The Create & Thrive Podcast - Episode 17

In today’s episode, I’m going to take you through a workshop that will help you decide whether you should sell your craft online.

You might find that you prefer to sell via wholesale or consignment in shops, or at markets –  or maybe you can do a mixture of all three.

I love selling online; it suits me and my lifestyle.

Why? Well, amongst other things, I like to have my weekends off – and I especially love the idea of making money in my sleep!

No matter what, you need to have a website and a couple of social media channels but that doesn’t mean you have to sell your products online if that isn’t a good fit for you and your particular product.

Listen in and think about each of the points below to see whether selling online is a good fit for your business.

  1. It will take you longer to make money.
  2. Is your item easily shipped?
  3. Are you happy to sell internationally?
  4. Is your work easily reproducible?
  5. Do you value face-to-face interaction over online interaction?
  6. Do you have the products to do markets?
  7. Do you like having your weekends free?
  8. Are you willing to invest the time to take and edit stellar photos?
  9. Do you enjoy the process of selling and marketing?
  10. Are you happy to make less money selling to shops?
  11. Do you have the time or the skills to set up an online shop?

In the podcast, I take you through each of these points in detail, in order to help you consider the pros and cons of each question.

 

 

Sell in your sleep

Quotes and Highlights from this Episode:

  • If you decide to focus on selling online, it will take you longer to make money; unless you have a lot of money upfront to get your shop running with lots of advertising and marketing.
  • Online is more about the long game.
  • “Once you’re established and you have traffic going to your site, you’ll make money in your sleep.”
  • Consignment and wholesale will make you larger chunks of money but more sporadically.
  • If you make small items, selling online can be easy since shipping can be reasonably low.
  • If you make large or heavy items then shipping might put off some customers.
  • If you sell online, you’ll make more sales if you’re happy to sell your things online.
  • “80-85% of my sales are International”.
  • It can be really exciting to sell to people overseas.
  • Don’t be worried about losing items in the mail.
  • “I sell thousands of parcels overseas every year and I have about four go missing. I write these off as expenses and send a replacement.”
  • Don’t be concerned about language, use Google Translate and use a disclaimer that you’ve used that service so the customer.
  • If you’re going to have a successful online business, you really have to have some items which are reproducible.
  • You need to do so much for one listing (photography, description, loading onto the site etc) that it makes more sense to sell the same design over and over again.
  • “All I have to do when an item is sold, is make the item and send it. Each item is as close to the prototype as I can make it – and though it might be the ‘same’ as another product I’ve made, it’s still handmade with love.”
  • You don’t have to give OOAK products all together, you just need to have a reproducible range too.
  • Then you can put your high end creations online when you have the time and passion to create them and not feel like it becomes a chore.
  • You can interact on your own terms and in your own time.
  • “I don’t even have a phone line, I do all my business via email.”
  • If you love face-to-face and you get energy from interactions with other people then selling online might not be the best thing for you.
  • “I don’t have any stock. I make a design, I photograph it and then more often than not, I keep it myself or I give it to Nick.”
  • Wearing your own jewellery is a great way to market your goods.
  • Markets don’t make much ‘time sense’ if you don’t have a lot of products lying around.
  • If you can make a lot of product quickly, markets might work for you.
  • If you don’t want to work on the weekends then markets probably aren’t for you.
  • “Most often I can make more online in my day at the markets than at the market itself.”
  • When you sell online, you’re not actually selling the product, you’re selling the photo of the product.
  • If you’re not willing to learn how to take amazing photos, it’s not worth starting.
  • If your photos aren’t stellar yet, as long as you’re willing to work on them, don’t let that stop you.
  • It might take you a week, a month or a few years but it’s worthwhile trying.
  • “I’m not a trained photographer but I’ve worked it out myself so you can do it too.”
  • C&T GUIDE: Product Photography by Jeffrey Opp
  • There’s no way around it, you’re now a salesperson and a marketer.
  • Do you enjoy telling your story? Because that’s marketing!
  • If you can change your mindset and think about marketing as telling your story rather than selling your product then it will be a much more authentic experience.
  • When you’re selling online, you need to enjoy that process and you need to work out how to enjoy it.
  • When you sell at a market or online, you get the whole price.
  • Through a shop, you will be getting around 50% of your retail price in your pocket.
  • Consignment is a bit ‘iffy’ sometimes since you get your money only after the product sells in the shop rather than upfront.
  • If you’re not already making a profit on your product above the wholesale price, don’t start selling to shops yet.
  • No matter what avenue you choose, it’s going to be a lot of hard work.
  • Time is part of the expense of your business.
  • Out of the options of Markets, Wholesaling to Shops or Online Selling: which one makes you feel a flutter of excitement?
  • Pick one to focus on and make it your priority.
  • It doesn’t mean you can’t dabble in the other options, you should just focus your attention on one route to start with.
  • “You’ll probably find it’s easier than you thought it was to get started.”
  • Nobody can tell you which way to go but there are lots of folks who help you with the ‘how’.
  • C&T COURSE: Set Up Shop with Jess Van Den
  • C&T COURSE: Wholesale Know How with Melanie Augustin

Download/Listen to this Episode

You can also subscribe to the podcast and listen to this episode on iTunes + Stitcher

Do you want to learn how to set up your own online craft shop and get it right, first time?

Want access to a proven system that over 1,000 makers have used to set up a stellar online shop?

Check out my flagship course – Set Up Shop

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