One of the best tips I got when I was in the planning stages of launching my business was that you should never skimp where customers will notice. Of course, it’s wise to ensure that your business expenses are kept in check, and cost effectiveness should be a priority. However, when you are selling crafts, customers are compelled by the sense of uniqueness and quality that comes with owning handmade items. Anything that make your customers feel that your items are “cheap” can take away from the feeling that your items are special. If cheap looking materials are causing you to lose sales, then they are not the most cost effective option.

More tips on getting started with your craft business

My friend Donna at Yellow Dog Greetings makes the best handmade cards. I really love the color combinations she chooses, and I just realized this morning, I’m starting to amass a collection of her cards! Her wedding cards are some of my favorites; they are just so much more personal than mass produced cards. I’m sending the Bella Bride card to my niece, who’s getting married in a couple of weeks.

Donna just posted the chocolate and blue wedding card. I love this card! It almost makes me want to get married all over again.

In order to meet your business goals it is important to choose your actions based on results.

It sounds simple. Who would waste valuable time working on projects and activities that don’t get results? Actually, plenty of people do it every day. It’s easy to get pulled into activities that are easy, busy work that help you to feel like you are being productive while you are, in fact, avoiding the tasks that may be more challenging, but will bring you closer to your business goals.

For example, imagine you want to convince a local retailer to carry your new product. If you’ve never dealt with retailers and wholesale or consignment agreements, approaching a store owner can feel pretty nerve wracking. So you avoid it. Instead, you may work on the tenth revision of your already fantastic sales brochure, telling yourself you can’t go to see that retailer until your brochure is absolutely perfect.

Polishing up your already great sales brochure is a comfortable task, and it helps you to feel productive. You are working on business activities, after all. However, if your brochure is already a great reflection of your products, another revision is just a thinly veiled way to avoid the challenging task of business networking.

There are plenty of ways to reach your business goals; some are more challenging than others. Unfortunately, the easiest business building tasks are not always the most effective business building tasks. If fact, the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80 20 rule, states that 80 percent of unfocused effort typically creates only 20 percent of results. In other words, if you are not actively choosing your projects and activities based on the results they could potentially generate, you are only being truly productive and moving toward achieving your business goals 20 percent of the time. The other 80 percent of the time you’re simply engaged in unproductive busy work.

Focusing on results means that you require yourself to focus on activities and projects that are likely to lead to achieving positive results and reaching your business goals. It prevents you from fooling yourself into thinking you’re being productive with activity and busy work.

Challenge yourself to choose projects and tasks based on their potential to grow your business, and not based on the amount of difficulty or discomfort they may create for you. Remember, mere activity is not evidence of real progress toward your business goals.

More tips to get motivated and achieve your business goals.

A great display booth can have a huge impact on your business.

Once you’ve put all of your efforts, skills and creativity into creating a product that is unique and highly appealing to your target market, you might feel that you’re ready to hit the art and craft shows.

Not quite.

Your display booth can make a huge impact on your success. The difference between a mediocre craft show booth and a great craft booth can mean the difference between whether customers actually enter your booth to see your fantastic products or whether they walk on past. It can also mean the difference between whether you are even accepted into the best shows. When you apply to many of the most competitive art and craft shows, you’ll be required to submit a photo of your booth. If your display booth does not meet the standards of professionalism that are required by the show organizers, you may not be accepted into the best shows.

Developing a great craft show display requires good research so you understand what resources are available for creating your booth, what industry standards and expectations your display will need to meet, and what it takes to stand out among your competitors.

Smart planning will help you to ensure your booth is efficient and easily portable. If, for example, your booth must fit in a vehicle that has a seven foot long interior, using an eight foot long pole that’s not retractable as a part of your display just won’t do. A modular booth design will allow you to fit your craft show booth into a variety of configurations. Although 10×10 spaces are fairly standard, they are definitely not universal, so you’ll want a display that can change with your changing needs.

Understanding the expectations of your target customers will help you to create a booth that draws in customers. Consider what message and image you want to portray and how you will portray that message in your booth.

Having your trade show booth professionally designed may be well worth the money spent; it really depends on your goals for your business, your available cash, the types shows you are targeting, and your skills related to creating your own display. While it’s not the right solution for everyone, a professional design may be the most cost effective solution in the long run. You can save time and money by avoiding a lot of trial and error in your booth design, and you may bring in more customers and get into better shows with an exceptional booth.

