Set Goals for your Crafting Business and Achieve them in 30 days or less

Right now you might have a number of goals that you need to achieve in order for your business to function on a basic level and then another set of goals which help your business to grow and develop.

The following is a detailed step by step approach for any crafter or cosmetic maker who is starting out and needs to organise their thoughts, actions and just get things done. It may also help you if you are established and may help as a refresher.

Even though different crafters will have different goals and tasks that need to be achieved we will use the goals below as a step-by-step example to make the process more relatable and to bring it alive.

If you are a crafter who wants to sell your products to the public and you are just starting out your initial goals may look like this.

Goal 1 – I need to create enough stock

Goal 2 – I need to get insurance

Goal 3 – I need to comply with regulations specific to my craft/business

Goal 4 – I need to get my products in front of an audience

Goal 5 – I need to create content that my audience will be interested in so that I can reach them, engage them, keep in touch with them and encourage them to buy from my business.

You might decide that these goals need to be achieved within the next 30 days.

In order to do this it is vital that you have a plan/s of action.

We make plans in our day-to-day lives all of the time and often keep these plans in our heads.

Sometimes we write them down.

I advise that when it comes to your business that you keep a diary, note book, electronic note book of some sort and record your goals and plans.

This method of recording your goals, plans and ideas is also known as your trusted system. Your trusted system is vital to your success.

A goal should be broken down into steps or a plan and recorded somewhere.

Approaching your goals in this manner can help you to organise your thoughts, actions and simply help you to get things done.

1. It helps to get things out of your head so that you do not rely on your memory. We already lead incredibly complex lives anyway so it is helpful to record things.

2. When you write down your goals and plans and you can see them in front it helps to make them more real.

They are no longer thoughts in your head, they become more tangible.

This process will also help you to arrange activities needed to achieve your goals into manageable chunks.

Crafting plans of action will help you to identify things that you need to do in order to meet your goals.

t will help you to create lists and timetable that you can stick to in order to reach your goals. Remember poor planning leads to poor results.

So let’s develop plans of action that can help you achieve your goals.

We will use the goals above as examples.

These goals may relate to your situation or they may not but they will help you to understand how to devise a plan of action in order to get stuff done to help you grow your business.

Create enough stock – If you are just starting out and do not have an idea of how many of your products you are going to sell it might be a good idea to make a limited number of products.

The exact number will depend on what those products are.

For instance if your product has a limited shelf life of let’s say 6 months then it might not be a great idea to make 100’s and 1000’s of that one product.

If you are not sure about what your audience will like then it might be wise to add more variety to your shop and have less units of each product.

This will give your customers variety and allow you to work out what is popular without committing to a large investment in one type of product.

Once you know how many units you need to create or buy then set aside time and space to do do this.

Ask yourself

What products am I going to make?

• what products am I going to make?
• when is the best time for me to make products?
• what resources will I need including equipment, materials, recipes and expertise?
• where is the best location for me to make my products?

With this information you can set up a schedule or time table to enable you to complete all the actionable steps in the plan above. Do not delay! You can do this right now.

You might be able to make enough stock in 1 week but this will depend on what you are making.

You may or may not need some sort of insurance in order to sell your products. There are a number of insurers who have affordable options for crafters and small business owners.

One of the main insurers that crafters use in the UK is Ian W Wallace Ltd who are the go to insurers fro crafters.

This is a really easy win because you fill in some forms, provide some info and then pay. This goal can be achieved in less than an afternoon.

I need to comply with regulations specific to my craft/business

Find out if there are any safety regulations or certificates that you will need to put your products on the market.

If you are making cosmetics to sell in the UK you will need a CPSR which stands for Cosmetic Product Safety Report.

There are many cosmetic chemists who are offering this service to small business owners with very affordable and flexible options.

They can also give guidance on labeling your finished cosmetics.

Websites such as the Health and Safety Executive have lots of information including how to make your products safely and what sort of PPE (personal protective equipment) you as a crafter might need in order to make your products safely. They can also be found online.

Candle makers and wax melt makers will also need to test and label their creations and a lot of that information can be found online especially from fragrance and candle making suppliers.

This goal may take longer to achieve. You will need to give yourself time to research.

When you have this information decide on when you are going to create your labels for example? When will you make time to buy your FFP3 mask or filter if that is applicable to your craft?

This process might take a day to a week depending on the task. This would be a good goal to start in week 1.

I need to get my products in front of an audience.

We often believe that making our products is the most important aspect of running a small crafting business but the truth is that this process is only about 20% of the story.

The big conundrum that we all face is how to get my products in front of an audience that might want to buy them. Basically…. How do I get customers?

Well at first you are not likely to have much of a customer base. Yes you can and should set up your own website but it will take a while of hard work and focused effort to build an audience and get traffic to your website.

An easier way to do this at first is to set yourself up on a portal like Etsy.

Etsy and similar portals are a great way of getting your products in front of established audiences who will want to buy from you.

It is very easy to set up an Etsy shop and they make an effort to promote your business and products to help you get sales. Etsy also help you set up your own website if this is an option that works for you.

However remember that even though you can get a lot of custom through portals you do not own them. Take time to develop and nurture your own website. It will pay off in the future.

Do achieve this goal you will need to set time aside to open your shop on your chosen portal. Think of the things that you may need such as –

• bank/card details
• address details
• business email address
• photos of your products
• descriptions of your products
• prices for your products
• shipping prices for your products
• key words or tags that you can add to your products so that potential customers can find you

Setting up your shop on a portal such as Etsy will take some time. It might take a few days especially if you have to create or gather many of the things listed above.

I need to create content that my audience will be interested in so that I can reach them, engage them, keep in touch with them and encourage them to buy from my business.

This is important because it will help to get traffic i.e. customers to your shop so that you can sell more products. Remember, traffic is vital.

Getting online traffic is the equivalent of the number of people that walk past a bricks and mortar shop. This is also known as footfall.

Just because you open an online shop it does not guarantee footfall. The internet is a wilderness and you need to get people to come to your shop. You need to tell them that you exist because how are they supposed to know?

So for instance if your goal is to post more content on social media your process might look like this –

a) Decide on social media platforms or the means by which you will deliver this content to your audience. It might be a good idea to stick to a few that you are happy with.

Creating content is hard work. Make it easy on yourself at first.

b) Need to decide on what sort of content I will be posting. You will need to do research – this might include looking at the type of content that similar companies post.

Also remember that you yourself have a lot of useful information to offer. Just think about the topics or issues that you might be interested in as a customer.

c) Need to gather information and tools needed to make the content

d) Produce the content

e) Decide on a posting schedule i.e. what days of the week and at what time in the day will your content be posted

f) Post or deliver the content

This goal may also take some time. It could easily take a week in order to set up a social media strategy and execute it. Break this process down into chunks.

At this stage develop a system for yourself by turning what you have just done into a timetable of actionable steps.

Then you can simply repeat this process ongoing.

It is also a good idea to create content in bulk so that you always have something in the bag to post and this alleviates some of the anxiety and pressure around creating content for social media.

Turning your goals and plans into checklists that need to be completed within a specific time frame helps to make you more accountable.

Accountability, discipline and constancy are probably the hardest qualities to cultivate. We all have busy lives and many commitments.

It so easy to let things slip especially when they are new tasks and habits that we are not familiar with. But when you are trying to make a new and important change in your life the beginning stages are crucial for long term success.

It is at this stage that you must be vigilant and commit to getting things done.

But remember… you can do this! Just make plans, stick to them and the results will come God willing.