Do you work part time or fit your business around family life?

Then you will know how crucial it is to be as effective and efficient as possible when running and marketing your creative enterprise!

We’re delighted to be able to invite you to join us for a free webinar we’re giving for The Design Trust Business Club later this month. During this fun, one hour session we will be will sharing secrets of success for parents running a creative business, based on our own experiences and those of the mums we have worked with over the past two years.

Join us for this exclusive free session and learn:

• the questions you need to ask yourself, if you want a business you love
• how to work from home without losing your mind
• the best ways to promote your business when you have limited time (and money)
• some of the most common pitfalls to avoid

The webinar will be taking place at 1pm on May 21st and will be hosted by Patricia van den Akker, Director of The Design Trust. Spaces for these webinars are usually reserved for the Design Trust Business Club members only (by paid monthly or annual subscription) so we’re delighted to be able to invite you to join us as friends of Handmade Horizons!

Spaces are limited, so be sure to sign up through the following link asap:

https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/957723583

We look forward to speaking to you then!

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Over 100 of you told us that it isn’t a lack of business knowledge, or funds, or marketing skills that is holding you back… but TIME. 

So if you’re struggling to find time to do everything you need to do to juggle your business, family and home….you’re certainly not alone.

If you’ve been around the Handmade Horizons community for any length of time, you’ll know that we recommend ONE resource when it comes to productivity. That resource is our friend and coach Grace Marshall – our go-to girl for everything related to productivity and getting important stuff done.

“Productivity Ninja”

As well as being a published author and productivity ninja (yes, that is an official job title…), Grace has two kids and a growing business of her own. So she knows a thing or two about the demands of being a mum, and working from home.

Given that so many of you told us this is an area you struggle with, we spoke to Grace and asked what more she could do to help you out. Never one to disappoint, Grace told us about a brilliant guide she has created to help you get things done in the time that you have. No more trying to find more time!

It’s called Productivity Profits, and you can download a free audio chapter and handy day planner worksheet by clicking here. 

If you’re buckling under the weight of a growing to-do list and fed up of struggling to find more time….this one is for you

Have a look and see what you think – here’s that link again: Productivity Profits

*** THE BIT WE ARE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT… ***

We’re inviting everyone who purchases the guide to join us for an EXCLUSIVE live Q&A session for handmade sellers next month. Here are the details:

Polly and Claire will be joined by Productivity Profits creator and published author Grace Marshall for this one-off session – so you really will be able to get 1:1 advice on everything from marketing your business to organising your day!  You’ll be able to join in online or on the phone from anywhere in the world, and it’ll be happening in the evening (UK time) to give as many of you as possible the chance to take part.

Here is what you need to do to grab your place: 

1. Click here to to read all about Productivity Profits, download your free chapter and day planner worksheet

2. If you like your free chapter and would like to purchase the guide, just sign-up online as normal

3. Forward a copy of your recipt to us at hello@handmadehorizons.com, and we’ll send you all the details of how to join the live Q&A call next month

So if you like the idea of learning tools and techniques to help you make the most of the time you already have….as well as getting help and advice on other areas of your business….make sure you check out Productivity Profits before the offer ends on midnight, Friday April 26th!

P.S. Handmade Horizons are affiliates for this product, which means that if you do decide to buy the Productivity Profits Guide, we will receive a small commission from Grace. To read our affiliation policy, please click here.

As such, we are very excited to announce that we will be offering two free scholarship places on the Handmade Horizons marketing eCourse, starting January 2013 (worth £239 each).

These places will be awarded to a handmade seller in the UK, who meets the following criteria: 

- You have had an online shop for 3 months or more, and feel you need help building your business in 2013

- You have read the Handmade Horizons eCourse outline, and are wildly enthusiastic about taking part!

- Your financial circumstances mean you would not be able to afford to take part in the course

 To apply for the scholarship place, please leave a comment under this post, telling us the following: 

1. Your name

2. Your website / online shop

3. Which three sections of the course would you most benefit from studying?

4. What difference would completing the course make to your business, and your life?

The deadline for applications is 2pm on Sunday, January 26th 2013

Please help us spread the word about this scholarship place. Post a link to this page on Facebook. Tweet it. Forward it to your friends. Good karma will prevail!  

