So you've found your passion! You love to make jewelry, sew, knit, draw, paint, paper crafts, the list goes on. And you want to make money doing it, maybe you already have and you've been encouraged to keep at it. For us small or individual business owners it's difficult to advertise and market our product. We typically can't afford it and most of us don't have graphic design skills to do it professionally ourselves. Well there are some things that I think will get you started and get you thinking. Find online places to sell your stuff, but not any old place. The shop has to get a lot of traffic and should be growing in popularity such as Ebay.com and Etsy.com. There are probably others and feel free to share them with me (us).

You can also locate any crafter's malls in your area or find shops willing to take consignment etc. Be sure to design price tags with your name, email, web address, and phone so that you can tracked down for return customers or word of mouth customers. You too can bank on the success of others and add to their success but joining their shop and selling your wonderful creations. If you work a full-time job like me, you can take advantage of donating pieces to fundraisers which also gets your name out there and is a tax write-off. A co-worker and customer recently asked me to donate a few pieces to an auction. I will take this opportunity to brand my pieces well and fluff up the presentation of my jewelry to create more than a visual, but an experience that they won't forget and may cause them to visit my online shop. And my donation is also a tax write-off. What a deal for all. Creating a blog site like this one is also a great way to share your thoughts and ideas with others, create support and encouragement, and showcase other crafters. For instance, when you find a designer who makes something cool, you can blog about their shop, why you like it, where they're located, and overall create support for buying handmade. I know there are more ideas out there, and I'm always learning and trying new things. So pass on any ideas and share with our handmade community and small business owners.