Ever since November of 2009 I have toyed with the idea of starting my own craft business. I have always loved arts and crafts and enjoy bringing an element of creativity to everything that I do. This being said, I have no idea how to go about actually starting a business.... minor problem. So, I figured why not start small? Try selling at a few craft shows to get my name out there and to see what kind of demand exists for my product. This was easier said than done. After googling local craft fairs I found a number of them in my area but most of them wanted more than $100 to rent a booth. $100! There was no way I was willing to spend $100 to go to a craft show where I might not even sell anything. So, I decided to try out a small scale holiday craft fair held at a local elementary school.
Sadly this experience did not go well... I sold a single stretch bracelet to a little boy who bought it for his brother. Grant it, the fair was not organized terribly well - only a select few of the vendors actually saw much traffic. After returning home from this fruitless endeavor I was a little disappointed and put away the idea of a craft business for a while. I got caught up in my job(s) and had little time or energy to do much when I returned home. Then, in August my husband and I moved to a small town in Ohio where he was to be enrolled in Seminary. This move had already made a huge difference in our lives. We went from living in a 1000sq ft basement apartment with very little natural light to a huge, 2000+sq foot house with all the windows we could possibly want. In this new environment I feel refreshed and optimistic about giving my craft business another go.
Although I did not sell much at that disappointing craft fair last year I did receive some compliments on my hand-embroidered pillow designs. So, I have decided to put some of my new-found energy toward developing that product line. I spend most of my free time at home drawing up designs, transferring them to fabric, and embroidering my heart out in an effort to come up with enough finished products to be able to sell them. My first big opportunity for this will come about next Saturday, October 16th at my church's Farmer's Market. This market is not a huge affair but it does receive a lot of local traffic and it will be a great opportunity for me to get my foot in the door of selling at craft fairs. Before Saturday rolls around, however, I have a lot of work to do. I need to sew as much as I can between now and then in order to be able to have enough items to provide customers with a decent variety. I am excited, however, about the future of my craft business and have high hopes for myself! I hope you will join me in this journey and share with me my success and commiserate with me in my failures. Thanks for reading!
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