Last week I ran the first of my new 2-day workshops for creative start-ups: Creating a Craft Business.
Four wonderful and inspiring women joined me to talk about their unique crafts and discuss how to turn their talents and passion into a profitable business that pays the bills.
From left to right is Oorla, who designs beautiful and unique silver and gemstone jewellery under the brand Oorla Jewellery; Trudie, a designer who creates beautiful wedding headdresses for her fledgling business Tiaras by Trudie (please visit her lovely new website); Ann from Moe and Me, with a real eye for gorgeous gifts who makes delightful handbags; and Sharon, a talented artist and photographer who has created a collection of glassware and art inspired by the sea, under the name Seaglasse.
There was definitely a bit of a lightbulb moment in the studio on day one when we were discussing financial planning and pricing. There are some simple formulas you can work through to establish whether your craft will ever bring you an income to meet your expectations. Everyone will have different needs financially depending on their circumstances, but the exercises we completed helped to give everyone a realistic picture of what they can achieve, and how they can start making an income from their crafts.
On day two we focused on branding, marketing, and PR tricks of the trade. There was a lot to get through, but we came up with some great ideas for getting famous that don’t cost much money.
By the end of the two days, with heads full of ideas the team left to go and create their own action plans and start to turn the dreams into reality. I am providing feedback on the plans and will be keeping in touch to help keep them all on track with their goals.
I am delighted to say I have received some great feedback on the course, with everyone agreeing they found it inspiring, friendly and worthwhile. Thank you to Oorla, Trudie, Anne and Sharon for taking the time to join me on the course, and i am very excited to see how your businesses will grow from here.
I will be running this course again at the end of Jan/early February, so if you are interested in attending please email me on clare@yarwood-white.com and I will let you know the dates as soon as we have them confirmed. You can see the full agenda for the course here.
The course takes place at the beautiful Medicine Garden in Cobham, Surrey, in the MakeMe! Studio.
