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Digital Scrapbooking Business – You Need To Know Your S4H And S4O!

May 27th, 2009 By Bob 1 comment

A digital scrapbooking business requires little investment, is relatively easy to learn and has huge income potential. The only area where things get a little tricky and where you need to be just a little bit cautious is when you’re using other people’s digital scrapbook templates or supplies because this is where you run into those dreaded copyright issues.

Image courtesy of Step-By-Step Digital Scrapbooking

Image courtesy of Step-By-Step Digital Scrapbooking

You might think you’ll design all your digital scrapbook layouts and embellishments yourself. OK, but there are already thousands of page layouts, digital scrapbook papers, you name it, available from a wide range of suppliers for just a couple of dollars. You might like designing, I certainly do, but often you’ve got to ask yourself if it’s worth the time to create your own with such a wealth of supplies available?

However, you do have to be just a little bit careful. Lots of online scrapbook stores offer digital scrapbook freebies as samples to entice you to buy. Nothing wrong with that, it’s nice to see the quality of work before you commit. Be careful about using these freebies in anything but personal scrapbooks though.

Sometimes they’ll say that they are OK for commercial use but this is rare. If you want to use them for your digital scrapbooking business, and sell the completed scrapbook, you usually have to pay. At just a couple of bucks a time, why not? You can make dozens of times your money back so why not support the industry you are working in?

This is where we come to those strange letters. What exactly do S4H and S4O mean?

Well they’re pretty similar really. S4H is “scrap 4 hire” and S4O is “scrapping for others” (or scrapbooking for others), both of which essentially mean whether you’re getting paid or not you’re using the digital scrapbook supplies to make scrapbooks for other people.

Occasionally they’ll just make it easy on you and say that you can use the layouts or templates to make and sell digital scrapbooks – but every business likes it’s little codes and acronyms, doesn’t it!

The real point here is that your digital scrapbook business will take a bit of time and effort to build a reputation and arguments over copyright can do you no end of damage. The internet might seem an endless place but once the gossip starts in any particular industry it can spread quickly. Your valuable reputation can be tarnished fast, so when you buy your digital scrapbook supplies make sure you can use them as you want. If it’s not clear, just ask.

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Digital Scrapbooking Business – A Whole World Of Opportunities!

May 27th, 2009 By Bob No comments

A digital scrapbooking business overcomes the one drawback of making a living from traditional scrapbooking, that of geographical reach. What I mean is, however successful your scrapbooking business is there’s a limit to the distance you’ll be prepared to travel to find new customers.

For many people that won’t be a problem. As we’ve already seen, there are ample ways to diversify how you make money from scrapbooking. For some though, the customer-facing aspect is too much of a challenge. For those people, digital scrapbooking is definitely the answer!

Think about the benefits. Even if you have no experience at the moment, you already have a lot of what you need. You have a computer and a connection to the internet so that’s the two most important digital scrapbook “tools” sorted. You might need a little extra software (Adobe Elements is the recommended choice) and you’ll need a blog or website to promote yourself, but both of those require remarkably low investment.

I know what a lot of you will say, “but what about learning the software”?

People can, understandably, have a bit of a phobia about how difficult a new program can be to learn and it is kind of necessary for your digital scrapbooking business! The good news is, not only is the software well known but a number of websites and blogs offer some degree of free tuition like that at Two Peas in a Bucket. If you need more help, for just a few dollars a week there is also full and comprehensive training course available from Step-by-Step Digital Scrapbooking which even includes online videos so you can actually see what you need to do.

But is it really worth the trouble learning digital scrapbooking software?

Well if you want that whole world of opportunities mentioned in the title, yes. A digital scrapbooking business has no geographical boundaries. You can make scrapbooks for people in the next town, the next state, or the other side of the world. There are no travel expenses to hold you back so your creative ability can just as easily be sold in Arkansas, Aberdeen or Australia!

Digital scrapbooking course

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Scrapbook Business – Profit From Your Knowledge

May 26th, 2009 By Bob No comments

If you want to get into the scrapbook business – and why wouldn’t you – there are more ways to make money than just selling your scrapbooks. For a start, have you ever considered how valuable your knowledge is?

