Is Starting a Home Craft Business a Good Business to Start?
To avoid any confusions, in this article I am referring to labor-intensive and time-consuming specialized crafts, and not to hobby crafts involving quick projects.The next is a general assessment that provides some insight into the craft industry. This tool helps identify problem areas that need the most attention and improvement. Next, learn about potential opportunities for the craft business owner. And finally, see some aspects that represent threats to the industry that need constant monitoring.This is a subjective analysis to give an idea of how to perform this kind of analysis for your home craft business start up. You can come up with others that might apply here. Doing this exercise puts things into perspective to find out whether starting a craft business is right for you.Strengths:Internal aspects under your control.1. Low initial investment.2. Work from home business.3. Flexible work schedule.4. Production quality.5. Expertise.6. Unique.5. Exclusive.Weaknesses:Internal aspects generally under your control.1. Lack of access to market research information.2. Lack of business skills and direction.3. Lack of marketing skills and training.4. Inability to product diversification.5. Inability to product innovation.Opportunities:External aspects you could gain control over.These apply to a craft business that will operate online.1. Access to new developing markets.2. Access to international markets.3. Access to targeted niche markets.4. Lower operating and marketing costs.5. Easy tracking of sales and customer records.6. Easy communications with customers and suppliers.7. Additional sources of income.8. Contemporary styling and functionality (in general).Threats:External aspects out of your control.1. Mass production of similar products at very low prices.2. Unfair competition with product imitations.3. Constantly changing market trends and conditions.4. Not a steady demand due to impulse (emotional) buying behavior.5. High quality standards difficult to achieve.6. Difficult to meet product specifications (eco-friendly products).Did this analysis get your neurons firing? Are you already thinking about other aspects that might apply here? Remember this is not final. How would you approach weaknesses and threats? How could you benefit from strengths and online opportunities?
