Craft a Creative Business

Pullen Fiona

Description

A complete must-read guide for anyone wanting to turn their hobby, craft or art skills into a successful business. Covering everything you ever wanted to know, Fiona gives clear, simple advice on the importance of identifying markets, focusing on a USP, assessing the competition, making sure the price is right and setting goals. The book includes sections on product photography, branding. and legal matters. The book has particular emphasis on online selling, with detailed information on markets, blogging, using social media and the importance of analytics and SEO (search engine optimisation). Information on offline selling is included too, with notes on selling at craft fairs, trade fairs and markets, selling through retail outlets, running courses and workshops, and featuring work in the media."The Craft & Hobby Association UK (CHA-UK) highly recommends Craft a Creative Business as a must read for anybody starting-up or working in the craft industry! It gives you insightful knowledge, helpful hints and tips written in an easy to read format by the incredible Fiona Pullen." Craig De Souza, CHA-UK

Sujets

• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Handicraft

Informations

• Publié par: Search Press Ltd
• Date de parution: 23 octobre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781781262955
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

Extrait

Dedication
Thank you to all my family and friends who have supported me both through the writing of this book and the running of my business.
With special thanks to Alex and James, my supportive husband and son.

CONTENTS
First published in 2015 Search Press Limited, Wellwood, North Farm Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 3DR Text copyright © Fiona Pullen 2015 Design copyright © Search Press Ltd 2015 Photographs used with permission. All photographs by Fiona Pullen except for page 22, by Lyra Loves; page 23 top, by Holly Booth Photography; page 23 bottom, by Welbeck Tiles Ltd; page 78, by Roddy Paine Photographic Studios; page 83, by Peppermint Fizz; page 85, by Kangan Arora; and page 88, by Charlotte’s Web. Logos remain property of their owners All rights reserved. No part of this book, text, photographs or illustrations may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche, photocopier, internet or in any way known or as yet unknown, or stored in a retrieval system, without written permission obtained beforehand from Search Press ISBN: 978-1-78221-052-8 ebook ISBN: 978-1-78126-295-5 The Publishers and author can accept no responsibility for any consequences arising from the information, advice or instructions given in this publication Printed in China
6      Foreword
8      Introduction
8    Your business and this book
Where do I start? 10
12     Self-employment and you
14    Is self-employment for you?
16    Before you begin
28    Getting started
Legal matters 46
48     Your business and the law
49    Learning the law
54    Taxes and accounts
58    Copyright
64    Insuring your craft business
Presentation 68
70     Presenting your business
70    Branding
78    Photography
96    Visual marketing
Social media 104
106    Using social media
106    How to use social media to promote         your business
110    Which platform to use?
114    Dos and Don’ts of social media
116    Setting up your social media presence
118    Facebook
128    Twitter
138    Pinterest
148    Online communities and          content marketing
150    Blogging
Selling online 160
162    The online marketplace
162   Learning the ropes
164   Online marketplaces
168   Setting up a website
180   Search engine optimisation
186   Content and SEO strategy
190   Analysing your site
200   Online advertising
Selling offline 212
214    The offline marketplace
214   Why sell offline?
215   Selling at craft fairs
220   Selling through art galleries
222   Getting your craft products into stores
224   Getting featured offline
228   Promoting yourself offline
230   Networking at events
234    Endnotes
238    Index
6
FOREWORD
BY PERRI LEWIS
It is good to daydream. When you are tied to a desk in a job you don’t love, there is no better escape than thinking about what you could be doing instead – designing gorgeous wedding invitations instead of putting together presentations; crafting pieces of metal into beautiful silver pendants instead of making spreadsheets; having free reign to pursue your own ideas instead of following your boss’ agenda… Come Sunday night, it is even easier to find yourself daydreaming. After a weekend flexing your creativity by poring over Pinterest, exploring craft fairs or whipping up a few homemade gifts, it is no wonder so many of us begrudge the nine-to-five that awaits.        There is something a whole lot better than daydreaming about a more creative life. It is not trying to pack it all into two little days at the end of the week; it is making that life happen for you, all the time. It is leaving behind the career you never cared for and starting out on your own, creating a business from scratch that gives you the freedom to do it your way. This might sound like the stuff of clichéd postcards and inspirational Pinterest boards, but there is plenty of proof that it can be done.        As Fiona explains in her introduction overleaf, the statistics prove that there has never been a better time to make the jump: the creative business is big business. This is not simply because people like you have stopped daydreaming and starting doing, it is because the world is changing: there is now a bigger audience for your creative talents than ever before.        Shoppers are fed up with paying for mass-produced, identikit tat, made by faceless companies who hide the true cost of their products. Instead, they want to buy from people like you, who can tell them about provenance and prove