Look at the news stand. What’s it selling? Knowledge and information. Look at the bookstore. What’s it selling? Look at the internet. What is it really? It’s the largest collection of knowledge and information ever assembled. Everybody wants more knowledge. Everywhere people are searching for more information.

What’s more, people are more than happy to pay for it.

So the scrapbooking knowledge in your head is a valuable commodity. A lot of people out there are prepared to pay you well to share that information with them.

Teaching what you know about making scrapbooks face to face is one way forward but might not seem the most appealing scrapbook business idea to some people. I’ll admit I’d find it a bit daunting myself. No problem though, don’t teach face to face.

The internet gives you the opportunity to spread your scrapbook information in different ways. You can put together what used to be called a correspondence course. They always used to be done by mail. Now you can do your scrapbook course online. It’s relatively easy to set up a membership site and deliver content digitally. What’s more you can collect the money digitally too!

Running a course is great because it brings in regular income for your scrapbook business. It’s not the only way to make money though. Why not write a book? Books have always been popular and although some thought that the internet might damage publishing in fact there are more books printed today than ever before. You can publish conventionally, although finding a publisher has always been difficult, or you can go the self-publishing route. Places like Lulu.com will handle the actual printing for you. A third option is the digital publishing route, producing your own scrapbooking ebook. Using this method you can set up systems that work while you sleep and pull in profit margins of up to ninety percent!

Although I’ve not yet written a scrapbooking ebook myself, I do plan to do so. If you’ve got the information in your head it would be foolish not to. I’ve co-authored a couple of craft ebooks and after a few months initial work they earn very nicely, year after year, and I doubt if I do more than a couple of hours a month to keep them going.

Some would say that this is the ideal scrapbook business. Write it once, live of the royalties. It might need more than one book to make a full-time income from scrapbooking but virtually anyone can do it and the potential is huge. If you want to learn more, the best book currently available on the subject is Complete Craft Publishing and you can get full info here.

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Scrapbooking Business – Your Slice of $1.4 Billion?

May 22nd, 2009 By Bob No comments

If you’re thinking about starting your own home scrapbook business, it will become part of an industry currently worth $1.4 billion per year in the US alone. What does that mean to you? Well if you want to make a substantial income working from home it helps to be selling something that people want!

Which might seem like an overly obvious statement but it’s something a lot of people don’t consider. Lots of people start a home-based business based on doing what they love. You might wonder what’s wrong with that? It might be exactly what you intend to do.

Well on the one hand, it’s great to be able to do what you love and get payed for it. The challenge is that what a lot of craft people and artists fail to do is research whether there is actually a market out there for what they make. In the field of “pure art” you might say “well I’m just going to paint it because I must” and hope someone will buy it. In the real world that most of us live in, we need to put bread on the table, don’t we!

So your plan for a home scrapbook business can at least tick one very important box. There’s definitely a market for it!

Now of course a big chunk of that scrapbook market is people doing their own scrapbooking. No doubt about it. But even if only 10% is people running scrapbook businesses then that still represents $140 million dollars per annum. How many scrapbook businesses do you suppose there are out there? A thousand? If there were a thousand professional scrapbookers in the USA then we’re estimating that they’re making $140,000 a year each. Not bad money!

Now I have no way of calculating the actual number of people who scrapbook full-time but even if we double that number, which seems a bit high to me, we still get you earning $70,000 a year from your own home scrapbooking business. Now let’s be honest, it’ll take some work. It’ll also take a while to build to that level. This isn’t “get-rich-quick” or any of that nonsense, this is about building a solid, sustainable home-based business. You can see what’s possible though, what’s achievable if you put your mind to it.

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Home Scrapbook Business – Success Is Just A Blog Away!

May 13th, 2009 By Bob No comments

One way for any home scrapbook business to get itself better know is using the power of the internet. It has transformed tens of thousands of people’s small businesses and will undoubtedly continue to do so. Using the internet to sell your scrapbooks can be a bit daunting though, can’t it. There are so many options, which do you choose?