Don’t underestimate the value of a well planned, well designed display booth. While a remarkable product should be the cornerstone of your craft business, an excellent presentation of that product can go a long way to building your success.

Find more Craft Show Display Tips

If you’re looking for craft booth photos to get inspiration for your next craft display, look no further than Flickr.com. If you haven’t been to the site before, Flickr is a site where people upload and share their photos, and if you look patiently, you’ll find lots of display photos there.

To get you started, I’ve favorited some trade show booth displays photos on Flickr. Not all of the photos show ideal booths. Some are great, and a few, in my humble opinion, could use a little work. It’s helpful to see booths that are effective, and booths are still developing so you can get an idea of what works and what doesn’t

I have not even come close to favoriting not all of the display booth pictures on Flickr. In order to respect and comply with copyrights, I’ve only linked to photos that are marked as being O.K. to share. If you search yourself, you’ll find plenty more display booth photos. Here are some keywords to try:

• craft booth
• craft show
• craft display
• art show
• trade show
• art market
• craft market

Also try Flickr Groups, where you’ll find entire sets of related photos, and try the keywords.

Don’t forget to respect the hard work it took for these crafters to design their booths and be sure to draw a clear line between looking for inspiration, and outright copying.

For an in-depth look at some craft booth photos and why the booths work, take a look at Display Booth Photos and for more tips on creating a winning craft show display, see Craft Show Display

Find more Craft Show Display Tips

There are plenty of good methods for selling crafts. Here are a few tried and true methods and some things to consider about each method.

Selling Crafts Online

If you plan to take your craft business online, you may do so either through a third party site (that is, a site that is not your own, like Etsy or eBay) or through your own site.

Some of the benefits of using a third party site are that it’s usually easy to set up your own store; you won’t need to learn about designing your own site. Also, popular third party sites like eBay or Etsy already have traffic coming to the site, so there are potential customers already on the site.

Keep in mind though, if you sell your crafts online at a third party site, there will be plenty of competition on the site. You will need to work to direct customers to your store; therefore, selling crafts online on a third party site does not eliminate the need to work at bringing traffic to your online craft store. Also, when you sell your crafts on a third party site, you are subject to rules of that site. If rules change, it could have a massive impact on your business.

If you decide to sell your crafts on your own website, you’ll need to learn learn how to set up and market your own site. There are plenty of great tools out there to help you do that; it’s just a matter of sorting through the hype to find the excellent service providers. When you own your own site, you own your own traffic and you control your business. You won’t be dependent on a third party or subject to their rules. Once people get to your site, you won’t be competing with others who are selling similar products. You’ll have full control over what customers see when they visit your site.

Selling Crafts on Consignment

Selling crafts on consignment is usually a matter of being brave, professional and assertive and networking with store owners who have a customer base that is a good fit with your products. When you arrange a consignment agreement, keep in mind, this person will be responsible for promoting and taking care of your items, so you probably won’t want to enter into a consignment agreement with just anyone. Be sure to build a good relationship with the store owner, and clearly define the terms of the consignment arrangement at the beginning of your relationship.

Selling Crafts at Art and Craft Shows

There’s a huge range of venues that would fall under the classification of art or craft show. Everything from small shows at your local high school to massive, big venue shows.

Small community shows can be a good way to get some experience selling at shows without risking a lot in terms of booth fees. You can develop your displays, network with other crafters and discover how your target audience reacts to your products. Often crowds are limited at these shows, and people are frequently looking for bargain items, so you may find it challenging to sell higher end items at small shows.

Larger juried shows are harder to get into. It will be important to create an excellent application package including unique products, a great craft display booth, and great photos that show your products and your booth in their best light. These shows typically draw bigger crowds and it is generally easier to sell higher end items at the better juried shows.

Selling Crafts at Home Parties

Home parties can be a low cost, high reward way to start selling crafts. Aside from your hostess incentive, you won’t have selling fees to deal with, and there will be no competition from other crafters. You may choose to offer a traditional sales party in which you demonstrate and sell your products. You may also consider, depending on the type of craft you make, offering teaching parties where you teach techniques used to make your crafts, charge guests to attend the party, and also sell your items and perhaps supplies to make the craft you taught. Both approaches to craft home parties can be fun and profitable.

There are plenty of ways to turn your hobby into a profitable craft business. As you try different methods for selling crafts, you’ll quickly discover what works best for you, your work preferences and your products. Not all venues are right for all craft businesses, so it’s wise to try a few approaches. With experience you’ll discover exactly who your target market is and how to reach them.

Discover more great places for selling crafts.