Host Carol Duvall chats via telephone with Barbara Brabec, fondly known as the "first lady of home-based crafting businesses" and "America's craft business guru," to get tips on how to start a craft business at home.
A best-selling author of several books, including The Crafts Business Answer Book and Resource Guide and Creative Cash. She can also be found online sharing her business insights with crafters throughout the world.
Brabec says the most popular question she gets from crafters wishing to start their own craft business pertains to pricing. "Ironically, pricing is as much a problem for experienced sellers as it is for beginners," she says. "There are no easy answers for this. Experience is really the best teacher." Brabec also says that crafters tend to price their products based on how much money they would be able to pay for the product if they were the buyer. "Most crafters are not rich. They would like to find rich clientele to sell to, but they tend to price their products based on the size of their own purse," she says, "and how much they would personally pay for that particular item, totally forgetting that somebody with three times their amount of money wouldn't hesitate to pay a lot more for it."
Brabec says that when starting a new craft business, a crafter should concern his/herself with local regulations, seeking to learn rules about licenses and permits in particular. She suggests that even crafters who only sell at craft fairs apply for permits. "If you're selling at a craft fair, you may not realize it, but you are in business the minute you sell the first item," she says. "You're in business in the eyes of the IRS, and once you're in business with the IRS, even if it's a hobby business, then everyone else perceives you to be in business, too." This means a crafter must collect sales tax. Brabec says sales tax enforcers visit craft fairs frequently, looking for sales tax certificates at each booth. The IRS also requires that a craft business owner be able to prove that his or her business income does not intermingle with personal income. Therefore, Brabec suggests that creating a separate check register or account would be a smart idea. Brabec also suggests that all craft companies have a name. "If you don't call it something, you're not going to take it very seriously and neither is anyone else," she says.
Although it sounds like a lot of hassle, Brabec admits that starting a crafting business is not as hard as it seems on the surface. "It's not as scary as a lot of people want to make it, either," she says. "When you do everything a little step at a time, it's not hard to do and it's not stressful and nerve-racking."
Resources Creative Cash: How to Profit From Your Special Artistry, Creativity, Hand Skills...
by Barbara Brabec (ISBN: 0761514252)
Click
here to order this title.
Random House, Inc.
Website:
www.randomhouse.comThe Crafts Business Answer Book & Resource Guide
by Barbara Braebec (ISBN: 0871318334 )
Click
here to order this title.
Amazon.com
Website:
www.amazon.com
Guests Barbara Brabec
Author
Barbara Brabec Productions
Naperville, IL
Phone: 630-717-4188
E-mail:
Barbara@BarbaraBrabec.com
Website:
www.barbarabrabec.com
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