You are passionate about crafts and love to create things in your spare time. In this case, you can go even further and turn this simple hobby into a real professional retraining.
Yes, you can make a living from your passion and start your own business. However, starting a business requires certain essential steps.
We take stock with you on the various points to take into account before you start.
1) Market Research and Planning:
To begin with, it is important to do a thorough market research. In this way, you will learn about the opportunities to be seized, but also the competition. Plus, defining and understanding your long-term business goals keeps you on track even when you are going through tough times. So this is a step that will help you stay motivated.
2) Professional Retraining: having an Entrepreneurial Spirit:
A hobby is something you do when you feel like it, however ,you want. But once you want to make it a business, you have to prioritize it as a real profession. The entrepreneurial spirit is something that must be developed as well as possible.
3) Create a Conducive Work Environment:
You will probably be working from home. In order to become professional, you will need to set up a space dedicated to your work in your home. It will not only be intended for the realization of all your creations but also for the administration and the keeping of all the files of your company. You will draw a line between your personal and professional life, and in this way you will be more focused on your work.
4) Professional Retraining: Create your Brand:
Your brand obviously represents the identity of your company, it is thanks to it that your customers will recognize you. You must therefore spend time choosing your company name, logo, packaging and labels.
Your articles already stand out, of course, with your specific know-how and production techniques, but your packaging must also stand out so that your customers can easily recognize you. Labeling is very useful because it provides essential information to buyers about your products.
5) Fairs and Exhibitions to Make Yourself Known:
You should also determine the place or places where you will sell your products in order to get an idea of the corresponding costs. There are many marketing channels. You can offer your creations in craft fairs and exhibitions for example. Thus, you will meet many potential customers and have the opportunity to let them know your articles in person.
Attending these types of events is a great way to launch your brand.
6) Sell on Etsy:
The good news for you is that the market for handicrafts is growing. And this is all the more true for sewing since the Covid-19 crisis.
Etsy, the largest online craft market, has seen a steady increase in revenue in recent years. Millions of people around the world have already opened a store on Etsy to make a living from their creations. In addition, this platform has many advantages: a targeted clientele, the creation of personalized orders, the possibility of selling in retail or wholesale, crowdfunding for the design of new products, etc.
7) Professional Retraining: Think About Social Media:
Social media has developed very rapidly in recent years and has become, today, a privileged channel that allows creators to promote their video animation service.
Instagram has made a name for itself for sharing photos and stories. Millions of people follow one or more brands on Instagram, and when your customers post photos or videos of your brand or products, it generates marketing content for your business. Here is an example of an Instagram profile: EDBE.
As for Pinterest, it is like a huge catalog of ideas and images, and can also be very useful for promoting textual content.
8) Administrative Procedures:
Once you have decided to sell your items and turn your hobby into a real business, you need to go through all the paperwork to get it up and running. You can find out a little more about the stages of creating a micro-business
Your business will also be subject to taxes: find out what to expect on this subject.
If you’re starting a business, hire an accountant and invest in good accounting software.
