Turning Craft into Career

Information

Network of crafty moms who make items for sale on Etsy,Winkelf,Ebay,ArtFire.

What do you need to get your career started? How can moms help other moms with lessons learned? What type of investment do I need? What's the best place to set up a web store?

Members: 13
Latest Activity: Feb 22

0 members like this

How can you turn your craft passion into a profitable career?

Have you ever thought you could sell your art or crafts? If you have a creative hobby that you love, and friends and family are often telling you, "You could sell that!"

Why not consider subsidizing your income or making a living as "craft-epreneur"? Folks all over the globe arereinventing their careers and selling their art and crafts.

A recent article in Martha Stewart magazine outlined how to turn craft-making into a career. It stressed answering these questions first...

Five questions to ask before quitting your day job to run off with the crafters:

Who will buy your crafts?
How will you finance your start-up?
What will your wages be?
How much help will you need to produce at a profitable scale?
How much will you need to charge to break even or better yet, make a profit?

Where to sell your crafts:

Etsy -- With the emergence of the wildly popular Etsy, which has the motto: "Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade," and a mission to enable people to make a living making things and to connect makers with buyers, it's easier than ever to make some cash while churning out the art you love to create.

Craft fairs -- For those who don't sell online, or who want to meet and greet their customers, local, regional, and indie fairs provide both a community of crafters and an outlet to sell art and crafts.

Juried shows -- Juried art and craft shows are selective, and the quality and cost of the crafts can be higher. These fairs generally require the artist to send in slides (or a link to a website) of high-quality photographs of their work. The artist usually pays the cost of a booth.

Personal website -- A nicely designed, well-photographed website that offers a variety of your wares may pay off. Word Press and Blogger offer free online publishing website formats. Artists can also blog about their wares on these sites. Payment for goods is generally by check or PayPal. I used a free Word Press website theme for my personal eco-nesting blog.

FULL ARTICLE on YAHOO GREEN:
Martha Stewart on Craft to Career

Discussion Forum

This group does not have any discussions yet.

Comment Wall

Comment

You need to be a member of Turning Craft into Career to add comments!

Comment by Frances Dill on April 13, 2011 at 8:45pm: I just wish I had more hours in the day to do all the crafts I want to try.

I sew, scrapboook, quilt and would love to do jewelry and knit.

Please stop by my website. www.sewbella.net

Comment by L. Legg on January 11, 2010 at 2:16am: ning.com blog then search under Category then Ning Network Spotlight. It is quite large yet you will come across several sites that look pretty good in not getting lost. I will soon have my weathered sign ready to sell so I will update what sites I find. ETSY you also have alot of key words so you show up in the searches. Best of luck to you all.

Comment by Monica Gibbons on June 26, 2009 at 8:51pm: I have been on etsy for a while-no sales!! I sell at local craft shows & local shops, doing that I feel gets my products out in my immediate community. I think its easy to get your listings lost on etsy

Comment by Eileen Johnson on June 26, 2009 at 5:04pm: Does anyone sell their products on Etsy? I make handbags and would like to start marketing on the web. I heard that is a good site - comments?