Shownotes
Resources for Growth of Your Handmade Biz
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Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Speaker:If you'd like to submit a topic,
Speaker:DME, over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped,
Speaker:how do you scale your handmade business?
Speaker:And by scaling,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:growing, selling more and seeing your numbers increase month after month,
Speaker:that's always the goal,
Speaker:right? If your answer is yes,
Speaker:obviously hold tight.
Speaker:This immediate answer needs some analysis.
Speaker:I believe the better first question is,
Speaker:do you want to scale?
Speaker:And if so,
Speaker:how much you see as your business grows,
Speaker:it changes everything you currently do yourself.
Speaker:As you're getting started,
Speaker:takes more time as you grow,
Speaker:simply because there's a larger volume of work in each category
Speaker:to manage.
Speaker:I'm talking about things like inventory control,
Speaker:bookkeeping, order processing,
Speaker:and of course producing your handmade products where in the beginning
Speaker:you can keep up with all of these tasks.
Speaker:As more orders come in,
Speaker:the workload expands to,
Speaker:to keep up your business.
Speaker:Operations need to change.
Speaker:If you feel like you have an overwhelming number of spinning
Speaker:plates in the air,
Speaker:and you're running to re-spin each one,
Speaker:before it goes crashing to the floor,
Speaker:your at this point right now,
Speaker:don't get me wrong.
Speaker:Scaling a business is a wonderful thing.
Speaker:I'm only suggesting you enter into significant growth mode with your
Speaker:eyes wide open.
Speaker:Some makers are wonderfully content with a handmade business that balances
Speaker:nicely with other priorities in their life.
Speaker:They get happiness in the process of making and never want
Speaker:to grow to the point where they can't do that anymore.
Speaker:Some never want employees or ever care to turn a side
Speaker:gig into a full-time endeavor.
Speaker:Many are perfectly content with the money their small business provides.
Speaker:And by scaling they'd grow themselves out of what they truly
Speaker:love for these reasons.
Speaker:The first thing to consider around the topic of scaling is
Speaker:to envision what your life would look like.
Speaker:If you did get bigger,
Speaker:what would your job responsibilities be?
Speaker:And do you see yourself happy in this new role?
Speaker:Luckily, since you're the owner,
Speaker:you get to call the shots and there are many creative
Speaker:ways to structure your business that allow you to retain all
Speaker:or a portion of the tasks that you the most,
Speaker:but it's still worth some visionary work and thought.
Speaker:So let's say you've decided,
Speaker:yes, you want to grow your business to the next level
Speaker:you're close to or already have reached your limit.
Speaker:And maybe even some of those spinning plates I mentioned earlier
Speaker:are crashing to the floor.
Speaker:Here are three paths to consider that will set you up
Speaker:to scale your business,
Speaker:bring in more revenue and get your handmade creations in the
Speaker:hands of more people.
Speaker:First off it's time to bring in some help.
Speaker:This is always a huge barrier,
Speaker:particularly for handmade creators.
Speaker:Because for some reason you think that not doing it all
Speaker:yourself removes you from being a true handmade business.
Speaker:Not so to get you comfortable with handing off responsibility to
Speaker:someone else,
Speaker:why not start with non production tasks?
Speaker:These are often the ones you like the least anyway.
Speaker:They're important for the business to run,
Speaker:but not what you enjoy,
Speaker:not like doing your knitting or your painting.
Speaker:Find someone to do your books or write your newsletters or
Speaker:research and fill out the paperwork for the craft shows.
Speaker:You'll be participating in this year or find someone to take
Speaker:product photos that you can use for the next six months
Speaker:versus you having to stop in the middle of a project.
Speaker:When you need a new image for social or a promotional
Speaker:piece, I hear already what's going on in your mind.
Speaker:You're saying,
Speaker:but that takes money and I'm not comfortable spending right now.
Speaker:I want you to do a mental flip here.
Speaker:When you make an investment like this in your business,
Speaker:it's not money going out and just vanishing it's money going
Speaker:out. So more money can come in,
Speaker:investing in back office,
Speaker:help frees up more time for you to make more product.
Speaker:If you have more items made,
Speaker:you have more items to sell.
Speaker:See how this works.
