You can start a creative business from home today – and we are going to help you out by sharing essential steps on how to do so.
In a research conducted by Americans for the Arts, which was entitled, “Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts,” says that there are 673,656 businesses from all around the country that are involved in the creation or distribution of the arts.
These businesses, in turn, employ 3.48 million people, which represents 2.04 percent of employees in the United States.
If you come to think about it, the creative industry has grown over the years. It’s nice knowing that how people see creative people have changed as well over time.
Back in the days, a lot of people often see creative people as starving individuals. People have always believed that there is no money in anything related to art.
But, that was before. Today, creative people have an equal chance to make a living and earn just like any other working individuals or professionals. More so, they can start a creative business right at the comforts of their homes.
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As we all know, work from home as well as online businesses has become huge over the recent years. We wouldn’t be surprised though if it continues to grow especially with the current situation in the country and all around the world.
Indeed, thanks to technology and the internet, a lot of things have become possible including building a creative business from home.
So, with that said, as mentioned earlier, in the next sections, we are going to share with you a step-by-step guide on how to start your creative business from home, as well as creative business ideas.
If you are ready, then, let’s get started –
HOW TO START A HOME-BASED CREATIVE BUSINESS
Starting a home-based creative business may sound a little scary for some – especially if you have zero ideas. But in reality, it’s actually not.
But before we talk about the steps on how to start a creative business from home, sharing with you a video below by The Futur wherein they talk about how to actually run a creative business. Hopefully, this helps you better understand and appreciate the idea of starting a creative business.
So, to help you start your creative business from home, we are sharing with you the following steps to guide you through:
STEP 1: Find Your Niche
STEP 2: Research the Competition and Your Target Market
STEP 3: Create a Business Plan
STEP 4: Start Marketing and Networking
STEP 5: Process Legal Documents
STEP 6: Set Up Your Shop
STEP 7: Start Producing
Now, let’s dig deeper on what each step means –
STEP 1: Find Your Niche
As a creative person, you probably know how it feels to pursue your passion, right? The same goes when putting up a business — regardless if it’s online or the traditional brick and mortar store. You have to follow your passion, and offer something that you are proud of.
When putting up a business, make sure you offer something that you personally are an expert on or something that you personally love or believe in. In order to do so, you got to find your niche.
What it is that you feel like you excel the most? Is it creating logos? Is it designing a shirt? You go figure it out.
Keep in mind that your business’s success will rely a lot on your ability to offer something that is exceptional in the marketplace.
The creative industry is broad, and creative individuals have so much to offer. Thus the need to stand out.
You do not necessarily have to create a totally new product, though, you can certainly offer the same but with a twist. It can be a matter of style or even the way you market yourself as an artist.
Here’s the thing — every artist is distinctive, and in order for you to find your niche and offer something different, you got to know what makes you special, at the same time, finding the market that values your uniqueness.
STEP 2: Research the Competition and Your Target Market
The next step in the whole process of building a creative business is doing research on the competition as well as your customer base or your target market.
It is important to research other companies that offer products or services similar to yours. Doing so will help you determine their strengths and weakness, and essentially, help you determine in which area you can excel or stand out.
By knowing about your competitors, you get to learn how to improve your own business model as well, and you will understand better where you actually stand in the marketplace.
Additionally, the competition will also give you an idea as to how large the customer base is, which is also a very important aspect when it comes to starting a business.
Apart from researching your competitors, it is also important that you research your target market.
By doing so, it will give you a glimpse of what customers are looking for when it comes to certain products or services (particularly the one you’re eyeing to offer).
Knowing and understanding your target market will also give you an idea as to how you’re going to present your product to them.
STEP 3: Create a Business Plan
Once you have already figured out your niche, research your competitors and your customer base, it’s time to make a plan.
A business plan is essential to help you put your vision or your passion for working. The plan will keep you on track and will serve as your guide as you go along.
There are quite a number of business plan models out there. However, for an online, home-based business such as yours, you can initially create a very basic and simple plan. You can tweak it along the way as the need arises.
Basically, a business plan is composed of your business goals, the different methods or ways on how you are going to achieve your goals, as well as the time frame for achieving your goals. Furthermore, it also includes the kind of products or services you are going to offer.
When creating a business plan, keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be complicated. Keep it as attainable as possible. Eventually, once goals are achieved, you can upgrade and create a more improved plan based on the current need.
STEP 4: Start Marketing and Networking
Normally, marketing and networking are done once everything’s done already. While you can follow that kind of process, you can also consider marketing and networking with people as early as possible.
The moment you have figured your target market, it would be best to start reaching out to them and start making connections.
When we talk about marketing and networking, we do not necessarily mean doing the traditional way — which is going out and holding events or get together.
Since we are now in the social media era, we make use of the online world to make networks and to market our products and/or services.
You can devote a particular time to building a personal blog (which could serve as an avenue to connect with your target audience), through social media platforms, as well as relevant forums online.
STEP 5: Process Legal Documents
Even if it is an online business or a home-based business, it is important to take into consideration the legal issues. At the end of the day, you do not want the state to come running after you, right?
So, as part of the whole business startup process, make sure to consult local law to know if you need to file special tax reforms, obtain business permits and the like, get a license, report, and income, or if you have to get insurance for your creative business.
Again, you do not want to get into trouble with the law, so, the best way to avoid that is to check legal matters as early as you can (even before you launch your business).
STEP 6: Set Up Your Shop
In this stage, you have to start setting up your shop — in this case, your online shop.