For me there’s nothing easier to put into action, or more powerful, than a professional blog. Even if it’s something you can’t yet handle yourself yet there are companies like FirstMoneyOnline.com who provide a remarkably cost-effective coaching service to hand-hold you through the whole process.

So why a blog particularly, why not a traditional website? After all, websites have been working quite well for businesses for a number of years now!

I suppose it’s down to where you want to spend your time and effort. I’m guessing you want to start a home scrapbook business because what you like to do is scrapbooking, not building websites!

The point I’m trying to make here is that a good website takes a considerable investment of time to learn new skills. There are lots of do-it-yourself sites available that say you can do it all with a few clicks of your mouse but when you analyze it, how often do you see those sites at the top of the search engines? Even a little time invested in a site is still a waste of time if it doesn’t bring you any visitors. Doing the job properly means learning code like html and php if you want to get the best out of it. Wouldn’t your time be more profitably spent making a scrapbook?

A blog, on the other hand, is by its nature something which appeals to the search engines as much as it appeals to potential customers. It’s easy to set up, simple for you to run, very powerful as a way to communicate with both new and existing customers and surprisingly cheap. You can use a free service if you wish, but when you can have all the benefits of a professional scrapbooking blog with your own domain name for about the price of a pizza, I’m sure you can see that it’s a far better option.

Not so long ago people looked at blogs as kind of a way to share what you were doing with friends and family. Not a professional tool at all. That’s all changed now, and plug-in technology means that your scrapbook blog could do everything a website could do and more. I’d go so far a to say that starting a home scrapbook business without a blog would be a seriously missed opportunity!

As for FirstMoneyOnline.com, it’s a service I thoroughly recommend if you need competent, professional help to get your scrapbooking blog started. Don’t just take my word for it though, here’s what a couple of other crafters have had to say…

“ Gosh, it’s exciting to get all this started!… Nice to have someone to bounce the idea off… I’m having too much fun!!”  Sharon at BeadandWireFlowers.com

“I am very pleased with your program and your service and would recommend it to my closest friends. I would like to think that I could have figured this all out on my own, but the time and energy it would have taken has been better spent moving forward more quickly than I imagined and the results would not have been as professional.” Charlotte at TheArtofQuilling.com

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Home Scrapbook Business – Top Tips To Find Customers

May 13th, 2009 By Bob No comments

Number one priority for your home scrapbook business has to be customers, right? You might be a great designer, you might have lots of scrapbook supplies, great ideas, etc., but without customers all you’ve got is a hobby!

The good news is that you have certain advantages over a lot of traditional business models. For a start, many business people are constantly chasing new customers. With your scrapbooking business there’s the opportunity to sell more than one scrapbook to the same client. Births, baby’s first year, weddings and other special events are all great scrapbook subjects.

Another advantage is that you sell something people will love and cherish. It’s not a box of soap powder or an auto part, a scrapbook can become a family heirloom. What’s more, people are likely to show it to friends and family, some of whom almost certainly want their own scrapbooks. There is no better way to do business than to be recommended by a third party!

What about a few other avenues?

How about a scrapbook party? Party plan has always been popular. This could be an opportunity for people to see your work, or perhaps you could offer scrapbooking classes? By diversifying your business like this you can build a consist income. If you only have few scrapbooks to make you always have a steady stream of students.

Moving on from the teaching theme, could you offer scrapbooking classes anywhere else locally? Where I am they have all kind of evening classes people can attend and the organizers are always looking for more teachers. There’s not just the class income, anything that spreads your name is a good idea!

Do you have other crafting friends? Is there something you could work on together to help promote each other? What about attending a craft fair? You can not only display a couple of examples of your scrapbooks but you can take some supplies and work while you’re there. People would much rather see you doing your craft than a static display. They’ll ask questions, which is a great way to explain what you do. Make sure you’ve got some business cards with you!

Beyond that, the internet (and blogging in particular) offer enormous opportunities to get your home scrapbook business better known, particularly if you’re doing digital scrapbooking which doesn’t have the distance limitations for some that traditional scrapbooking has.

