Starting a Craft Business
Home Craft Business Challenges

There are plenty of benefits inherent in running a craft business, but starting a craft business isn't without its challenges, and it's not for everyone. If you're thinking of starting an art or craft based business, it will be important to be fully aware of the challenges you may face along the way.

Responsibility
You are everything in your business. If you miss a deadline, lose a contract or mess up an order, there's no one to blame but yourself. You have to take ownership for everything. You can't hide behind excuses like a difficult boss or an unmotivated coworker.

I was recently speaking with my business mentor about missing a business goal that I had set. I started explaining the situation to him by saying, "It's really my fault that I didn't reach that target..." He interrupted me and said, "Lisa, it's your business; it's always your fault if something goes wrong!" He was joking, but he was also completely correct. You are ultimately responsible for everything when you run your own business.

Doing What You Don't Love
Yes, a home craft business allows you to build a business based on your creativity. However, when starting a craft business, you typically have to do everything. So in addition to designing amazing products, you'll also have to forecast your needs for supplies and finished products, calculate production times if you require a large volume of products for a big show, figure out which merchant account is most cost effective for your current business needs, answer customer concerns, make strategic marketing decisions etc…

No matter what your work preferences are, if you're starting a craft business and running your business solo, there will be tasks that you won't love, or even barely tolerate. It will be important to determine which tasks you can and should delegate or outsource and which ones you'll just have to make as bearable as possible.

Flexibility
There's no one managing you to give you deadlines and ensure you're on track to meet targets and timelines. With flexibility and freedom comes the need for discipline to spend the time you need to get your work finished on time and meet goals. A home craft business requires a big investment in time if you're going to make a significant income.

If you're starting a craft business, you need to know that you're a self motivated person. You'll need to be working on something that you're passionate about, so you'll be willing to spend hours working on it before you see any significant financial rewards. Reaping the rewards of your business will be dependent on you staying on task and working hard to meet your goals.

Money - Startup Costs and Operating Expenses
While starting a craft business can be relatively inexpensive compared with other types of businesses, it still takes money to get it going. Many business owners will tell you that their initial business costs were greater than they initially predicted. If you're thinking of starting a home craft business on a real shoestring budget, it will be important to do a detailed financial analysis of your predicted expenses to ensure you can make the business work on your existing budget.

This is where writing a business plan can help you to really assess how much money you'll have to invest in your business and whether you have the means to make your business a success. Good planning at the beginning of your art or craft business venture can save you a lot of expensive mistakes.

More Money Issues - No Regular Paycheck
When you're someone else's employee, you normally get paid within two weeks of starting a new job, and you can often expect a regular amount of money in your paycheck. When you're starting a craft business, it can take a very long time before you actually see a profit. Some experts note that it typically takes about three years for a business to be truly profitable. So if you need to earn an income immediately, then relying on a craft business startup as your only source of income might not be the best option for you.

Still MORE Money Issues - Spending Family Money on Your Business
Another money issue to consider is that fact that if you're starting a craft business, you'll most likely be spending household income to fund your business. If you have a partner who shares the household income with you, they will be impacted by this situation. It will be important to have a candid discussion about the cost of the business and how much household or family income you both feel you can comfortably invest in the business. As unexpected expenses come up, you may need to revisit this issue more than once. Having the support of everyone in your household can be crucial to the success of a home craft business.

Risk (Yes, This is a Money Issue Too)
You'll need to invest your time and money into your home craft business with no guarantee if and when your business will be profitable. As noted above, a good business plan can help you to estimate the time and money you'll need to invest before you make a profit, but it's still not a guarantee. If you are thinking of starting a craft business, you'll need to consider whether you're in a financial and personal position that allows you to tolerate some risk in your career.

What Are You Giving Up?
Of course you can always keep your day job and work at your craft business part time, that's one of the beauties of starting a craft business. However, if you do decide to leave a job to work on your craft business full time, you will likely be giving up a lot in order to commit to your business.

