How to validate if your crafting business will succeed
Want to make money from your hobby or talents? Here’s how to validate if your crafting business will succeed.
There has never been a better time to be a creative. The days of the starving artist are over now that you can find a market for your craft or art. The internet has made it possible to use your creativity as an actual business and many are giving up the corporate grind to make a living doing what they love.
The best part is that really anybody can do it. However, that doesn’t mean that every idea is going to work. You have to make sure to validate your idea and product before you quit your job and make a business out of it.
In this article, we will go over several ways you can see if your craft or art can actually be made into a business.
1) Start an Etsy store
There are millions of people that shop on Etsy every day looking for the perfect homemade item. It is a given that some of them will be looking for the thing that you do. In fact, some people use Etsy as their primary store and create a business without branching out at all.
If you want to know if your product is going to sell then mastering Etsy is the way to go. Not only will you validate your product, but the lessons you will learn can be used to open your own storefront online and forgo the fees they charge.
You’ll still have to be good at marketing to make sure you get the right eyes on your store, but it is much easier to do so when there is already traffic coming to the site.
Have all of your business material ready to go like label printers, and packaging if you aren’t selling digital materials. Then see how well they sell and go from there.
2) Check for trends
You have two routes to take when it comes to trends. You can research and find out how the interest in your product has been over the last year or so. Or, you can research what some related trends have been like and craft your product around that.
Use Google trends to search for your product or something similar in the genre and you will get an idea if the interest is rising or falling regarding people searching for your product. If it is rising then you know you are looking good.
If it is not, then find something similar to it that may see some interest generating and then create a new product that has more chance of being seen.
3) Use social media
Lastly, create some channels around the types of crafts or art that you are doing and try to get some followers. If you are doing everything right like taking great pictures, using the right platform and creating engaging content then you should gain a following if people like your ideas.
Once you have a good following you can direct them to your Etsy store and if they buy then you know you have a winner.
Photo by Rebecca Grant
