The best thing you can do for your Craft Business (and any other business) before you make a single thing to sell is to do some research (and to keep on researching during the lifetime of your business).
Fore-warned is fore-armed. Do your research and you’ll stay one step ahead.
Here are some excellent web resources for your Craft Business. Bookmark, read, and enjoy:
- Rohm - some of the nicest and well-priced custom garment labels I’ve seen anywhere (thanks for the tip Heidi).
- Vertical Response - Your Marketing Checklist for 2008. Vertical Response provides email marketing services and their site and blog is full of excellent marketing info.
- Entrepreneur.com - a search on ‘Craft’ throws up squillions of pages on the brilliant business info site…
- Design News - make yourself comfortable and have a look at this MEGA post on how-to Social Networking, and Photoblogging. This is a wondrous post which must have taken flipping ages to write. Equally wonderful and useful is 120+ Self Promotion Ideas for designers & Freelancers. Definitely one to save and refer to.
- Lifehack - Increasing your credibility in 30 days: How to brag without bragging. increasing your credibility also means increasing your visibility
- Freelance Switch - 101 ideas to get more Freelance work and Generate more client leads - use these great transferable tips to help you approach new customers, market yourself and get more custom orders.
- UK Craft Fairs - Guide to running a craft business.
- Craft Business - website of the magazine which is full of useful articles.
- eMoms - 94 ways to Keep Kids busy for the work at home parent (I’d say every parent with kids at home NEEDS this post!); Top Ten Working from home mistakes, (yep, we’re all guilty of some of these, you’re not alone).
- The Craft Report Magazine - website of the magazine which is full of useful articles and listings.
Here are some useful Craft Business, & Working from Home books (all have good reviews) :
- Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business
- Handmade for Profit!: Hundreds of Secrets to Success in Selling Arts and Crafts
- The Crafts Business Answer Book: Starting, Managing, and Marketing a Homebased Arts, Crafts, or Design Business
- The Basic Guide to Selling Crafts on the Internet
- Country Living Crafting a Business: Make Money Doing What You Love
- The Home Office Solution : How to Balance Your Professional and Personal Lives While Working at Home
- I Love My Life: A Mom’s Guide to Working from Home
- Working at Home While the Kids Are There, Too
- Working from Home
- A View from the Tub: An Inspiring and Practical Guide to Working from Home
- Small Business Taxes Made Easy: How to Increase Your Deductions, Reduce What You Owe, and Boost Your Profits
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If you have any more resources that you think should be added to this list please put them in your comments and I will add them to the list with a linked credit to you
Lisa is a generally content (who said generally - don't get her started!) 30 something living in London, who amongst other things sells everything you might need to make unique and lovely handmade handbags at home from her online store 
Fantastic informative post, as ever! And you’ve put together a great resource here. I have a lot of reading to do now! First on my list is ‘94 ways to keep kids busy’
Thanks for all these links!! I second the recommendation for Emily Rohm’s labels; I just purchased a set of the sew-in type and cannot sing their praises enough!!
Thank you. Great links to research.
Wow! Lots of great info. Thanks so much for finding it all… and putting it in 1 place for easy access!
Oh Lisa! Once again, you’re my hero! I can’t tell you how many hours you’ve just saved me with the first two links alone.
I’ve been looking for good sew-in labels and have not been happy with the quotes I’ve been getting. I’ve also been looking for a new email list management system (not happy with the one I’m using).
A really big cyber hug and kiss to you!
Thanks for the mention Lisa! This is a great site. I’m happy to give your readers a discount, as well as you too. Email janineatverticalresponsedotcom.
Janine Popick - CEO
VerticalResponse
Lisa,
Thank-you for this helpful list of links. I think some of these can be used by all work-at-home moms, not just crafters.
Wow! You must have read my mind on this one because I was just thinking with all of my preschoolers starting school next year I really need to get on the ball and start organizing my time better and developing my product (only two days a week for the twins but that’s 6 hours of “alone” time that I have missed out on for 4 years - yes, I adore them but 6 hours of alone time - YIPPEE!). Now you’ve saved me some research. THANKS!
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for putting together such a detailed list of resources. This is another one to add to your list.
Submit articles, freebies, product review, pictures of your craft projects, crafting contests etc.
http://www.learncraftsonline.com/submit-info.shtml
Being in advertising and marketing myself, these are all excellent reads. I am going to forward a lot of these to my friends who are thinking of striking out on their own.