Should You Wholesale Handmade Quilts?
Many handmade businesses sell their products wholesale, but should a quilt business consider selling wholesale? This article will explain the difference between wholesale and retail pricing, why you need both if you’re selling your quilts through retailers, and why you may not want to sell handmade quilts wholesale. WHAT IS…
Why Do Quilts Cost So Much? (& How To Lower Costs)
Quilts are expensive because of the labor required to make them. Quilts require pieces of fabric to be evenly cut and sewn together to get the basic shape of a blanket. Then that piece must be sewn together with batting, backing, and binding to create a finished blanket. Some quilts even have topstitching,…
How to Price a Quilt to Sell (the Correct Formula)
If you’re planning to sell the quilts you make (successfully), you must price them properly. Everyone has their way of pricing quilts and if you’re following a formula that works for you, keep using it. This quilting price formula is customizable to your business so you can change the profit and markup numbers based on…
2 Steps to Revive your Handmade Business
Thanks for clicking! By opening my email and clicking the link (or seeing my pin on Pinterest and clicking the link), you’ve done more than most people are willing to do for their business. You’re willing to invest the time to determine how you can improve it. For that, I’m offering…
5 Ways to Market Handmade Holiday Products
If you’ve created holiday-themed products, you have limited time to sell them. Which means you must work hard to market them. As you probably know, they aren’t just going to sell themselves. (If you haven’t created products for the holidays, here are 3 quick and easy steps to boost holiday sales with minimal…
Holiday Gift-Giving Trends for Handmade Businesses (in 2020)
Obviously, 2020 has been a year unlike the rest. So, as business owners, we should be preparing for the 2020 Holidays a little different this year. Call it a new trend, a shift in consumerism, or a new way of life, these are ways typical holiday traditions may be changing this holiday season…
How to Brand a Craft Show Booth
There’s a lot of confusion when it comes to branding and what a brand is. What you probably do know is: your brand is NOT your logo. Which is true. Your logo is part of how you communicate your brand, but branding a business is not like branding a cow; you…
10 Sales-Harming Mistakes Craft Businesses Commonly Make
To have a successful business, there are basic best practices that every business must have in place, as well as, basic mistakes that should be avoided. These are the most common mistakes I see handmade business owners make and why they can harm sales… HANDMADE BUSINESS MISTAKE #1 – BEING TOO…
How to Improve Sales in a Slow Economy
Have you felt it? A slow economy? A dip in traffic? Fewer sales coming through your website? If you have, you’re not alone. When the economy takes a nosedive, people alter their spending habits and businesses feel it. But that doesn’t mean your handmade business is doomed. As with anything in life, you…
Pleasures & Stressors that Get your Customers to Buy
Imagine choosing a gift for someone you love. It’s fairly easy to find something they’ll appreciate because you know intimate details about them. You know their likes and dislikes, what brings them joy and what stresses them out, items they’ve been wishing for and products they complain about. On the other…
How to Use Up-Selling to Sell More Handmade
Getting customers to your Etsy shop, website, or craft show table takes a lot of work. So it’s important that you make the most of every shopper. It’s not about taking advantage of shoppers and tricking them into spending more money. It’s about presenting options so they can make an educated purchase. Up-selling is a…
The Best Craft Show Table Covers (Plus Ideas & Tips)
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure here. Although craft show table covers shouldn’t be the star of a standout display, they shouldn’t be an afterthought. When I started selling at craft shows, my…
3 Steps to Get More Customers for your Small Handmade Business
Most advice on finding customers is focused on defining an ideal customer; the type of person who is most likely to buy your products. The way place a business can get off track is by creating products based on what the business owner wants to make, instead of what a target market wants…
3 Steps to Prepare your Handmade Business for the Holidays (in 2020)
Your customers are already planning for Christmas I always advocate planning ahead as a small business owner (which is why I created THE SUCCESS PLANNER…set your goal now and start making a plan for how to get there this year). But there’s a new trend this year that will have your business planning…
Free Product Description Template & Sample
This article is the third and final article in a series covering how to write powerful product descriptions that sell and includes templates you can use to fill in the blanks with your product details. If you’d like the free worksheets that go with these articles, please sign up for my newsletter below: If…
How to Build a Craft Business Customers Can’t Live Without
When you set out to create a new product, where do you start? >> How do you decide upon design? >> How do you choose colors, or scents, or materials? >> What makes you certain your product lineup needs this new product? The world is, as it always has been, changing. And…
How to Sell Through Online Craft Fairs
Many craft fairs moved online during the pandemic, which offers a unique opportunity for handmade businesses to make sales through a new channel. Virtual craft fairs require a different type of prep, presentation, and purchasing. Here’s how your business can take advantage of this new virtual way of selling crafts and prepare for an online…
New Craft Trends for 2020 (Post-Pandemic)
UPDATE: Find craft trends for 2021 here Consumers are starting to get a little restless. They’ve moved past the survival and fear mode and are ready to start planning for the future. Your business needs to stay a step ahead and start planning for it as well. It’s time to get excited…
How & Why a Craft Business Should Down-Sell
You’ve likely experienced up-selling at the McDonald’s drive-through when an employee asks: “Would you like to supersize your meal?” Up-selling is offering a bigger or better option to a shopper who’s already committed to buying (check out: HOW TO USE UP-SELLING TO SELL MORE HANDMADE). You can also use add-ons to increase the value of…
10 Ways for a Craft Business to Make Money (during the pandemic)
Some craft business owners have seen a significant drop in sales because of 2020’s pandemic. Others have seen only a slight decrease, while some have seen an increase. If your business’s revenue has dropped and you’re looking for new ways for it to make money, consider the following 10 ideas: This post may…