The winner of the scholarship place will be notified by 7pm on Sunday, January 26th. If you haven’t heard from us by then, you haven’t been successful. Sorry.

Hopefully, it goes without saying that you should only apply for the scholarship  if you genuinely do not have the financial means to pay for the course. If you’re just not sure it’s right for you or paying for it would be a bit of a stretch….please give someone who really needs it a chance. We do have an Easy Payment Plan which allows you to spread the cost over five months.

As always – if you have any questions, just drop us a line. And if you’re applying for the scholarship – the very best of luck!

Claire and Polly x

Watch this video to find out why we think this is something pretty important to do. Then download your free worksheet to start the exciting process of defining your brand values!

As always, we’d love to know what you think. So drop us a comment below to let us know, or tweet us using the #handmadehorizons hashtag.

1. Building a Creative Business with Kids: Secrets for Success

2. Tips On Creating Your Successful Craft Website:

3. 20 Ways To Beat Burnout 

4. 3 Amazing Ways That Google Analytics Will Improve Your Marketing

5. How to get more traffic to my website or online shop? Top tips from 11 successful creatives & experts

6. Are You Suffering From Decision Fatigue?

And if you still haven’t had enough of us...

Did you know that we each have our own blogs that we post juicy goodies into on a regular basis? Come and take a look!

Claire’s blog - Make, Do & Sell                   Polly’s blog - Cukooky.com

Limited Edition Anatomical Heart Pendant, £49 by Made by Mother Eagle

“As a handmade seller, you would be a rare person that has either A) never had any problem deciding what to charge for your work, B) never ready an article or blog post about the problem of what to charge for your work, or C) all of the above. I won’t lie – it’s a hot topic. As someone who has been through the fantastic and transformative powers of the Handmade Horizons Marketing eCourse, I thought I would share my 2-pence (or maybe that should be 2-pounds worth ) with you on my reality with the whole thorny issue.

Getting Real about Making Money 

“I recently made contact with a fellow Etsy shop owner who was producing absolutely beautiful hand-embroidered work. To me, her shop had it all – nice photos, unique and authentic brand, unusual and well made quirky items, and a great selection of items at different price points to suit all pockets. And there was the problem. As an embroidery artist myself, I know how long hand embroidery in particular takes. So when I saw cross stitched full size cushion covers, to an original design on sale for a mere £40 equivalent, I just couldn’t hold my tongue. This particular piece would have taken HOURS to make, at least 50 hours solid stitching and that’s working fast. In that case she is charging 80p per hour for this, not to mention materials she’d have used. When I emailed her she admitted she felt her prices too expensive! Ouch.

“I have been there, believe me. This isn’t a finger-wagging preachy post. If you look at the evolution of my brand you’ll see that until fairly recently I was making little felt decorations. Charming enough, but I knew that an item like that would never sell at the price I should have been charging that would have paid me a wage. Handmade Horizons really opened my eyes when it came to this part of my business – I had to face reality that if I want to be serious about Mother Eagle and make some money then I have to stop apologising for my prices.

My Pricing Strategy

Limited Edition Moonlit Hare Pendant by Made by Mother Eagle, £69

” My customer is not someone looking for a bargain, or someone shopping for jewellery at a supermarket – I can never compete with them who make thousands of items in China or India or wherever and can sell them for nothing – so I don’t try and compete. I know I may get less sales with my prices as they are, and maybe it will turn out Etsy isn’t the place for me, but I don’t mind because I want to make the art I want to make and not feel resentful because I’m earning less than if I was doing dishes in a restaurant.

“But on to my pricing strategy. I will be honest, pricing is NOT EASY and it took me a while of playing around to get comfortable with my prices. What I basically do is work out how much my item cost me in materials, I time myself doing the embroidery to work out how many hours it took, then I multiply that by £6.50 which is, in fact, just over UK minimum wage and is the same as washing dishes would get me…! (I know, I know…BUSTED. Here I am preaching about the evils of undercharging and yet I am committing the cardinal sin myself! I have a goal wage that I want to eventually be paying myself but until I get more well known I am comfortable with this. Like I said, not easy). Then I add these two figures together to give me a basic cost price. Then I simply double it and round it up slightly, or sometimes down, to get the selling price.

