Many people decide, after they’ve been sewing or knitting or doing some other craft for a while, that they might like to set up in business. Have you thought about starting a work at home business? It’s a tempting idea and a road that I’ve followed myself. Here’s a look at what you might want to consider if you’re thinking about earning money from your sewing.
Starting a work at home business
- Do your research
If you’re thinking of starting a work at home business, the first thing that you need to do is a bit of research. Is there any legislation or restrictions to what you want to sell. Are you able to sell what you make? Will people want to buy it?
- Know your market
Find out who else is making something similar to what you want to sell. Is there room in the market for another person doing the same thing. Some areas are already far too full of people trying to make money from their creations. What will make you different?
- Be original
It’s very easy to see something someone else has made and think, I could do that. Usually though, people have spent time developing their ideas, creating something new and testing it. To avoid copyright issues and from a moral stand point, anything that you create to sell should be your own ideas from scratch. This might mean that you need to draft your own patterns too, unless you can find ones that allow you to make for sale.
- Think like a business
If you’re thinking of starting a work at home business, then you need to think like a business from the beginning. You can’t make something with the intention of selling it, and then claim that it’s just a hobby. Make sure that you’ve looked into the tax implications, although you might not make any profit you still need to fill in a tax return. Even if your work at home business is a small part time activity, you still need to make sure that you deal with your customers in a professional way, giving them proper invoices and sticking to deadlines.
- Look at your supplies
Sourcing quality supplies is important if you are going to be making something to sell. You need to know that the materials you use will stand up to use by someone else. You also need to make sure that you can get a regular supply of the items you use, if finding a certain fabric or item is difficult, then consider exchanging for an easy to source item.
- Price your items properly
It’s very easy when starting a work at home business to under price yourself. People often don’t factor in the time that they spend making something, or think that because they are new then their work should be cheaper. The problem with this is that you may make a few sales to begin with, without making any money, but then people start to expect the lower prices, and it’s simply not sustainable. It also devalues other peoples work and businesses.
- Write a business plan
You might think that when starting a work at home business, that you don’t need a business plan. If you don’t have a business plan it’s difficult to keep track of how you are doing and where you are going. As you are likely to have limited time to work on a business, having a plan makes sure that you’re not spending time on things that don’t matter and helps to keep you focused.
- Test your products
If you want to sell something make sure that you have tested it well. Make some for your own use, get friends and family members (that you trust) to give you feed back on things that you have made. If you haven’t tested something thoroughly, then you can’t really expect people to pay for it.
- Decide where to sell and market yourself
Are you going to sell on line? Or are you going to focus on markets? There’s nothing wrong with having multiple places that you sell your items, but it’s a good idea to know what they’re going to be before you start. Don’t rely too much on the friends and family who say that they would buy from you before you start. All too often, when you’ve set up and have things for sale, they don’t.
- Mange your time
Starting a work at home business can seem like a perfect solution, especially if you’re at home anyway with children. to really make it work and last for more than a few months, you need to manage your time. Decide when you’re going to be able to work on the business, but be prepared to have to change when other things come up.
I hope that all of these tips will give you something to think about if you’re thinking of starting a work at home business. If you’ve already taken that step, then I’d love to hear what your tips or advice would be.
Great post Kelly. Covers all the basics and are things a lot of people don’t think about when they start out.
Good range of advice. Time Management is the hardest and I still haven’t completed my business plan properly. Think like a business is a good tip too.
Thanks! There are a couple of things I haven’t done here. Onto them now though!
I’ve always wanted to write one of these lists. You did such a better job of it than I think I would have. Well done. My thought for today.. “Think like a business!”