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

Frugaldom

Great story but, like you say, not many in the position to borrow 20k from family, afford to lose 30k and then accidentally meet a partner/have a holiday romance with someone whose sister is a head buyer for a large supermarket. :rotfl: Great example of how success is aided by luck, though.:D Off to phone Harvey Nichs to see if they want my quail eggs pickled or in aspic - I'm sure they won't mind they're in reused, hand decorated yoghurt pots and jam jars. :rotfl:

Thanks for pointing this link out, it does give hope, even the bit about throwing the CV off London Bridge. :T

PS: My supply of free wood off cuts dried up so I'm back on the idea of small scale market gardening, a website and I'm in the process of joining LETS, the exchange trading scheme. I didn't make my £3,000 extra during 2008.

WoollyLakes

Hello, I've just found this forum and love all the information here. I am just starting a new crafty business mainly making knitted and felted items with a few sewing projects in there as well. I have set up shops online at Folksy and Dawanda but so far have had no sales so am desperatly trying to get some ideas and inspiration for making smaller items which would hopefully sell quicker.

I know Etsy is meant to be good but as I have no credit card and not likely to get one (ha, ha!) I can't use them, are there any other good ones people know about?

Thanks!:D

Frugaldom

WoollyLakes, could you apply for a pre-paid card to enable you to set up an online store? Not sure what eBid accepts or doesn't accept but it's free for basic listings.

wigglebeena

WoollyLakes wrote: »

Hello, I've just found this forum and love all the information here. I am just starting a new crafty business mainly making knitted and felted items with a few sewing projects in there as well. I have set up shops online at Folksy and Dawanda but so far have had no sales so am desperatly trying to get some ideas and inspiration for making smaller items which would hopefully sell quicker.

I know Etsy is meant to be good but as I have no credit card and not likely to get one (ha, ha!) I can't use them, are there any other good ones people know about?

Thanks!:D

are you making badges and hairpins (buttons and bobby pins in the US, I believe). You can buy the backing/pin plain in bulk and then decorate with your handsewn/felty goodness. Are you blogging too? Project Wonderful is supposed to be cheaper than adwords for advertising.

wigglebeena

maybe knitted/crocheted necklaces/bracelets/earrings too. I've seen some crocheted earrings - you can buy the earwires in bulk on Ebay. Or Ebid.net if you have ethical objections.

MacroTrader

Hi all, I am in the process of starting up a business and I am looking for some good quality arts and crafts to sell on behalf of small businesses.

If anybody is interested in selling through me, let me know.

Thanks

hj82

Hi everyone... I've found this thread really interesting.

For some time now I've been thinking about selling homemade jewellry online and at fairs and markets, but I am trying to find out about the legal side of it... would I declare it as an additional income? Do I have to set it up as an official business, or can I just start selling? Is there anything else I need to do or be aware of? Apologies if this is basic stuff, but I'm an MSE newbie!

I'd be grateful for any information at all!

picklepick

hi and welcome to MSE!

if you're making things to sell you need to register as self employed so you're paying tax and NI on your earnings.

Its really easy to do but would mean u have to complete a tax return every year. go to the hmrc.gov.uk website and you can register online. they're very helpful and will help you with everything you need to know. you'll need to keep accurate records of all that u make and sell and if you arent too sure about how to do that they will invite u to attend a free day course. i went to one and im really glad i did. the people who did it were lovely and made it very easy to understand.

hope that helps.

Frugaldom

Hi hj82, welcome and good luck with your new venture. Registering as self-employed is really straightforward and the annual tax return isn't all that complicated, especially if you register on the HMRC website for online submissions. They'll send you a pin number and access code so you can do the whole annual return online. As suggested by Picklepick, a lot of the free one day courses are informative and, if nothing else, they get you started on networking, especially if you can find one locally run by your local enterprise or business development agency group.

If you are already employed and paying tax & NI, you should pay the Class 2 self employed stamp but you'll only apy tax on actual profits made on sales, hence the reason you need to keep accurate records of all costs, including those associated with providing your workspace and storage areas. At the end of your first year, it isn't unusual for the taxman to owe you a refund.

My frugal set-up is coming along quite well, although the set up costs are far outweighing the miniscule income so far. However, my freerange hens have started laying, the first broody hen has hatch her eggs and I have an assortment of chicks at various growing stages and I decided to incorporate a greenhouse into the plan so I could grow enough to sell. Early days yet, but it's encouraging seeing the interest being shown in what will be available soon

It's end of tax year and I'm just awaiting P60 from paid work so I can get the tax return done and dusted for May and hoping there isn't much by way of tax or Class 4 NI to pay.

I hope everyone else is making progress of some description and will eagerly await more updates and progress reports. Freecycle and Freeshare are great ways of meeting new contacts with similar interests but I'm struggling to understand how LETS can possibly work, unless it's just that our group is new and not yet fully established.

JimmyTheWig

nykmedia wrote: »

my freerange hens have started laying, the first broody hen has hatch her eggs and I have an assortment of chicks at various growing stages and I decided to incorporate a greenhouse into the plan so I could grow enough to sell.

Are there not all sorts of tricky rules to follow when selling food - in terms of labelling, etc?