Craft-Entrepreneurs Answer: What’s Your Advice for Those Starting Their Journey?

Fashion Merchandising professor Ashli Ree is back again to share more findings from her doctoral thesis on craft-entrepreneurship. In this final installment, she shares advice from the craft professionals she interviewed for those starting a craft business. Go back to Part 1 to read how craft-entrepreneurs found motivation to start their businesses and check out Part 2 for insights into the challenges they faced in running their businesses. If you’re considering starting a craft-based business, you’ll find these tips useful!

Asked to give advice to someone starting this journey, the 20 craft-entrepreneurs’ responses differed depending on where they were in their entrepreneurial journey. All acknowledged that they learned most of what they needed to learn through experience. No courses on design or entrepreneurship, no mentors, and no self-directed research will fully prepare anyone for this dual role. They indicated that, at some point, one must just go for it, expecting to make changes along the way.

Above: Image source – Getty Images

Mentorship and the Power of Good Advice

As one starts the journey, craft-entrepreneurs said they needed support in the decision-making process—both business advice and technical support. They often started with family or friends. They also joined online groups, especially the ones focusing on local marketplaces.

Most important, they urged people to find a more experienced craft-entrepreneur. One craft-entrepreneur said to ask and ask again until you have the right three people as mentors, with at least one selling similar products. The mentors or the network will evolve as the business grows. Although new craft-entrepreneurs may be hesitant to seek out other craft-entrepreneurs, in many cases, craft-entrepreneurs do not generally see one another as competitors and are willing to help, because they remember what it was like to start this journey.

One thing to keep in mind is that as one begins, one may be bombarded with different, sometimes contradictory advice. One way to help sort through this is to have clearly stated goals for the business.

Draw From Your Own Past

In many cases, craft-entrepreneurs abandoned their prior skills and professional network because they thought they were irrelevant, but afterward, they found that even seemingly irrelevant experience could provide a valuable new perspective.

For example, one craft-entrepreneur first started her career in the information technology field. She initially thought that IT and her product (adaptive sewing kits) were not related. After she realized how IT solutions are created—namely, thinking of the end user—she began to approach her product-development process with the end user in mind. The changes she made from her prior work experience made a difference in her business.

Leveling Up Your Business

The more experienced group of craft-entrepreneurs focused on quality assurance, feedback for selling, and recognizing different needs. The majority of craft-entrepreneurs at this stage were selling in better marketplaces, such as juried shows or galleries selling “fiber art garments.” They also became selective in those with whom they connected, often other craft-entrepreneurs with similar technical skills and shared history. They often had different connections for different needs, such as design, merchandising, and business.

It is more common to have repeat customers at this stage. It is important to have designs that customers recognize as yours but different enough every few seasons so that customers see the design as something fresh and new. One craft-entrepreneur shared that she changes her designs regularly. As a result, she has been able to maintain some customers for more than 25 years. Some have said that as you age, your customers age too, and they may not need the same products anymore. It is important to enter new markets from time to time to gain an understanding of changes in the market.

It’s not easy to bring your dreams to life. The realities of running a small business are a difficult adjustment for many starting out—but don’t get discouraged. Let us know your best advice for those starting a craft business and offer some encouragement in the comments!

Originally published in Interweave Knits Summer 2022.

Ashli Ree is a fashion merchandising professor. She lives in Lowell, Massachusetts. She is passionate about introducing handmade marketplaces and different makers to her students in order to teach more-sustainable ways of making and selling wearable products.

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