I'm being naïve about this business idea aren't I ???

[KittyFourPaws]

HI

I have the idea to start as business making craft items and if it goes well expand to have " employees" .

I've designed the items so that they can be made in the home, the skill can be mastered by most.

I'm imagining I would pay on a piece by piece basis, with the "pay" equivalent to £10 ph .

I envision offering employment to those who find traditional jobs difficult to manage. Maybe even referred from SS / charities etc

It would give SAHM / vulnerable etc work in their own time , even grabbing 20 minutes when a baby naps. It is small so in a DA situation could easily be hidden.

Am I living in la-la land ?

There's bound to be masses of issues I haven thought of that will make it unworkable.

Over and above the " Legal" side of things ( pay, taxes) etc what else is going to trip me up ?

Insurance for instance , if it in their own home do I have to provide insurance ?

Thanks

I think you are perhaps being a tad naïve about the whole idea to be honest.

There are not any home made crafts which you will make any money on once you factor in, on one side, materials cost, paying yourself for the time it takes and covering all your other expenses, and on the other, the price that you can sell your makes for.

And there are hundreds of thousands of folk trying to do likewise - you just have to look at the likes of Etsy to see that - trying to make yourself stand out in such a crowd would be a real challenge I would imagine.

I have no answer to your questions but what a lovely idea and I hope you can at least give it a go even if
( which I hope won’t happen ) it doesn’t make you rich ! X

thanks for the replies.

If we can imagine that the craft item can be made for a profit ( I know, I know ) Id love some input on the practicalities of outsourcing like this.

Would people actually do the work ?
Would it appeal to a SAHM ?

Whats your USP? And what does your market research tell you about the industry?

"There are not any home made crafts which you will make any money on once you factor in, on one side, materials cost, paying yourself for the time it takes and covering all your other expenses, and on the other, the price that you can sell your makes for."

Depends on the craft I guess. Though for most crafts I do agree with you.

Will people actually want to buy it?

Is there something similar that people are willing to spend money on?

I like the idea.

Maybe SAHMs with older kids. Those with young children are pretty busy!

An artist friend of mine was employed by a woman who ran a business similar to what you are describing. She had enough work that she employed 2 artists at busy times of year so she was free to do the admin, process orders and mail stuff out. Don't know if the business is still thriving or how much she made from it. Friend was paid about £10ph and worked to fit in with children's school hours, so similar to what you envisage.

USP , I've designed the product myself, nothing else the same out there, I manufacture the main basic element myself.

I describe it as crafted but its more hand assembled , and I've spent a good while making the process the simplest and most robust it can be.

I've produced , on a very small scale , the item and it always gets a really good response , but that's not worth anything in the real world really.

I'm aiming to start small , run it along side my main job, and see how it goes.

I've developed the process with it being done by others in my mind.

biggest question is, is there a market for it? Can you try it out yourself first? If it works profit wise for you then yes it will work for others too?

If it's a small item which most people could make if they tried, how much extra are you expecting people to pay for it?

Because I reckon I'd go as far as 50p.

...which is why JustAnotherSod's assertion is true. There is so much cheap pretty Stuff around.

I’d love to do something like that in my spare time, around my other job for extra cash. I bet there are many like me, in the current climate.

I had 4 under 6 at one point so I know that small kids make life busy :-)

but I'd have jumped at the chance to earn even a few pounds a week making up stuff in front of the TV once the kids have gone to bed. (well the 1/2 hour before I wanted to go to bed !!)

A similar business that sticks in my mind was a lady who made large alphabet cushions. She found seamstresses locally and it became a thriving business selling the cushions through high end shops in London. No idea if the business is still running but I know she had a background in marketing and had lots of contacts.

My mum did similar when I was little. She would get delivered a big box of pieces that had to be fitted together and she got paid per piece. The kids used to help her sometimes and she paid us a few pennies. It was a good way for her to earn money at the time, it didn’t pay well but it was better than nothing. The tricky part was keeping her benefits right while she did this work, because it was by no means a full time job.

I also did card packing for a while when I was desperate for money. Man that was a VERY badly paid job but similar in that you picked up the goods, took them home to work infront if the TV then dropped them back and got paid (peanuts).

Watch the episode of Big Bang Theory where Penny is making "Penny Blossoms". You'd be better off making something that sells for a high margin.

If, and I say , If it makes money then I'd see if it could be outsourced.

This is in the imaginary "it makes money" land.

Think less hand knitted poncho ( never going to make money on that) more Personalized photo mug , takes a bit of skill but time vs profit can be balanced.

But the item I'm looking at is not in a saturated market like photo mugs.

roughly , Materials £1.80, Labor 1/2 hour per item, : £5 , selling £20.

Similar , but not the same, items sell between 18 and 35 ( 35 is to much IMO)

Not massive profit, but within the usual retail 2.4 multiplier.

"If it's a small item which most people could make if they tried,"

No, not without quite a few pieces of fairly large, specialized equipment.

Essentially I make the parts for a "kit" that gets made up , 1/2 hour per item.

Sorry, I've probably missed it. Would people buy the kits, make up the product and then sell them on? Or return to you to sell? Anyway, I think it sounds like a lovely idea and certainly hope it does work. And after this year, bloody give it a go!

Do you already have the large bits of equipment?

I've helped friends out in schemes like this. It's usually a bit of manic fun, dreaming of huge gains and chucking in the day job, usually ends with a sitting room of left over bits & enough money to pay for a takeaway.

But if you have the equipment already, you don't have much, except time, to lose by giving it a go. Rope a few friends in, if it looks like working, sort the rest of the crap out then.

IstandwithJackieWeaver

I love that episode!

One of the problems with employing people is you become an employer which has lots of rules and hoops to jump through. You may find you need to give sick leave, holiday pay, maternity leave etc (obviously all good things that employees are entitled to) but it can be a full time job managing people.
What if people take more than 1/2 an hour to assemble it? Do you pay them less?

You could sell the kits to your "employees" to sell on (but at what point does it all go a bit #bossbabe)