Crafters! Set out being intentional

The economy has not been particularly favourable for businesses in recent times. A lot of people complain about not being paid for their work or outrightly having no customers. For most crafters, that can be a huge problem, especially when your craft is viewed as a luxury, not a necessity. Here are 3 things you can do to improve your cash flow.EVENTS: You need to create more avenues for the right kind of people to see your work. Where there’s a crowd, there will be commerce. Find creative ways to show up at exhibitions, marathons, parties and religious programs. Volunteer/sign up as a sponsor to adorn the stage, the compere, your choir/ushering unit, the backdrop, a bus or children’s church classroom with your art. This will definitely get more word around about what you do.

DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF: In ailing economies, unemployment drives many people to businesses with a low barrier to entry. Many craft businesses are that way. If you are a makeup artiste, baker, paper crafter or hat maker, you can attest to that. When there are too many people in a market, the product or service will be commonised. You can differentiate yourself based on customer experience, discounts on purchases, creative product packages, promos and more.
For instance, a makeup artiste could start a video series “Market Makeover” where she shares tips and tricks to improve day time makeup, the places to get the best buys on cosmetics in the market and surprises women in the market with free makeovers for their next ‘owambe’. That way, she creatively stands out from the hundreds of thousands of ‘me-too’ make- up artistes out there.

PARTNERSHIPS: Two are better than one for they have a good reward for their labour. Partnership is a key to multiplication. Find businesses with shared interests like similar target markets or complementary goods and partner to run a promo; improve your value offering or to carry out projects on which you can both leverage your databases and networks.

To your success!