[Nfb-krafters-korner] Creating a business

Thu May 8 20:13:57 UTC 2014

I'm curious about this too. I've started an earring club among my
friends and it's a lot of fun and challenging. I want to make this
more of a business and be official but the licensing and zoning stuff
and tax thing really gets me overwhelmed. I'd love to hear from folks
who've done it and find out what needs to be done. I've done some
research online but it is all confusing.

As for the details of the crafting ... I collected interested people
from my friends on Facebook. I asked folks to commit to a 3 month
trial period for $20 a month. I gave them a free pair of earrings in
the first mailing.

I purchased padded envelopes, earring cards, and all the materials
needed for the earrings I was making. I'm tapping into the vast amount
of beads I already have and am trying to get rid of. All of the
materials for shipping was super cheap.

Every month, in braille ro print, I write up a description of the
earring I send to the customer.

shipping was pretty cheap, and even going to Hawaii which was the
furthest away, wasn't that expensive. Each envelope was less than an
ounce so shipping was less than $3 per envelope which is why I had my
monthly subscription at $20 a month.

anyways ... I'm happy to hear more from folks who have done this.

Oh yeah, I currently have 7 customers and am always looking for more
people. Eamil me at lmartinez217 at gmail.com if you are interested.

On 5/8/14, minh ha <minh.ha927 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for all the advice. I'm still in colleege so I was thinking of
> making this really small. Does the licensing/tax requirements apply
> even if I'm, lets say only selling 50 dollars worth of stuff a month?
> It does sound really daunting.
>
> Minh
>
> On 5/8/14, Annette Carr <amcarr1 at verizon.net> wrote:
>> Licensing includes zoning and tax regulations.  I know all of this sounds
>> a
>> bit over whelming, but just take it a step at a time and you will get
>> through it and not have any regrets later.
>>
>> Annette
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Nfb-krafters-korner [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>> On
>> Behalf Of Nancy Yeager
>> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 11:28 AM
>> To: 'List for blind crafters and artists'
>> Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Creating a business
>>
>> Min,
>>
>> You also have to check licensing requirements in your state and/or
>> locality.
>>
>> Sorry if this was already mentioned.
>>
>> Nancy Yeager
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Nfb-krafters-korner [mailto:nfb-krafters-korner-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>> On
>> Behalf Of Ramona Walhof
>> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 10:29 AM
>> To: List for blind crafters and artists
>> Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Creating a business
>>
>> Min, you need to figure out how much volume you will be able to make.
>> Then
>> test the market, so you know you are making a product that will move.
>> Packaging and shipping is a matter of calling the post office and UPS and
>> getting rates. You can do this online also.   Of course, you will have to
>> choose some destinations to price as examples, but you can learn their
>> basic
>> approach.  The farther it goes, the more it costs.  UPS will come to your
>> business and pick up items ifyou have enough volume.  I would go look at
>> packaging materials.  IF it is just a few items, retail packaging
>> materials
>> may be best.  But if you will have a lot, then wholesale would be better.
>> There are a lot of large envelopes these days made of durable materials.
>> Write me direct if you like.  My data isnot current, because I closed my
>> business some time ago.  But it included a mail room.
>> Ramona.walhof at gmail.com.
>>
>> p.s.  When you are ready to go, the first thing you need to do is get a
>> tax
>> ID number which can be done by phone.  If you are going to be big enough
>> to
>> hire one or more employees, there is a bunch more paperwork.
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "minh ha" <minh.ha927 at gmail.com>
>> To: <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 11:52 PM
>> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Creating a business
>>
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I am inerested in creating a business for the crafts that I am making.
>>> I was wondering for those of you that have experience in this, what
>>> are the things I should consider before embarking on this. My
>>> boyfriend is a web developer so he's going to make a website for me,
>>> but I'm not really sure what I need to do to get this off the ground.
>>> Packaging and shipping costs would have to be considered, but how do I
>>> go about figuring this out? Thank you so much for any advice you can
>>> give; I'm goign to make this my project for the summer.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Minh
>>>
>>> --
>>> "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
>>> recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
>>> but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
>>> their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence
>>>
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>
>
> --
> "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
> recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
> but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
> their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence
>
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> "Follow NFB Krafters Korner on Twitter: Our Handle is @craftingblind
> Don't have a Twitter account? You can still follow Krafters Korner on
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>