Speaker:A step up from here is to get assistance in filling
Speaker:orders, inventory management,
Speaker:and even attendance at some shows.
Speaker:What if there were two shows you'd like to be at,
Speaker:but they're on the same weekend.
Speaker:Yes, you can do both.
Speaker:Or why miss out on a really important show because you
Speaker:have a significant family event consider having a trained fill in
Speaker:to attend those shows for you.
Speaker:I'm guessing this is a stretch and thinking,
Speaker:but why not many times the best solutions.
Speaker:Aren't the obvious ones with regard to finding help.
Speaker:I'm not talking full-time employment here.
Speaker:Consider hiring on a task specific basis and use independent contractors
Speaker:versus employees where you get into all the legal responsibilities and
Speaker:the paperwork.
Speaker:If you want to dive into this more in terms of
Speaker:how to find local reasonably priced assistance,
Speaker:it's a great topic to cover in my Thursday,
Speaker:Q and A's these happen inside my Facebook group,
Speaker:gift biz breeze.
Speaker:And I'd love to have you join me there.
Speaker:If you're not a Breezer already,
Speaker:let's move on to skill and product expansion.
Speaker:Another way to scale a handmade business is to utilize your
Speaker:expertise in a manner that doesn't involve more making in the
Speaker:traditional sense.
Speaker:Anyway, I'm talking about conducting local workshops where you teach people
Speaker:to quilt or learn basic watercolor techniques.
Speaker:You can do this under an already established organization,
Speaker:like a local art Institute or find and rent space and
Speaker:run the class yourself independently.
Speaker:Jody from J Pavey designs has been doing this for years,
Speaker:conducting knitting classes,
Speaker:attracting more people to an activity.
Speaker:She loves.
Speaker:Another twist on this idea is to create a virtual meaning
Speaker:online training program that you can then sell as a product.
Speaker:The fabulous thing about this is you create it once.
Speaker:So a video with downloads,
Speaker:for example,
Speaker:and then it's done.
Speaker:You can sell it over and over again,
Speaker:without any more time invested on your end.
Speaker:You could also do online programs where everyone joins into a
Speaker:zoom call.
Speaker:You're the instructor walking everyone through the process.
Speaker:Sonya paws is a master at this with her Vino art
Speaker:classes, and she's even attracted large brand named businesses as clients
Speaker:to take her classes for team building and other types of
Speaker:purposes. This category holds so much potential.
Speaker:I'm also thinking of Sophie at miss papercraft,
Speaker:who creates quilling kits that include everything you need to complete
Speaker:a project.
Speaker:The physical kits are purchased and then a YouTube video walks
Speaker:you through the creation process.
Speaker:It's more of an online class of sorts factory production.
Speaker:This is a third way to scale and is much more
Speaker:complicated and won't be applicable for many handmade creators,
Speaker:but it's a solid option.
Speaker:If it makes sense to have your product produced through a
Speaker:factory, either stateside or overseas,
Speaker:your still the creator of the original design and you produced
Speaker:the first pieces.
Speaker:And then the time comes to mass,
Speaker:produce your product to fulfill the demand that's been ramped up.
Speaker:It may even still be handmade,
Speaker:just not by you.
Speaker:Anna from limbo imports does this with her amazing hammocks and
Speaker:hammock chairs that are made in El Salvador.
Speaker:And it may not even be your product directly that's produced.
Speaker:It may be a production piece.
Speaker:You've Jerry rigged to make your easier.
Speaker:That's what Karen at little pink lady bug did,
Speaker:and it since turned into her entire business.
Speaker:So there you go.
Speaker:How does scale your handmade business first do some soul searching
Speaker:to determine the best path forward for you.
Speaker:Then if you decide to scale,
Speaker:get help to free your time for those tasks,
Speaker:you find less fulfilling,
Speaker:expand your expertise into revenue,
Speaker:producing products and workshops that don't require production time.
Speaker:And if it fits consider handing over your full-time production to
Speaker:a third party,
Speaker:one of the reasons to become an entrepreneur is the freedom
Speaker:gained by directing your own path.
Speaker:That means your business should be whatever size and structure brings
Speaker:you. The most joy.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
Speaker:of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
