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’ll work for you! I like the idea of the flexibility in hours.

Seriously! PM me if you want!

Though I’m not “vulnerable” enough maybe...

Hi
Thank you all for the responses, it's really helped.

You've suggested things I hadn't considered.

I'm starting small and it's unlikely that I'll need staff but if I ever do then I've a lot more knowledge now.

Even if it ultimately doesn't generate enough income to go self employed it's been a great learning experience so far and I'm lucky enough to be able to invest a little now and if it doesn't work out it's not the end of the world (small inheritance that could have gone on a nice holiday instead, so not money I would "miss")

I am looking forward to, post covid, craft shows, markets etc .

@sinkgirl that some serious talent/ patience there !!!

Do people use them as stencils or just keep them as , frankly fabulous, art ?

yes it can be done. firstly, sounds like you have a unique product. you may wish to test the market first and establish yourself before recruiting.
second, keep spreadsheets. you will need to manage costs, as pp say, of materials, time and also postage. I'm thinking more of posting materials to your future employees. unless you are asking them to front the cost? there are entrepreneur networks that you can likely get answers to questions you're thinking of and probably answers to questions you hadn't. all the best

@Howmanysleepsnow

Seriously! PM me if you want!

Oh my, you do understand she doesn’t even have a customer base placing orders yet? Never mind enough to warrant employing someone else?

[quote dizzycatdance2]@sinkgirl that some serious talent/ patience there !!!

Do people use them as stencils or just keep them as , frankly fabulous, art ?

[/quote]
Thanks - they’re just art, they’re quite fragile so would be wrecked if you used them for anything 😬

I’ve been sort of figuring out my technique for designing them and now I’m moving on to bigger one - I used to sell huge layered photographic pieces which took a lot of time, but don’t have the space now!

@SinkGirl oh wow they’re fantastic! You muse have so much patience

I assumed all paper craft was laser cut nowadays.

@justanotherneighinparadise

I assumed all paper craft was laser cut nowadays.

Sadly most of it is. When I started laser cutters were rare but now they’re everywhere along with home die cutting machines (my nemesis 😂)

There are lots of laser cut maps out there which are basically ripped straight from Google maps. I actually bought some for our wedding anniversary as I couldn’t find any templates, but then decided I wanted to try and make some myself. I design them in such a way that they feel more hand drawn than the laser cut maps and that are more intricate than could be cut on a machine at home.

I sell the templates at the moment so other paper cutters can make these, but I’m working on some bigger, more complex ones to sell now that I’ve got my technique down. Just waiting for my A3 printer 😬

Before that I made layered photo ones which would be very difficult to do well on a machine - you just have to figure out how to find things the machines can’t do (good tip for you OP if starting any kind of handmade business!).

Sorry, didn’t mean to derail!