How to turn your hobby into a business without spending money

I enjoyed making jewellery so much that the upkeep of my hobby was making a dent in my bank balance. I decided I would begin a small business to sell what I made – more to feed my bead habit than to make my millions! Because I was unsure of how this would all take off I did not want to spend money on a website and advertising etc so I tried to do it all without spending a bean! Below are some of my top tips if you are thinking of doing the same thing:

- Get a free website: watch here because there are some very good [and conversely very bad] hosts you can get free websites from. I chose Microsoft Office Live Basics package and chose a .NET domain address which was also free. I have found this package to be more than adequate and would give Microsoft full marks!

- Free Advertising: Try to get reciprocal links going. This can take some time but is worth it. Be choosy as to who you link with – you don’t want to be linked to a site that is disreputable or else it will taint yours. Don’t worry if you are linking to people of a similar trade – crafting is a community and I don’t think you will drive away business. You can also try PLUGBOARDS though it depends whether you personally like them.

- Get family and friends on board: sending out e-mails just letting people know that you have started your business can really help to spread the word. Don’t be embarrassed, people like to look and see what you have done.

- Be prepared to play the long game: don’t expect sales for a while – concentrate on getting you site up and running before you expect the traffic to really come in their droves.

- Use contacts! Do you have a friend or relation that owns a shop/hotel/B&B/cafe? Why not approach them and see if they would mind selling some of your pieces?

- When taking pictures of your crafts don’t worry if you don’t have all the right equipment. My husband took pictures of my jewellery in my daughter’s wardrobe with a desk light and some paper!!! [BE INVENTIVE!]

- Paypal will offer you a free basket checkout – though they will charge commission for the sales. It is easy to use and there is no upfront money which I liked!

These points are all really important but you must make sure that you really take time to perfect your website. It must look and feel professional or there is no point in really taking this further. People will link with a quality website so you need to make yours desirable [if you don’t think this is possible check out www.beadecked.net to see what can be done with NO money spent on the design!].

Good luck! Please e-mail if you have any questions or comments charlotte@beadecked.net