TO BE OR NOT TO BE? CRAFTING: HOBBY OR BUSINESS

I have made art and crafts to sell at shows since I was in my teens. I was raised as part of a large family in Eastern Kentucky. My father was a disabled coal miner, and my mother often worked at odd jobs to help ends meet. She would make quilts to sell at a few local shows, and we sold both honey and molasses from our farm. I loved setting up at the local flea market, at festivals, and farmers markets. We met such amazing people and made so many lifelong friends, it was simply part of who we were as a family.

I started sewing on my grandmother’s antique treadle sewing machine. I learned how to make doll clothes, ragdolls, and sock monkeys. But these were not the first items that I sold.  I figured out at an early age that I could create flower arrangements from dried wildflowers to sell at a local festival. I’m sure that my arrangements, during that time, looked very primitive. But the praise from customers who bought my arrangements encouraged me keep continue creating unique items.

When I entered college, I stopped creating items to sell and instead focused my crafting as a means to produce gifts for family and friends. I remember that when we moved to Louisville and I set up the Christmas tree, I was a little embarrassed that all our ornaments were ones that I had made. One of my neighbors came for a visit and was enchanted by my tree. The next thing I knew, others were stopping in to see my tree and asking if I made ornaments for sale. This in turn started my journey towards crafting items to sale at craft shows.

Until now I have only done one to two shows a year, as a way to pay for supplies. Now I am considering starting an actual arts and crafts business. I have started doing research on how to acquire a business license and other facets of setting up a business.

There are so many things to learn and consider. What is an LLC? How do I do the bookkeeping? Will I be able to use supplies that I already have stocked up for my business? The list goes on and on.

I absolutely love crafting and passing on those skills to others. My husband is teaching himself web development and offered to create this blog site for me. We both thought that creating a blog would not only give us a project to work on together but also may give me the motivation to move forward in creating a business.

The onslaught of COVID brought about my early retirement from a public school system. I, like so many others, found myself lost and displaced. I told my husband that sometimes I feel as confused as I did as a teenager, and recently told my son that I’m having trouble trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up! Closing the door on one chapter of your life and moving into another is frightening and can be very confusing. This is where I find myself at this time. It also makes me think that I can’t be alone. That there has to be others in similar situations.

Trying to figure out how to start a small home-based business is very daunting. I will admit that I have had more than one headache from trying to figure this stuff out. As I go along this journey, I plan to update you as I figure out this process and resources that offer help.

Thanks for stopping by.

Come back soon,

Vikki