hobby craft business, still fun?

[Zoe Girl]

I have been making so many things lately, and none of them really are for my family. The goal is to have enough items to put up an etsy store on December 1st (may need a bit more research). So today i was working on one of my dragon puppets and I thought it may become work at some point and get on my nerves. However then while my son had guitar I came up with the celtic knot pattern i needed of a christmas tree for my cards and to see about selling cards on etsy.

Have others had a small side business selling crafts? Have you still loved creating?

[Float On]

Not small side business...just our business and Etsy is one of my venues for selling. Its pretty busy right now, I'm having a great month on there. I'd suggest going ahead and starting your store and keep listing new things as you get them finished. I try to keep 100 items listed. You need great clear photos (use all 5 photo slots for each item). Research. Research. And Research.

[Zoebird]

My friend runs an etsy shop and does well with it. she makes jewelry of all kinds. I've got a couple of pieces from her. :) THey have a sense of humor. LOL She's been doing it for about 3 years now, and since her husband got a promotion and they were able to buy a house for under what they expected, she was able to head home and do it full time. It doesn't make a ton of money yet, but she's happy with the income.

[ToomuchStuff]

How do you advertise it? (not sure how you find it on Etsy, or how you direct others to Etsy) I am the type that things I have enjoyed, became jobs, then work and dread (for example car work). I figure you could slow your advertising (but you can't slow word of mouth) and control some things like pricing to slow you down if needed.

[Dhiana]

I used to sell my jewelry designs on both Etsy and EBay. My ring designs were extremely popular and I ended up backing myself into a corner with my shop. Instead of having a nice big inventory that I made when it was right, each piece was a special order because of the ring size requested. So each time I sold a piece I had to make the ring right then. I became a slave to my bench instead of enjoying it.
So think ahead about whether or not you are going to make each item "just-in-time" or only sell the inventory you have already created.

[Mrs-M]

If I had more disposable time to my name, I could definitely see myself becoming an ETSY seller. Seems like a lot of fun.

[Zoebird]

I used to sell my jewelry designs on both Etsy and EBay. My ring designs were extremely popular and I ended up backing myself into a corner with my shop. Instead of having a nice big inventory that I made when it was right, each piece was a special order because of the ring size requested. So each time I sold a piece I had to make the ring right then. I became a slave to my bench instead of enjoying it.
So think ahead about whether or not you are going to make each item "just-in-time" or only sell the inventory you have already created.

My friend does created inventory. She finds it much easier because she can create when she wants and have fun with it. She will so commission pieces, but they take 12 weeks so she doesn't "slave" to them.

It's very true. That decision does need to be made. :)

[awakenedsoul]

I have a friend who was our dance captain in "42nd Street" in Europe. He used to make these gorgeous quilts backstage. All of the wardrobe women were so impressed. He was really talented. He started selling some craft he was making on EBay. Sorry, I can't remember what it was.) He put up a photo and the next day he had over 400 orders! He told me he and his sister were scrambling to make them. I still chuckle when I think about it...