I'm a real creative type and I am always trying out new things, techniques and creating art and crafts in my own home. In the past couple of days I have stumbled completely by chance across an unoccupied niche that I would love to utilise and make a business from.
However, the business side of things is where I stumble a bit. Previously, I was selling some paper-cutting pieces as I absolutely loved it and there was a gap in the market here. I was just establishing myself when someone else came in and hugely undercut me (I was using really good quality materials) and in the end practically ripped off some of my work 
How can I establish myself with a solid reputation and prevent this happening again? I don't know much about copyright and what it covers (and I don't think it would cover the design type, just the content) so I am unsure of how to enforce the rules if it were to happen again.