It looks like this:

Materials + labour = cost of item x 2 = selling price

“An example: My Owl pendant cost be £6.06 in materials and took me 3 hours to embroider, meaning my time cost £19.50. So overall my item cost me £25.56. I double this and add a bit to reach the £59 tag price, which I am comfortable with.

“The reasoning behind this: You may notice I only pay myself for embroidery time; not the time it takes to make the piece of jewellery, time spent photographing, writing descriptions, editing photos, promotion, time spent on blogs and facebook promoting etc (I estimate I spend about 30 hours a week on my business, as well as having a 22.5 hour a week job (which includes washing dishes haha!), a husband, a life etc…. So I am also guilty of not REALLY pricing properly, but you DO have think about what the market will bear. Again, I aspire to be very successful and build a fan base that will either be able to afford my work or will save up to buy something and in the process be a loyal fan and promote me to their friends.

Running a Business, Not a Hobby

“When I initially cost my work I know that this figure means I can breakeven and make the same thing again. Doubling it means it pays for overheads – the computer being on all day, electricity, cost to host my blog, cost of my Etsy fees, all the other things it costs you to make your business decent, like craft magazines, new needles, scissors, courses, books, a magnifying lamp, a good chair or desk or whatever so you don’t hurt yourself sitting in a bad position sewing for hours (done this), PROFIT. (Currently I do not make a profit and in fact am a little in the red as I am still paying off start up costs) I also don’t actually draw my wage from my sales at the moment as I choose to invest them back into my business, but it has to be factored in otherwise it’s simply not a business – it’s a hobby, and honestly I LOVE what I do and would like to be able to only do this one day and provide for my family.

“There are loads of ways of pricing but at a minimum you have to pay yourself something for your time and costs, unless you are just doing it for the love and happiness it gives you – there is nothing wrong with that either – but it’s not a business.

“The bottom line is, when you under price your work you devalue not only yourself and your time but also the perception of hand made art and crafts to potential customers. What you do really matters and you deserve to be paid!

Thank you Katie for a brilliant and thought-provoking post! As Katie says, there are lots of ways to price your work and her pricing strategy isn’t yet perfect. She isn’t paying herself very much for her time, and she’s not factoring overheads into her initial calculation of costs. But this is something she will continue to work on as she develops her business and brand over the coming months. 

How do you price your work? And do you agree with what Katie has to say above? We’d love to know what you think! Leave a comment, or drop us a line via the contact box. And to find out more about Katie and her amazing work, go to www.MadebyMotherEagle.com.  

Hands-up if any of the following thoughts have crossed your mind over the past year or so:

- I’d really like to start earning more from my business, but I simply don’t have time

- I want to start selling more of my jewellery online, but there’s too much competition around

- I’d love to try and get my products into magazines, but they’re not good enough

- I know blogging is a great way to reach new customers, but I haven’t got anything interesting to say

- I’d love to generate a good income from my business, but the economy is on the slide

In fact – if we had asked you what has stopped you from growing your business into something you’re really proud of so far – would you have told us any of these?

If so, we’re here to tell you you’re wrong.

Now before you go back to reading the Sunday newspapers in a huff…. hold on. Because one thing we have both learned from personal experience is that issues getting in between us and success go way, way deeper. The real things holding us back are our hidden fears. Inner voices. Top dog. Invisible scripts. In other words – YOU. Your mind.

This can be a tough concept to deal with, especially if you’ve not given it any thought before. But we get so used to listening to the inner voices chattering away within us – telling us we’re not really good enough to do this, or we’d better not do that in case x happens – we don’t even realise they’re there.

These feelings, these fears, become so deeply ingrained that we never think to question them. We accept them as fact, when most of the time, they are based on nothing except hidden insecurities and fears.

