Budgeting Advice for New Craft Businesses

Eileen Bergen Budgeting Advice for New Craft Businesses
BY: Eileen Bergen
www.theartfulcrafter.com

Every crafter or, for that matter, every business person must learn
to control spending from the very onset of the venture. As a
matter of fact, you should not even be in business unless you
have drawn up at least a simple business plan and budget.

Your budget should be grounded in reality and subject to change as
circumstances require. In other words, if you income came in 20%
below your projections, expenses will have to be cut to make up
for the hopefully temporary shortfall.

One serious mistake a small business person makes in a situation
like this is to assume that s/he will make up the income
shortfall and continue the spending side of the budget without
any adjustments.

Most small businesses are undercapitalized to begin with, so it
really pays to be conservative. I have always tried to make sure
that a craft is making enough money to pay for itself before
stocking up on more supplies or new equipment. I try to get a substantial down payment if

an order would require that I
increase my raw material inventory. Everything that I do must be
self-supporting.

Do some research if you plan to add a new type of craft to sell.
Try to determine if there is a market and if it looks profitable.
Again be conservative in your assumptions and start out slowly.

Of course, not everything works as planned. On several
occasions, a craft I thought would sell well didn’t. But because
I didn’t go too far out on a limb buying inventory, the loss was
always minimal. If you’re lucky you can even recycle the materials
into some other project.

As time passes, you will learn what works and what doesn’t. As you
gain this knowledge, you should be making adjustments to your
budget to reflect reality.

This is made much easier by careful record keeping. You can use a
simple spreadsheet or a small business software package. You can
even use paper and pencil if you can’t afford the software.

If you track the cost of your materials, the costs of marketing
your products and the actual income you receive, you will know if
your budget is on track, if you can afford the new tool you want or
if you should stock up on more inventory. You will also be able to
decide if you should branch out or change direction.

The bottom line is that you cannot afford to throw money at your
business. You must try to work around obstacles in a cost efficient
manner. While your budget may reflect a short period of losses at
the very beginning, losses cannot be allowed to go on unchecked.

Careful, consistent tracking and a dynamic budget, one that
reflects reality, should be major tools that you use constantly in
your decision making processes.

If you use them, you should be able to avoid the fate most small
businesses face today - failure.

For more articles on the business of crafting and how to get
started selling your crafts, please visit The Artful
Crafter - Your Craft Business Guide.

BY: Eileen Bergen
The Artful Crafter
www.theartfulcrafter.com

About the Author

Ms Bergen has had a varied career, first as
a special education teacher and then, after geting a MBA degree, as a vice president for a major insurance company. For the last eight years, she has been making and selling crafts.