Category: Starting Your Business

I’ve talked pricing on the blog before. First, I outlined how to price your craft items for sale. Then, I talked about pricing products when your supplies were on sale. There’s no right or wrong way to determine how much to pay yourself – it’s completely subjective. Today, let’s look at how much to pay yourself.

Two Ways to Guide Yourself

1. If you recently worked outside of your home, you should pay yourself at least the equivalent to what you previously paid. There are some limitations to using this method. For example, if you previously made $120,000 working in a high demand job you likely won’t be able to set your prices competitively enough in the craft market.
2. You should pay yourself at least minimum wage for your state. Here in Florida, that means at least $8.05. In contrast, minimum wage in California is $10.00 an hour; while minimum wage in New York is $9.00. As your skills increase and your products get more technically difficult – you’ll raise your hourly wage.

It’s just that simple! Remember, your business won’t get far if you don’t pay yourself enough. Underpaid working from home crafters are likely to get burned out faster, too.

How much do you pay yourself per hour? Share in the comments.

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An easy way to increase the time you have in your Silhouette Cameo or Cricut small business is to improve the efficiency in your workspace. Recently, I noticed while working on projects, I kept having to get up from my project to retrieve a supply, my camera, etc. So, I set out to fix the lack of efficiency in my workspace. Today, I am challenging you to do the same!

How to Improve the Efficiency in Your Craft Workspace

1. Draw a map of your workspace.
2. When working on your next projects, draw a line every time you get up to get a supply or reach for something.
3. Evaluate the lines and see which ones you can eliminate either by moving supplies you use frequently or rearranging furniture.

Let’s take a look at my efficiency map.
To make it easier to explain, I’ve numbered each section.

1. These arrows denote trips to a closet where I store some craft supplies (mostly vinyl).
2. A short chest of drawers where I store blank products. My heat press also sits on top of it. I have a tiny craft space and have to walk around the chest to use the heat press.
3. The arrows above my desk refer to hanging buckets I have mounted on the wall for small supplies like markers and blades.
4. In addition to my desk, I have a second workspace in my craft area. I rarely used the workbench top. Instead, I only use the storage below it.
5. This shelf houses all of my machines.

What I learned from my efficiency map:

1. I really need to move all the craft supplies into my craft room.
2. It’s a pain to walk around the drawers to use the heat press.
3. I don’t really need the second workspace in my craft space because it is only being used a storage.

What I did next and my improved workflow:

I moved the workbench out of my space, turned the drawers, and added an additional shelf. You do not have to make a second map, but I did to show you how my efficiency improved with a few simple changes. Look at my improved workflow:

Need inspiration for a teeny tiny craft space? As professional organizers pointed out in this post, go vertical. Here’s a peek at my craft space:

Now, it’s your turn to look at the efficiency in your workspace.

Save this post to Pinterest before you start drawing your map:

Someday, each one of us will pass away. While I hope it is many, many years down the road – people pass away unexpectedly every day. Similarly, you could get into an accident or fall ill without warning and be unable to maintain your business. As a small business owner, you have a responsibility to your customers to leave someone in charge of your business in unforeseen circumstances.

No one likes thinking about or planning for these things, so I’m making it easy for you! I’m giving you a printable outline to download and fill out. Once you have filled it out, put it in an envelope, and place it with your important paperwork. Tell your significant other, a close friend, or family member about the envelope and your plans. Remember to keep the printable up to date.

Download the printable here in pdf or here in .docx.

It’s always wise to double check your business plans with an estate lawyer or your small business legal team if you have one. Additionally, be sure that your business and bank accounts have beneficiaries listed.

Before you go, the Silhouette crafting world lost a crafter this week in an ATV accident in Florida. Feel free to read more here.

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Cutting for Business readers are in for a treat today, because Jamie stopped in from Craft Chameleon (formerly Punch Place Plus). I’m turning it over to Jamie:

Hi everyone, Jamie here. Let’s talk vinyl scraps today! I don’t know if it was my grandmothers’ influence, living through The Great Depression, or what but it’s tremendously hard for me to throw away small pieces of unused vinyl. Whether Granny or genetics was the cause, the effect is this list of 10 low cost items from Craft Chameleon to use with those vinyl scraps. Read on to see how you can turn your small scraps into big profits!

Please note the figures below show only ‘Gross Profits’. This means it does not take into account the following items: wear and tear on equipment, labor, shipping, selling expenses, rent, inventory expenses, interest charges, and other expenses your business might incur.

Now let’s make Granny proud and use up our scraps!