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that the goods are made without exploiting anyone. They are looking for stories too – why that dress was made like that or what the inspiration was behind that bag – and you can give them these stories, no matter what your small creative business. You can speak to them directly at fairs, you can blog about your process, you can showcase your personality, individuality and craftsmanship and give them the personal attention they want. These are just some of reasons why people are willing to pay you to do what you love.        Your sketchpad and craft box can be turned into a thriving new company if you underpin your creativity with a strong business grounding. Talent, skills and ideas will only pay the rent if you learn how to use them wisely, but you likely need only encouragement and a little bit of business nous; Fiona’s book is here to give you a big fat dose of both.        It can be done, really. Across the world there are thousands of creatives living a more fulfilling life because they made that move. Hopefully this book is your first step towards making those daydreams a reality.
Perri Lewis is a craft journalist, author of Material World: The Modern Craft Bible , and the Creative Director of the online craft tuition platform Mastered. You can also find her blogging at: perrilewis.wordpress.com
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INTRODUCTION
The creative industries are booming. In the UK, the government announced the craft industry outperformed all other industries, with a growth of ten per cent in 2012. Craft generates over eight million pounds an hour and employs over one-and-a-half million people in the UK. The Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) conducted its own research on the craft industry in 2013 and found that seventy-one per cent of women in the UK – more than eighteen million – had crafted at some time during that year, and more than half of those said they have an active creative hobby. What better time to start a craft business?
Your business and this book
Although many creative people can easily identify what products to make or what services to offer, they find the technical sides of running a business harder to manage. It can be difficult to find the time to make your products while learning about accounts, legislation, social media, search engine optimisation, marketing and all the other aspects of the business. I intend this book to be a guiding hand to help you through those sides of the business as quickly and easily as possible, allowing you more time to enjoy the creative parts.      Being lucky enough to be both creative and business-minded, I have spent the past few years avidly learning as much as possible while starting up and running my own business, The Sewing Directory . I have been sharing this information through the business guides on my website, in magazines, in training sessions and at seminars in my role as affiliate business expert for the CHA UK.
     I decided it was time to lay out all I had learned so people can access it all in one place, and that leads us to this book.
Activity:
Preparing yourself
Fetch a notebook and pen. Keep them to hand as you read this book and work through the activities. By the end of the book, you will have a complete set of notes that will help you apply what you learn to your business, and get you started with a useful record of what you have achieved.
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    You can, of course, read this book from cover to cover, but it is designed to be dipped into so that you can go straight to the aspect you want to learn about at any given time. Each chapter has a different coloured background so you can see at a glance if you are in the right part of the book.     If you have ever read any of my business guides you will know that I like to provide detailed information, tips on how to apply the information to your own business, and useful links for you to learn more, should you wish to do so. I have continued this format with this book: you will find activities like the one on the opposite page, with exercises to get you putting the information into practise; information boxes (see below left) that provide illustrative examples, important notes, and insights from other professional craft businesses.
There are also tips (see below right) with notes and advice drawn from my own experiences.     There are also spaces where you can fill in your own notes in the book. Furthermore given how there are new websites and useful articles popping up daily there is space for you to add your own links or notes at the end of each section. If you come across something you think other creative business owners would benefit from reading please do tweet me the link (@craftabiz) so that I can share it.     I hope you find this book useful and wish you every success with your creative enterprise.
My experience
My background is not in the creative industries; I took a degree in law then worked in the legal team of a firm of loss adjusters. While on maternity leave in 2009, I wanted something which would better fit around my son. Having built the website for my mum’s dressmaking business I could not find anywhere to promote it online, and so formed the idea of The Sewing Directory as a service for small businesses who wanted an affordable way to promote themselves online. I avidly studied everything I could find about running my own business and still do to this day. The world of busi