You may dream of owning your own company and doing something you love. If that something you love is crafting, then your first masterpiece will be to craft a business plan. A crafting business is unique, and so your business plan will require some unique considerations.
Planning and Research
Many new business owners are so eager to get to work that they neglect to formulate a plan. But without one, you are essentially flying blind, with no clear path to how your crafting business will succeed. The second portion of this process is research. It is absolutely critical to conduct thorough research, as this will reveal how viable your business is. Without research, you may invest weeks into planning, only to possibly discover that your idea won’t work as well as you thought it may.
Who Else Does What You Do?
These days, e-commerce is king. Crafting sites like Etsy and online idea boards like Pinterest, along with YouTube videos all provide instructions which allow just about anyone to craft their own items. While this sharing of information is certainly valuable, it also means that your idea has to really stand out from the crowd. Even if your business will be conducted offline, it’s equally important to look through your local publications to investigate whether anyone else is already making what you plan to make. You may also want to conduct a little recognizance at local flea markets and similar community events to see what is on offer.
Can You Twist It?
While immersed in your planning process; it’s important to think outside the box. This is something you are likely already doing if your plan is to build a business on an ability to think creatively. That being said, when browsing local markets to see what others are doing, think about whether or not you could modify it to make it better in some way. Perhaps you could add a feature that makes it more attractive, or modify it in such a way as to make it easier to use. Bring a notebook with you to jot down your ideas.
Identifying a Market
A survey can help you identify whether or not your product will have a market. If you already have email addresses to send to, create a survey at any free survey site, and email your contacts with it. Your survey can contain many questions, from whether or not a person likes your product and why to how much they would expect to pay for such a product. The information you can glean from surveys is infinitely valuable, giving you the insight you need to help you research further.
Assessing Profitability
Next will be the consideration of the costs involved to produce your product. This may involve having more than one supplier. If this is the case, you will need to obtain the costs of raw materials from each. Next, you will need to figure out the rates for the labour it will require to make your products unless you are doing it yourself. Of course, things like rent, utilities and deposits will need to be considered if you plan to have premises from which to sell your products. Working from home will also require considerations for equipment and taxes for supplies.
A tempting notion is to forget about the significance of items or services which only cost you a few pounds. However, doing so will not benefit you in the long run. Rather, consider overestimating your costs. This will provide you with a bit of a cushion and will result in more profit being made in the long run.
Creating a business plan for your crafting business can involve thinking about many seemingly-subtle or unimportant items. If the goal is not to miss any of these, the eyes of a professional can offer an unbiased view of your business to ensure that everything has been covered.