If you are trying to grow your handmade business, it’s natural to ask
What’s the success formula here?
What’s the secret to “making it”?
Those are very good questions, but unfortunately the answer is much more complicated than the question, because (spoiler here) it’s never just as simple as a one-size-fits-all solution.
And today I want to tell you why, and help you avoid a common pitfall I see many makers make when they are trying to make their handmade business successful.
So, ready? Let’s dive in.
Let’s start out by talking a bit about the problem I see with all of the “one size fits all” promises that are out there – and fair warning, I may go on a bit of a rant because this is something that REALLY bugs me.
When I say a “one size fits all” promise, I’m talking about people or websites selling simplified formulas or blueprints and claiming they are “guaranteed” to make your business successful — suggesting that there is a step-by-step formula that you can follow to the letter, and then “TA-DAAAA!” — you’ll have a successful business.
The fact is, if there was truly a one-size-fits-all formula, then everyone would have a successful business!
No one would work a 9 to 5, there would be no risk, only rewards, to starting a business and so everyone would be doing it (and be successful at it!).
But as you know and I know, that is not the case.
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Now, I want to be clear that I’m not saying that step-by-step videos and courses can’t HELP your business, they definitely have a place in guiding you and helping you avoid costly mistakes as you build your business.
What I’m saying here is that you can’t fit every single handmade business into the same box, and the majority of these one size fits all courses, resources, and advice are trying to do just that, or they’re selling you on the idea that “you won’t even need to think, it’s that simple, we have the secret”— and this can be harmful for your business.
If you look at any one thing as the “fix-all” or panacea for your business, it’s going to cost you more time and energy and money and I don’t want that to happen.
I’ve heard too many people tell me stories of “I did this program or I followed this strategy but it didn’t work for me, it wasn’t for me”.
“It wasn’t FOR ME”, “it didn’t work FOR ME”. That’s the important part here.
No ONE strategy can work for everybody.
If I’m honest, I get mad at the people who do this. I think it’s annoying, and it’s sad, and just plain wrong, and it’s not fair to hardworking business owners who are putting their blood, sweat, and tears into their business.
But I also know that at the end of the day it won’t do you any good to sit and rant about it — if I want to make a difference and change this problem the best thing I can do is convince you to stop looking for the magic pill and help you get back on the true path to success, a path I call the “real work” path.
Now oversimplification is very tempting, right? Because it would make your business simple, and just doing this one thing or those few things would bring you success.
But I want you to think about the extreme level of detail it takes to do what you do. And that detail is different for every handmade business – very, very different!
And so it makes sense that the path to success is very specific to your business and your life.
If you try and use one of these “one size fits all” solutions it’s dangerous, because you’re going to end up applying things inside of your business and your life that are not going to work for you and your circumstances and your goals and the type of products that you are selling.
No one can reduce handmade products to one category that a single business strategy would work for — and if they tell you they can, it’s not true.
There’s an enormous variety of products in the handmade market and they are all going to need different kinds of strategies.
AND even if you compare two handmade businesses selling almost identical products, say both selling aromatherapy candles, they STILL are very likely to need 2 different strategies to become successful. There will be similarities but they won’t have an identical formula to succeed.
That’s because a business is not just DEMAND on one side and OFFER on the other.
In the middle, we have YOU, the maker, the artist, the illustrator, the designer.
And every business owner is different and is going to have different kinds of skills – different kinds of marketing experience or lack of experience, different communication skills, different things they enjoy doing VS can’t stand the thought of, different personal goals, different schedules and life circumstances. This means they will each need different tools and different advice to address their specific skill set and needs.
So each person’s and each business’s approach to success will be different.
Look, I’m not saying that all the business advice out there is bad, far from it, or that formulas and guides aren’t helpful.
I’m just saying that there is too much hyped-up stuff out there that oversimplifies things and worse yet, makes you skip the real work needed for success because it falsely advertises that one magic pill will solve everything.
Building a successful handmade shop takes work.
It can be fun, exciting, creative work, but it’s work.
It takes learning to THINK with a business mind so you can make your own decisions instead of feeling like you’re constantly needing to hunt down the latest “copy and paste, one size fits all” formula.
Yes – listen to those who have more expertise and let their experiences guide you and help you avoid costly mistakes as you build your business… that’s a part of the process…
… but remember that the real magic, true success … is not copied and pasted. And don’t let anyone sell you on that.
You’ve got this!
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Thanks for reading, and until next time, aurevoir!
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