Start a 'cottage industry'... official MoneySavingExpert.com discussion

RosaThorne wrote: »

Does anyone know if there are regulations when it comes to making soap?? I'd love to make my raison & cherry chocolate brownies to sell, but I have a fluffy cat - Would soap be ok?
Love the idea of being a bit more self sufficient, my parents grow most of their own veg and we're getting chickens next year

You have to be very careful with soap. It all needs to be tested to make sure it's safe for use. I paid £50.00 for a safety assessment package and then didn't sell enough to cover the cost of it! I am however, limited as to how I can sell as I have no transport to get to craft fairs and the likes.

I sat down with a load of odds and ends the other night and made little felt stocking and christmas tree shaped tree decorations, decorated them with buttons and attached them to blank greetings cards. Am going to sell them at my Mum's school Christmas market alongside my fairies on Thursday!

Starting your own small creative business is a great idea, and so much fun! In early 2006 I decided, with very little experience, to start selling jewellery online - eighteen months on, I have a growing and loyal customer base, enjoy the satisfaction of doing something creative with my Sunday afternoons and have made plenty of profit! I'm not interested in doing this full time - I have a day job that I really like, and I think that sitting in on my own all day with just the cats to talk to might send me a bit funny - but it's been a great way to boost my earnings and I recommend it to anyone.

The thing to realise is that making nice things is only half of the equation - you need to spend at least as much time researching, marketing, shopping around for the best deal on packaging, etc. Lots of people can make really beautiful jewellery, but not half so many can take great photographs of it, describe it really well and make sure that the right sort of customer gets to hear about it!

I only sell my work online, but I avoided Etsy and set up my own site. Etsy, like eBay, is a bit of a crowded marketplace - it's a good, low-cost way of getting started, but it's hard to make any real money there. If you already know a bit of HTML (or you don't mind learning), you can get your own site for around £20 a year. It's very easy to accept secure payments via PayPal using their free cart, and there are a million ways to get your name about on the cheap.

wilson_nz wrote: »

do my plaques as more of a hobby that gives me a bit of spending money only..by no means am I making loads of profit.

Makes no difference, it's a still a business - even if you make a loss. Don't worry though, you have til the end of december to register, just ring your local tax office and they'll register you there and then and explain everything. They also send you a folder with loads of info. Tax returns are dead easy so don't worry about those either

You don't need a business bank account, you can use a normal current account.

They won't ask you for figures when you contact them to register, they'll want to know how you're trading (limited company, partnership, sole trader), what date you started (if you can't remember, say 1st september), what your trade is (I said handmade crafts) and are you trading under your own name or a business name. I used my own name to start with, but you can let them know a business name if you decide on one later on - you can be Jane Smith trading as JS Plaques if you like, this lets you accept cheques as Jane Smith and you can pay them into a normal bank account rather than using a business one.

If all of your sales (business sales - don't include any sales of your unwanted stuff, that doesn't count) have been on ebay, then it's easy to put together a simple spreadsheet. Try to remember what you've spent on stamps/packaging etc. so far, and keep receipts from now on. Don't forget to include ebay and paypal fees as expenses.

Where do you live? If you're near me, I'll come round and start it off for you