Save money to start your business and as you make money, use it to grow your business. Debt is the number one reason for failure among start-ups and established businesses alike. If I still haven’t convinced you that debt is bad business, I’ll mention two businesses that you may have heard of who are, and always have been, virtually debt-free: Microsoft and Harley Davidson.

All businesses take time to make money. I recommend planning on at least two years before showing major profits in the crafts industry. While you may have great results from the start, don’t count on it! You must allow enough time to establish your craft business and to learn the ins and outs of the industry before success.

Start small
Give yourself enough time to learn your niche before spending thousands on national retail and wholesale shows or mail-order advertising. Local craft shows and selling to friends and family at home shows are great ways to get started in the crafts industry. In a short time, you will learn a lot from your customers and fellow craftspeople that will enable you to succeed.

8. Put your best foot forward. People like to see a craftsperson creating artwork in his booth, not just selling it. While this isn’t always possible, it’s a crowd-pleasing idea that works well for jewelry makers, woodworkers, quilters and other craftspeople. At the very least, make sure your display table is clean and attractive and that your products are well displayed with prices clearly marked. Some artists, like jewelry maker Schutz, string lights in their booths and display color photos of their work to spice things up a bit.

9. Build a mailing list. Shows are a great way to develop your customer database. Try putting a fishbowl on your table and offering people a chance to win a piece of artwork in return for giving you their contact information or business cards. Giving away promotional items with your company’s name and logo works, too. This way, you can send out postcards inviting prospects to your next show. Don’t forget to collect e-mail addresses, too! It’s a lot cheaper to send out 100 e-mail messages than it is to pay for paper and postage. “I have some customers who’ve bought from me every year for 10 years,” Schutz says. “These days, I send more e-mails than postcards, and with my wholesale customers, I actually call them.”

10. Count your money. Before you move on to the next show, sit down and figure out how much you made on the last one. For example, if you spend $1,000 on this show, did you make $1,000 back? Remember, we’re talking about profits, not sales! Don’t forget to include the cost of your materials, the booth space, travel, shipping and cleanup. This kind of breakeven analysis will help you figure out if you should exhibit at the same show next year.

5. Bring your credit card machine. Credit cards are the common currency of shows and fairs, and if you don’t accept them, you’re going to lose sales to vendors who do. You also face the risks of dealing with bounced checks from strangers who may be hard to track down after the show. Especially if you’re selling work priced in the hundreds of dollars, credit cards are a must. To find out more about obtaining merchant credit, see our “Resources” section.

6. Don’t go it alone. While shows can be exciting and profitable, they can also be physically and emotionally exhausting. That’s why it’s important to bring along someone to help you work the booth and deal with customers. This will also give you a chance to get up and go to the bathroom and grab a hotdog or something to drink without losing sales. Spelman of Wax Creations works the fairs with his wife. “You need a lot of good friends and family willing to help you,” he says.

7. Pack your stuff. Make sure you bring enough work to sell but not so much that you’ll have to carry most of it back. Besides your artwork, you’ll also need to pack your booth, several chairs, a small table, a calculator, a credit card machine, bags for customers to carry your products home in and any brochures or marketing materials you might have.

1. Walk the show. Just because your Mom used to tack up your drawings on the refrigerator doesn’t mean your work is professional enough for people who aren’t related to you to buy it. First, attend a few shows to see if your stuff is good enough to pass muster. Some shows are juried, which means that judges review your work and select you; others are open to everyone.

It’s also important to find the right venue for your work. While an indoor art show may be beyond your grasp, a craft show or Renaissance fair may fit the bill just right. You can find out a lot of information about the shows by talking to artists and craftsmen you meet there. “The best way is to ask other vendors where the best shows are,” says Christopher Spelman of Wax Creations in Oceanside, New York. “They’ll tell you which fairs to not even bother with.”

2. Do your homework. Find out who typically attends the show, what kind of turnout you can expect and how much it will cost to exhibit there. Even though booth space typically costs just $200 to $300–the Coconut Grove festival charges $550–you need to factor in travel costs, shipping costs and the cost of a table, banner and the booth itself. And don’t forget the materials costs; for jewelry or sculptures made of precious metals, those costs can add up. And depending on the city or state the show is in, you may also need a license or permit to sell there. It’s best to figure out your breakeven point–that is, how many items you need to sell in order to make a profit–before you decide to pack up and go.

3. Start small. Most established artists and craftspeople sell to repeat customers who frequent the same shows every year and often collect their pieces. While you’re establishing your reputation and building a following, keep your expenses to a minimum. Speer suggests renting or borrowing a booth from another artist instead of buying your own. Another option is to share a booth with another artist or craftsperson. “Don’t invest a lot of money until you’re sure it’s going to work,” he says.

4. Price it right. While cheaper work is easier to sell, you’ve got to sell a lot more items to cover your costs and make a profit. At the same, an artist selling $10,000 paintings may go home empty-handed. That’s why many art show veterans offer a range of price points to potential customers. Biba Schutz, a New York City jewelry artist, sells her work for anywhere from $150 to $900 but offers one-of-a-kind pieces for up to $5,000. “If your material costs you $10 and you double it, you’ve got a $10 profit,” says Schutz, who works in silver, bronze, copper and gold. “If the material costs you $200 and you double that, it’s $400. You need to sell less to make those numbers.”

For homebased artists and craftsmen, selling at fairs and shows provides an opportunity to ring up sales and find new customers at little cost and no overhead. Typically, shows charge just a few hundred dollars for a booth and allow artists to enjoy big markups on the work they create–profits they don’t have to share with a gallery or store owner. But making money at fairs and shows isn’t as easy as it seems. It requires research, planning and the ability to keep a smile on your face while standing on your feet for long hours. And that’s not for everyone.

I’ve posted some great videos that Marilyn Bohn sent us.
They show you how to organize scrapbooking albums, stamps, floss for crafts and how to do punch needle embroidery.
Watch these videos now!

We changed the layout of our site to make it more user friendly and we added a lot of new articles on different crafts.
Visit my Crafts and hobbies right now!

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