tips & advise on starting up a craft business?

boredjellybean

Hi there,
I'm looking to set up a little craft business - crocheting, knitting & sewing things from felt. Can anyone give me any tips/advise on what I need to do to get this going, I have found out I'll need to register with hmrc but what else is there to do (I don't anticipate this being a big earner more an extension to a hobby but I want to go by the book)

many thanks in advance
Sarah xx

InsideInsurance

First of all use the search button as this is asked frequently here and on the up your income sub forum

The particular challenges of crafts are (a) ensure you actually know how long things take you to make, most people woefully underestimate and so are working for absolute peanuts, (b) this is a business not a hobby and so you need to run it as such, you really should start with writing a business plan and (c) ensure you keep your business and hobby separate; if you buy yarn you need to know which it is for and only use it for that otherwise you have problems should you expense purchases that you use for your hobby

Mistral001

I think making money out of a hobby can be more difficult than it many people think. I agree with Insideinsurance. It cannot be a hobby and a profit-making enterprise. It has to be one or the other in my view. It is not just the money side of things that you have to keep separate, it is the a sort of different state of mind that you have to enter into when trying to make a profit. Making things for friends one minute and then changing to making something for a paying customer. Very difficult to switch from one state of mind to another in my experience.

simplydevine05

Research research research. What you are proposing is also being done by thousands of others. If you haven't got a unique selling point then it will be a very expensive business to run. Can you sell an item at a price in order to cover all your costs and make extra on top? Then there's how to sell. Will you be using Ebay or Etsy, Facebook or a website or is it something else? Then there's copyright. Don't make anything that infringes copyright or trademark law. People making that little character from edf or a Telytubby could find themselves in court. All your creations must be your own unless you have permission from the original designer. Are you making things fir children? Then your items may need to be CE marked and you will need product liability insurance. Are you working from home? You need to check with your landlord or mortgage provider that you can and also inform your home insurance company as it may invalidate your insurance.
I could go on but I would be here for hours. Setting up a business is extremely difficult. There is a lot to consider and it can take well over a year to make a profit. When I started out by my third month I managed to sell five things. All under £5 and most with almost no profit. That was on Ebay so I was getting advertising done for me. Don't under estimate the work it takes. Setting up a craft business is not as easy as filling in a tax return each year (that's the easy bit!). Good luck!