1) Post Earrings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed:  1” x 2”

Cost of Earrings $.60/pair to $.89/pair (without shipping)
Selling Price: $5 to $12 per pair
Gross Profit: $4.40 to $11.11

2) Dangle Earrings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 1.5” x 2.5”

Cost of Earrings: Blanks $.67/pair & Wires $.24/pair (without shipping)
Selling Price: $5 to $15 per pair
Gross Profit:  $4.09 to $14.09

3) Charm Bracelet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 1.75” x 1.75”

Cost of bracelet and components: Bangle $.55, acrylic charm $.34, 3 Side Cut Oval Jump Rings $.12, 1.5” Tassel $.23, crown charm $.43 (without shipping)
Selling Price: $6.00 to $12 per bracelet
Gross Profit*:  $4.33 to $10.33

4) Necklace

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 2” x 2.5”

Cost of Components:  Letter Pendant $.69, Necklace with jump rings $.54 (without shipping)
Selling Price: $5.00 to $10.00
Gross Profit:  $3.77 to $8.77

5) Ring Dish

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 2.5” x 2.5”

Cost of Square Ring Dish: $2.12 each with shipping ($1.06 without shipping but these are heavy so doubling the cost)
Sales Price: $7.50 to $12.00
Gross Profit:  $5.38 to $9.88

6) Glass Bottle Stopper

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 2” x 2.5”

Cost of Stopper:  $2.15 (without shipping)
Sales Price: $7 to $15
Gross Profit: $4.85 to $12.85

7) Bag Tags

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 2.5 x 3.5”

Cost of components:  1 Tag $.75, 1 Luggage Strap $.35 (without shipping) Ribbon Scrap Optional $0
Selling Price: $4.00 to $10
Gross Profit: $2.90 to $8.90

8) Keyrings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 3” x  3”

Cost of Components:  2” Glitter (1 side) Circle $.65, Ball chain included (without shipping) Ribbon Scrap Optional $0
Selling Price: $3.50 to $8.50
Gross Profit: $2.85 to $7.85

9) Rings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 1“ x 1”

Cost of Ring:  $.94 Adjustable Wideband Ring (without shipping)
Sales Price: $5.00 to $10.00
Gross Profit:  $4.06 to $9.06

10) Pony Tail Cuffs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scrap size needed: 1.5” x 2”

Cost of Cuff: $.95 (without shipping)
Selling Price:  $5.00 – $6.00
Gross Profit: $4.05 to $5.05

Now I have some questions for you: Have you seen anything that you could cut from your small scraps? What would the price point be in your area? What would your gross profit be? Better yet what would your Net Profit be? Did this set your creativity in motion and give you ideas for other scrap busting projects?

Have an answer to any or all of these questions? If so, Craft Chameleon would love to hear you – leave a comment or visit us at Craft Chameleon.

Wow, a huge thanks to Jamie for stopping in and sharing so many ideas with Cutting for Business readers today. I guess I need to go pull out my scrap box and get to work.

Don’t forget to save this to Pinterest so that you’ll have all of Jamie’s links when you get ready to start creating:

I swear, Cutting for Business blog readers are some of the hardest working people that I know. Why do I say that? Because I keep in pretty close contact with a lot of blog readers through different social media outlets including the Cutting for Business Insider’s Club. It’s recently come to my attention that a lot of readers could have a better work/life balance. Running a home business is just like having a 9-5 job. While I understand that often, you have to work odd hours (evenings, weekends, or late nights), that doesn’t mean you can’t have a regular schedule.

Today, I challenge you to write out a working schedule. This will vary per small business, but write out the times per day that you will work and the times that you are off. After you’ve got it in writing, hang it somewhere you will always see it – and stick to it! Feel free to also advertise your office hours to customers. This way, if a customer emails you after you are closed for the day – they will know to expect a response at a later time.

When writing out your schedule, be sure to include time for these tasks:

• Designing and creating products
• Inventory and workspace clean up
• Scheduling social media
• Customer service – like answering emails
• Networking
• Advertising for new customers

This whole post can be summed up with one question: When you die, do you want your kids to remember you constantly working or do you want them to remember the laughing, smiling, and time you spent with them? If you don’t have kids, think of your partner, your family, or your close friends.

If you need some help with time management, head to this post.

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If you want to sell wooden signs, they need to look nearly perfect because the market is competitive. I often see wooden sign makers struggling to get crisp paint lines when using a vinyl stencil cut on a Silhouette Cameo or Cricut. When they ask for help from fellow crafters, someone always tells them to use Mod Podge. I love Mod Podge, but it is expensive – and unnecessary when making wooden signs.

Why does paint bleed when using a vinyl stencil?

