Craft-Entrepreneurs Answer: What Challenges Do You Face In Your Craft Business?

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Fashion Merchandising professor Ashli Ree is back to share findings from her doctoral thesis. She interviewed 20 craft professionals about their businesses and is here to share the results. In this second part of the three-part series, Ashli shares the challenges faced by these professionals in their craft businesses. Check out Part 1 to read how craft-entrepreneurs found motivation to start their businesses. Then, head to Part 3 to get their advice for those starting their journeys. If you’re considering starting a craft-based business, we think you’ll find her research insightful and useful!

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As much as the craft-entrepreneurs were excited about the idea of selling their handmade products, they quickly realized the different challenges that come with turning their passion into a profitable business. The challenges for craft-entrepreneurs divide into two broad categories: accounting and emotional challenges.

Above: Image source – Getty Images

How to Put a Price on Passion?

All 20 craft-entrepreneurs shared that pricing was a challenge to which they needed to adapt. The design process started with creating garments for aesthetic and functional value as well as finding self-value. Until they decided to sell their designs, the monetary value was not something they had considered. This was partly because the value of their time and skills was, in the past, often set by their employers. Even those with work experience as apparel designers said the companies set the price based on the manufacturing cost.

In the beginning, the only two factors most considered in pricing their garments were the material cost and the time they invested. In many cases, it was difficult to determine even those two factors because many did not always keep the receipts, or they lost track of time while making. They often came up with the price based on what they remembered as the cost for the material and labor. They quickly learned that they also had to think about all the variable factors. These include time required for the entrepreneurial role, itemized overhead expenses, and financial goals.

Designing a Sustainable Craft Business

Another initial challenge that the craft-entrepreneurs had to work through involved making design changes. They stated that increased freedom is an important reason for starting the entrepreneurial journey. Therefore, on one level, it is ironic that one of the most cited challenges that craft-entrepreneurs faced was the limitations put on their designing process: namely, avoiding making products that were too time-consuming, too costly, and too experimental for the market.

This is particularly difficult for those who follow more-sustainable practices in making. One particular craftsperson who creates slow-fashion products (similar to farm-to-table process) shared how often she has to think about the time and the cost. She works with local sheep farms to collect wool and she also dyes the yarn using wild plants found in her area, even going so far as to grow some herself. She isn’t simply purchasing the materials needed, so she often has to work with what she has. To justify her price, she explains her entire sustainable process on her website.

Emotional Challenges of Entrepreneurship

The emotional challenges include both emotional highs and lows. The craft-entrepreneurs shared feeling isolated because of uncertainty and lack of understanding from family, friends, and traditional business-support systems. For instance, when they turned to friends and family for emotional support, after some time, they found that some friends and family were tired of hearing about their business. On the other hand, all 20 craft-entrepreneurs shared that there was an emotional high when they first decided to sell what they made and especially after each sale.

Interestingly, the emotional challenges can come from both selling too much and not selling enough. Not selling led them to think of the additional expense toward a booth fee or a website, and wondering whether this was the right decision for them. Sometimes, even selling too much can be an issue. One craft-entrepreneur shared that she sold out on the first day of a juried show and she needed to have more products for the second day. She shared how she stayed up all night making more products to sell in person the next day. Other craft-entrepreneurs have shared that they sometimes must stop taking orders so that they can catch up but then worry about how many orders they are losing.

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Starting a craft business can feel extremely isolating, and there are so many skills to acquire quickly. Passion and skill in a craft is one thing—running a business is quite another! Whether you’re new to entrepreneurship or have been working in your industry for years, finding a community is essential. Let us know about challenges you faced or worry about facing and offer some words of encouragement in the comments!

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Originally published in Interweave Knits Summer 2022.

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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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