Common mistakes to avoid when turning your furniture making hobby into a business.
If what you do outside of “work” is your true passion, then why not consider making it your career too? After all, you probably want to love what you do, especially if you’re going to spend most of your life doing it. However, it’s going to take more than just passion to launch a successful business. It’ll take time, dedication, planning, and a bit of risk on your part.
Starting our furniture making business AL + IMO was the best thing we ever did, we feel so fortunate to be able to wake up everyday and get paid to make things that we love. In this blog post we outline some common mistakes to avoid when turning your hobby into a business.
We truly believe what you learn should be shared and it’s our goal to help furniture makers set up and run successful businesses. If you are wanting to turn your passion into profit join us within the Successful Furniture Makers online business and marketing course.
These are common errors people often make when turning their side hustle into a full-time job.
Not having a plan
Going from hobby to business is a huge leap which takes a lot of planning and preparation. It’s important to understand exactly what you need put into place to set up and run a business. Having the goal of ‘getting paid’ isn’t enough, you’ll need to make sure that you can cover your business expenses and your living expenses to be able to move full time into your business. It’s important to continuously evaluate your plans, adapt, change and grow to make sure that your business is thriving and not just surviving.
Creating a product not a brand
Creating a brand people love and trust will ultimately make it easier for you to sell your products. A brand helps create a trust and an emotional attachment for your customers. If you can successfully do this -they’ll be quicker to purchase and will be willing to spend more.
Underpricing yourself
It’s an exciting moment when anyone hands over cash and you get to do what you love, but for a lot of people new to business they don’t take all costs into account and quickly realise they end up out of pocket. It’s hard at first to estimate how long something may take to produce - it takes practice. Make sure that with every new job you track all expenses and time it takes from the very beginning all the way through to completion, then re-quote and update any prices.
Not Researching the market
You may make something and think it’s going to sell really well - you spend all of this time photographing it, putting it online and then no-one buys. This is why it’s so important to do your research first.
Ask yourself these questions & do your research
What are they willing to spend money on?
Who is your customer?
Where are they based?
Where do they shop?
What problem are you solving?
Selling in the wrong place
Understand where your customer is shopping, for example people shopping on Facebook Marketplace are looking for a bargain. Think about where your time is best spent, markets could be lucrative if you’re selling a lower priced product in a very niche setting. For example; a gift product at a Christmas market. People who are looking to invest in a high priced product will generally need more time to research and decide before purchasing which is why it’s important to make a great first impression and create an emotional attachment so that when they are ready to purchase they come back to you.
Not prioritising lead generation
If you’re running a business your number one priority should be reaching new customers daily, the more eyes on you, the more sales you will make. This is where having a marketing strategy comes into place. Relying on word of mouth and hoping that people will discover you isn’t going to work in today’s market. You need to have strategies in place to reach new people consistently.
Not Setting Boundaries
It’s so important to learn what to say yes to but more importantly what to say no to. Think about the end goal and determine what jobs are going to get you closer to your vision and which ones are going to hinder it. Your time is the most valuable commodity you have and you need to protect it. Remember, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Not Having Operational Processes In Place
Running a business is hard work and there are a lot of moving parts to make sure that it runs smoothly. Luckily we are living in a time where we have access to amazing programs to help automate these processes. The sooner you organise the behind-the-scenes of your business the more time you can spend making (which is where you make money). The other important operational process to have in place is a seamless customer service experience to make sure that your leads are being turned into paying customers.
Doing it for money and not for love
If you’re starting a business you better love what you do because it’s going to take a lot of work and determination to get it off the ground and running successfully. You need to fully commit and if there’s no love in what you do the excitement of being your own boss will quickly wear off.
Ready to start your own business?
