How to Run Your Handmade Business Like a Boss (Even If You’re Doing It All Yourself)
You've heard "work on your business, not just in it" but what does that actually mean? Here's a practical monthly routine for makers: four areas to review and specific questions to ask.
How long will it take for my handmade business to be successful?
And actually that’s one of the more terrifying things about starting your handmade or art business. Because what does that really mean? Six weeks, Six months? Six years? How long until your marketing plan works? How long will it take until you can draw an income...
How to get more customers for your handmade business
Unless you’ve got an enormous following already, it’s unlikely that simply marketing to your current customers will provide you with enough sales each month, so all makers need to be constantly on the hunt for new customers. Not everyone who sees our work is a potential customer. Not everyone who is a potential customer becomes a buyer. Not everyone who is a buyer becomes a repeat buyer. And not everyone who is a repeat buyer becomes a raving fan.
How to make any decision for your business
When you’re starting a brand new business as an artist, crafter or designer-maker you are going to have to make a LOT of decisions, often about things you don’t have any direct experience of. It feels like every decision is make or break. You’re also really aware that you really don’t know what you’re doing and maybe you’ll make a terrible mistake that will kill off your business before it even gets started.
The real reason you’re getting nothing done.
Have you ever had one of those weeks where you’ve been super busy all week but when it gets to Friday, you don’t seem to have accomplished anything? It’s easy to blame it on a lack of time but for the vast majority of us, we’re simply not using the time we already have available in the most productive way.
How to spot an Art Scam
As small businesses whose details are widely shared online, artists and makers are an ongoing target for scammers. Sadly the combination of inexperience in business (lots of us are just starting out), susceptibility to flattery (because we make our own products) and working alone (no one to offer a double check) means that we will continue to be seen as a soft target for those who make their living by deception.
It’s all just FEEDBACK
What if I said that the majority of the problems and difficulties you are facing in your handmade or art business at this moment in time are all linked? What if I said that they are the result of one small error? What if I said that none of them could even start to get fixed before you correct this error? It’s an error that all of us are making every single day. It’s an error that’s completely understandable and completely human and yet completely toxic to your business.
What to do when you’ve got FAR TOO MUCH TO DO
As solo business owners there are always more things to do than there are hours in the day. It can feel like we’re in a constant state of overwhelm. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that, when you’re overwhelmed, you need to cut back on some things. But which things do you choose when everything seems equally important? The fact is that most of us have a strange relationship with what is important. If asked, we know what is important to us, but the things we do on a daily basis often don’t correspond to it.
Learn to love marketing with this mindset shift
I learned a lot about marketing from buying a new coat for my job. When I first started work as a stockbroker in the City of London I needed to get a new coat for wearing on the many business trips I took as part of that job. I knew it had to be classic and well crafted and it also had to be practical to deal with being thrown into the overhead bin on an airplane (and sometimes shoved under the seat in front)
Four ways that planning can help you cut back on overwhelm and stop your business running you.
I’m guessing you’re feeling pretty exhausted right now. I’m writing this in December when most of us are on our last legs but even if you’re reading this in February, or June, or October, I’m willing to bet that you’re still tired and pretty stressed out. Maybe you’re struggling for sales and it feels like such a constant uphill battle to get your business off the ground. Maybe your business is growing and you’re struggling to cope with the extra work without help.
Black Friday and the wrong way to talk to your customers about buying handmade
I’ve got strong opinions about Black Friday.
Actually I’ve got strong opinions about publicly complaining about Black Friday.
Black Friday is a relatively new phenomenon here in the UK and each year there seems to be more and more polarisation around the event and more and more Anti Black Friday blog and social media posts from makers. To be clear, I don’t believe that anyone should ever feel obliged to discount their products.