Valentine cupcakes out there. If you have pictures, recipes or just sell cupcakes online, e-mail Betty at 100cafestreet (at) gmail.com. Include “Valentines’s Day cupcakes” in the subject line. Deadline is Jan. 12, 2010

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Interactive Marketing Gets People to Pay Attention

James Dillehay — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:36:48 +0000

Adverblog: Examples of Interactive Marketing

When marketing your crafts, think about ways to get people to interact with you. It may be your only defense against them shutting you out in a busy world that’s full of interruption messages.

Interaction is key to getting them to pay attention to your crafts. I came across examples of interactive marketing for other types of products at this blog and thought they might provide inspiration for craft business owners.

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Review: Where the Shows Are, Craft Show Guide

James Dillehay — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:04:39 +0000

With so many craft shows to choose from, how do you know which events will pay off? Often times, you can learn a lot just talking to other vendors where you are already displaying your crafts. But that may not be enough.

Where the Shows Areis a quarterly guide ($49.95 per year) to craft fairs in the Eastern United States. It lists hundreds of craft shows along with the dates, available booth spaces, whether the event is juried, what kind of items are allowed, contact information for the event and more. It’s like a Yellow Pages for craft fairs.

Each issue / book is divided into several sections. The first section includes articles on how to improve your craft business and reviews of shows. Then there is a listing called “Shows at a Glance.” Following that is a “Location Cross Reference”. And then there comes the show listings in detail. The final section is for upcoming deadlines so you can keep track of what actions you have to take to get your application in on time.

Click here for more information or to subscribe.

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Announcing: Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship

James Dillehay — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:27:45 +0000

The Institute For Arts Entrepreneurship

CHICAGO, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ — A Chicago-based program, set to launch in September 2010, is designed to eliminate the long-held “starving artist” stereotype and, instead, will teach artists how to become successful entrepreneurs.

The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship(TM) is a two-year program with a curriculum that combines experiential learning, mentorship and a personalized classroom environment that provides one-on-one time with the faculty of successful artist-entrepreneurs.

Founded by 25-year business veteran and serial artistic entrepreneur Lisa Canning, The Institute is based on her enthusiasm for the new wave of whole-brain thinking and the firm belief that the arts -and artists–can and must be allowed to contribute to the world’s financial recovery.

“There is simply no reason whatsoever that artists cannot be relevant and earn a living. And now, more than ever, society is not only willing but must innovate,” she says. “The arts hold many key ingredients that can help fuel economic growth. The time has come for artists to financially benefit from what the world now most needs–their creativity.”

Faculty at The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship includes entrepreneurial artists and artistic educational leaders. Among them: Dennis Rich, former chair of the Columbia College Arts, Entertainment & Media Program and Martin Atkins, serial artistic entrepreneur and renowned drummer; part-time faculty members include interdisciplinary arts leader John Cimino of Creative Leaps International, New York; musician, author, composer and educator David Cutler, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA; Gary Beckman, visiting professor at the University of South Carolina School of Music and Francois Kloc, vice president of sales and marketing for fine musical instrument maker Buffet Crampon & Cie., Paris.

The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship(TM) makes its home at Flourish Studios, a collaborative art studio and community center located at 3020 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago.

Enrollment is limited to 45 students. Applications are available online to apply for the institute. There is no age limit for enrollment and the requirements to apply simply include artistic excellence. For more information about the school, go to http://www.TheIAE.com

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26 Best Publicity Tips of 2009

James Dillehay — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:02:17 +0000

Joan Stewart publishes a great free newsletter called ‘The Publicity Hound’ from which I always pick up new useful promotion ideas. Joan is giving her subscribers a free ebook with 26 of her best tips for getting publicity from her 2009 newsletters.

Joan is allowing me to pass this on to you. And you don’t have to subscribe to her newsletter to get it. Click here to download your free copy of “The Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week of 2009″.

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Craftsu.com: New Network for Artists to Reach Buyers of Handmade

James Dillehay — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:38:47 +0000

Buy and Sell Crafts at Craftsu.com

Craftsu.com is a new social platform for artists, craftspeople, and photographers to tell their stories and interact with shoppers looking to “buy handmade.”

Craftsu was born from the marriage of two emerging trends:

1) Purchases of handmade crafts online grew almost every month for the last twelve months, despite the tough economy. Etsy.com, the leader of the pack in sites that offer handmade crafts for sale, sold $58 million worth of goods in the first five months of 2009, doubling their sales volume over the same period last year.

2) The latest stats show people are turning to social networks to find out what products people are talking about and to look for special deals. Mashable.com reported on a prediction that more than half of shoppers would research gift ideas and check out friends’ and family members’ wish lists this year.

Craftsu.com founder, James Dillehay, has a history as craftsman and author/publisher. “As much as any artist or writer, I know the inner struggle that goes on between finding time for creative expression and the need to pay the bills. My background includes a time when I was weaving full time and making my living solely from selling my work. At some point, I decided to move up the social ladder from ’starving artist’ to the more respected status of ’starving author,’” he says. “Because of my own experiences, I feel motivated to help remove the ’starving’ part from creative careers.”

Dillehay thinks the handmade life is easier on the mind. But for now, he is active online at the site about 12 hours a day, encouraging artists to promote themselves through their stories with pictures, displays and links to their Etsy or other storefronts for making sales.

For more information, visit Craftsu to buy and sell crafts.

In addition to growing Craftsu and weaving his own craft items, Dillehay has authored nine books and been interviewed in Family Circle Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bottom Line, The Chicago Tribune, Entrepreneur Radio and on HGTV

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News Release for Craftsu Picking Up Viewers

James Dillehay — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:16:24 +0000

As I wrote in a previous post, Craftsu.com is a new site to promote your craft from. If you already signed up, but have not yet created a profile or uploaded images of your work, you may want to do that now.

The first of many news releases to come announced Craftsu to the media today early this morning. Over the weekend it will get picked up and read by thousands of sites and news outlets. In just a few hours since going live, the news release has received more than 8000 impressions.

If you have not yet signed up for a free artist’s account, I recommend it. If you are promoting your
crafts online, Craftsu will help you reach more buyers. And it’s completely free to use.

Some helpful tips to remember when creating your profile on Craftsu (or any other shopping site):

1) use quality images; good photos are all shoppers have to look at to make a buying decision

2) link to your Etsy, Artfire or other domain from your profile and in any posts you make

3) uploaded images of your craftwork rotate front and center on Craftsu.com . But you can
increase your exposure by using the instant blog tool to post your images, product descriptions and
links again

Craftsu is a network to buy and sell crafts

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