You could be eating away at your profits without even realising it. However, there are lots of ways you can make little tweaks to your handmade business in order to increase your profit margin.

I ran a week-long free course a few years back on this topic, and I thought it was time to bring these ideas to you in the podcast.

By following these five steps you will be able to cut out wasted time, reduce your expenses, and therefore increase your profit margin.

For more detail on each point, the links to the course lessons are in the show notes below.

If you have any other ideas for ways that we as makers can cut expenses and increase our profit margins – while still maintaining the integrity of our business – please share them below!

 

 

Quotes and highlights from this Episode:

* 1. Streamline and organise

* Disorganisation will eat into your profits.

* Decrease the time spent to make the same amount of money by being streamlined in your work practices.

* This includes organisation of your digital life.

* Work out what you can do today to become more streamlined and organised.

* Pinterest is a great resource for finding ideas to create a more organised space.

* 2. Plan your packaging.

* ‘Packaging can put a huge dent into your profits.’ {Jess}

* You need to make sure you account for your packaging costs in the cost of your postage or the item itself.

* Make sure you always have what you need on hand and try and buy in bulk.

* Don’t forget to add in the time it takes to package the item.

* 3. Do your calculations and price your work properly.

* ‘You don’t want to be leaving money on the table.’ {Jess}

* It is important to get realistic about how much it is costing you to make your products.

* You need to cover the time you spend marketing and planning not just making.

* 4. Can you make it reproducible?

* This is especially important when selling work online.

* Can you recreate your item?

* If you can it will increase your production capacity saving time on each item.

* These items can then become your bread and butter range.

* Make sure you keep detailed notes so you can easily reproduce work.

* Think about minimising materials used across your product range.

* 5. Buy in wholesale or buy in bulk.

* This will usually involve planning ahead.

* Do your research, are there things you can cut out?

* ‘We always have to place our creative and business integrity above our profit margins.’ {Jess}

* Only you can decide where you can reduce expenses and save money.

 

Download or Listen to This Episode

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