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

tigersblack

Anastacia wrote: »

Hi
We have tried loads of differnt things over the years to make a few £££s. I have made jewellery that we sold at school fairs etc (craft fairs were too expensive to attend.) OH has made wooden garden ornamenty things which we took around to garden centres on sale of return (still got around 40 in the shed). Also bird boxes, they were really cute.
The best payer was selling fudge at school fairs.Edible stuff always sells best i think. and real addicts would think nothing of spending £10 or so, which was loads back then. We did about 12 fairs at Chrsitmas and again before the summer hols. We bought the fudge from a company in Devon on the internet.
We dont have time anymore though because i found the best paying activity was to qualify as an accountant. It was fun in back then though.

hi whereabouts are you as would be interested in buying the 40 ornaments and any bird boxes

tigersblack

hi everyone the best way to get pli is to join the market federation which is around £80 and insurance is free

JimmyTheWig

tigersblack wrote: »

hi whereabouts are you as would be interested in buying...

I'm afraid that these forums aren't for buying and selling.

Ribvallier

RCToasty wrote: »

Hi Guys, love this thread - you all have some great ideas. I have loads of cross stitching stuff that I really need to use up and try and make some money with. I really need some ideas for what I could do with cross stitching that maybe hasn't been done before. I'm not going down the handmade card route - too many people in that one, so any ideas would be really great.

My ex partner used to knit dolls with cotton wool stuffing and stick them in small plastic bags and sell alongside car boot stuff, they weren't cheap either, but sold like hot cakes.

pyrocrafter

I used to know a lady who did cross stitch baby/children's/couples names and dates etc. with little images added, then framed. They were very popular at the time. Personalised gifts of any kind are really popular.:) It's just a pain that all the hours put in to arts and crafts generate less than the minimum wage .
Another idea would be to make decorative children's wristbands with cross stitch images or patterns, joined with a press stud.
Personalised Bookmarks, Little Pot Pourri pouches with a draw string. Little things sell best and have more profit margin. People are also more willing to pay out on small things than more ellaborate stuff. Hope this helps.

Monsternextdoor

Im trying to start up a small business doing little girls hair accessories I just seem to be the wrong end of the country ! Tempted to get into Doll making as well but dont know if I have the time or the patience to do so, Atm Im trying to get myself up and running via a FB page but doesnt seem to be working !

Any hints or tips ?

pyrocrafter

Don't get disheartened. It takes a while for your popularity to build up on the web. I am always making new web pages for my own various online selling ventures. My original one gets approx 600 hits a week and the newest only a few. Did you know you can list items for sale in the 'Shopping' section of Google for free. So, people can find your products for sale. It might also be worth taking out a Face Book advert. They're not expensive. Speculate to accumulate, then your products are targeted at the right section of people wanting this type of item. Find Gift directories that offer free listings. The more links you can get out there to your page the more popular you will be with the search engines. Make your own webpage as well. (You might need this to list on Google Shopping).

On another subject. Any keen gardeners out there, get selling bare root perrenials. They go like hot cakes on Ebay. Gardening is a hugely popular industry.

I myself, make personalised gifts in pyrography and laser engraving. Most popular products are 3rd anniversary leather bookmarks and keyrings. I have also sold a lot of my low carb diet ebooks online and cake recipes for people with food intolerances. I'm now offering these ebooks for free on my newest website but adding Tradedoubler ads (as used my Moneysavingexpert) to try and make the website pay for itself.
I'll have to get back to you on that subject.
And I have started an online personalised gifts directory for UK only, so people can find this type of gift all in one place. Free for anyone to register and again, I'm adding relevant adverts to try to finance it.
Hope this gives some of you food for thought in making a bit of extra pocket money.
If you can't make a web page, then you need to go to craft fairs and country shows to get some customers.
I used to do that before the internet but now I can sell things all over the world from the comfort of my home. Yay!:wave:

Ribvallier

stourbridgeguy wrote: »

Hi there first post so play nice, not throwing hard objects they hurt when they hit sensitive areas

Well here goes, I have a dream of living full time on a narrowboat but alas no cash. My aim this year is to save about £15k, this is intended to purchace said boat.

I used to produce soap etc, which I used to sell in a shop I was in partnership with, sadly no more. I have decided that unless I get off my !!! and do something I am going to be stuck in rented property untill me dying day.

The dream stops being a dream this year, I have started by already getting a domain name and web hosting, am spending time building the site at the moment.

The main reason I have decided to post in this thread is that I noticed earlier on that some poster broached the subject of Soap Making and were put off by the certification proccess. I use products that are pre-certified melt & pour soaps, along with lip balms, shampoo's.

I aim to do my first Craft Show at Easter so I am in the proccess of building up my stocks. My main aim is to amass as much money as I can to enable me to reach my goal, this, along with a tighter budget should get me somewhere near my target. In the long term I aim to continue to work full time and also run the soap making etc from the boat to enable for me to work part time by the time I am 55, so this is a year challenge and also a 7 year plan.

Hope this has been helpful to those who have no natural crafting talents, if you wish to google Melt & Pour Soap and good luck.

Take Care

Dave

x

Hi Dave.
So, hows the plan going? I've recently just registered with MSE and have just read your thread of 2008. By the way, a man after my own heart, I too have had such longings for canal-life, after being on my sister's canal cruiser, and would also fancy a narrowboat.
I'm more close to the Leeds/Liverpool, but have travelled from south cheshire up onto the bridgewater where my sister has hers moored. I loved it
At the moment I'm making rugs, mainly for pets, ie name and paws/bone within., but a farmer friend recently asked if I could make one for his little lad with name and tractor, I duely obliged. Young Jack loves it.

From one Dave to another

Monsternextdoor

Thanks for your reply Pyrocrafter I have done some craft fairs etc but the stuff that I have doesn't seem to sell where I live at the mo, But if I take it back home I can make a few hundred quid without trying, Im also getting alot of work of travellers because my pricing is reasonable and travellers always go on word of mouth, Im hoping my move soon will open up alot more business for me.

I have noticed that people that have bought from me in the past come back time and time again and ask me to make bespoke pieces.

Will look into FB ads and maybe getting a webpage as well and see how that goes, Thank you for the advice !

Jadedwords

Hi guys,

I'm looking at starting up a wedding stationery business. I have a niche and I think it might be profitable.

I know I would need public liability insurance if I did wedding fayres... would I need product liability too? It's only wedding invitations - can people really hurt themselves on that?!

Are there any other types of insurance I would need? I was thinking of some type of insurance to cover me if say, my printing machine died and I missed a deadline for someone's wedding and they tried to sue me... Is there a type of insurance to cover this?!

Help much appreciated