Everyone loves hand-made handiwork. Knit sweaters, caps, mittens, and other items are especially popular. So if you have a talent for knitting, you may have considered selling your knitting for a small profit. But where do you begin? How do you take something that began as an enjoyable hobby and turn it into a small business? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This article will hopefully teach you a bit about how to make the best use of your knitting and sell it in all the right places.
One of the best places to sell your knitting is at craft shows. Craft shows occur throughout the year, all over the country. If you’re really serious about selling your knitting, this may be a good option for you. Here are some suggestions if you’re thinking of selling your knitting at craft shows.
Be organized. Several weeks or months before the craft show, you should make sure that your booth and other fees are paid in full. Also, make sure that you’ve received all the promo literature. Makes lists of what you need to finished before the craft show, your current inventory, sale prices for all of your goods, and what you’ll need to take with you for the show (business cards, brochures, markers, pens, notebook, etc.)
Make your display artistically appealing. Make it colorful, but easy on the eyes, and easy for people to take it all in. Do a ‘dry run’ of your table display or booth at home before the show and have your friends and neighbors tell you what they think of it so you can work out any glitches ahead of time. And take pictures of it, so you’ll remember how it worked on the mornings of your craft show so that you can be ready if you’re in a hurry. Before the doors open to your craft shows, stand back and look carefully and critically at your booth as if you were a customer, and make the time to change anything that isn’t ‘right.’ Also, remember that the purpose of your booth is to sell your knitting, so it should be displayed full force.
Try to get names, email addresses, and/or phone numbers of your customers, so that you can build up some kind of base for sales. A good way to do this is to plan some kind of contest or drawing so that folks who visit your booth have to fill out some personal information.
It’s a good idea to be standing up and looking around once the doors open – it shows that you are interested in perspective customers as they come along. But it’s also a good idea to be knitting, too, so that you are effectively demonstrating your craft.
Remember to smile. Be friendly and helpful, including when people make comments like, "Oh, I could make it myself cheaper than that!" If they could, they would and then they wouldn’t be traipsing around craft shows looking to buy products like yours!
Another great place to sell your knitting is online. You can join a "craft room," where many people display and sell their knitting all together, or you can simply make your own website where you can sell your wares. This is a great option because then you don’t have to haul all your knitting around with you. If you decide to create a website to sell your knitting, it’s important that you remember to put up pictures of each product. Also, be sure to put an accurate description of the product, its care requirements and anything else unique about it. Then you’ll be in business!