Starting a Craft Business

I've been making 1st Communion veils for several local churches for about 7 years now. Each year people from other areas call

and tell me their friends recommended me, and they travel as far as 30 miles to buy my veils.

I would love to start my own business, but it is such a seasonal thing, I'm not sure how it would go.

Do you have any suggestions? Should I try online marketing? I love making the veils, and each one is unique, which is a great because I never get tired of making the same thing over and over.

Of course most of them could be adapted to bridal veils; I'm just not sure about how to market them.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

Marge

I think you’ve found a neat little niche market and it sounds as if your business has grown primarily by word of mouth. That’s a clear indication of strong demand. Congratulations!

Before you plunge into a formal home-based business, please read our articles on tax implications and requirements. If your own business still seems like a good idea, the next thing you need is a marketing plan.

Since your business is seasonal, you can project your inventory needs based on the prior few years’ sales plus something extra that will come from new marketing techniques.

It will be important to have materials on hand and perhaps some veils partially assembled to meet your increased demand. One of the worst things a new business can do is disappoint the customers you spent so much time and effort to attract.

As to what marketing techniques you can use:

1. Get some nice business cards made and distribute them wherever you think your target market may pick them up. Give them to friends and past customers who would recommend you (sounds like there are a lot of those!). This doesn’t need to cost much. You might have a computer-handy friend who could make some for you or there are websites that offer 250 cards free, you pay only shipping and handling.
2. Before the First Communion season begins, look into advertising in parish bulletins and perhaps the diocesan paper.
3. Ask if you can put up flyers in church vestibules and schools.
4. Try to build a network of catechism and other teachers who prepare the children for their First Communion.
5. I don’t know if this is still done, but parishes and schools used to have days when the suppliers could meet with parents and take orders for the children’s First Communion. If so, you want to be included.

Marketing on the Internet could be very good for you if you’re confident you could meet the demand. It costs very little to put up a website. You can even do it yourself like we did.

When you are actually making the product yourself, that and a website would be too much. In my case, I do the crafting and some of the writing; my husband does the "techie" stuff.

But he had no experience, so it really is do-able for anyone with a decent grasp of computers and the Internet. We recommend Site Build It! because you don’t need to be a trained webmaster to use it.

Also be sure to read the articles about websites and website marketing that are included in Your Guide to Selling on the Internet, which you can reach in the for Profit section of this site.

Finally, you mentioned the seasonal nature of your niche and wondered about branching out into bridal veils. That’s certainly a possibility and would help make your business less seasonal. Or, at least, the seasons wouldn’t coincide but would complement each other.

I think bridal veils are a better-covered market than that for Communion veils, which partially explains your success to date. While Communion veils are offered in the Internet starting at $35, bridal veils start at $80. Not surprisingly, there are many more sites offering bridal veils.

Interestingly, when I searched for Communion veils, several sites came up that said they offered Communion veils; but when I went to the sites they didn’t have any. This is another indication of the special niche you have found.

Good luck as you try to grow it!