Crafty Riches part 2

Remember that in our last course, I asked you to write down what you like to do? Well, take that paper out, and let’s go into detail. Think about what type of actual activity you just enjoy doing. Do you go golfing all the time? Do you like to make dolls, or sew, or write, or paint? Think about all the activities you do in your life. Which one of these thrills you the most? Do you like arts and crafts? If so, which ones? For now, write down all of these and any others that you don’t do, but might enjoy. This is brainstorming time! Anything, anything that comes to mind. We will sort them out later.

Note: If you run out of ideas, start putting words into your search box in your computer. Look at what comes up. Maybe something will tweak your ideas or bring new ones forth! This is what I do when I run into a wallJ
I’ll waitJ, just take your time with this. This is your future occupation!

Ok. Now that you have your list, let’s start weeding, and sorting. Look at the ones that really spark your imagination! Just topics right now. Get rid of the others until you have about 5 or 6 topics. Now, look at what you can do with these topics.

Can You:

1.Sell an item, or something like it or with an add on, change it a little make it different?
2.Supplies for it, about it,
3.Information for it, about it, how to do it, etc. or books newsletters, articles. You can write about it yourself, if that is your forte.
4.Teach about it, if you have some specialized knowledge about it. Online you can make a CD, ebook, online course.

5.Create a service business from it. Most of the time you have to do this offline, but some types can be done online.

Finding your idea in this way also helps you learn what area you will be concentrating on, and guess what? This topic or area will be YOUR niche area of the crafts market you will be able to concentrate on! Now you need to check your market.

So,,, let’s get into market analysis

#1. You can go to Google, or any search engine, really. Type in keywords that people would use to find your product. See what comes up! If you find a decent amount popping up. Especially if there are products, books out there, you probably have found an area where you have enough people to make a business out of it. It is great if you have an area that people get decent money for it.

#2 eBay, and see what auctions are going on in your area, and what price people are getting for products that sell in your market area. (Even if you are writing about it, if products are selling at a decent price, this lets you know it is an area people are interested in)

#3 Guess what? There is an even better, more accurate way to do market analysis? You can even get a free 10 day trial!

It is called Product Idea Evaluator and it is a really great program. It tells you exactly what your market is, how big, and if you will be able to make money with your idea! Go to http://www.productideaevaluator.com

Last but not least, is to start learning about your niche and your product. How do you do that?

Look for online resources. If you keep putting in keywords like: Learn about xxxx, or xxxx books, xxxx courses, xxxx supplies. You will quickly find out a lot of resources in your area.

Take courses in your local community center or community college. There are some free online courses that I have found. Maybe there are some in your niche area.
Check out www.about.com It has many resources in the crafts or any other arena.

Buy books and videos to increase your expertise. www.amazon.com is a good place to start.

Sometimes there are specialized sites that cater to your type of craft. And they may have specials on a video or book.

SHHHH

Here is a secret: Do you want to know how to dramatically increase your skill and creativity in your craft?

Passion!!! You need to always keep increasing your knowledge in your area. That is why it is so important to have passion for what you do. If that is where your interests lay, then learning about it is no hardship! This will constantly give you new ideas, bring you new ways to use your knowledge, learn new concepts for making, doing writing about, etc. All of this is in addition to just learning more about the craft itself. Lots of benefits in doing this!

Remember: "God is in the details" A sign of good craftsmanship is how well the details are made.

In Part #3: You will learn how to create your products profitably! And steps you can take to find good suppliers!

Amazon.com
Online books