There are more ways to sell your craft than ever before.
You can sell it via wholesale or consignment to a shop. You can sell it at a festival. You can sell it at a market or show. Or… you can sell your craft online.
The invention of the internet has made growing a successful handmade business more accessible, more possible, and more convenient than ever before.
I’ve done it – and it wasn’t even imaginable to me 10 years ago that I could be making a full-time living from selling my handmade jewellery online. But I am. And I know thousands of other makers and artisans are doing exactly the same.
How are we doing this? By creating enticing, well-functioning, cohesive, and professional online shops to sell our craft all over the world.
Selling your work online has SO many benefits.
1. Rather than having to schlep yourself, your products, and your set-up to a market every weekend, you can instead accept orders while you sleep.
2. Even if you do still want to sell your work to retail shops, you can now showcase your work online, so that potential retailers can see everything about your work and your brand, and you can make it easy for them to determine that you’re a great fit for their shop, and effortlessly order exactly what they want – because they can see it in your online shop.
3. You don’t have to have huge amounts of items pre-made. Instead of having all your materials tied up in stock that might not sell, you can sell the item before you make it.
4. You can reach your ideal customer – no matter where in the world they live. Not to mention, no matter where YOU live (say goodbye to having to live somewhere because of your job – when you sell your craft online, you can live wherever there is a post office and an internet connection).
5. You can start selling for an extremely low initial cost – using a venue like Etsy, you only pay 20c per listing you add to your shop. That’s just 20 bucks to make 100 products available for purchase. Forget having to outlay hundreds of dollars on market fees and stall set-ups!
6. You can work – and sell – from the comfort of your own home. Bye-bye commute! Hello lunch in your own home, and naps when necessary.
7. Of course, you might still love to sell via other venues. Even if you can’t imagine not attending that regular market, or selling your work to shops all around the country, you should still have a strong online presence to promote your work. And if you’re going to go to all the work to set up a website to showcase your work – why wouldn’t you make your craft available to purchase while you’re at it?
The benefits of selling online are immense, yes. But so is the work involved in creating an online shop that will actually draw in paying customers.
Setting yourself up for success takes a lot of hard work, planning, dedication, and knowledge. And a LOT of time spent on the business – rather than in the business. That is: lots of time spent on the ‘business’ side of things, rather than the ‘making/creating’ side of things.
So many people try and fail at the ‘handmade dream’ – not because what they make isn’t good enough, and not because they don’t have the desire to make it happen – but because they lack the knowledge to do it right, and they give up too soon due to frustration and burnout.
There is an immense amount to learn about online business.
Not only the technical side of things – how to set up a website/shop, how to take and edit click-worthy photos, how to create good seo, how to send an email newsletter – but also about the business and marketing side of things.
You need to learn how to sell. You need to learn what your brand story is, and how to tell it. You need to learn how to market your work through social media. All of these things time time to learn – and working it all out by yourself can turn the process of selling your craft online into an epic, years-long journey.
I want you to be successful. I want you to make your dream of turning your handmade hobby into a thriving business come true, just like I have.
That is why I created Set Up Shop.
I’ve taken over 1,000 people through the system that is Set Up Shop. It is more than a course: Set Up Shop is an integrated system of lessons and projects that will take you from having no knowledge whatsoever about selling online, to knowing everything you need to know in order to get your shop set up right – right from the start.
In the words of Set Up Shop Alumni Karen Lynch: “If you have ever thought you would like to have an online presence, but have lacked the confidence or know how, this is the course for you. If anyone has ever said “Your stuff is great. You should sell online”, and it’s been a dream of yours for too long, you need to make those dreams become a reality and do this course.”
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
