Starting a Home Business in Crafts
Starting a home business begins with solid foundations
|
There are a number of things that are crucial when starting any business, small or big, home or corporate, crafts or widgets. Number one on that list is planning. We plan most things in our lives – our weddings, our vacations or road trips, even our grocery shopping list is a plan.
Planning when starting a home business is like drawing your road map to success (that’s a really tired metaphor, but so true) and it helps to keep you focused, organized and on schedule. It’s a serious exercise, but don’t let that stop you from injecting your enthusiasm and passion into it! If you’re thinking of starting a home business in crafts, then you’re most certainly creative, so let that shine through!
The best example we can give you of this, is our own home business planning! After starting and running a successful offline craft business, we're now sharing our experiences and expertise with you, online, and this website is it. You may think an online business is easy, just as you may believe an offline home based craft business is easy. Well, nothing is really 'easy' - we could throw plenty of metaphors or quotes at you here, but the bottom line is that there are no get-rich-quick schemes, and everything worthwhile takes effort on your part - but when you have the right guides and tools available, getting it done becomes easier, more streamlined and more focused, ultimately more effective, with better results. Click here to see the action guide and planning we used (a new window will open in your browser).
Now, let's continue with your guide!
WHAT DOES IT TAKE?
If you apply for a job, you need a resume, right? So think of planning for your business as creating its (your) resume. Using that comparison, the first thing you need to know before ‘applying for the job’ is what the job description is…
What is it going to take?
Skills
You need to have as many of the skills it will take to operate your
business as possible. In the beginning you will be doing everything,
and hiring someone to take care of the areas you’re not
qualified in probably won’t be an option. Create a list of
the skills and/or qualifications you think will be needed, and
highlight your strengths and weaknesses. If there’s an area
you’re not very skilled in, you need to start learning and
researching.
Finance
Starting a home business takes money. Getting a loan is possible, but
only if you have enough assets that a bank will consider as security,
and only if you can prove that you’re able to pay it back.
However, if you start off really small with what you’ve got
and build and grow from there (following your action plan), you should
be able to manage. Take stock of your financial situation so that you
don’t over extend yourself.
Target
Market
There must be a clear need or demand in the market place for your
product or service, so defining
your target market is essential. Put some elbow grease into
your research on this – you may find that your idea is not
entirely feasible, but on the other hand, you may find that it has more
potential than you first realized.
Legal
Issues, Taxes, etc.
Getting advice from a professional or professionals in these areas is
undoubtedly the best thing to do, but free professional advice is not
always readily available. Do the necessary research into what will
affect you when starting a home business, and make sure you have all
your bases covered.
YOUR ACTION PLAN
In the corporate world this would be called a business plan. It’s essentially the same thing, but an action plan when starting a home business is less formal and is more of a structure for inspiration, a place where your goals are defined, and really requires action rather than being a tool to convince investors for financial support.
Having a written action plan will help you to look at your business objectively and give you insights on what it’s really going to take, as well as being your source for inspiration and motivation. Keep the core of it realistic and achievable, but also get creative with it, spice up your plans with a few outrageous hopes and dreams, make it bright and bold!
There are four main elements to your action plan:
- Introduction
- Company Plan
- Financial Plan
- Marketing Plan
The Introduction is your lead-in and should explain who
you are, what you are, what you want, and define the nature of your
business – what it is and does. The introduction should try
to capture the essence of your business as an overview, with a few
excitement tactics built in. This may sound odd, but it’s
often easier to write the introduction last instead of first. Following
on from this should be your table of contents.
Your Company Plan covers all the details of your business, including goals and objectives, history, description of products/services, the feasibility of your idea/s, your operating procedures, and organizational structure. This would be a good place to define your dates and deadlines (more mapping) for at least your first year of operation.
Your Marketing Plan should show who your target market is, who your competitors are, your marketing and selling strategy, and a summary of how you plan to combine these activities. Marketing is essential for the success of any business, so get your marketing plan well outlined before starting a home business.
Finally, your Financial Plan must show your past, current and future financial needs, which should also fit your goals and objectives. It’s surely the least exciting part of the job, especially if your desire to start a craft home business is based on creativity, but it’s still essential.
Before you start writing your action plan, you need to decide what it’s going to look like and how long it should be (this depends largely on who’s going to be reading it). It can be difficult to know where or how to start, especially if you’ve never done something like this before, so begin by creating a map (yes, another one!) in the form of your table of contents, by outlining what it is you want to say, what you need to include, and where each part would fit best.
Click here for your Free Home Based Business Plan Guide which shows you how to put all of this together.
Free Download: Links To 101 Free Sample Business Plans
DUE DILIGENCE
“The performance of those actions that are generally regarded as prudent, responsible and necessary to conduct a thorough and objective investigation, review and/or analysis.”
The
term ‘due diligence’
generally refers to finances, specifically audit, and that is in
essence what you need to do – investigate (audit), review and
analyze your concept/s in full, then plan and map. If you skip these
steps, the road to success will be so much harder to follow, especially
if you can’t even see where it starts. Starting a home
business should achieve all of your goals and objectives, but you'll
only know if it can by doing your due diligence.
Get your teeth into it and make it a fun project! You’re creative, passionate and enthusiastic – use that to your advantage!