Similar to other businesses, to start off your creative business, you have to ensure you got the following staples:
- A business logo
- A website that comes with valuable content
- A blog or a newsletter (which helps keep people drawn to your site)
- Social media accounts
Since we are particularly talking about putting up an online creative business from home, the website and your social media presence are very important. These are your key ways in connecting with your target market, and essentially, in making a sale.
STEP 7: Start Producing
The last, but certainly not the least step is to start producing your product (if you are selling a product).
As a business owner, keep this in mind, to keep your customers coming back, you have to provide them with good quality products or services. That’s one of the secrets to a successful business, in fact.
While business details are important, do not get caught up in it. Remember to not lose sight of the ultimate reason why you put up your business in the first place — that is to create.
HOME-BASED CREATIVE BUSINESS IDEAS
In this section, we are going to provide you with some creative business ideas to help you out as you craft your creative business plan.
Included in our list are as follows:
Craft Store
Putting up a craft store is ideal for those who are interested in supplying multiple art forms.
Normally, craft stores earn from buying craft supplies in bulk and then reselling them at a profit.
Apart from that, some craft store owners make money by designing and creating original, one of a kind arts and crafts products.
Additionally, there are also some that offer sewing or quilting classes as well.
How much you make in this kind of business surely relies on the kind of product you sell. Generally speaking, though, profits vary depending on the cost or materials, as well as the pricing of the product.
Sewing Business
Putting up a sewing business is ideal for people who love creating fashion, at the same time, have a passion for helping people gain confidence by looking their best.
Unlike retail stores, having a sewing business allows you to cater to a larger market. As you know, most fashions are not ideal for all body types and sizes.
While your earning depends on how many clients you have in a week, a month, or a year, to give you an idea, a small single-person sewing business can make an annual income that ranges from $18,000 up to $67,000.
Of course, how much you make will also depend on factors like location, type of equipment used, as well as your experience and expertise in doing the work.
While some sewing businesses opt to have a physical location that is accessible to the market, as a beginner, you can definitely start with doing business at home. Once your business grows, you can eventually move up in a larger space, and hire people to help you cater to more clients.
Quilt Business
A lot of women these days are into quilt making. Well, we can’t blame them, making a quilt is such a fun thing to do.
So, if you someone creative and enjoys putting your creativity through quilt making, then this one’s the best artistic business for you.
Normally, quilt businesses offer both creating new as well as repairing existing quilts. Although we recommend starting with creating customer orders first, and eventually, you can also accept repairs.
Wondering why? Well, generally, repairing quilts are more tedious as compared to creating a new one.
Anyway, most quilts these days are sold at a minimum of $350. The more you get to produce, the higher your income would be.
Clothing Line
Unlike a sewing business, a clothing line is more on the retail side. Meaning, the store creates by bulk (mass production) and for a particular market.
Also, normally, this requires a bigger investment as compared to other types of creative businesses.
Although most clothing lines do have a physical store, thanks to technology and the internet, more and more clothing lines are opening up their stores online, which is more accessible to the market.
When it comes to this kind of business, the volume will determine the final profit.
Graphic Design Business
Of course, when we think about creative businesses or creative people, we always think about graphic design.
Anyone who is into graphic design is no doubt an artistically minded person.
As a graphic designer, you actually have a lot of options. You can focus on providing service to a particular niche, or you can be bold and offer a wide variety of services.
What is nice about having a graphic design business is that it is flexible, and you get to be as creative as you can be (although of course, sometimes, depending on the client, there may be restrictions as well).
Working as a graphic designer in itself is already financially rewarding — but having your own graphic design business is all the more profitable.
According to Glassdoor, a freelance graphic designer’s base pay ranges from $42,000 to $85,000 a year. So, imagine if you put up your own business. Your earning potential is definitely higher.
Jewelry Business
In recent years, handcrafted jewelry has become popular. A lot of people are into it because of the uniqueness of the design, as well as having a one-of-a-kind piece (because normally, there is no such thing as equally the same piece when handcrafted).
Similar to any other online business or any business in general, finding your market, as well as pricing, can be crucial for this kind of home-based creative business. It’s probably safe to say that taking this route requires a lot of faith — but, if you are really good, there is no way your work will not be noticed.
When selling handcrafted jewelry, while you can opt to sell it through social media pages or your own website, one ideal place to sell it as well is Etsy. Etsy is an online marketplace that particularly caters to anything creative and/or artistic.
By selling your work via Etsy, you immediately are connected to your target audience (because obviously, only like-minded individuals will appreciate the kind of products/services offered on that platform).
How much you make in putting up a home-based jewelry business will, of course, depend on the profitability of your work. So, the better your products are, the likely they are to sell, which means a better income for you.
Web Design Business
Last on our list is web design business.
This type of creative business is ideal for technological innovators. Web design is such a huge and very in-demand industry, so you really have to be very good to be able to compete with everyone else.
As a web design business owner, you have to be determined, meticulous, and of course, creative. The competition is huge, and you have to really work on how you get to standout.
Now, as compared to the previous creative businesses we mentioned, having a web design business means endless opportunities to earn.
To give you an idea, a typical web design project usually range anywhere between $3,500 and $40,000. So, imagine if you have 5 or more projects in a year?
From what we have researched, a freelance web designer typically earns around $75,000 a year. Of course, your income depends on factors like experience, expertise, and the quality of your work.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON PUTTING UP A HOME-BASED CREATIVE BUSINESS
You see, there are so many creative business options that are home-based for artistic people out there, and it really just depends on how determined you are in pursuing your passion.
So, given the information we provided, do you find yourself opening your own artistic business venture anytime soon?
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