Best Resources for your Crafty Business

I’ve been learning everything I can about running a craft related business ever since way before the days of Etsy. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of good information, and some misguided information. I’ve seen websites and resources come and go, but some of the best have stuck around for years, providing great content for those in need of business advice.

I often get asked the same questions again and again by newbie crafters who want to start selling their handmade goods. Below I’ve compiled some of my favorite go-to resources for running your crafty business. I’ll be adding more information as it becomes available.

HINT: If you like this post, please check out my other site, Creative Business Growth, for more tips & tricks.

If you have a question not covered below, please contact me and let me know. I’d love to help you solve your problem! And if you live in my area, please check out the big list of New Orleans Craft Resources (which also includes NOLA specific business resources at the end).

Free Blog Posts here on Miss Malaprop

- How To Get Your Work Into Stores
- 3 Fixes for the Low Views on Etsy
- 5 Tips for a Successful Handmade Craft Shopping Party
- Business2Blogger – Guest Post Review by Rosalie Gale
- How to Create an Easy Website for your Crafty Business Using WordPress
- How to Create a Facebook Fan Page for Your Crafty Biz
- How To Use Twitter and Social Media to Build Local Connections
- Squeezing Your Advertising Dollars
- Using Local Events to Promote Your Business!
- Very Quick Google Tip for Your Etsy Shop
- Where to Find Good Craft Shows

Communities, Forums & Networking Groups

- Craft Mafia
- Craftster’s Crafty Business Advice forum

- The Creative Empire*
- Hello Craft
- The Switchboards

Craft Business Blogs & Websites

- Crafting an MBA
- Design Sponge’s biz ladies column
- Handmade Spark
- Handmadeology
- Indie Fixx Buzz Blog
- Meylah
- Modish Biz Tips
- ProBlogger
- Smaller Box
- Unanimous Craft

Books

- Fashion Unraveled – Second Edition: How to Start and Manage Your Own Fashion (or Craft) Design Business* – See my post about this book here. I was actually featured in the 2nd edition of this book! I have both the first and second editions, and they are chock full of truly useful information!

- Craft Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco* – you can read my review of this book here.
- Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs* – (Hint: check out the Creatively Self-Employed website & blog for more resources and tips!)

- The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line*
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It*

General tools I love:

- ProPay – whenever someone at a craft show asks me about how to run credit cards, I recommend ProPay. Compared to a lot of other payment processors, they’re really easy to get set up with, and they offer a range of plans with a low yearly service fee and pretty low transaction fees. (They often have special coupon codes directed at Etsy sellers – search around the Etsy forums or do a Google search and try to find a coupon code before signing up.) Once you’re set up to run transactions through Propay, you’ll also need a “knucklebuster” and imprinting slips. I like Mr. Imprinter for both – they also have starter kits available. If you want to go all high-tech, I’ve also heard good things about Square for processing payments through your mobile phone.

- Overnight Prints* – this is my preferred company for ordering business cards and other marketing materials. While you can get your goods overnight if you need them (you’ll pay extra for that of course), they offer a lot of different shipping time options depending on your needs and the price you want to pay. I’ve always been really happy with the quality of their service – I’ve had friends ask me who I get my business cards printed by because they love the quality of the cards! They also offer a really cool VIP program – for every order you make with them, you automatically accumulate points, and once you hit a certain number of points, you’ll reach silver, gold or platinum VIP status and get extra sweet discounts on all your purchases.

- Quickbooks* - a must have accounting software for small business. Save time and streamline your finances. After all, if you don’t know where your money is coming from, and where it’s going, how are you going to create a profitable business??

- Dreamhost* – I’ve been hosting my websites through Dreamhost since 2004. They’ve always provided great customer service when I need it, and I’ve always been happy with their hosting.

- WordPress – This is the free blogging and website building software that this site runs on. For my tips on how to set up a WordPress site, like the one I did for the New Orleans Craft Mafia, as pictured above, check out How to Create an Easy Website for your Crafty Business Using WordPress.

- Feedburner – a free service, now run by Google, that allows you to easily maintain your blog’s RSS feed and see all sorts of information about your feed.

- Thesis theme for WordPress* – This very blog runs on the Thesis theme on WordPress. When I first started Miss Malaprop, I used a free theme which I customized, and that worked fine for awhile, but ever since I switched to Thesis, there’s been no looking back!

- MailChimp* - my preferred service for sending email newsletters. I’ve been using them for years now, and always recommend them to others. They have a lot of free options when you’re starting out with a small list, but their paid services as you grow your list are well worth it too. And sometimes they send their customer free t-shirts! (I have one and I love it! Also, they post links to cute monkey videos!)

- Mozy Online Backup* – What would happen if your computer crashed and you lost all of your most important files and documents? Don’t let that happen! I use Mozy, which is an automated, secure, off-site backup system. For a very low monthly fee, the peace of mind is totally worth the price. (It also makes switching to a new computer much easier, once your old one kicks the bucket. I speak from experience.)

- Small Business Development Centers – seriously, I cannot recommend this enough. If not your local SBDC, there are plenty of other great mentors and resources out there for small businesses, whatever your field. Sometimes it may be tricky for those us of with non-traditional or creative businesses to explain ourselves to those left-brained types, but often it is not as hard as you may think. There are lots of great resources and help out there for small business owners, and the SBDC and similar organizations can really help your business grow.

I hope this helps! If you know of a great resource I missed, or have a question not covered below, please contact me and let me know!

* denotes affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission from the sale. That said, I only ever promote affiliate links if the products are something I honestly believe in and support, and either have used or would use myself.