So what if we were to tell you that you can overcome every one of those obstacles mentioned at the top of this article in the next twelve months? That you could:

- Find more time to spend your business

- Make your competition disappear*

- Get your products featured in magazines, blogs and newspapers

- Find countless ways to interest and enthral your customers

- Grow your business in economic hard times?

Would you believe us? We wholeheartedly believe that with the right help, you can achieve all of this and more. But all the marketing advice, training and how-tos in the universe won’t help you build a business you can be proud of, unless you also start to conquer your fears.

Now this isn’t an easy thing to do, and it won’t happen overnight. But if you’re willing to give it a go, here’s what we’d like you to do.

1. Start by answering the following questions – take a piece of paper, think about each question, and write down everything that comes into your head. No self-censorship allowed!

- What are all the things that have stopped you from growing your business as much as you’d like so far?

- What are all the things you worry people might say about you and your products, if you were to start actively promoting your business?

- What do you worry about getting wrong?

- When you think about your business in the context of your overall life, what are your biggest fears?

2. When you have finished, read through everything you have written down, then let us know what are the biggest themes or fears that surfaced when you did this exercise. You can do this by leaving a comment below, or dropping us a line via the contact form.

We promise to respond to each and every one of you, and help you start breaking down those fears one-by-one. So grab a notepad and pen, and when you get a quiet moment later today – dig in!

1. Could you tell us a bit about your background, and how Little Black Heart came about?

I’ve always loved art – as a child I would spends hours and hours drawing and doodling. I left school at 15 with no formal qualifications, and was in full-time employment doing various jobs from then on. None of it was remotely art related – although I still enjoyed sketching in my spare time – but I just drifted along without any clear idea of what it was I wanted to do with my life!

Then last year, my sister was using a few of my drawings for her own business – embroidering them onto her fabric products. People seemed to respond well to the designs, and I just thought “why not put a few on the front of some cards, and see if they sell, too?” -and it’s snowballed from there!

2. What were your biggest fears when taking the plunge and going full time, and how did you overcome them?

After moving house and leaving my job in retail (which was making me miserable!), I was actually spending all of my time renovating our new house. When I first started producing a few cards to sell online, it wasn’t much of a “plunge” for me – just something I thought I could do in my spare time, to help generate a little extra income. My biggest fears were that nobody would like any of the things I made!

3. We love the way you are so active on Facebook. What’s your reason for this?

I use Facebook because it works for me – I can show pictures of any new work I produce, generate interest in the things I have for sale, and easily interact with people who like my work.

4. How do you decide upon the pricing of your drawings?  Is there a magic formula that you use?

My arty friends are always telling me off for selling my work too cheaply. Whilst I fully agree that handmade and original work should cost more than something mass produced in the Far East, I also think that the things I produce should be priced reasonably enough to sell! In general, any original artwork that has more detail, or more time spent on it, will be priced higher than other items. Things like cards and prints, where I’m just running off a copy, will be a little bit less. But I make sure each item is priced at a figure I think someone would be willing to pay for it.

5. And what is it about running your own business that makes the tough times seem worthwhile?

I get to do what I love – what I’ve always loved, and what I always wanted to do, even if I spent many years not realising it! I get to work from home, and draw and paint and make things all day, every day… and I love it!

6. What do you do in your spare time when you are not producing fabulous drawings?

Currently, I don’t have any spare time! I’m still trying to renovate the house (though that’s taken a bit of a back seat while I’m so busy) and I also enjoy doing homely things like baking, growing my own fruit and veg, making things with the produce I’ve grown… good old fashioned hobbies!

7. What’s next for Little Black Heart?

I suppose I would like to take a step back and re-assess things. When I started out, just a year ago, I had thought I would just sell a few cards. Since then things have snowballed somewhat, and I think now it would be good if I took 5 minutes to think about a more cohesive collection of items, and also to see what other products I could produce with my artwork on.

8. If you had one piece of advice for newbie sellers who are just starting out, what would it be?

Don’t expect miracles overnight! It takes a lot of hard work and careful promotion to build up a successful business – and I’ve found that the old clichés are certainly true: what you put in is what you get out! If you’re willing to work hard, you will benefit from it.