Earning a Living Crafting at Home - Is It Possible?

Making crafts at home can be both fun and rewarding, I know many stay at home moms that make a nice part-time income off the crafts that they make.

I think it’s possible and have succeeded in earning a full time income off crafting. When I was on bed rest while pregnant with my son, I had nothing more to do then craft. So I started of thinking of ideas to turn it into profit.

Keys to turning a profit are:

· Deciding what type of products to make
· Pricing the products for maximum profits
· Finding the right selling avenues

These are not all of the things to think about, but some of the most critical. You will need to figure out along the way what works best for you of course.

Finding items that take little time, little money to make and can make a good profit is the hard part. That’s one of the worst things about trying to sell handmade items. Few appreciate the hard work involved in making them, and very few are willing to pay enough for our items for us to show a nice profit.

When counting on your craft items to pay your bills, you must consider several factors when deciding what types of items to make.

First you need to make sure that your item will bring a good profit. If you spend 10 hours making something and it only brings $5 in profits, then you have done nothing but waste time and money on something that will not help you make money.

On the other hand, if you spend 10 hours making 10 items that bring you $10 per item then you are doing much better at earning enough to pay your bills.

Making a decision on what product to make should be thought out, you don’t want to rush yourself and end up losing money in the end.

When making your choice, you would first want to consider the cost of the materials, you can make cut backs or changes to make sure the project still looks good but costs the least amount of money to make. This will help ensure you a larger profit; you don’t have to cut quality just to make a wonderful project.

Make sure you focus first on the quality of your products themselves and don’t base your decisions thinking that the higher the cost of materials, the more people will be willing to pay for the product because this isn’t so.

You will also need to consider the amount of time is involved in making your items.

If you’re selling at craft shows, then you will need to ensure that you have plenty of merchandise to stock your booth, and that you can quickly restock again when you sell a lot.

One thing I have done in the past is make sure I have items that are fairly simple to make, and that I can work on while I am at the show. This helps with the slow times and also builds your inventory. Don’t do something that maybe you have developed a special trick for though; you wouldn’t want other learning your secrets. Make sure for those items they would have to purchase from you if they like it and not just replicate it.

When selling at craft shows, one must ALWAYS make sure they provide some nice dollar items for children because there are usually thousands of children at the shows whose parents give them a dollar or two to spend in any way that they like, and the children do enjoy picking out their own toys.

Sadly there are few crafters that take this into consideration when creating their products for their shows. They cater to the adults (usually the women) and forget that children want to smile too.

RECAP:

Focus on quality because high quality should always be your first consideration.

Just because material may cost more doesn’t mean you should use it every time.

Provide a nice selection of products instead of just a few items.

Make sure you offer several products that are super fast to make in case you need something to restock your booths quickly.

Include cheap items that children can afford.

This is just a beginning on the many different tips and tricks you can learn to become successful at craft shows. If you would like to learn more subscribe to my email list at makemoneycraft@aweber.com

With years of testing patterns and crafts that sell well in the Craft Show circuit, Melissa will share with you ways to maximize your time and profits. Visit her website for more tips and tricks http://www.makemoneycrafting.com.