According to the Hobby Industry
Association’s (HIA), there is at least one crafter in four out of five U.S.
households, or about 70 million crafters total.
Their research says that about 14% of these 70 million crafters sell
their wares, which is about 12 million people (Stats taken from A Brief History
of the Crafts Industry). That is an awful lot of people who craft, and that’s
just concerning the United
States!
Most of these 12 million craft sellers started off as hobbyists…someone
who just started crafting because they enjoyed doing it, they liked the
outcome, the process calmed their spirits.
So, how did these crafters become professionals?
While they each have their own
special and unique stories about how they sold their first product, the basic
idea stays the same, and I want to share with you the 9 steps (in no particular
order) that they each followed to go from a hobbyist to a professional.
1. Have a craft. Duh, right?
Well, you might think, but have you ever seen someone who has tried to
sell on the idea of “I can make whatever you want”? The person who *can* make scrap
book pages, but hasn’t put forth the time and effort to provide any proof of
that concept. It’s nice to offer your
customers a chance to buy personalized products, to make sure that they get
exactly what they want. However, there
is such a thing as offering too many options.
Letting people get an idea of the kinds of things that you can make,
with examples and maybe one or two options is always the better road to
travel. As people start getting an idea
of what is available as far as your personal skill-set, then they might, just
maybe, possibly, start coming to you for special and unique requests.
2. Pick a niche. While this might seem a
bit of a drag to limit your crafting abilities, it really is a must for
becoming a professional. Knowing a
little about a lot does not make you the expert that you need to be. Pick one craft, maybe even one product, and
eradicate every option, explore ever direction, know everything about that one
thing.
3. Know your audience. Often called the target audience, this is who
you are selling to. If you are making
baby products, realize that you are selling to the parents of these babies,
your audience is parents. You have to
know who you are selling to, so that you can know *how* to sell, and more
importantly *what* to sell. For
instance, if your target audience is older people, you probably wont have a lot
of luck selling on any online venue.
Likewise, if you are selling to high school students, I doubt you would
find success with Backstreet Boys paraphernalia. Know who you are selling to, figure out the
best way to reach them, and then make sure that you are trying to sell the
appropriate products.
4. Create a marketing plan. Again, look
back at who your target audience is.
Have a plan, with a set goal, on where you want your business to be in x
amount of time. Set forth a strategy to
get there. Look back every now and then
to judge where you’ve come from, and re-adjust your goal as necessary. Having a plan is definitely a must for the
professional crafter. It means that you
aren’t just “look, I’m selling my hand-made crafts because I can, and if I’m
still doing it in 3 months, then awesome!” Set long term, and short term goals,
and re-evaluate on a regular basis.
5. Present yourself in a professional manner. Whether this is customer
relations, or a public appearance, if you conduct yourself as a professional
you will be treated and considered a professional. Be polite, have manners, say yes sir, and no
ma’am, no thank you, and please. Dress
the part, don’t be a slob, clean-cut, groomed, brush your teeth, and put on
deodorant. Not necessarily black-tie,
but dress like you care about your appearance.
Stick with the deadlines. Whether
set by you or your customer, if *you* say a product is going to be done at a
certain time, make sure that it is done!
6. Create Policies. While not necessarily the most enjoyable part
of selling crafts, it is still a must for a professional. It is important for your customers to know
how to deal with returns, or shipping issues, custom orders, or payment
methods. The hobbyist will be making up
these policies on the fly, as the issues arise, oftentimes changing their ideas
based on the situation. Having a policy
set in place *before* the situation is brought up by a customer and making sure
that the customer knows what is going to be done about it can save a lot of
hassle, and is definitely very professional and “think a headedness” (yes, I just made that up).
7. Change your attitude. Don’t just
scratch your head and skip over this one.
You have to consider yourself and your little business a profession(al)
before anyone else will. Look at it as an actual job. Most likely, your little crafting DID start
off as a hobby, something that you did in your spare time to de-stress or
because you enjoyed it. OR, maybe you
are having trouble wrapping your head around the idea that you are CRAFTING as
a job! Well, you are doing just that, a
*job*, and you need to look at it as such.
8. Be Competitive. This one is all about
pricing your products which is a very tricksy aspect to get right. Don’t price your products so low that they
come across as cheap quality, but don’t price them so high that you can’t
effectively compete with other sellers (I can present a 93.48% guarantee that
there will be other sellers of your niche).
I have been told that I price my products too low, but I *feel* like I
price them too high, and I consider myself very fair. I fit on the lower end of the average price
for products of my niche and I am perfectly comfortable with that.
9. Manage your time efficiently. You are
the manager, the creator, the seller, the bookkeeper, the packager, the
errand-runner, and the coffee-getter.
Maybe you didn’t want to have all of those rolls when you first signed
up for this craft selling job, but the professional crafter DOES have all of
those rolls. Figure out how much of your
available time can be spent on each aspect of your little business and don’t
get distracted. Remember, it is a *job*,
treat it like so.
There are a ton of crafts that
you can make and sell. Do the
research. Find out what people will
buy. Sometimes you sell some items that you
don’t necessarily like, but your customers do.
Take the time to figure everything out, know how you are going to sell,
know who you are selling to, and know what you are going to sell to them. Treat your crafting as an actual office-job,
and be the professional that I know you can be!
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