Other opportunities to expand your home scrapbook business will occur to you if you just keep it on your mind. I don’t know why but we tend to find the things we’re actively looking for. Make sure you keep a notebook handy though – we have a tendency to forget ideas just as quickly if we don’t write them down!

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Scrapbook Business Success – It’s about Beautiful Memories

May 5th, 2009 By Bob No comments

If you’re anything like me, before scrapbooking this will have been familiar…

You go to a family function (or party, or other event) and think you’ll never forget it. You take some photos. You gather a keepsake or two. You’re sure it’s a day you’ll always remember. Unfortunately the photos and bits and pieces get shoved in an old shoe box or a drawer out of the way. Some things get lost. The memory starts to fade…well it does at my age anyway!

The answer of course is to make a scrapbook. A scrapbook will preserve those memories as fresh as the day they happened.

But if you’re into scrapbooking you already know this!

The thing is, there are thousands of people out there who would love to make their own memorable scrapbooks but just don’t have the time or the skills. What they want is someone who runs their own scrapbooking business to do it for them!

That’s why the opportunity is so great and the market so big. And because each scrapbook you make is unique and your style is unique, there will always be room for you to build your scrapbooking business to whatever size you want to make it.

Just think about it for a moment. You can make a scrapbook of a birth, the first year or two of a child, a wedding, a club, a school, a building project. You name it, you can make a scrapbook about it. How many people would like their personal memories preserved like that?

The market is huge, tens of millions of dollars a year. You don’t need a very big slice of that market to make a very comfortable living indeed… doing something you love anyway!

You don’t need years of experience either. Don’t let that put you off for a moment. You’ll need some examples to show people, of course, but you can soon put a few together, or a collection of scrapbook sample pages.

There are many, many places to go for advice and inspiration. There are a multitude of websites, of course, and lots of useful books which will provide you with all the information you need: how to get started, how to find useful and free materials around the house, where to buy other scrapbooking goodies, how to arrange scrapbooking parties (you could get multiple orders on the same day doing one of those).

If you can draw, that’s one way you can add life to your scrapbooks. Same thing if you can sew. If not you can glue or staple, you can use sticky tape or self-adhesive materials. You can use your pc to print pictures and add titles with lively and attractive typefaces. You can stamp. Whatever type of craft or art you are already into can add something to each and every scrapbook you make – and doing so makes each one unique, a priceless personal treasure or a beautiful individual gift.

Starting a scrapbooking business doesn’t require a lot of space or dedicated tools either. You might want to get a few specialist bits and pieces eventually but most things, scissors, ruler, pencils, etc., you almost certainly have already. As for workspace, a table or even a patch of floor will do when you get started.

Any business takes work and dedication. Many require considerable investment. Fortunately starting your own scrapbooking business needn’t be expensive and doesn’t require a skill set that’s beyond your abilities. With the current huge popularity of scrapbooks there’s never been a better time to start!

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A Home Based Scrapbooking Business – Good Idea…

May 1st, 2009 By Bob No comments

So, a home-based scrapbooking business. Is that a good idea or just a waste of paper and sticky tape?

Scrapbooking paperScrapbooking is hugely popular and like any craft or hobby there are keen amateurs and there are professionals. But what does it take to start a scrapbook business of your own? Is a home based scrapbook business a viable proposition or do you need store-front premises? Is there any money to be made from scrapbooking or will any investment you make end up as waste paper, crumpled ribbon and tangled string?

The answers to the questions above will, to a huge degree, depend on you – but then that’s true of any business. You need skill, passion, drive and perseverance to succeed. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Having said that, it’s clear from even limited research that there is a lot of money to be made from scrapbooking and a home based scrapbook business offers all sorts of advantages over the traditional business model.

