I’m so excited you’re here today! Today I’m going to share 10 tips for making money selling crafts. These tips include starting and growing your handmade business.
If you’re looking for ways to start or grow your craft business, join us for Crafting for Profit Camp! Sign up today and get your free pass (through January 25, 2024) to over 30 classes aimed at helping crafters make money selling crafts.
How to Make Money Selling Crafts
After you go through my 10 tips, you can head over to Hey Let’s Make Stuff to get 10 more tips for selling crafts. When you’re done, you’ll have 20 tips to help you on your craft business journey.
You can watch me go through all 10 tips by pressing play on the video below. After watching my full video, you can head over to Cori’s video to see the next 10 tips.
10 Tips for Making Money Selling Crafts
These tips are for anyone looking to make money selling their crafts. Whether you’re looking to sell your first craft or have been selling for a while, these tips will help.
Start Now, Don’t Overthink
Tip number one is to start now and don’t overthink.
One of the things I see often is people overthinking what they should do and how they should do it. We can waste a lot of time making a plan and not actually doing anything.
We all start our crafting business somewhere. If you were to scroll back to my earliest posts, you’ll see that I have grown a lot in my crafting over the years. If I had waited until I was a perfect crafter to start crafting, I still wouldn’t have started.
Start making the crafts. That is how you’ll learn and that is how you’ll perfect what you choose to do.
Know Your Customer
Tip number two is something I am very passionate about. You need to know your customer. Knowing who you’re talking to and what they may be shopping for is very helpful as you’re creating your crafts.
You need to create a customer profile. Think of the ideal person you’d like to sell to. What is their gender? Give them a name. Where do they live? How much money do they make? Where do they shop? Do they spend a lot of time online?
Knowing this information about your customer will help you create things that make their lives easier. If your ideal customer spends more time on Facebook than Instagram, that is where you should spend your time.
As you’re creating your items for sale and looking for the best place to market them, all of this information will help you make those decisions.
With every decision you make in your crafting business, you should keep your ideal customer in mind. This will help you personalize your contact with them and is sure to help your business flourish and grow.
Value Your Time
Tip number three is to value your time. As a small business owner, you’re likely working out of your home, using extra time to create a side hustle you want to turn into a full-time business.
If you don’t put value on your time, just like if you were going to a job, you’ll likely find yourself getting distracted by people asking for things that take away from your business.
Offering huge discounts or items for free is not valuing your time. If you don’t value it, others won’t either.
From pricing items to setting hours, you need to make sure you’re valuing your time. You need to make sure the time you’re putting into the business is benefiting you.
In the beginning, the lines between family hours and business hours may blur. That’s one of the perks/downfalls of running your own business. Make sure you’re paying attention to burnout. If you can find a way to involve your family in your business, that would be an added bonus.
Know the Laws and Regulations for Your Area
Money-making tip number four is to make sure you know the laws and regulations for the state, county, city, etc where you live.
Laws vary widely even within the United States. There are state laws and local laws that apply to different types of businesses. You’ll also need to know about how to collect sales tax and things like that.
One of the best assets here is the small business association where you run your business. They should be familiar with the laws you need to be aware of.
If you know someone that lives in the area that runs a small business, you can also ask them for advice on who to talk to where you live.
Don’t Be Afraid to Promote Your Business
Tip number five is all about promoting your business. You cannot be afraid to talk about your business. Promote yourself, brag about what you’re doing and how proud you are of it.
If you want people to be excited about what you’re offering, you need to be excited about it! Spread the word, and talk about it online and in person. Promote yourself and your company as much as possible.
My next couple of tips for making money selling crafts are all about making yourself stand out in the crowd.
Use Video to Stand Out
Tip number six is all about using video.
Video is something I am passionate about. I have my YouTube channel and I love it but that isn’t the only form of video out there.
Grab your phone and start shooting some video content. Do Instagram stories, create an Instagram Reel, find somewhere that you can get started.
Remember, you’re not going to be perfect the first time and that’s okay. This is just a way to start getting comfortable with video.
Using video, whether it’s videoing your products and adding those videos to your product listings or using video on social media to help promote your products, video is a great way to stand out.
You may have a lot of competition when it comes to the products you’re selling, but using video can catch people’s attention and keep them from scrolling by.
Great Photography
Tip number seven is similar to number six, make sure you have great photography for your products.
Think about when you’re looking on social media or scrolling sites like Etsy, what images stop you from scrolling right by?
Photography is a very important part of marketing. If you can invest in an area, invest in a photography course or find someone who takes great photographs that you know and ask them for tips or pointers.
If you cannot do that, you may want to hire someone to take photos of some of your items and see if it makes a difference in your listing.
Visuals are something we all need when making purchases online, make sure you have good visuals!
Memorable Packaging
Money-making tip number 8 is to find ways to make your packages memorable.
Have you ever received a package from a company and you were immediately excited? I know I have, especially small companies that handmake their items.
From cute wrapping paper to fun stickers on the box and even little freebies inside I know opening these packages is going to be an experience.
When we’re talking about finding ways to help our business stand out packaging is a great one.
Repeat customers are the best customers, they’re the ones who are going to talk to their friends about this great shop they’ve found. You want to make sure they remember you. The next time they’re scrolling through Etsy and come across one of your items you want them to think back to their previous order and get excited.
If you’re ready to add some personalization to your packaging my post on using your Cricut machine to create custom packaging is one you should check out.
Invest Wisely
Tip number nine is more about growing your business and that is investing wisely.
When you’re thinking about investing in your business, from new equipment to things like photography classes you need to invest wisely. Look at the cost and what you’ll get back in return. That’s called a return on investment.
Figure out how long it’s going to take to make that money back and make sure it’s an investment you can afford.
Things like photography classes can be hard to calculate but hiring someone to take photos for you is something you can monitor more quickly.
If having better photos makes a difference in your sales, investing in that photography course is a wise investment. Experimenting is a great way to figure out if an investment is a wise one.
For instance, would having a second heat press help you make more money every day? Try borrowing a heat press and see how much more work you’re able to do in a day. Maybe you need another heat press or maybe you need more orders before that would be a wise investment.
Running calculations and experiments before you invest can be important. It’s also a good idea to set aside part of your profits to invest back into your business.
Having money set aside is a great way to grow and if you want to turn your side job into your full-time job investing wisely is an important step.
Work-Life Balance
Business tip number ten is to set up a work area. No matter how big or small, having a business area is important. You’re going to always do your business in this area.
It can be hard to separate work and regular life. If you work in all areas of your home, it can feel like you’re working all the time because it’s always right there.
If you do your business in a separate location, even if it’s a desk area and a work table, these pieces of furniture are where you’re going to do all your work. Once you put your work away and step away from that area, you’ve left the office and are now home.
You’ll find having a specific workspace will help you keep that work/life balance you’re aiming for and that will be important as your business grows.
Crafting for Profit Camp
If you’ve found these 10 tips for making money selling crafts helpful, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Crafting for Profit Camp is starting soon and you can get your free ticket right now.
Crafting for Profit Camp is where Cori and I gather top experts in handmade businesses and teach you how to start and grow your business.
If you’ve ever thought about starting a handmade business, have already started a business, or are looking to expand in 2024, Crafting for Profit will have something for you. There are over 20 speakers and over 30 classes that you can join for free here until January 25, 2024.
If you have any questions about the tips I’ve shared today, feel free to ask them in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer them for you.
