Just Getting Started In The Craft Business

[Margie C.]

Ladies,

I am just getting started in the Craft Business, on a serious level, and plan to build inventory for craft shows.

Any and all tips and suggestions on low cost/simple to make crafts that can have a large profit margin will be much appreciated.

Also - where would I find the information of where all the craft fairs are? Would the local chamber have it?



Thanks!

Margie C.

[Brenda]

The chamber would be a good place to start.
I've seen ads in the crafts section of the newspaper
too. I do have one tips from when I used to do shows
a long time ago. I did horrible at the combination
flea market/craft shows. People went expecting super
cheap bargains because of the flea market part and
I never did well. I did the best at the bigger Christmas
craft shows, and you still have time to get in to some
of those.

[Margie C.]

Brenda,

Thanks for the tip!

I did go to the chamber today and discovered that there are fou major shows that Sandpoint has - one for each season - which I thought was cool.

I'm looking forward to this venture.

Margie C.

[MzLorriLen]

Margie C,

The Chamber is where I started. You might also try Senior Citizen Center, Elks Lodge & any other organization in your area. The Fairgrounds too, that is where we are doing a craft fair next weekend. It is called Christmas in November. We have made gift baskets & friendship bracelets. We are trying to promote our tea shop that we will be opening in Feb/March (God willing), so our things are tea & treasure related. We have considered adding some of the jar cookie mix ideas we have seen online here.

Good Luck

[Quilting Granny]

We've been doing craft shows now for several years and I always found the craft sales in the classified ads in the newspaper or in the small town local papers.

I agree with the flea market. We do sell some of our craft items there BUT its not a flea market/craft sale. It is all flea market.

I like the smaller craft sales that take place in schools or in community rinks. You get to know many of the customers and you often get repeat business that way.

Keep your prices reasonable. A good way to find out is to go to craft sales that you aren't in and compare prices. One thing we never do, is mark down our prices, especially at craft sales. The sticker price is the one we stick with. When we get home, if we feel like its too high, then we will mark it down. We seldom do though because I went to craft sales first to find out prices. I wrote them on my hand so no one would know why I was doing it.

Also, if you are in a craft sale, take lots of change. People will invariably hand you a large bill for a very small item.

HTH

[Denirae]

Check with the schools and churchs in you area. Once you get started and meet other crafters you'll have a connection.

Our town has a crafts on the square the 1st Sat. of every month.

Check out the craft forum here, lots of great ideas.

Happy crafting and good luck with your shows. ;)

[MzLorriLen]

Thank you for all of your suggestions. We need to make extra money for our business. We are a little disappointed that the craft fair we did last weekend put us in the hole. We are praying that this weekend can be more successful, but right now we don't even have a table there cause they are oversold. God only knows the answer.