Holiday craft show season is going to be in full swing sooner than you know it, so now is the time to prepare. If you’ve participated in events before, you know the amount of work that goes into them. They require you to start thinking about, planning and preparing months in advance.   I can’t tell you how many years I spent enjoying September, slowly picking away at my craft show to-do list and spending the better part of October, November and December in a stressed out, frantic state.   The holidays are one of my favorite times and year after year I would spend every waking hour I wasn’t at my full-time job (or eating), in my craft room…wishing I had planned better. I was jealous of all the craft show shopp..

This week we have a guest post from the handmade bag expert, Javeriya Sid from Sew Some Stuff and Road to Online Bagpreneur. She has amazing advice on her websites and is sharing some awesome tips for photographing your handmade bags today. But the tips also apply to any type of product photography so be sure to have a read through!   Would you ever make your cakes without good flour? No right? It will ruin the taste of the ENTIRE cake. Then why put your bags out there WITHOUT good photos which are the most important ingredient of a good online store?   No matter how good your cake recipe is, if by the end of the day, the cake tastes bad because of bad flour, no one will eat it. Same goes for photography. No matter ho..

This week's article is written by Jackie Muscat, who is a Facebook coach and kid's mural artist. I'm so excited for her to share her expertise on a subject we could all use a little help in ;) Learn more about Jackie and her free Facebook group at the end of this article. Let's get to it!      Facebook announced just this week that there are now 2 billion people on this huge social media platform.   And on average, each of those 2 billion people are logging in 12 times a day and on average 10 minutes a time.   Wowzers. I don’t know about you but that’s a lot of screen time for Facebook! But as a Facebook coach for makers and artists, I know that it’s a struggle to get your posts ..

This article is the third and final article in a series covering how to write powerful product descriptions that sell.   So far we’ve covered: the two reasons people buy the 3 questions you must answer before you start describing   If you haven’t already read those, click on the links above to read them first. They’re an important part of filling in the blanks of this template.     CREATING DESCRIPTIONS Now you can apply the information you uncovered in the first 2 articles of this series to fill in the sections and blanks of this product description template.   To recap, you should now be able to define: Pain/Pleasure – do your products help your customers avoid ..

Welcome to part 2 of the Product Descriptions that Sell series!   In the first part I explained the 2 main reasons people buy. If your products and their descriptions don’t appeal to at least one of those two reasons, you’re going to have a hard time making sales.   Head over and read that article first if you haven’t already.   In the second part of this series, I want to explain 3 questions you must answer before you start writing product descriptions.         PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS QUESTION #1 – WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? I know you’ve heard it before; define your ideal customer and talk to them and only them.   But you’ve heard it over and over becau..

Welcome to the Product Descriptions that Sell series!   Why a series?   Well, product descriptions tend to be overlooked by many makers.   They have a ton of handmade products to list so they quickly upload photos, write down the essential information in the product description box and post.   Here’s the problem with that…..   Product descriptions: Become boring – when they’re rushed, they’re a little basic. We all have short attention spans these days, especially online. Your description needs to grab the shoppers attention and keep it. Repeat what the shopper likely already knows - “Green laptop bag. Handmade.” Is something the shopper likely already know sin..

Who doesn't want to sell more handmade products? Of course that's what every handmade business owner is after. But there's a common misconception when it comes to sales.   I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from business owners when wondering why they don't sell more handmade products:   People love my work, but they’re not buying!   I’ve said the words myself.   The problem is; you can’t go by what people say, you have to go by what people buy.   It’s easy for someone to say “that’s really nice”. We all do it and probably say or think it a hundred times when we’re shopping at a craft show or the mall. But when it comes time to literally put our money where..

I’ve been a business owner for over a decade now and know the most frustrating days are usually when you feel like you’re going in circles and getting nowhere. You don't have a plan.   You second-guess what you should be working on, get distracted and jump from one thing to another without much direction.   In order to be successful in business you must plan.   Plan your year, plan your months and plan all the days in your weeks.   Going into a workday without a plan is like walking down a busy street, trying to find your destination with your head down.   You’re going to bump into people, miss your turns and probably arrive late, if at all. You’re constantly reacting to situa..

Marketing is essential to small business success but many business owners make these common mistakes. It’s easy to push marketing to the side, figuring the important aspects are to make product and sell it.   But the number one question I see on message boards is; why aren’t my sales higher? That’s where marketing comes in my friend.   Of course, marketing won’t do much good if you’re starting with the wrong product (download the free chapter from my ebook MAKING PRODUCTS THAT PROFIT for tips on tweaking your product to make it stellar). But in most cases, small business owners are lacking sales because they’re slacking in the marketing department.   Running your business without marketing would..

It’s been several years since I shut down my handmade business and stopped selling at craft shows. I still kind of kick myself for not pushing through, as looking back; I know I really found my groove in my last couple years.   A lot of people feel like throwing in the towel when it comes to craft shows. If you don’t find the right ones, with the right organizers, bring the right product and create an amazing display, they can be anything but profitable.   Although a handmade business can be successful selling only online and through retailers, craft shows are an amazing tool to test your products, get to know your customers, conduct market research, grow your business locally and if done properly, leave you with ..