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Let the crafting begin! All the boring but totally necessary part of starting a business is in the past now as you work hard on creating your inventory. With your list of products in hand, and the money you invested into your craft business, it’s time to create an inventory.
Inventory is the complete list of all the items you plan on making to sell. When you first start your business, you should have at least 5 to 10 items already made up that you can list for sale. These should be your best craft products that you can currently make. As you sell products, you can increase your inventory and even expand the types of items you sell but for now just stick with keeping things simple.
Once you build your inventory, it is a smart idea to write down exactly what you made and how much of it you have in stock. This lets you check off your list of what sells and what doesn’t. This also allows you to make more inventory of products that your customers love so that you can continue to expand and grow.
Picture Time
When you have all your products ready to sell, it’s time to show them off to the world. The best way to do this is to take great looking photos. You don’t need a professional camera to take photos of your products, but if you happen to have one then you definitely will want to utilize it. A smartphone camera will work just fine as well.
There are a few things to keep in mind when taking photos. The first is that lighting is one of the most important things when it comes to taking great photographs. Use natural and indirect sunlight when possible, but you can also purchase a lighting kit.
Next, be sure to stage your items. For instance, if you’re selling t-shirts it might be a good idea to have a real model or a mannequin. Another example would be to use a backdrop behind an item. You can create your own or purchase backdrops from crafting stores or online to put behind your items. Use props when it works, but don’t let the props distract customers from you product. You want your product to be 2/3 of the picture.
Once you have your lighting and staging figured out, be sure to take a lot of photos from different angles and distances so that you have plenty of pictures to choose from when it comes time to list your products for sale.
Edit the photos when you are finished with free tools like Canva and Pic Monkey, or use a professional program like Photoshop. Adjust the brightness and play around with filters until you are happy with your photos. Don’t forget to add a watermark of your business name or add your logo to the photograph so that no one can steal your photo and that customers will know the product belongs to your shop.
Set Your Prices
Now it’s time to set your price points and figure out your product descriptions. Photographs can really sell a product, but you’re also going to need a description to go with the photos so that when you list your products customers can find out more information.
The formula that I use to figure out the price of my products is to take the cost of supplies and then add $10 to $15 per hour of time spent depending on the minimum wage in my area. That gives Price A. Then take the cost of supplies and multiply that by 3 to get Price B. Add Price A plus Price B together and divide by 2 to get the average between the two prices to get Price C which will be the price you sell your product.
After you have your price, don’t forget to add the sales tax if you don’t have a way to add it into the price when your customer pays for an item at checkout. Also, it’s a good idea to do market research once you have used the above price formula. Examine what similar products around your area are selling for to get an idea of what price to list your products so that you can stay competitve.
Create Your Descriptions
When you finalize your price point, you’re ready to create your product description. A great product description will tell your customers what the product is and why they need to purchase it. It gives them important information about all the benefits and features. Don’t be afraid to address your customers personally and directly when writing descriptions. I find that the best descriptions are the ones where it sounds like the seller is having a conversation with the buyer.
If you aren’t the best at writing, it’s ok to look at examples of what other people write as their product descriptions and use those examples to help you write your own. Don’t ever copy someone else’s product description word for word, but you can use their descriptions to help you formulate your own.
It’s Time to List Your Items for Sale
It’s time to start making money! In a future blog post, I will discuss where and how to list your items for sale.
