So, a home-based scrapbooking business. Is that a good idea or just a waste of paper and sticky tape?
Scrapbooking 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.
I’ve just had an update from Dawn over at ScrapventurePro who has released a very interesting and potentially invaluable new book for people considering – or just starting out in – their own scrapbooking business.
After all, isn’t it worth $7.oo to get hundreds of potential customers to look at your crafts? 
