Owning a craft business not for the weak of heart

I want to sell things but I don't know that I'd be better off doing it like you or just here and there. I try to get to craft fairs around the holidays if I can... as they bring back memories from when I was a kid and my Aunt took me to them. I think more homemade crafts and items would make people more humble. I was making a blankie for my son in fall and after someone asked me what I was making while I was waiting for my daughter to be dismissed from class... then she had the gaul to day I don't like homemade stuff it seems so ewww... I don't like this or that.... I was so upset it took me over 20 yrs to figure out how to crochet what I am able to do now and all this lady could do was criticize. & her lil friend joined in cause she could never figure it out... Well jeez I'd be happy to help teach her the basics I know... Whereas others were like cool I didn't know you could do that!

Anything that depends on the other guy to buy or participate is too hesitant for me. I would not have the faith to try it, and persevere. Yes, people undervalue hand crafted items and think they can get it for cheap or can haggle a craft person down. Good luck on your efforts.

I understand your pain. I get comment cute stuff, but most of the time they do not turn into a sale. I was feeling a little down a month ago because I could not get a sale, and lo and behold a customer came into my booth and brought 3 necklaces and plan to come back later on for two bracelets. I think selling crochet items is very difficult. I have only sold 2 crochet items this year. I still crochet just for the joy of doing it, and if they do not sell I will just give them to a charity. I check your site out and your items are really nice. I have brought a couple of items from Etsy but not lately. As soon as I can find some extra cash, I will surely buy some stuff from Etsy.

I can feel your pain. I am guilty of not purchasing anything from etsy. But in my defense, it is due to the fact that many of the items on there, are things that I can make myself. I too love to do crafts, and spend the entire year making things for family members for Christmas.

Hi Sweetdesign, I was curious. What type of marketing are you involved with online? You have some really cute traditional type of crafts that should be selling well. I noticed you have some cute handmade baby items.I have successful sold some of my creations online before perhaps I can help you out some. I have sold baby jewelry before and I noticed that soon to be mom's love to have keep sake baby items to pass down to their children, especially mom's wanting special high quality custom baby keep sakes to give to their daughter when she matures in hope's she will pass down some of these baby keep sakes to her baby . This is the market you need to find, and believe me, this market is there because there is a woman on myspace is making smiler type of items you are making and she make's quit a bit of sales.This woman make's herself out bigger then life online and uses catchy phrases to hook people in and she states over and over again about that she's a ceramic artist that has been making quality items for years and makes herself bigger then life online.She makes custom ceramic picture frames and will customize it with any name you tell her to place on it .. It's all how you professionally present yourself online and how you market your items. I sold almost everything I made online except for 2 pieces of jewelry that I decided to keep for myself.I can help you a bit because I really do feel for your situation and I understand how frustrating things can be as a crafter and artist. A few years ago I was part of this local arts and craft show and there were crafters, artist and jewelry makers at this one time special event and only 20 people showed up and if it wasn't for my fellow crafters and artist I wouldn't sold anything, the lady with the booth next to be purchased a bracelet from me for her daughter, that was the only sale I had for that day! So I decided to try online sale's and did a lot better sales wise. I have a few ideals that may help you out, if you are interested add me as a friend and I can give you some suggestions where to promote online and how to increase sales.

sweetdesign, my Mylotter and twitter friend, I love your site! Most anything worth having requires hugh sacrifices and even more patience. We may not be buying now due to our personal economic situations, but we love to dream of the beautiful things that we might be able to afford someday soon. You do us a great work by allowing us to keep dreaming, and for that I personally thank you. Don't be surprised and have a the big one when I make my first order.

Sorry but I disagree..I think stay at home mothers have it harder. As we never get paid or a thank you for doing what we do. before you disagree, I will state I do believe a stay at home mother is a job whether they get paid or not. But I will agree crafters are one of the first people hit when people stop buying things they want but instead only buy what they need. Like in today economy.

I feel ya! You enjoy creating and that's the thing you get to do the least when selling handmade items. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time I spend promoting each month (or how much my hubby promotes for me) Add in trying to get quality images of my creations, writing up descriptions, etc, etc... it's amazing that I get to my crafting table as much as I do. I do agree with the person that responded above me. Making baby items may be a niche market, but IMO niche markets are a great thing to sell into and it may be something to seriously consider (since you are already targeting the market) When I started on Etsy, I made scarves. Realizing that I wouldn't sell many in 90 degree heat, I added jewelry. I sold some jewelry, but since there are like 1.5 million jewelry makers on Etsy (okay not quite that many) I was lucky to incorporate my longtime hobby of sea glass collecting into my jewelry creations...and my niche market was born. Scarves are no longer part of my etsy shop inventory & haven't been for more than a year...I still knit, but now it's for myself, family members, and given away to charities. I hope you understand that you are doing everything correct. You are promoting, trying to drive traffic to your shop and auctions. The economy isn't good and many people are still losing their jobs, but I think that it may be about to turn around a little. The warmer weather usually has people in the spending mood and like the above responder mentioned, people love buying keepsakes, especially items that women can buy to pass on to their daughter or daughter-in-laws. I don't believe that handmade items are undervalued. Let people know that this isn't something they can find in their local WalMart. It's handmade and it took a lot of thought and time to make this creation... and for those that try to undervalue your creations, well maybe handmade items aren't for them...because they just don't comprehend the amount of work you put into your creations.

my dream is to render a service for the community, something that will be ecological (like many crafts are) and something that I will be noticed for. Sometimes though it's better to stand back and let others get praised, then come up the front for your own praise. I'm sure the business is really hard, and especially with hard times. I hope that you can find a way to make it all worth your while now more then ever. If you have your etsy sites on your profile I'll check them out, I'll be honest in saying my fiance and I aren't in the situation of buying anything except for our wedding right now.

For business, it is not the best time, if you don't have financial support lately. We should definitely find the best niche for the like of the market. Otherwise, no one ever makes the profit. We should wait and see.

I support (not really the best word here) my crafting business with online freelance work. It helps to do custom work to get customers. It's nice to have "regulars". The additional income from the freelance sites (writing, photography, etc) helps as well. Both my sweetie and I were out of work. He has gotten a job though, so it's a big relief, but in the meantime, I'll keep cranking out what I can between interviews. I review what I've done monthly and look at the traffic numbers so I can figure out what's working and what's not. Seasonal work is coming soon folks, don't give up yet. You have the stuff, you may as well use it all up. Even if you have to sell what's left for destash sales later. Go to your local "Better Business" bureau, if you have one. They may have some ideas on how to differently run business of different types. In some ways the CPSIA laws have helped and hurt those of us who would do children's items. On the plus side, the influx of CRAP coming in with lead levels has declined. On the neg side, we've had our own trials with it. Look to the details. We are not all as affected as we thought we once were...not as small business. There are just some things that we must evolve with instead of succumbing and just giving up. For example: Keep up with the Koolaid bags BUT perhaps use the woven cat and dog food bags as well to supplement a "Mommy or Daddy/Child" shopping "togetherness". Repurposed items are becoming more and more mainstream. There is a niche...I don't make the koolaid bags but I do make the cat/dog food bags. You can make a pattern yourself. I'm just saying... we have to keep on our toes. I think that being able to post in this forum is a good thing. We earn a little bit of change and also get to discuss our thoughts and how to over come our trials. I'm just saying...