Curious, how many of you are full-time crafters?

[Kirameku]

Hi everyone!

I hope you are having a beautiful Friday! Here it is rainy and grey, can't wait to have a bit of snow to put us in the Holidays spirit... !

In any cases, I'm curious and I would like to know how many of you are doing crafts (here or on some other platform) full-time vs who are doing this part-time.
It's clearly a never ending process but I'm not sure anymore if it's possible to do this full-time because of the never-ending addition of new platforms like Amazone handmade and Shopify just to name a few...

I'm really wondering if I'm going to be being able to provide extra income for my family with this method next year, I keep seeing my sales go down despite my best efforts.
So, dear crafter, what about you?  Are you doing this part-time or is it your full time job? What is your opinion on all this?

I hope you have all been very successful this year!
Wishing you a magical holiday season!
* Maxime *

[Larissa]

Very, very part time.  In fact, right now I haven't been making anything to sell at all.  I need to finish photographing and listing feathers, but that's it in terms of my shops here.  Right now I'm focusing on making an infinity scarf for a gift exchange and then getting back to finishing the bee blanket I'm knitting for me & my husband.

Reef Botanicals is actually getting completely refocused, so that's going to take some time to get properly situated and we're not rushing it.

And Fabric of My Mind, except for feathers, will just have to wait for more stuff until I finish the bee blanket.  There's just too much other life to focus on it right now.

[Nárrína]

For me, I would have to say: full-time business with a part-time income.  Although my business income is not yet to where it can be my sole source of income, that is my goal so I still consider it a full-time business.

[gemlover]

por moi, i do my work with no other work, but it is at best part-time as i retired and have my retirement and social security incomes for living. 

john

[RiverRockArts]

Very much part time.  I also have a full time job.  I could never make it doing this full time.  Sales are nonexistent right now even with a new product.

[MsMartyD]

So do I,  gemlover.    I find that knowing I will  eat and have a roof without working  doesn't do a lot  for  my  willingness to craft.   However,  I do plan to do some stuff today  while the  hubby is golfing.

[Larissa]

I've been doing "selfish" knitting for a gift and for myself, but as of last night I'm working on something a little different.  So we'll see how that goes.

[Kirameku]

@Larissa : RE-focusing your business takes times, it is definitely not something that you should rush. I'm glad to see you have so many lovely projects on the table
I so wish I could knit! Never got the hand of it lol...!

@Nárrína : Totally get what you mean, I think it's one of the key of success
Best of luck!

@Gemlover : Oh this sounds like the best of both worlds Glad to know you can spend your days crafting with no worries!

@RiverRockArts : I hear you dear, times are very hard on everyone, even the large business. If the economy isn't doing so well, I totally get why people are cutting down on extras. I keep my fingers crossed it'S going to get better. Good luck with your new product!

@MsMartyD : I guess it depends on your life schedule, and it eventually is like exercising, you will need to go back to crafting at one point. That would be a relief for me, not worrying about paying the bills and all and craft all day How did your projects turned out?

[Larissa]

@Larissa : RE-focusing your business takes times, it is definitely not something that you should rush. I'm glad to see you have so many lovely projects on the table
I so wish I could knit! Never got the hand of it lol...!

LOL, I love knitting, but there are so many more things I'd like to learn to do & just will probably never have the time.

Eric and I have been working on a whole new logo/design for Reef Botanicals, still incorporating the paw print to represent Reef, but also representing what we do now - a hive, a chicken, and a mushroom.  The tag line is being changed from "handcrafted soaps and other indulgences" to "farm fresh and handcrafted indulgences."

Locally, we'll sell honey, mushrooms, eggs, mushroom growing kits, soaps (a more limited and focused honey & wax related selection) & balms, beeswax candles, and probably other  bee-related products once we get into them (maybe propolis tincture?).  Online, we'll sell mushroom growing kits, candles, and the soaps/balms/etc. 

Once we have a ton, I suppose we may sell honey online as well, but the glass jars and weight will make shipping for those a bit unwieldy, so we'll be selling as much as possible locally first.

We *just* started selling extraneous eggs yesterday, and a friend jokingly asked how much shipping to Michigan would be.  Eric told him $5 for postage and $50 for packing peanuts. 

I did get roped into doing one infinity scarf for a sale (coworker buying it for her fiance, who just got a new coat), and then I'm back to knitting for my own stuff.

Also, I've been adding a line of adult coloring pages to Fabric of my Mind, so that's new and taking time.  But I love to draw, so it's hard to call it "business," really.

[trusk4u]

Very part time for me, especially now.  We moved a few months back and pretty much my sole focus is updating the house we bought. I have made a couple of things, but have not listed anything new. I'm finding it hard to get motivated again. Jewelry is so super saturated and I am not sure the online thing is for me anymore.

[MediumMoments]

My fiance started a candle company after I left my full time job. It is full time for me and part time for her. We try to split up the week for her so that she doesn't burn out.   


I would say that although handmade is a growing market, it doesn't make it any easier to get out there and start making "full time" money.
There are so many emotional hurtles that we had to get past before we even began selling. It takes thick skin to go all in on a passion that is judged/based on sales.


We love what we are starting, but we are lucky that we have saved and planned along with her part time job we make it work.


Hope this helps

[Larissa]

Kudos to you on taking the leap, Travis!  What'd you used to do when you had your nose to the grindstone?

---

Not so much crafting as farming, but our mushrooms have been selling well, and we've been expanding that end of Reef Botanicals, so I'm excited!

[iKnitQuiltSew]

It's full time for me, as I'm in the same category with John Rasmussen and MsMartyD.  My plan when I started this was to have it offset the expense of doing what I love to do.  But each year, my tax return indicates that I did a bit better than the year before.  I do spend most of every day making something (quilt, knits, toys), but if you break it down to how much I make an hour, well - child laborers in Sri Lanka probably are earning more than I am!  But I wouldn't change it for anything, because it make me happy.

Once my husband retires from his full time job, we will be doing more shows.  My things seem to sell much better when the buyer can pick it up/feel it/experience it in person.  Right now, my online sales are about 30% of my total sales.

Good luck to you!  Trust me, the intangibles of being an arts/crafts business is the real reward.