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Growing an ART/ GIFT Business ~HELP~
KraftyK
subscriber Posts: 1
Ever since I can remember my mom taught me everything artistic that a person could ever want to learn from sewing to sculpting, sketching, painting, origami and even floral arranging... Since the 80's she's never missed a birthday card or gift for her family members and friends and only recently she finally started to sell her amazing work. With my help, we got a simple website up, worked our first small craft show and now I want to help turn this into a real family business but I'm not quite sure where to begin!
Her website received over 16,000 unique hits in less than 8 months after we launched it. She won a few small contests (scotch.com) and was published in Cards magazine- and she creates the coolest pop-up designs and beautiful gifts she truly deserves her own "brand" that I know people appreciate and would enjoy worldwide!
The biggest problem is that she's not business-minded whatsoever, however she IS wonderful with customer service and very able to handle a sale once it's actually presented to her- she just simply does not seek business! I have experience in marketing and sales but still feel somewhat lost and scared about how to proceed.
Anyone out there- Please provide your insight or experience on how to deal with a gift/speciality custom service business like ours... I think doing more craft expos and what not would be great, but it does require moderate capital to start- but my biggest concern is how to protect her artistic ideas before other people or organizations continue to copy them (which is totally seems like has happened...)
We also have an invention idea that would benefit crafters and are not sure how to proceed...
Thanks for reading!!!
Krafty~
Her website received over 16,000 unique hits in less than 8 months after we launched it. She won a few small contests (scotch.com) and was published in Cards magazine- and she creates the coolest pop-up designs and beautiful gifts she truly deserves her own "brand" that I know people appreciate and would enjoy worldwide!
The biggest problem is that she's not business-minded whatsoever, however she IS wonderful with customer service and very able to handle a sale once it's actually presented to her- she just simply does not seek business! I have experience in marketing and sales but still feel somewhat lost and scared about how to proceed.
Anyone out there- Please provide your insight or experience on how to deal with a gift/speciality custom service business like ours... I think doing more craft expos and what not would be great, but it does require moderate capital to start- but my biggest concern is how to protect her artistic ideas before other people or organizations continue to copy them (which is totally seems like has happened...)
We also have an invention idea that would benefit crafters and are not sure how to proceed...
Thanks for reading!!!
Krafty~
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