There’s actually a couple of reasons:

1. The paint seeps underneath the vinyl stencil because the wood was not sanded well enough. This is probably the biggest problem I see. You should sand your wood with multiple grits of sandpaper, starting with 120 or 150 grit sandpaper and finishing with 220. When the wood is not sanded well enough, the vinyl cannot get a good seal because the surface is uneven (even if you can’t see the uneven spots). Read more about sanding wood in this post.
2. The vinyl was not burnished (rubbed) well enough onto the wood. Again, the paint seeps underneath the stencil. Use a squeegee to be sure that the vinyl adheres well to the wood.
3. You are using too much paint. I recommend using a foam sponge brush or a makeup sponge and dabbing the paint on in an up and down motion. It is best to only dip the corner of your brush/sponge into the paint and use a tiny amount of paint. Here’s a photo of what my brush looks like when I stencil – I use a tiny amount of paint at once: 

Tip: If you try the 3 things above and are still having paint bleed, try this: After placing your vinyl stencil on the wood, paint over it using the same color as you used on the background. This seals the edges the same way that Mod Podge does – for much cheaper.

When I do recommend using Mod Podge

There is one time when I would use Mod Podge: if you are not painting the background of the sign (leaving it natural wood) AND purposely leaving the wooden surface rough. Mod Podge will help keep your paint from bleeding due to the rough surface. See the tutorial for using a stencil on rough wood at this link.

Looking for more tips about buying wood for your Silhouette Cameo or Cricut business? Head to this post. Have a ton of Mod Podge you need to use now? Check out Mod Podge Rocks for lots of craft projects.

Be sure to pin the image below on Pinterest so you can try these tips later:

I know it is something that every crafter can relate to: A disastrous craft room. For me, my craft space usually looks like a tornado went through it.

I recently got the chance to talk to four professional organizers and asked them for tips on how to organize your craft room.

 Tutorial: How to Easily Cut Down Vinyl Rolls with a Saw

Step 1) Make sure the vinyl is rolled very tightly. Using tape (I use painter’s tape), tape the roll together on both ends.

Step 2) Use a permanent marker to mark where you will cut the vinyl roll. I usually purchase 15 inch rolls and cut them down to 13 inches. 13 inches still fits on a Silhouette or Cricut mat well or feeds into a Silhouette Cameo without a mat. Tip: You could also purchase 24 inch rolls and cut them in half to make 12 inch rolls!

Step 3) Cut the vinyl roll down. I use a table saw, but you could also use a circular saw. If you aren’t comfortable with power tools, you could probably use a hacksaw (depending on the thickness of the roll).

That’s it – it’s just that easy to save time in your Silhouette or Cricut business.

Looking for my favorite places to buy patterned vinyl? See my list of the best places to buy patterned vinyl. And, let me know in the comments – how do you cut down vinyl rolls?

Need a logo for your craft business? Whether you are starting from scratch, or redesigning your logo, Sarah Guillot from Sarah Design is sharing tips for designing a small business logo.

Sarah has previously guest blogged on Cutting for Business about designing with fonts.

There seems to be a lot of new Silhouette and Cricut owners lately, and many of them are interested in using their machine to make money. If you are one of them (congratulations!), but I urge you to learn from the mistakes of the small business owners that came before you. Today, I’m sharing the most common mistakes I see from new small business owners.

6 Mistakes New Silhouette & Cricut Business Owners Make

1. Jumping into a new business before you know how to use your machine. Please, figure out the in’s and out’s of using your machine and troubleshooting before you start selling. I mean, you wouldn’t want someone to operate on you because they bought a set of surgical tools, so don’t sell products before you know how to use the machine.
2. Starting a Silhouette or Cricut business just to make money. Many people want to make more money; but if you don’t love what you do you are likely to burn out quickly, be miserable all the time, or both.
3. Not researching copyrights and trademarks before you start selling products.  Nothing is going to hurt your business more than getting sued over making something that you don’t own the rights to. I have lots of information about trademarks and copyrights – you just have to read it.
4. Copying another designer’s design or products. It’s frowned upon in the crafting world to blatantly copy another crafter’s design. Your business is likely to do better if you can come up with your own ideas anyway! See this post for more information; or head to this post if you’ve been copied.
5. Putting your products online and expecting them to sell themselves. In recent years, handmade marketplaces have become more popular and competition has become greater. If you want your products to sell well, you have to have a certain amount of hustle in you. You have to be able to put yourself out there and promote your products. If you can’t, this business might not be for you.
6. Not registering with your city, county, or state and making your small business an official business. In many cases, the process isn’t difficult and the pros outweigh the cons! Read about the benefits in this post.

If you are doing some of these things right now, don’t panic – just work to correct them and set your business up for success!