Can transforming a creative hobby into a thriving handmade business really be as simple as mastering a few key skills? In this episode of the Thriving Maker podcast, I  tackle this head-on, breaking down the often overwhelming leap from hobbyist to business owner.  Acknowledging the ever present challenges like imposter syndrome and self-doubt, and sharing strategies to recognise these feelings as natural stepping stones rather than obstacles. Listen in to hear why a supportive network and continuous learning are key to building confidence and honing both your creative and business skills.

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➡ PRODUCT PRICING TEMPLATE

Transcript:

Sarah: 0:01

Hello and welcome. In today's episode, I'm going to be talking all about the different challenges that you might face as you start and grow your handmade business, and you'll probably face these challenges throughout your business journey, so it's important to know what they may be and recognize them, and to note that some of them are opportunities as well. So sit back and enjoy. Hello and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. This is a podcast to support makers, crafters and artists to start and grow their creative passions into thriving, profitable businesses. I'm Sarah Kavanagh, your host, and I'm passionate about all things creative and how to turn your unique talents into a thriving business giving you the lifestyle that you want. I started my own handmade fine jewellery business over 15 years ago and now also help other artisans and makers build their own creative businesses through marketing and branding and techniques and strategies I've studied, learned and put into practice along my journey. Today, I want to help you to establish and grow your own design-led business so that it can help support the lifestyle that you want. Think of this as your go-to resource and check in for all things strategy and marketing for your business, along with stories and anecdotes from my life as a creative entrepreneur. Thank you for tuning in and welcome to the Thriving Maker podcast. Hi there, hope you're well. Thank you for tuning in today, I thought, since I am all about helping you to start or grow your craft business and your handmade business, so it'd be good to be upfront and open about some of the challenges that you may face you're likely to face along your journey, and it can be a big leap to go from doing something you love as a hobby to turning it into and growing a successful business from it, and there will be many challenges along the way.

Sarah: 2:11

But there are also many upsides, and so that's what I wanted to talk about today, because some of these challenges may affect your mindset and your ability to grow. So it's good to know what they are in advance, what they might be in advance, so you can prepare yourself and face them to grow. So it's good to know what they are in advance, what they might be in advance, so you can prepare yourself and face them head on. So there's a couple of things, a few things that I thought I'd talk about. Firstly, you might come across the feeling of being an imposter, imposter syndrome and doubting your ability as a maker to make a success of your business, and this is really common, and I don't think I've come across any creative that hasn't felt at some point that they're an imposter. If you succeed and you start making lots of orders succeed and you start making lots of orders, there's always going to be a part of you that I haven't been to jewellery school, I'm self-taught, so I'm not going to be as good as the next person, or I didn't go to art school, so how can I be a successful artist? Is anyone going to take me seriously? So it's all. So it's really common and I think, however successful you are, it does crop up from time to time, even and even more so when you're just starting out.

Sarah: 3:42

This is you have to just trust that. This is part of the journey. I think a lot of creatives are quite we are quite sensitive people, and so you can have self-doubt. Especially if you're kind of working alone as a solopreneur, you can start to wonder if what you're doing is actually any good. So you do have to just ride it and know that every other creative out there has felt the same thing at some point during their journey. So don't dwell on it too much. Know that it's going to happen and you're going to move through it.

Sarah: 4:24

Trust that this is just part of the journey and that you can't really be an imposter in your own life. Your vision, your creative talents, what you make, what you produce, are unique to you. Even if it is still a ceramic pot, it's your interpretation of that, it, it's your vision, your style, your story behind it, and you can never be an imposter in your own creations. So don't think too deeply on it, just know that you will from time to time feel this way and move through it. And you're in good company, because every other creative has felt this at some point.

Sarah: 5:09

You'll be learning and developing your skills every day, your creative skills and your business skills. And however far you take your handmade journey, this learning won't stop. So you'll always be pushing yourself to the next thing and curious about what new techniques or ways of working you can incorporate into your business. And because of this learning, we can always feel like, oh, we're not quite there yet. There's somebody else in front of us, but we're all on our own unique paths. Everyone starts from zero. Nobody goes into business or goes into a creative business or a creative skill knowing everything. We all have to follow a path of learning in everything we do. So your ability to become the skilled craftsperson and to become the successful business owner is the journey that you're taking.

