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12 Replies Last post: Apr 19, 2009 10:34 AM by GinaWilliams

looking to start a craft business

Jul 28, 2008 8:36 AM

jewelrygirl08 2 posts since
Jul 28, 2008

having a hard time launching my craft business. I work from home currently while holding down a full time job and would love to start my own business. i'm starting to attend craft shows in my area, but I am also looking for financing to open my shop. Any ideas or help are greatly appreciated.

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LUCKIEST 7,912 posts since
Aug 6, 2007

1. Re: looking to start a craft business Jul 28, 2008 8:47 AM

Looking to start a craft business, Welcome

I am a SCORE Counselor and would be happy to help or mentor you and your craft business.

Where are you?? Can we talk?? Email me at pdeig@juno.com

Good luck, LUCKIEST

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jewelrygirl08 2 posts since
Jul 28, 2008

2. Re: looking to start a craft business Jul 28, 2008 8:51 AM

in response to: LUCKIEST

i'm in Florida where it's really hard to get a loan for anything even though I have my house as collateral.

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puzzleman 293 posts since
Oct 11, 2007

3. Re: looking to start a craft business Jul 28, 2008 9:07 AM

Congratulations on starting your own jewelry business. I started my business by doing craft shows over 10 years ago. Built the business for over 4 years before I quit my full time real job. Now I still do over 20 art and craft shows a year in addition to my website and wholesale business.

My suggestion is to do craft shows for a while and then start getting into the art shows. (A lot more money there.) This way you will be able to see if your product will sell to the public, do customer feedback and talk to other crafters, artists and jewelers to get a feel for the market. I know of several jewelers who make a good living on the art show circuit, work out of their house and do not have the overhead of a store.
Also, once they build a following, they will sometimes do trunk shows for their customers.

My next suggestion is to talk with SCORE or attend starting a business classes at your local college or community college.

Jim

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chinahelpyou 16 posts since
Jul 29, 2008

4. Re: looking to start a craft business Jul 29, 2008 4:22 AM

DEAR ewelrygirl08

I AM XIAOMING. FROM CHINA, I HAVE CRAFT IN MY HOME

,PLEASE TELL ME YOUR MAIL .I WILL SEND PICTURE GIVE YOU!

I WAIT YOUR LETTER

XIAOMING

MY MAIL ;toszbuy@gmail.com

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Mybizfiler 35 posts since
Aug 20, 2008

5. Re: looking to start a craft business Sep 23, 2008 12:18 AM

Hi,

You can start your own business and can be your own boss. As you a years of experience which makes you easy doing market research and preparing business plan.

We at ICS, Inc, help you to incorporate your business and provide complete incorporation services.

At ICS (www.mybizfiler.com), we, at a very competitive price (1/4th of charges a typical CPA charges) take care of your complete Incorporation Services.

You can reach Mr. Nirmal Jain (Senior Manager) at 469-713-2541 and can mail him @ nirmal.jain@mybizfiler.com, as he is very well experienced and has considerable knowledge in incorporation services.

For more information and details please visit ICS web site www.mybizfiler.com.

You can also visit our informational blog site: http://mybizfiler.wordpress.com/.

Disclaimer: ICS does not offer legal services or legal advice, but only generic information on legal subjects. ICS is not an attorney or law firm and not a substitute for an attorney or law firm

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bigcloudmedia 42 posts since
Aug 22, 2008

6. Re: looking to start a craft business Sep 23, 2008 7:54 AM

Good day, jewelrygirl08.

I would suggest getting all of your tax info (Doing Business As and EIN) for your business squared away before asking lenders or banks for financing. I know that bank of america requires a Doing Business As (registered business name) to apply for business loans and the like. I am a pretty new business but my banker talked to me all about business loans and lines of credit once we squared away the business name and EIN.

I would also suggest putting together a business plan for your business before searching for loans and lines of credit. This way you have a road map of what you want to do and how you plan to accomplish it. This will help in determining how much you will need to borrow.

You can also try a website for your business. A website, showing your crafts, contact info, etc., would potentially broaden your customer base to the online community and pave the way for some future online selling.

If you are interested in talking with me more about this I would be happy to help. You can contact me at kflowers@bigcloudmedia.com or through my company website: www.bigcloudmedia.com.

I hope this helped and have a great day.

Koji Flowers
Big Cloud Media
www.bigcloudmedia.com
"Websites...we do those."

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Emilyecho 13 posts since
Sep 17, 2008

7. Re: looking to start a craft business Sep 23, 2008 3:24 AM

you can set up a free online store for your craft business. I recommend you fastcommerce.com, which gives you a search Engine Optimized website. Automatically publish your product catalog to google products for free.

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BRoberta99 1 posts since
Mar 27, 2009

8. Re: looking to start a craft business Mar 27, 2009 4:56 PM

Have you looked into Biz Ad Splash.com ? I've been using it to bring traffic to my T Shirt design site and it's been effective as far as I can tell. It's a quick way to reach a vast market.

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live2themax 5 posts since
Mar 27, 2009

9. Re: looking to start a craft business Mar 27, 2009 5:49 PM

I have a business for you, but it isn't crafts. It will help you earn $$$ to open a store if that is really your dream. I am so confident you will earn $$$, that after we talk and I think you are the right person, I will fund your way into the business. Contact me jgergic@yahoo.com

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mygenieforyou 23 posts since
Mar 30, 2009

10. Re: looking to start a craft business Mar 30, 2009 12:01 PM

I found a really cool tool that will do marketing for you to help you build your business!! You can download it for FREE and find out how it can help you. You can give these away FREE also and have your business appear right along side walmart, buy, ebay, target, amazon, etc and hand these out to everyone you know!! It has worked incredibly well for me and many others!

http://geniesavesyoumoney.com

Dan

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demejoe 14 posts since
Feb 1, 2009

11. Re: looking to start a craft business Mar 31, 2009 10:17 PM

You definetly want to get your tax ID number and other federal and local documents on file before pursuing opening a store. Get some good legal representation as well.

If you need any help with a business or marketing plan, feel free to contact me at dityson@comcast.net

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GinaWilliams 4 posts since
Apr 19, 2009

12. Re: looking to start a craft business Apr 19, 2009 10:34 AM

If you are looking to advertise your craft business online, I recommend checking out Biz Ad Splash.com to promote your site. I've been using it to start selling my art work and paintings online. So far so good! Best of luck
www.bizadsplash.com

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ForumsStarting a Business

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looking to start a craft business

Jul 28, 2008 8:36 AM

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