In today’s episode, I’m going to take you through a workshop that will help you decide whether you should sell your craft online.

You might find that you prefer to sell via wholesale or consignment in shops, or at markets –  or maybe you can do a mixture of all three.

I love selling online; it suits me and my lifestyle.

Why? Well, amongst other things, I like to have my weekends off – and I especially love the idea of making money in my sleep!

No matter what, you need to have a website and a couple of social media channels but that doesn’t mean you have to sell your products online if that isn’t a good fit for you and your particular product.

Listen in and think about each of the points below to see whether selling online is a good fit for your business.

* It will take you longer to make money.

* Is your item easily shipped?

* Are you happy to sell internationally?

* Is your work easily reproducible?

* Do you value face-to-face interaction over online interaction?

* Do you have the products to do markets?

* Do you like having your weekends free?

* Are you willing to invest the time to take and edit stellar photos?

* Do you enjoy the process of selling and marketing?

* Are you happy to make less money selling to shops?

* Do you have the time or the skills to set up an online shop?

In the podcast, I take you through each of these points in detail, in order to help you consider the pros and cons of each question.

Quotes and Highlights from this Episode:

* If you decide to focus on selling online, it will take you longer to make money; unless you have a lot of money upfront to get your shop running with lots of advertising and marketing.

* Online is more about the long game.

* “Once you’re established and you have traffic going to your site, you’ll make money in your sleep.”

* Consignment and wholesale will make you larger chunks of money but more sporadically.

* If you make small items, selling online can be easy since shipping can be reasonably low.

* If you make large or heavy items then shipping might put off some customers.

* If you sell online, you’ll make more sales if you’re happy to sell your things online.

* “80-85% of my sales are International”.

* It can be really exciting to sell to people overseas.

* Don’t be worried about losing items in the mail.

* “I sell thousands of parcels overseas every year and I have about four go missing. I write these off as expenses and send a replacement.”

* Don’t be concerned about language, use Google Translate and use a disclaimer that you’ve used that service so the customer.

* If you’re going to have a successful online business, you really have to have some items which are reproducible.

* You need to do so much for one listing (photography, description, loading onto the site etc) that it makes more sense to sell the same design over and over again.

* “All I have to do when an item is sold, is make the item and send it. Each item is as close to the prototype as I can make it – and though it might be the ‘same’ as another product I’ve made, it’s still handmade with love.”

* You don’t have to give OOAK products all together, you just need to have a reproducible range too.

* Then you can put your high end creations online when you have the time and passion to create them and not feel like it becomes a chore.

* You can interact on your own terms and in your own time.

* “I don’t even have a phone line, I do all my business via email.”

* If you love face-to-face and you get energy from interactions with o...