If you’ve ever dreamed of selling your own handcrafted goods and starting a new business, why not begin today?
The most difficult part of this endeavor will be to make the goods, but selling online and drumming up business is really not that complicated. Furthermore, the quicker you get started, the quicker that dough will start rolling in.
If you need a little bit more motivation, though, we get it. Here are the top 10 reasons to start your own sewing business!
Top 10 Reasons It’s a Great Idea
You’ll finally be able to do what you love.
Many people spend their whole lives working at a job that they hate. If you truly enjoy sewing and feel that you have something to offer with this skill, why not do what you love and sew for a living?
Furthermore, as the saying goes, people love doing what they’re great at, which means that they’re generally great at doing what they love.
You can work from home.
If you’ve ever wanted to work from home, now’s your chance. Fortunately, sewing is something that you can do with just a sewing machine, a table and a chair. You don’t need a recording studio or a basketball court to sew. This makes opening your own sewing business the perfect home operation.
You can live wherever you want and make your own hours!
When you do work from home and have your own business, the truly wonderful thing is that you are also your own boss.
This means that you make your own hours and you can live wherever you want. Naturally, you’ll need to take your sewing machine and supplies with you! But this freedom can open your world in a whole new way.
Forget business meetings, annoying co-workers and nasty bosses. You make the rules now. Furthermore, if you have children, working from home is an excellent way to spend more time with them.
Naturally, it can be difficult to work at home while also taking care of your children at the same time. The good news is that most self-employed people end up finding a way to create a good balance of work and home life.
Even if you don’t plan to make it big, it’s a great way to fund your sewing hobby.
Buying a brand new sewing machine is certainly an investment, and often, fancy fabrics and sewing accessories can be costly as well.
In this way, even if you don’t plan on making your sewing business your sole source of income, the money that you do make from selling your handmade sewn goods can still pay for your sewing hobby.
People need seamstresses!
When you are a seamstress, you are in high demand. The skills that you possess are skills that most people don’t have. Yet all people wear clothes, have furniture and curtains in their homes and use other sewn goods on a daily basis.
Because of this, you’ll certainly be needed. Just think of a soon-to-be bride who needs her dress fixed quickly before the big day or a granddaughter who wants to reupholster her great grandmother’s sitting chair. These are things that people need, and they can’t do them by themselves.
Who knows? You may get noticed!
If working for yourself and working out of your own home are not your ultimate goals, starting your own business may still be a great way to get noticed.
If you’re good at what you do, a fashion design company or furniture design business may see your work and see potential. It can be a great way to get hired and make even more money while you continue to do what you love.
You can meet other people who share your interests.
Those who have their own sewing businesses often connect with each other on a regular basis to share ideas. By opening your own sewing business, you’ll be able to meet other business owners and sewing enthusiasts. This can be both good for business and just fun and interesting for you in general!
You’ll finally have an answer when people say “Where can I buy one!?”
If you’ve been making hand-sewn goods for a while now, chances are people have taken notice around you. And your friends, family members and acquaintances may have asked where they can buy one of your pieces of artwork.
If this is the case, with a business, you’ll now have a place to direct them whereas before, you’d have to come up with rates on the spot or risk ending up losing money on your creations.
Especially with online shops, your work is selling 24 hours a day.
You may end up turning your business into a brick-and-mortar shop later on, but even if you just have an online shop, the great thing is that your items will be selling 24 hours a day around the world.
With the Internet, the world of selling handmade goods has never been the same. The digital era is definitely the best time to be selling your own handiwork.
You’ll be rewarded with the knowledge that you’re actually creating something for the world.
Many people go their whole lives without actually creating anything. Everyone’s different, but it can be extremely rewarding to know that you have added something of worth to those around you and to the world at large. Creating hand-sewn goods is an absolutely wonderful way to do this.
Where to Start Your Burgeoning Business
You’ve got the tools. You’ve got the skills. You’ve made some absolutely wonderful hand crafted goods. And you’re ready to sell.
But where do you go from here? You need to be able to market your products and ideas and get people to want them and most importantly, pay for them. Below, I’ve outlined two sites that you’ll want to get to know. Craftsy and Etsy can both be huge resources for getting your name out there and selling your items.
1. Etsy
Etsy is one of the biggest websites for selling your own handmade goods. Some people may sell handmade goods on sites like eBay, but Etsy is all about artwork and crafts, so it’s really the perfect platform.
Basically, Etsy allows you to create your own shop on their website. You list your items by uploading pictures of them and explaining them in detail. You also set your own prices. From there, if someone buys something in your shop, you receive the majority of the money, and Etsy receives a cut.
2. Craftsy
Craftsy is a bit different. Instead of selling actual handmade products as you can on Etsy, Craftsy is a platform for selling how-tos to create handmade items.
In other words, Craftsy offers classes, tutorials, patterns and designs for creating handmade goods, and if you want to make money on Craftsy, you will be the one who supplies the knowledge and sells it.
You can do this by selling sewing patterns that you’ve created yourself or actual tutorials or lessons that you can teach in videos or write out in step-by-step form.
Conclusion
Are you ready? If you know how to sew well and if you’ve already got some unique ideas, you’re more than halfway there. Now it’s time to get serious.
I encourage you to not only get serious about opening up an online shop, but also to get serious about finding the right tools for the job. A dinky sewing machine that was your middle school graduation gift won’t cut it. Get a new model with all the functions that you’ll need for your projects. Our sewing machine buying guide will help!
From there, it’s all on you. Just don’t forget that you can’t become great if you don’t start somewhere.
