Setting Goals for your Handmade Business

It’s the time of year when everyone takes a look back at the past year and asks themselves, “What can I do better?” 

And while it’s natural (and good) to make your business goals part of that, it’s equally important to make sure the goals are reasonable. Setting unreasonable goals for yourself is a recipe for failure and disappointment.

A good goal should be:

  1. reasonable
  2. attainable (and by that, I mean it’s something in your control)
  3. proactive

 

Felt home decor flower by IngerMaaike

 

A common goal I see for handmade business owners is setting a milestone with sales. And while the milestone itself may not be unreasonable, I don’t like this kind of goal because there are too many variables that determine sales. And a lot of them are out of our control.Read more…

7 Common Myths of Pricing Handmade Goods

There are a lot of myths floating around out there about pricing. These myths cause pitfalls many an artist and crafter (newb and seasoned alike) have fallen into when pricing their wares. I am here to vanquish these fell beasts!

Chimaera original illustration by Calef Brown

Myth #1 – You should only be compensated for the time you are actively creating. All the other “work” doesn’t count.

Everything I do is needed to run my business.

If I did the design work but outsourced the sewing work, I would pay the seamstress.

If I hired an assistant to handle my customer service, I would pay the assistant.

If I hired a model and photographer, they would either be paid in cash or goods.

Magical Unicorn Dog Hat by sweethoots

(I wonder if the above model was compensated in doggie treats?)

Each part of my process is a job I would have to pay someone to do if I didn’t do it. If I do it, then I pay myself (or try to).

In response to this idea, some people like to say things like, “I’m a teacher, and I don’t get paid to grade papers at home or have meetings with parents after school.” That’s a very flawed argument. If those things are expected and required as part of your job, then your salary is intended to compensate you for it.

There are two reasons you should make sure you compensate yourself for ALL of your work.

The first is that you deserve to be paid for the work you do. Don’t let anyone make you think otherwise.

And the second is more important. Should you need to someday outsource a task you currently complete yourself, you need to be able to pay for that from the price of your goods.

I was a mythological creature BEFORE it was cool. by CreativeScratchings

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6 Truths About Promoting Your Handmade Shop

Handmade businesses are like sharks. We have to keep swimming, or we die. Swimming in our case is promoting.

And believe me, I know you hate it. We all hate it. But at the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious:  if no one knows your business is out there, they can’t buy your product.

This is true in a very literal sense- imagine you crocheted a hat to sell. Once you finished making the hat, you stuck it in a shoebox and stuffed it in your closet and never told anyone about it. It would be ridiculous to think anyone would buy it. They don’t even know it exists.

Fleece Shark Hat by ObeyMyBrain

Well then, let’s say you work up the courage to do this for real. So you set the hat out on your coffee table with a price tag. (Hey, everyone has to start somewhere.) Now maybe you get lucky and a friend or family member wants to buy it. What’s more likely is they’ll wonder if you’ve gone a little cuckoo-bananas.  (Jerks!)

Okay, so you’ll take it one step further and set up a little table on the front lawn. Maybe you’ll get a bullhorn so you can yell at cars passing by. Perhaps you’ll make a nice sign: Captain Obvious Crochet Hats! $25 each!

Now we’re getting somewhere. Instead of reaching the 2 or 3 people that might see the hat sitting on your coffee table, you’re potentially reaching all of your neighbors and everyone that drives past. Twenty people? Two hundred? It depends on a lot of things, but it’s way more than just inside your house.Read more…

5 Rules for Custom Orders To Craft By

I’ve been doing custom work pretty much since the beginning of selling my clothing online, and I’ve learned a lot over that time. Mostly I’ve learned The Hard Way.

Accumulated through years of mistakes and missteps, here are a handful of rules to live by if you offer custom work:

1. Always require payment up front

This is one of those things that newbies are always scared to do, and yet you learn very quickly that you will get burned if you don’t. Go ahead and ignore me. YOU WILL GET THERE.

I get at least one custom order request a day, some days more like 10. If I was making all those orders and waiting around for payment, I would’ve been out of business 5 years ago. At least half of the requests I get never amount to an order. Lots of people like to window shop. Not so many actually have the money to put it where their mouth is.

At the very least, if you’re super nervous that people will be hesitant to pay in full up front, require them to pay half up front. That way, if they magically disappear once the order is completed (and some of them will), at least you were compensated for materials and maybe some time.

Then you’ll start requiring full payment up front, right? Right.

I’ve never had anyone refuse to buy a custom item from me because I required payment up front, and really- why should they refuse? When I bought custom sized windows for my house, I paid up front and got the windows 6 weeks later. That’s just how customs work.

Cheshire Cat hoodie by SmarmyClothes.com

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5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Worry About Copycats

Copycats are a fact of life in the business world. No one likes someone suckling at their creative teat (ick… bad metaphor), but instead of getting mad, get over it and get AWESOME.

1. You aren’t the only creative person on the planet.

The farting unicorn t-shirt I designed for my band is a perfect example.

I originally thought of the idea of a unicorn farting a rainbow several years ago. And I swear that when I searched it then, there was nothing. I was actually surprised. Surely I wasn’t the only person to come to the conclusion that a unicorn would most definitely fart a rainbow?!?

Now go google farting unicorn and see what comes up. Lots of unicorns farting rainbows! COPYCATS!

