SNAP Recap: Having a Handmade Biz

If you missed my recap of the Blogging Basics sessions, you can check it out here.

The second session I attended at SNAP Conference was Happy Chaos: turning a passion into a business – learn how to take your passion and get out of hobby-mode. It was a great session and I got to hear the lovely Lindsey, Ashlee, Jess and Liz speak about how they transformed their creations into a business.

This sessions was a Q & A so what I’m sharing are things that I learned from what they talked about.

First things first.

What you need:

* Doing Business As (DBA)

*Business License

* Sellers Permit

 * Tax ID Number (in some cases this is very helpful)

* Online Storefront. I recommend checking out Storevny

Your Products:

* Love what you make…. especially since depending on sales you could be making a lot of them.

ASK YOURSELF:

Is your product different from everything else you see?

* Pay attention to what items you make that other people love. You’ll know this by comments made and what items or colors in your shop get purchased most often.

* Get feedback from your customers!!

* VALUE your product —> VALUE your customer

—> If you get to the point where you can’t do it, hire someone to help you.

Your Time:

* It’s important so don’t de-value it!!

Many of us are Mom’s who either stay at home and take care of the kids or work a full time job during the day and run your handmade business on the side. Therefore it’s important to calculate your time to make, photograph, package, ship and promote your items into your cost.

So folks, this is my nice way of saying… you’re not doing yourself or anyone else any favors by under pricing your items.

Finding Balance:

It’s always hard to find ways to balance real life with your handmade business. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a handmade business, it just means you need to know your schedule, prioritize, get organized manage your time well.

*Hire help if you need it. This can be for help printing shipping labels, packaging, going to the Post Office or even helping you make you’re products.

* Learn to let go of some things so you can be a good wife/mom

* Let go of things that maybe you aren’t so good at. For example, I’d love to hire an intern that is a college photography student. I could have that person take product pics and promo pics that they could use in their own portfolio, but also have them help me with packing and shipping. Ahh, in a perfect world, right?

Finding the Right Person to Help You:

* Be flexible: start with a trial period.

*Find someone who is trustworthy and a hard worker

* And again – Don’t be afraid to let go of things and delegate the responsibility so you have more time to make your products.

I hope y’all were able to find some of this info as helpful as I did. The women who spoke are incredible and know so much about the ins and outs of the Handmade world.