Sarah: 6:06

Surround yourself with people who can encourage and support you and tell you because we all need to be told that we are good at something and that obviously it's. You know you need to have a critical eye on your work, but you also need your cheerleaders. You need people around you that can support you when you're feeling a little bit at a low ebb. So this could be family. This could be mentors, a community of other makers, your peers, as they're going through similar stages in their businesses as you are or have been through. Seek out support and knowledge when you need it and invest in your growth as a maker. Whether this is going to more shows so that you can build your confidence, learning more creative skills, developing your skill set as a maker so you can produce the ideas that are coming to you. Learn your business skills so that you feel confident marketing your work and putting it out there, and gradually, the many doubts you have as a maker, as a, as a creative business owner, will become fewer and fewer. So what I can, all I can say is you have to embrace the learning processes if you're going to move your craft hobby to a business.

Sarah: 7:36

Another challenge you can face when you're growing your craft business is that you will primarily be working alone. For some people this can be really hard. I'm lucky enough that my husband is a photographer and he works from home as well, so I have somebody that I can bounce ideas off. But it can be a real challenge to be able to keep your focus throughout the day and to keep motivated. So it can get a little bit lonely working yourself, which is another reason to join a group of other crafters or other makers.

Sarah: 8:18

Work with a mentor, work with, take time to be inspired and and mix with your customers. There will be a lot to keep you busy. So, if anything, you'll be feeling like you haven't got enough time, which is where strategies and techniques come in to ensure that you're working productively. But initially you will be doing everything. You'll be doing the design and the production, the marketing, the purchasing of materials, the sales. You will be doing everything in your business and it can become overwhelming, and if you're not careful you can get stuck in a rut in this overwhelm, not knowing which direction to turn, and so having people around you that you can just bounce ideas off or ask for help from is important. Don't try. Although you will be doing a lot of the tasks yourself, don't take the mental load on just for yourself. Have people around you that can support you. So mix it up schedule time. You can go out for walks and change your environment to keep you feeling fresh, keep you feeling inspired and motivated. Join a group where you can meet in person or meet virtually to catch up and talk about your work and throw ideas around and also get feedback on your thoughts, so you're not holding it all in. Attend craft markets and shows to connect with your customers and meet other makers and start building a community around yourself of people that you can, that can support you and support your business.

Sarah: 9:57

As you move in this journey, as your business grows, you won't need to do all the shows and all the markets and you'll be able to choose the good ones and the ones that bring you the most joy. But it is tough to start with because for some people it can be a huge change. You could be going from working a nine to five or from looking after your children or caring for somebody else, to suddenly wanting to work towards building a business from your craft, and there's a lot you're going to have to take on and learn, and so it can sometimes feel like you're not being able to do your hobby anymore. One of the other things that you will also discover is that your hobby that you once loved can, at times, become a bit of a drain at times become a bit of a drain. Another challenge will be growing your business and growing your reach to new customers so your business can grow. Without the ability and knowledge to grow your audience and to grow your customer base, you'll always end up selling just to the people in your immediate area, whether that's local people at craft fairs and markets or friends and family. So you need to have the ability and confidence to reach out to new audiences, to make your business a viable one, to give you the chance of being able to turn your craft hobby into a business. You'll be spending your weekends, busy events away from your family and possibly missing out on other activities that friends and family are taking part in. So this is a really big one and it never changes. You are going to have to grow your customer base. You're going to have to put yourself out there with marketing and promotion to make a viable business and to move forward in your journey.

Sarah: 11:45

As a craft business, marketing is often left to the last thing that we do, but it's also one of the most important parts. You need to embrace the business sides of your craft and the new technologies and the ways that are going to make your business more sustainable and more efficient. And I think we can spend a lot of time working in our business, working on the design and the production of pieces, but forget to work on our business, and it's working on our business that will enable us to enjoy working in our business. I hope that makes sense. I think, as creatives, there is a notion that marketing is for somebody else. Marketing are for the marketeers. Marketing is for the overconfident people, the extroverts, the people that want to push everything to everybody. But it's not. It has to be something that you do every day, and I think if you think of it as really just showing people and telling people about your work, it can become a lot easier to embrace marketing. If you don't want to use the word marketing, that's fine. Make it into something that you enjoy doing and it will become more enjoyable as you test things out and try new things and get encouragement back and validation of your efforts with new customers.