But not really. I didn’t actually get around to posting the shirt design until last year. When I googled farting unicorn then, lo and behold, I saw what you see now. MY IDEA, everywhere.

The point being: was it my original idea? Yes. But was I the ONLY person to have the idea? Clearly not. Did someone have the idea before me, even though when I looked for it, I didn’t find it? Probably.

Furthermore, all of the farting unicorn designs out there are quite a bit different from one another, so while the basic premise might be the same, and some may have even been inspired by others, they’re still not copies. The same way that drawing a rabbit eating a carrot isn’t copying Bugs Bunny.

It’s merely a similar idea, done differently. And that’s allowed. How boring would the world be if it wasn’t?

Bunny in a Sea of Carrots Card by bikeparts

2. Everything has been done before.

You know that awesome, original, totally creative idea you had? Someone’s probably already done it before. This applies to my farting unicorn above in the “idea” sense. And it applies to a lot of other things like clothing, bags, etc. in the literal sense.

I didn’t invent the circle skirt. It’s been around forever. So I didn’t even have the original IDEA for a circle skirt. I’d seen them a million times before, and literally said, “Hey! Circle skirt! I’m gonna make one of those.” 100% someone else’s idea. Whose idea? Probably no one knows.

That may seem fairly obvious, but let’s take it a step further. Let’s say it was a circle skirt… with a poodle applique sewn on. I know you’ve seen those. They’ve also been around forever. So am I a copycat for making one? I don’t think so.

50’s Poodle Skirt by hiphop50sshop

Let’s go less obvious. What if I made a zebra print circle skirt, but instead of the common theme of a poodle,  I go with a skull. And then I see someone else doing the same thing. Copying? In my opinion, it’d be awfully presumptuous to assume that I was the only. person. ever. that thought of combining the two, even though it’s not the traditional poodle skirt.

Okay, sure, there are legitimate copycats out there, ripping off every little detail that made your design YOURS, and you know very well that they got the idea from you. Because it’s your EX-best-friend, or your arch nemesis who’s trying to destroy you, or your evil robot twin.

I’ve been there, but I’ve gotten to the point that I just don’t care anymore. I might get a quick pang of annoyance, and then I move on with my life. These are the reasons I was able to do that:

3. Worrying about copycats is unnecessary negative energy.

Unless someone copies your actual artwork or words or makes a mold of your sculpture (and in those cases, get medieval on their asses, by all means*), there’s not even anything you can do about a copycat.  Someone could go look at my shop and replicate all of my designs and I couldn’t do squat, aside from get pissed and tell everyone how sucky they are.

At the risk of sounding like a hippie, I’m all about the PMA- Positive Mental Attitude. I know, unicorns, rainbows, and now happy thoughts? But it’s true: thinking positive generates positive energy. If you focus on all of the good things in your life, how can you NOT feel awesome? The exact opposite is true of negative energy. Worry, anger, bitterness… all those feelings result in misery, so why dwell on them?

But you can’t help how you feel, right?

You can help what you DO with your feelings. Take that GRRRRRR you’re feeling about that copycat and go make something really kickass. Or bake someone special some cookies. Or pet your cute snuggly kitty cat. Instead of wallowing in and/or spreading the negativity, do something positive. Just imagine how goddamned magnificent the world would be if we all did something positive when we wanted to do something negative.

I’ve been there, and I’ve done the negative thing, and now that I have more perspective, I wish I could take it back. It did zero good. What a waste of my energy! I could have made cupcakes instead! Unless you’re immortal, you’ve got better things to do with your time than to let a copycat mess up your game.

cupcake soaps by ajsweetsoap

*If someone is using your photographs, text, or artwork without your permission, they are committing actual copyright infringement.  In such cases, I’d suggest sending them an email politely explaining that you are the owner of the work, that using it without your permission constitutes copyright infringement, and that you are asking that they remove it to avoid legal action. Most people will oblige with an apology, because they simply didn’t know that what they were doing was wrong. It’s a sad side effect of information being so readily available on the internet that many people just assume they can take anything they find on the internet and use it.

4. Copycats don’t last.

They’ll make quick buck off your idea and then move on to someone else’s idea. And then they’ll die. Figuratively, of course.

Every single instance where I felt I was copied- the shops were either gone within a year or the person stopped replicating my design very quickly.  You know why?

Creative people are driven by the creative process. They would get bored very quickly with copying.

Copycats are driven by money. And sooner or later most of them will realize what all of us handmakers already know- if you’re in this for the money, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

copy cat cufflinks by whitetruffle

5. Publicly talking about people copying you makes you look petty.

And unprofessional. And full of yourself.

It didn’t occur to me until later, when I heard other people complaining about this or that person that copied them that I realized it. Even at times when I thought, “Yeah, that really does look like someone copied you,” the overall feeling I had was negative.

Is negativity what you want associated with your brand? Because mine sure as hell isn’t. So even if people are agreeing with you, “YEAH! THAT BITCH TOTALLY COPIED, LET’S GO GET PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES AND STAND OUTSIDE OF HER HOUSE!” … they might subconsciously be thinking, “Doesn’t this person have better things to do than whine about copycats?”

And they’re right, because you could be making super sweet shit instead! So go do it and stop worrying about copycats.

For more perspective on copycats, check out: http://pikaland.com/2010/06/01/copycats-lessons-we-can-learn