If you've worked for several years to establish a career that's unrelated to the craft industry, keep in mind, the longer you're out of that career, the harder it will be to return if you decide that working from home isn't right for you. In fact, for some people in high tech industries, as little as six months out of the industry can be a big barrier to returning.

Sometimes giving up a previous career and changing course is the right decision for an individual. It's a pretty common decision. In fact, depending on what source you read, you'll find that people typically have 4 to 10 different careers in a lifetime. Changing your career track is a pretty normal phase in career development. Just be certain before you commit to starting your business from home, that you are prepared to leave behind things that your have built in your career in the past.

Family Time
Starting a craft business can take a huge amount of your time. You will most likely spend more time working at your home craft business than you would at most traditional jobs. Although being at home with my son is a big reason why I choose to work from home, there are still plenty of times when I don't feel I'm spending enough time with him because of my business.

Feeling torn between work and family responsibilities is a pretty common feeling among parents who work from home. If you have a family, you'll likely have to set some boundaries around when you will and will not work. You may also have to find some way to reconcile the feelings of guilt that you're not actively engaging with your family when you’re working and guilt that you're not working on a project with a looming deadline when you're having personal and family time.

No Commute
One big challenge in starting a craft business and working where you live is in knowing when to stop working. My office is never more than a few steps away when I'm at home. If I can't sleep at 3:00am because I'm thinking about work I have to do, I'll probably actually get up and do it. I can guarantee you, if I worked at a traditional office, short of a dire emergency or terrible time management on my part, I would not be doing work at 3:00am for an employer. It can be very hard to leave your work when you work where you live.

Isolation
When you are someone's employee, you normally have coworkers who will give you feedback on your ideas. When you're starting a craft business, you can often feel like you're working in isolation without feedback on your projects. It becomes important to most small business owners to develop some kind of network of other people who are starting their own businesses and at least one mentor who's been there, done that, and can guide you along the way so you don’t feel so isolated.

Delayed Gratification
When you are someone else's employee, you move into your new work space and they provide everything for you. Somehow your business cards magically appear, your email account is set up for you, and someone ensures that you have the supplies you need to do your job. Not so when you're self employed.

You have to set up everything yourself, and it's amazing how much time it takes to put all of the details in place. To build a profitable home craft business, it takes total commitment. You'll likely need to be prepared to invest a lot of time and energy into your business before you see results.

No Benefits
If you're giving up a job to start a craft business, keep in mind, it's not just your salary, but also your benefits that you'll be giving up. Ensure that that's the right decision for you and anyone who relies on you financially.

Respect
If you decide to work on your craft business full time and don't have paid employment, you may find that some people do not respect your work time. They see that you have flexibility in your schedule, so you become the first person who's called for a favor during weekdays. It can be tricky to establish boundaries and make people understand that you are working, you do have set timelines, and any work you don't finish during the day will have to be done at night when you may have planned personal or family time.

Many Bosses
When you commit to starting a craft business, you may not have one boss, but you will have many bosses - your customers. Being self employed does not mean the end of answering to someone else. It means the beginning of being fully responsible for answering to all of your customer bosses.

Childcare
Although I was able to take my son out of daycare when I started working from home, it was not then end of my childcare needs. If you start a home craft business, and you have young children, you will likely find that you will need childcare to meet with customers, to attend sales events such as home parties and juried craft shows and to find long blocks of time for tasks that require focus and concentration. You may not need consistent, full time childcare, but you will likely need part time, very flexible childcare. Keep in mind, if you will have to pay for childcare, you'll need to consider those costs when you're determining if a particular sales opportunity will be profitable for you.

In spite of these home craft business challenges, starting a craft business has been a great decision for me. It's not for everyone, however. So if you take the time to think through your needs and work preferences and weigh the benefits and challenges of starting a craft business, you'll be on your way to making an informed decision about your next career move.