Here are 10 issues to consider before you take the plunge:
1. Responsibility You are everything in your business. If you miss a deadline, lose a contract or mess up an order, there s no one to blame but yourself. You have to take ownership for everything.
2. Flexibility There s no boss giving you deadlines and ensuring you re on track to meet targets and timelines. With flexibility and freedom comes the need for discipline to spend the time you need to get your work finished on time and meet goals. A home craft business requires a big investment in time if you re going to make a significant income. You need to know that you re a self motivated person before you commit to starting a craft business from home.
3. Money - Startup Costs and Operating Expenses While starting a craft business from home can be relatively inexpensive compared with other types of businesses, it still takes money to get it going. Many business owners will tell you that their initial business costs were greater than they initially predicted.
If you re thinking of starting a craft business from home on a real shoestring budget, it will be important to do a detailed financial analysis of your predicted expenses to ensure you can make the business work on your available budget.
You will likely be investing your own money in the business. So, if you have a partner who shares the household income with you, it will be important to have a candid discussion about the cost of the business and how much household or family income you both feel you can comfortably invest and risk in the business.
4. More Money Issues - No Regular Paycheck, No Benefits When you re someone else s employee, you can typically expect to receive a fairly regular amount of money in your paycheck and you may have a benefits package also. When you re starting a business from home, it can take a very long time before you actually see a profit.
If you re giving up a job to start a craft business, keep in mind, it s not just your salary, but also your benefits that you ll be giving up. Ensure that that s the right decision for you and anyone who relies on you financially.
5. What Are You Giving Up? If you are leaving a job to work on your craft business full time, you will likely be giving up a lot in order to commit to your business. If you ve worked for several years to establish a career that s unrelated to the craft industry, keep in mind, the longer you re out of that career, the harder it will be to return if you decide that working from home isn t right for you. If you re considering leaving a job to commit to your business full time, you ll need to consider whether you re in a financial and personal position that allows you to tolerate this kind of career risk.
6. Family Time Starting a craft business from home can take a huge amount of your time. You can easily spend more time working at your home craft business than you would at most traditional jobs.
Although I choose to work from home so I can be at home with my son, there are still plenty of times when I don t feel I m spending enough time with him because I m working on my business. Feeling torn between work and family responsibilities is a pretty common feeling among parents who work from home.
7. Delayed Gratification When you are someone else s employee, you move into your new work space and they provide everything for you. This is not the case when you re self employed. You have to set up everything yourself, and it s amazing how much time it takes to put all of the details in place.
Building a profitable home craft business takes total commitment. You ll need to be prepared to invest a lot of time and energy into your business before you see results.
8. Childcare Although I was able to take my son out of daycare when I started working from home, it was not then end of my childcare needs. If you start a home craft business, and you have young children, you will likely find that you will need some childcare. Keep in mind, if you will have to pay for childcare, you ll need to consider those costs when you re determining if a particular sales strategy will be profitable for you.
9. Doing What You Don t Love Yes, a home craft business allows you to make money with art and build a business based on your creativity. However, when starting a craft business from home, you typically have to do everything.
In addition to designing exciting products, you ll also have to forecast your needs for supplies and finished products, calculate production times for large volumes of products for big craft shows, figure out which merchant account is most cost effective for your current business needs, answer customer concerns, make strategic marketing decisions etc
No matter what your work preferences are, if you re starting a craft business from home and running your business solo, there will be tasks that you won t love, or even barely tolerate. It will be important to be able to determine when a little research will give you the knowledge that you need to manage a task, and when you need to delegate or outsource a task.
10. Isolation When you are an employee, you normally have coworkers who will give you feedback on your ideas. When you re starting a business from home, you can often feel like you re working in isolation without feedback on your projects.
Many small business owners seek out the support of a network of other people who are starting their own businesses and at least one business mentor. A mentor and a network of other entrepreneurs can help you to avoid common pitfalls and minimize the feeling of isolation that can come from working from home.
In spite of these challenges, starting a craft business from home can be extremely rewarding. It s not for everyone, so it s smart to take the time to research and think through your needs and work preferences and weigh the benefits and challenges of starting a craft business from home. That way, you ll be on your way to making an informed decision about your next career move.
Jewelry designer and career coach Lisa McGrimmon publishes Inspiri Art and Craft, an in-depth guide to building a successful home craft business. To learn more about starting your own craft business and get your free craft business newsletter, drop by inspiri-art-and-craft.com/craft-business.html.
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