Grow Your Handmade Business

A complete guide for the creative hobbyist who wants to take the next step and quit his or her day job to make a living from a creative passion. Part coaching handbook, part partical nuts-and-bolts guidebook to developing a business plan that will work and be sustainable.

Introduction
Meet the Creative Collective

Part 1: Mapping Your Dream
Chapter 1: Identify Your Dream Business
-What Form Does Your Dream Business Take?
-What Direction(s) Will Your Dream Business Take?

Chapter 2: Dream Business Fundamentals
-Do You Have a Hobby or a Business?
-Where Are You Now, and Where Are You Going?
-Onward and Upward

Chapter 3: Working for Your Vision
-A Business Takes Work, and Plenty of It
-Visualize Your Perfect Workday
-Practice Mindfulness around Feelings
-Why Are You in Business?
-Formulate Your Mission Statement

Chapter 4: TLC
-Just Say No!
-Who Cares? You Do!
-Family Matters
-Take Yourself on a Creative Retreat

Chapter 5: Goals and Intentions
-Keep Yourself Honest
-Determine Goals
-Goals versus Intentions
-Make Reasonable Goals
-Keep Track of Your Goals and Intentions

Chapter 6: Benchmarks
-Measuring Your Success
-What Does Success Look Like?
-Calculating Success One Step at a Time

Chapter 7: Get Some Help!
-Say It Loud and Say It Proud: Help!
-Mentors: Your Business Gurus
-Your Personal Board of Directors
-Build a Brain Trust

Part 2: Planning for Success
Chapter 8: Types of Business Models
-Business Model Defined
-Running Your Business from Home
-Renting a Studio or Office
-Renting a Storefront and Keeping Shop Hours
-The Off-Site Bottom Line

Chapter 9: Business Plan Preliminaries
-What Is a Business Plan, and Why Do You Need One?
-Business Plan Basics

Chapter 10: Do You Manage Your Time, or Does Your Time Manage You?
-Time Management
-Keep Your To-Do List in Check
-Managing Time Is Easier Than You Think

Chapter 11: The Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans
-Getting Started
-Executive Summary
-Who Exactly Are You, Anyway?
-Business Plan Checklists

Chapter 12: Know Your Marketplace (or Marketing!)
-Know Your Industry
-Target Market, Say What?

Chapter 13: Putting It All Together: Your Marketing Plan
-Taking Stock
-Marketing through Advertising
-Marketing through the Media

Chapter 14: What Do You Make, and How Do You Make It? Having a Production Plan
-Ready, Set, Produce!
-Licensing

Chapter 15: Money, Money, Money
-They're Just Numbers
-Numbers 'R' Us
-Numbers Nomenclature

Chapter 16: Budgets and Budgeting
-First of All, What Exactly Is a Budget?
-Monthly Budget

Chapter 17: Profit and Loss
-P&L Overview
-Detailed P&L by Department

Chapter 18: Money and How to Get Some
-Bank Loans
-Grants
-Angel Investors
-Crowd-Funding
-Family and Friends
-Financing with Personal Credit Cards
-Finding a Way

Chapter 19: Making It All Legit
-What Kind of Business Are You?
-Going into Business with a Loved One
-Taxes
-Payroll
-Insurance

Chapter 20: Professional Support and Where to Find It
-Accountants and Lawyers and Agents, Oh My!

Parting Advice
Acknowledgments
Resources
Index