Thoughts on Starting a Business out of Making

Ever so often the idea to make a living out of making stuff pops up in my life. I even went as far as moving to Colombia to pursue a career in making things (and being my own boss) although it was going to be more technical instead of creative: I enrolled in a program to become a dental technician, making retainers, dentures and others to the surprise of everyone who knew me.  I liked making things, but when my work writing and teaching at a local university collided with the class schedule I crunched some numbers about what I'd be making financially once I graduated, I decided not to continue. I didn't love it enough to do it for so little.  

My technical handiwork

I didn't stop making things, though.  In the past, when thinking about making things (and charge money for them) I've decided not to do so. For example, I did the numbers on a hand knit hat a friend asked me to make.  It takes me a few days of knitting to make a hat, there's the cost of materials and the price of my labor. Then overhead. By the time I had a number, it was beyond what my friend could afford. So I just asked her to buy the yarn and I made it for her as a gift.

those i-cords and pompoms took forever

Five years ago, when looking at the craft market, the most I could aspire to was selling to my circle of acquaintances, selling to boutiques as a consignment or trying to get into the craft markets in Latin America. But it just wasn't a market that values hand-made goods as much as in other places, I think mostly because labor is cheap. In Colombia on 2007, I went to an artisan expo organized by the government of Medellin. What I found is that I had a much higher appreciation of what things are worth that was at odds with the reality of the market. For example, this dazzling 78 by 72 inch crochet bedspread made in embroidery thread.  Who knows how many months of time went into it, and how much thread, and the skill to put it all together by hand. The asking price? 400 USD.

87 Inches by 82, for 400 USD

 At the same artists' expo I met a lacemaker, Doña Amparo. She told me about how she had learned to make lace at the age of 5 from her mother. The money they earned from selling the lace made it possible for her to buy shoes or clothes.  So Amparo had a lifetime of experience in a fairly uncommon craft... and the price for the doily was 11 USD.

I was a broke student and even those low prices were out of my range, but those goods would have definitely been underpriced had they been in an international market. While 11 USD is pocket money here in the USA,  in Colombia, that doily will buy a week's worth of food.

All this for less than the cost of the doily.

I am now in a different place and time, and so I went over to Etsy since that's where I've recently bought handmade goods. They have a whole "seller school" series which I've taken a bit of a look into today. I sat through a couple of online Etsy Lab talks, one about pricing goods correctly to make sure your business thrives, and a second one on how to take good photographs of your products.  I'm not sure that I will follow the path of entrepreneurship of handcrafted goods, but if I ever do, I want to do it in a well informed fashion. And in the meantime, I'll polish up on my photography skills: all these pictures above were taken years ago, and my skills haven't improved much since then.