Craft-Entrepreneurs Answer: What Motivated You to Get Started?

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Middlesex Community College professor Ashli Ree has spent the past several years teaching her students the business of fashion. In this first installment of a 3-part series, Ashli shares her findings from interviewing 20 craft professionals about what motivated them to start their businesses. Stay tuned in the coming weeks to find out what obstacles craft-entrepreneurs face in their business and what their advice is 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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Since 2015, I have taken my fashion-merchandising students to trade shows, both large ones such as MAGIC and local ones in the New England area. I kept seeing handmade garments and accessories, alongside mass-produced overseas products. At the time, I was teaching full time at a community college, teaching part time in a state university, and in a doctoral program at Columbia University. My students were wondering how these apparel makers started and maintained their craft businesses, and I didn’t have an answer.

Above: Eujin Kim Neilan of Uni-T, a printed tee and gift business

I was unsatisfied with the limited information available and what I was able to gather from brief conversations. So, I decided to research and write my doctoral dissertation on how some makers (handknitting, weaving, sewing, and felting) become entrepreneurs and make a living doing what they love. I interviewed 20 craft-entrepreneurs with experiences ranging from three to 40 years of making and selling.

As I sat in their studios and their homes, listening to their amazing life histories as makers and entrepreneurs, I realized others could benefit from their stories.

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What Motivates Craft-Entrepreneurs?

One of the first questions I had was why some makers decide to become professional artists selling handmade crafts, instead of keeping it as a hobby. When the craft-entrepreneurs were asked why they started their entrepreneurial journey, they described it as responding to, first, their creative calling and, second, their work and life experience.

A Lifelong Dream

When discussing the experience of making and selling their handmade garments, the craft-entrepreneurs shared that it was something they always wanted to do. Some said that it was something they were meant to do, something that was a part of them. It started with finding joy in the making process. As they spent more and more time making—in some cases more time on it than their full-time work—and receiving positive feedback from other people, they wondered if it would be possible to make a living as a craft-entrepreneur.

This is most likely the starting point for individuals who end up making the transition from a craftsperson to a craft-entrepreneur. In addition to making handmade products that were aesthetically pleasing, they started to see that there may be a need for their products and that people would pay for them. In many cases, this first validation, which often came from people they already knew, led to selling in a small way. It started with the design being shared, either in person or online. Friends and family often suggested the selling idea.

Follow the Positive Feedback

Many craft-entrepreneurs also experienced a second type of validation in the form of positive feedback from people they did not know. This often involved testing the product by opening an Etsy shop or selling at a small craft fair, both with limited inventory and low costs.

One craft-entrepreneur who started her career as a successful illustrator realized how inconsistent her workload and pay were. After wondering how she could make a living as an artist, she decided to hand-screenprint her illustrations on organic T-shirts and try to sell her work that way.

To test the market, she started by going to an outdoor market to sell. She recalled it being a humbling experience in the beginning, going from publishers in big cities paying her thousands of dollars for her work to selling $29 T-shirts with her illustrations in her neighborhood. On that day, she specifically recalled one man telling her she was in the wrong place and needed to be in Nordstrom because her products were that good. That comment gave her the courage to sell in places such as SoWa (one of the better curated handmade markets in Boston). She also sold many T-shirts that day, many more than she expected.

Many craft-entrepreneurs had similar experiences. After receiving positive feedback, not just in words but in seeing how many pieces they sold, they were able to move to creating an independent website (sometimes along with an Etsy shop) or entering better craft shows, which cost more but generally drew customers willing to spend more for better quality products.

Motivation Changes with Age

It is interesting to point out that although all 20 craft-entrepreneurs mentioned the design aspect as something that was always a part of them, there was a large variance when it came to starting the entrepreneurial journey. Of the 20, six started in their 20s, three in their 30s, five in their 40s, and six in their 50s.

Related: Which Knitting Side Hustle is Right for You?

Those starting in their 20s and 30s viewed their journey as low risk because they were in the early stages of their career. For craft-entrepreneurs starting their journey later on in life, it often began with reacting to incidents happening in their life at the time. Those starting in their 40s and 50s, shifting from midcareer or late career, the decision was reactive. They reacted either to a positive experience (e.g., finding adaptive clothing solution for family members) or a negative experience (e.g., being unhappy with the industry or being laid off). In some cases, both types of experiences came into play.

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From reading Ashli’s findings, it’s clear that the motivation to start a craft business can comes from different places for different people, and at any time of life. While it’s a challenge to follow that voice telling you to strike out and create something new, the draw is undeniable. Will this be the season in your life when you take the plunge? We want to hear about your journey in the comments, whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting to dream.

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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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