The book is about the business side of how to turn your love for woodworking into multiple income streams. It can help you whether you are just starting with a few ideas for making and selling wood crafts or if you
have already sold some of your pieces and you want to grow. Growing usually means expanding your product line and/or your market reach. With this guide, you will discover where to get ideas for making wood crafts in demand and scaling your business to the size you want.
You will learn how to prepare your woodworking crafts for prime time; otherwise the later chapters on finding more shoppers to get your message in front of will be a waste of time and money. No amount of marketing will make a weak presentation convert browsers into buyers.
You will discover pricing formulas used by successful wood artisans that earn you optimal profit margins. You will get tips for transforming your social connections into customers and ambassadors for your handcrafted products. The advice, tactics, and resources here come from my over thirty years of making and selling my handmade products at events and shows, to stores and galleries from Manhattan to Sedona, on Etsy, Amazon, and eBay, and through my gift shop gallery near Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Many years ago, a woodworker friend offered me a job because his business was expanding. Through his friendship with an art broker, he got wealthy clients looking for top quality wood furnishings in their million
dollar homes. We built and installed one mahogany door and frame that my friend billed out at $7,000.
Years later, when I had my gallery, art and crafts made from wood were among the top sellers because their makers used the marketing tactics you'll find in these pages. We sold lightweight wooden Christmas ornaments for around $15, wood framed jewelry from recycled materials for $150, and cedarwood coffee tables for $750. There is a world of opportunities for selling your handmade products. The guidelines in this book will help you learn how to brand your craft business, price your products, set up for accepting payments, sell online at Etsy and elsewhere, scale up via wholesale, and much more. Let's start at the beginning: gathering ideas for things to make. Get profitable from the start by discovering what buyers want and then making your own versions of what's hot in the marketplace.