Sarah: 13:13

So marketing is essential. You must show your work to people, you must try and sell your work to people, otherwise your hobby will remain a hobby and it will never become the business that you want it to be. The business that will give you more time, freedom to work when you want to work and the finances to enable you to have the life that you want to have as well. So the next challenge is about the finances. You have to keep on top of your finances and actually make a profit from your work. Otherwise, like I said, it's just going to be a hobby, an expensive hobby. So this probably seems obvious that you need to make a profit from your craft. But there's lots of nuances to this, from pricing your work properly to how you manage the money that comes in and goes out of your business. So it's really important to and goes out of your business. So it's really important to keep an eye on your finances as you grow. You might want to take on a bookkeeper or accountant to help you with this.

Sarah: 14:19

Materials, to start with. Materials and supplies can be really costly as you're setting up your business. So you do need to get a handle on this. Have some money set aside for these expenses, because they're necessary as you're starting out before you start making money. As you start out, your expenses are likely to be more than your income as makers. It's tempting just to price pieces of what you think somebody would pay, regardless of taking into account your time or material costs, and this is completely wrong and you know deep down it's the wrong way of doing it. So do some research. There are many different formulas to pricing. So create a spreadsheet with your materials and then your pricing formula and what your profit will be at the end. Set aside time each week or at least each month, to go through your finances and look at what's coming out of your business and what's going into your business. When you first start out, there's not going to be a lot coming in and there'll be more going out. So just keep track of all these so you can feel confident. As your business grows, you'll be investing in maybe new tools and equipment and training and marketing. So it's expensive starting out.

Sarah: 15:36

In my experience, having three bank accounts is a great place to start. I'm not a financial expert in any way, so you do have to seek financial advice if you have any questions about setting these up, but it works well for me and gives you the right amount of motivation to build your business. The idea is taken from the book Profit First and is well worth a read. So this is how I use his teachings. So you have three bank accounts one for your business expenses, a business account for your business expenses and incomes, so you don't get mixed up with your personal account. Have a business savings account. This is where you're going to put in money to be able to pay yourself.

Sarah: 16:28

And thirdly, have a profit and tax account. This way, each month you can portion up any profit you've made in your business and distribute it between the different accounts. A portion will be reinvested into your business and remain in your business account, and then another portion will go into your business savings account. I use this to draw a monthly salary. Some months you'll be putting in more than others, depending on how your business has gone that month, what sales you've made. But when you have a good month you'll put more in. When you have a bad month, there'll be something there to still be able to draw your wage from, and then a separate portion of any profit from the month then goes into your profit and tax account and so that's set aside. And then when you need to pay your tax at the end of the year, you have money there to pay that and you're not thinking, oh, I hadn't thought about the tax, how am I going to pay for that? So these are the portions that I use in my business, and if you read the book Profit First, you'll work out what works best for you. So in my business account my operating expenses to stay in my business account are 40% of any profit that I've earned in a particular month, and then 45% of that profit goes into the business savings account each month. Now that might be more or less what I'm going to draw out as a wage, but over the course of the year there's always something in there that I can take a wage from. And then 15% goes into my profit and tax account and that is used to pay for tax at the end of the year. And any profit that's left you can reinvest that however you want. Over time you want to start putting more into your profit and tax accounts, you can ensure you have enough to cover your tax bill at the end of the year.

Sarah: 18:24

These are just a few of the challenges that you'll face as a handmade craft business owner. There'll be many more along the way, but there are also many benefits. If you approach each of these challenges with your eyes wide open and view them as opportunities, you'll actually start enjoying being challenged in these ways. As your craft business grows, so does your personal growth, and I think that's one of the best things about having your own handmade business your own growth in confidence in your knowledge and skills. And you'll meet like-minded people. Knowledge and skills, and you'll meet like-minded people. You'll be more confident in the craft and the business skills and everything that you're doing, from the production and coming up with new ideas to the marketing and the styling and the branding of your business and you'll be able to work the hours that you want and to make a future out of your skills and out of your passions.

Sarah: 19:14

To make a future out of your skills and out of your passions. The world is there for you to embrace, but time is precious and fleeting. Spending it with those you love and doing the things you love, sharing your joy and your passions and enthusiasm in your life is so important. The people around you who care about you and you spend time with they will see how you're embracing your new journey as a creative business owner, and if you can make that joyful, you'll be spreading the joy to them too. Anyway, thank you for listening in. I have put a spreadsheet in the show notes, a spreadsheet template for looking after your pricing. Obviously, put your own formulas into that, but it's a Google spreadsheet and you'll be able to download that and use that to help you with your pricing of different things. And it's just the starting point to make sure that you're starting out with consistent pricing. That's going to give you a profit and you can keep track of everything. So I hope that's been useful and I'll speak to you again soon, thank you, thank you.