Crafting for Profit - “Do what you love and the money will follow!”So why are 99% of people stuck in dead-end jobs they hate? I think it’s because we fear the unknown. Trying something new, like crafting for profit, requires stepping out of our comfort zone, gaining knowledge and learning new skills. “Life shrinks and expands in proportion to our courage”. I have found this to be so true! With this in mind, I have decided to do something, EVERY day towards achieving my dream of working from home in my own craft business. When, you feel overwhelmed or unsure how to achieve your goal don’t just fret – do something! Learn to type, read books on ecommerce and marketing, surf the Internet for ideas, ANYTHING, just do SOMETHING and you’ll be one step closer to getting there.
Here I will share with you some of the resources I have found along the way. I do not profess to be a business expert, (my skills lie in creating 3-D animals from fleece for goodness sake!) BUT I will gladly share ideas and knowledge gained with like-minded individuals. I believe in karma “what you put out, you get back…” So if anyone has any information they’d like to share with the mad-about-craft visitors, there is a contact form at the bottom of this page to share your craft business insights!
Creating your business identity:Website Design:Option 1 - Find a good website designer: As an online retailer of craft patterns and kits, I needed a bright cheerful website. Your website should reflect the nature of your business. You need a web designer who doesn’t just fit you into a template, but rather, tailors your website design to your business.
I discovered that Lura Myers (one of our Featured Knitting Artists) is multi talented! Besides owning a management and IT consulting firm she custom designs websites and does logo design. Have a look at this website that Lura has designed for a local spa -
studiovictoriaonline.com
If you are one of those people who like to get behind the scenes and find the idea of building your own website, block by block, an attractive prospect - have a look at the system that was used to build the Mad-about-craft website. I enjoy having total control over the design, content and website promotion side of things and this system has all the tools needed to really get your site noticed. Before you do that, use this quick Alexa Web-rating Test to see how well your site is rating. It will give you an idea of your site’s traffic volume too. Put your site (or sites of friends or colleagues) to the traffic test... it's quite an eye opener.
It’s kind of embarrassing but this site receives more ‘hits’ than my own individual website, I wish I’d found it first! If you're keen to build a successful online presence for your crafting business -
check out this website building System.
It's a simple, foolproof step-by-step guide for stay at home mums (or anyone for that matter) with a hobby or interest to put together a profitable website.
Running your business:Business planning:
What’s that? I didn’t have a clue when I stepped out of ‘9-5-land’ and decided to start my own craft business! BUT lucky for me there is a wealth of knowledge to be found on the Internet. I have come across a brilliant website all about How To Turn Your Craft into a Profitable Home Business.
Liza and Marc seem to have a wealth of qualifications and knowledge between them and have created a site that is full of practical advice for setting up a successful home-based craft business. They have a Success Stories page - and I challenge all the Mad-about-crafters to one day be featured there!
Getting your website noticed:Website Promotion:Now here's a very frustrating thing - You have a briliant website, but it's pretty useless if no one knows it's there! One of the best ways to get your craft business noticed is to list your website on as many related craft directories as you can. People visiting these directories are looking for craft websites so you're bound to get targeted/interested visitors. Craft directories are highly trafficked so your site will be exposed to large numbers of visitors. A lot of directories allow free listing and others will list your website for a small (and others, a rather large) fee! Experiment to see which work best for you.
 Craft world online – I find this a bit ‘busy’ and hard to navigate, but I’d say it’s worth the free listing.
If you have any advice for fellow crafters about craft directories that you can pesonally recommend or that you would advise other crafters to avoid - let us know by filling in the feedback form below.
You’re not alone!Forums:When you work from home, alone, Forums are a great place to find great tips on all sorts of things from business processes to personal tips on how to survive the feeling of isolation you can feel when you work from home. It’s amazing how much useful information you can find on topics like Working from home, Tips for making your business better, Search Engine Optimization, Website promotion and Generating traffic to your website.
A great craft forum that I recommend is -
the Craftser forum.
Being new to forums, I found it very user-friendly and a great place to learn about posting and forum etiquette. I enjoyed browsing the site and even entered a few craft challenges. It’s really refreshing to have people be so welcoming and share their knowledge so frankly!
Another great place to get in touch with people in a similar situation as yourself is - . It’s not strictly a craft site, it’s an online community created especially for moms to meet up online to swap stories and advice on a huge range of topics, share photos, and connect with friends. Users get your own home page which you can customize to show off your personality and you can join, or even start, public or private groups with other moms about common interests. Two I found particularly interesting were I Want To Work At Home!!!!!!, yes there really are that many exclamation marks at the end of this group’s name, and WAHM Business Ideas and Advertising Exchange
There is so much information there I could spend all day browsing the groups if I didn’t have to go to work! Once again, I found it very user firiendly and welcoming which is wonderful if you’re new to the net.
Pay it Forward!I am learning in leaps and bounds, yet I often feel overwhelmed about how much I have to learn about building an online craft business. One thing I’ve learned though, is that no matter how little you think you know, there is always someone less experienced than you who can learn from your experience! So I try and assist others whenever I get a chance as a way of paying back those who helped ME!With this thought in mind – please feel free to send in your comments or feedback. Your craft business comments are welcome. Thanks in advance for sharing!
The Mad-about-craft team
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