Don’t Find customers for your products, find products for your customers.
– Seth Gordin
A product line is essential to running a business. By now you should have a good idea about your niche and target market. When you have these narrowed down, you can start focusing on what you are going to sell. Think about what you enjoy making and what your target market customers will buy or want to buy to add value to their lives. This will help you get started with developing your product line.
I encourage you to pick just one or two products for your product line right now that you are really great at making. You can branch out and sell more products later on, but these first one or two products will help you get your business off the ground. Limiting yourself to just one or two products will also keep you from feeling overwhelmed.
Do a Lot of Research
It’s time to start researching. Go online to search engines, Etsy, Facebook marketplace and any other websites that sell crafts. Look at the types of products other crafters sell. Figure out what seems to be their biggest sellers. Examine the price points as well. Get a good idea of what they aren’t selling so you can offer something unique to your customers.
When doing your online research, be careful not to copy another business’s products. You wouldn’t want someone to do this to you, but also it’s not a great business practice. It’s also dangerous as you can get into trouble with copyrights and trademarks. For now, focus on researching as much as you can without copying others. Write down product ideas, key words, design ideas and anything else that will help you narrow down your product line.
Become an Expert
You should continue taking in as much information until you become an expert. The more information that you know before you get started selling crafts, the less likely it is that you will make costly mistakes.
Facebook groups are an excellent resource when it comes to learning about anything. There is a group out there with other people who want to learn the same things. Search Facebook groups and join 3 to 5 of the groups who have the most members. Once you get accepted into these groups, feel free to ask questions of your own. Start soaking in any and all knowledge that you can. You will find that members will share videos, resources, suppliers and more. The search button in these groups will allow you to search for many answers to questions you may have as well.
Another great place to learn as much as you can for free is YouTube. You will find many crafters who have their own YouTube channels who will teach you how to make almost anything. Subscribe to a few channels and go through as many videos as possible to learn more about the craft products you are planning to make.
There are other free resources to consider like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, apprenticeships as well as crafting blogs. While free is great, you can also pay to learn more on websites like Skillshare, Craftsy, books and in-person arts and crafts classes.
Find a Mentor
You will gain the most experience and knowledge if you can find a mentor to guide you. If it’s possible, you can find someone who will help you not only with product line ideas but with anything business related. Finding a mentor early in the business process will prove to help you immensely as you set up your business. If you have a friend who is great a crafting, a social media figure you admire or even a coach who will help motivate you, it is a good idea to have someone in your corner. You can find mentors almost anywhere, but great places to look are events, conferences, meet-ups, alma maters, groups, forums and through social networking.
You don’t want to find just anybody to be your mentor. You will want someone who is better than you. Find a person who is smarter, more experienced and further along in their career. You’ll want someone who can critique you professionally, and not someone who will always be cheering for you because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. Constructive criticism is how you will grow.
Get the Ball Rolling
There is no time limit on how long it takes you to do the research, but once you feel comfortable with your product line choices, target market and your niche, then it is time to get the ball rolling. In future blog posts, we are going to work on naming your business, establishing your brand, creating a logo and setting up social media as well as learning the importance of buying a domain name.
Here is the FREEBIE that goes along with this blog post. Three ring hole punch it and add it to a business binder. You may want a few copies of this as it is a place for you to write down all your research.
Product Research Worksheet
A FREE PDF printable to help you take notes as you research products that you want to sell.
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