so you like to craft. . . . but are you ready to sell?

i’m fairly confident that every person has a crafting bone in their body — it may be a small bone…. or maybe like me, it’s more like several bones all linked together to make up an entire crafting limb {have i gone too far with this metaphor??}.  while some may say they have grand ideas but no creative means to make the item, i think it’s just a matter of finding what medium tickles your creative funny bone {ok seriously…. i should stop}.  once you find that happy place in crafting {happy place being where you love what you are making & you’re making it well}, then girl, i have one question for you:: why aren’t you making money from it?

there are different levels at which you can sell — just for fun or as a means of solid income.

i started out selling on etsy almost two years ago just for fun — a way to have a little extra spending money for hair bows, cloth diapers or other random things.  i was a hot glueing machine & i was somehow coercing caleb to sew wet bags that i listed at a super low price which probably cost us more to make than anything else.  but i was so eager to sell, so eager to create.  i didn’t sell much, because i wasn’t really making products that were worth much — i wasn’t ready to sell as a business.

when i ran out of materials to make fabric covered wipes cases & sophie leashes {& finally caught on to what caleb was teaching me behind the sewing machine}, i changed my direction of creativeness towards items that more people could use — zipper pouches, camera strap covers, knotted necklaces, toddler backpacks.

i changed the way i photographed products, how i marketed myself & my shop, started advertising & really got serious.  because when i found out i could actually make some cash selling little things for five bucks here & there, i figured why couldn’t i sell even better items for twenty bucks & really make some money?  now we’re talking!!!

once i started pricing for profit, expanding my inventory {from a meager 15 items to my now 150+ individual listings} & keeping a budget for my shop like a real business would, then i finally had my aha! moment — i found my niche, sold my products to customers i loved & became a legitimate business {with a license, permit & registration, thank you very much!}.

it took me close to a year to figure out what side of selling i wanted to be on.  for some it takes no time at all, they are ready to be a business immediately.  for others, it takes much longer.

here’s my advice:: sell at the level that you are comfortable with & what your lifestyle can handle.  the beauty of having your own shop is that you can change your mind whenever you want — sell more & work towards being an online business or take it all down a notch & create more as a hobby.

so the pros & cons of each side of this selling matter….

selling for fun / as a hobby….

• pro:: there’s no real commitment.  you can list & sell items when you have time or feel ready.
• pro:: it’s 100% fun — you have zero stress about what bills you can or can’t pay during a slow month.
• con:: you really aren’t making much money — and whatever cash you are bringing is usually just goes right back out to frivolous things you may not really need.  {read:: you don’t have much to show for what you sold.  but since you aren’t running your shop as a business then this doesn’t really matter much!}

♥ ♥ ♥

 a small bit of homework….

take this lesson a step further & think about how you are selling your product.  what are some of your personal pros & cons — if you’re selling as a hobby, are you feeling ready to leap more towards a business?

if you aren’t selling right now, write down a few reasons why you might consider selling your creations.  would you start out as a hobbyist or dive in head first as a indie biz owner?