It’s come up, and you’ve been flirting with it;  so should you start selling to the public?

In this post I’m not going to talk about business infrastructure, or customer service. I’m not going to tell you to get a Paypal account (though it’s probably best you do) or host a website. You don’t need any of that. You could, in reality, sell products you have in a number of places without any of that. But before you do, ask yourself these three questions:

1. How does my product compare to others on the market?

Crafted products, because of their very nature, don’t have to compete with low quality, cheapmade-in-China garbage. It means you can charge more, but there needs to be an element of quality and uniqueness to your product. Is there? Does your product compare to the crafted equivilants already out there?

Look around in your market. Make sure that your product stands up to what’s out there. Bring something new to the game – if everyone is making the same thing, put your own twist to it.

2. Would people pay money for it?

Those of us who sell crafted products love the DIY. That’s why we craft. Crafts are a product of a combination of things: skill of the maker, time of the maker and materials. Everyone can get materials. There are whole stores out there that just sell crafting materials.

The crafts out there that are worth buying are worth buying because the reality is not everyone can do it themselves . Is your product, while hand-crafted, something someone can easily make themselves?  Or would it require a huge investment in time on the part of the maker? Or  does it a require a specialized skillset?

Dread extensions, as I make them, aren’t particularly hard to make. But they do require a particular capital investment in material and equipment as well as a good deal of time.  My customers buy my dreads because there’s a quality about them that they can’t recreate – whether it’s because they don’t have the time, the technique or both.

3. Are you proud of it?

After you’ve asked the first two questions and answered them honestly, ask yourself this final question. Do you stand behind your product? Are you proud of it?

Think about it: perfect strangers will be seen by other perfect strangers with your product. How does that make you feel? If you are anything less than comfortable with that notion, you’re not ready to sell to the public. If you jump the gun before you’re perfectly proud of what you’ve created, you’re jeopardizing your brand and future for sales in the present, which is not the way to build a business.

Hold yourself to a higher standard and be proud.

Leave me a comment! I’d love to hear what’s keeping you from selling openly to the public!

Thursday’s post: 10 Business Must-Haves for Less than 10 Dollars