If you’ve got this far it’s likely that you are already a keen scrapbook crafter, but perhaps you are looking for more information before you start your scrapbook business? The internet is a great place to search for ideas and while we would never suggest copying other people, there’s a great deal to be said for not re-inventing the wheel. If you can take a popular, apparently profitable product and improve on it then you greatly increase your chances of success. There are also many good books that can help. I’ll admit to being biased here as I’m a passionate reader, but you should consider not just scrapbook business books but also scrapbook techniques and tips books – anything that can increase your knowledge will increase the potential profitability of your scrapbook business. Let’s be blunt – a business is about bucks, and the more knowledge you have the more services you can provide your clients.

But back to that original question. Can you make money from a home based scrapbook business? Let’s look at a few positives and, as we’re being entirely practical, let’s also see if there are any potential negatives.

Big positive number one is not needing business premises which are usually expensive. There are also the associated rates and insurances, maintenance contracts, local byelaws… believe me, I’ve run my own shop and it’s neither a cheap undertaking nor a straight-forward one. Running a home based business avoids all that.

It’s also something that you can, to a large extent, fit around your current commitments. This can be particularly important for those who have children. A store pretty much has to have fixed opening hours but a home based scrapbooking business can be flexible. Another thing with a store is that if you want any time off you more or less have to have staff, even if only part-time, and depending on where you are employment law can be a minefield. Working from home means that you make appointments when you need to and take time out when you need to. You won’t have three or four different people demanding your attention at the same time as can happen in a store, you can concentrate on each client individually and give the highly personalized service that is called for in professional scrapbooking.

So what about any negatives?

Working from home demands a certain discipline. It’s easy to get distracted, but that doesn’t get anything done. It’s a kind of working environment that doesn’t suit everyone, but then not everyone is cut out to run their own business anyway so if you’re this far along the path you’re probably not going to find it too much of a challenge (and it’s OK to bunk off sometimes – we all do it!).

There’s also the need for your own space. It’s easy to think that things can be done from the kitchen table, and that’s true at the amateur level, but as a professional you need to be organised and if you’re making several scrapbooks at once you can soon see you’ll need more than a shared corner of a room. Starting a home based scrapbook business means you can build at your own pace, but it’s worth bearing in mind that when you are eventually successful you will need to think about a dedicated area, even if that’s just part of the cellar or garage. It’s not difficult to sort out, but it’s not something you should ignore.

There’s one final thing that isn’t, to my mind, the greatest fun and that’s paperwork – and I don’t mean pretty bits of decorative paper for your scrapbooks! Getting organised with record keeping for business and tax purposes is extremely important. It’s not something I can go into in this article as it will vary depending on where you are in the world and your personal circumstances but getting the right tax advice is vital and you need to do it at the start to avoid any nasty shocks later on. Someone in your network of friends almost certainly runs their own business, or knows an accountant, so ask around.

Personally I can’t think of anything else that would stop you but if you have any concerns you should check them out thoroughly before you proceed. Ask yourself if a home based scrapbook business is something you really want. If it’s just something you like to do occasionally it’s best to look elsewhere for a career but if it’s something you’re committed to and passionate about, why not? I read a recent article that said scrapbooking as an industry was worth $2 billion a year so go grab your slice! It’s also a business that, by it’s nature, cannot be dominated by big multi-national corporations. Sure, they can supply paper and glue, ribbon and glitter, but creating a scrapbook itself is a personal thing and as such there will always be a place for individuals like you to create their own highly profitable business servicing the needs of people who perhaps don’t have the time, or the skill, to make their own scrapbooks.

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Scrapbooking Business Help

May 1st, 2009 By Bob 2 comments

Hi there!

Welcome to the scrapbooking business blog. If you like the idea of working from home and making a living from your scrapbooking, this is the place.

I’ll start by saying I’ve got nothing to sell you! The idea is that I’ll research scrapbooking supplies, scrapbook techniques and people who can help you starting a scrapbooking business and I’ll let you know about them here

Some of these people might want you to invest a few dollars to build your scrapbook business but then you’d expect to have to do that anyway, right?

If you’ve got any comments or questions, please add them to the relevant post. I’ll be checking by often so you shouldn’t have to wait long for an answer!

Until next time, enjoy your scrapping!
Bob

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