How to Start a Successful Handmade Jewelry Business
Starting a handmade jewelry business is a good way to make money on the side. And it’s a business that can easily grow into a full-time business. I come across a lot of handmade businesses and love to challenge my ideas and theories to see if they match up with how handmade businesses,…
5 Steps to Viral Social Media Posts for your Handmade Business
Going viral on social media is all about getting people to care about what you’re posting. There are several factors that must be in place such as using the correct platform for your business and audience, attracting the right audience for your products, posting at appropriate times, etc. But those are fairly easy to…
How to Attract More Customers to your Handmade Business (Part 3)
As you can tell by the title, this is the third article explaining how to attract more customers to your handmade business. If you missed article one or two, which cover 2 other factors that are essential to make more sales, you can read them here: HOW TO ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS TO YOUR HANDMADE BUSINESS…
How to Attract More Customers to your Handmade Business (Part 2)
This is part 2 of a 3-part article series to get you attracting more customers. If you haven’t read part one, please check out the first article here. You’ll need to read it to have an understanding of the points explained in this article. Article one covers why most handmade business owners turn to…
How to Attract More Customers to your Handmade Business (Part 1)
There isn’t a business owner out there who doesn’t want to reach more people; either online or at craft shows. And marketing is the way to do it. Marketing is also the step between creating a product and getting paid for it. It’s the step I think most handmade business owners get frustrated with….
Can you Make a Living Selling at Craft Shows?
I’ve met many people through the craft show circuit who sell at craft shows full-time. Especially when they’re selling items on the craft show bestsellers list. I remember chatting with a jewelry vendor who spent her entire year traveling to different shows. I had a table beside her at a 3-day event so…
365+ Newsletter Ideas (for your handmade business)
If you’ve started a newsletter for your handmade business but aren’t sure what to send each week or month, have I got a download for you! Before you jump in, I want to explain the purpose of it first. You’ve probably landed here because you know you should be making better use of…
What to Send to your Email List
If you have a newsletter set up for your handmade business, congratulations! You’re using the most effective form of marketing and are ahead of most of your competitors. But let’s make sure you’re putting that list to use and sending content that will help boost sales. If you don’t have a newsletter set up…
How To Start a Newsletter for your Handmade Business
Your small handmade business NEEDS email marketing in its life. It’s 4x more effective than social media is and it’s a guaranteed way to stay in touch with your followers. Facebook, Instagram or Twitter can change their algorithm at any time to limit how many people you reach, or even shut down your account without warning. …
5 Ways You’re Using Craft Shows Wrong
Here’s how I used to treat craft shows. I’d go into crazy-woman sewing mode in the weeks leading up to a craft show. All other marketing and updating of sales channels would stop so I could give my full attention to production. I’d stay up late the last couple of nights before the…
The Easiest Way to Increase Craft Business Sales by 27%
When I started my handmade business, I thought more was more. The more options of handbags I offered, the more sales I could make because I’d be appealing to a wider variety of customers. I had: No clear customer I was targeting. No clear style I was known for. No product…
3 Tips to Avoid Awkward Shopper Silence at a Craft Show
The very first craft show I sold at was in a small community league hall with less than 20 vendors. Craft fairs were fairly new and indie at that time. Although people showed up, it wasn’t exactly a buzzing scene. So it made my lack of conversation/selling skills even more apparent and awkward….
The Best Kept Craft Fair Secret for More Sales
I have a confession… I love reading YELP and GOOGLE reviews. Especially the bad ones. I’m not really sure why. I’ll spend several minutes scrolling through strangers’ opinions of a business, even if I never plan on being a customer of theirs. At the risk of sounding like an online lurker, let’s say it’s…
How to Attract Wholesale Orders at Craft Shows (or on Etsy)
Selling your products wholesale to retailers can be a great revenue stream…if you’ve priced your products properly. Selling wholesale often means bigger orders with less effort. Instead of having to sell 50 items to 50 different customers, you can sell 50 items to a retailer in one transaction. Of course, profit margins are…
3 Steps to Boost Sales for the Holidays
November and December are two of the busiest shopping months of the year, thanks to all the gift-giving opportunities. Many businesses earn the majority of their revenue in the last quarter of the year. Are you ready to make the most of holiday sales? By the end of October, there’s not a lot of…
How to Implement the Bathing Suit Sales Technique
If you haven’t noticed by now, I love translating my riveting life experiences (buying an outhouse and eating blizzards for dessert) into business lessons. This article is yet another lesson taken from the exciting pages of my life, this time when I was bathing suit shopping. Who wants to try on bathing suits,…
How to Ask for the Sale at a Craft Show (without being pushy)
Asking for the sale is not as awkward as it sounds. The sales technique isn’t about coming right out and saying “will you please buy?”, but rather, asking questions that help a shopper make a decision to buy. If they’re not interested in buying, they’ll simply let you know. But if they’re on a…
5 Common Mistakes of Ideal Customer Profiles
It kind of amazes me how many handmade businesses start before they know who they’re starting for. No shame. I didn’t know who my ideal customer was when I started my first handmade business. However, that was over a decade ago and the Internet is much different today; rich with bloggers sharing free advice….
Want to Stand Out at a Craft Show? Try these Display Tricks
Relating your craft show booth or table to a store window is a good way to look at your space from a different perspective and ensure you have elements that will catch the eye. Although you may only have a few feet, you also want to think of your table or booth like the inside…
How To Use the Trojan Horse Strategy to Sell your Handmade Products
It’s funny, the day I started this article, I was browsing the Internet in the evening, killing time, and came across a *GQ interview with Steve-O. In the interview he mentions a stunt he was getting ready to pull. His plan was to sit in a lawn chair, on the roof of a wooden outhouse,…