One of the smartest pieces of advice I ever got from someone in the handmade card business was "You should never be making the cards."This doesn't mean you are forever banned from making cards. It means that if you want to make a living in the handmade card business, make it scalable. You cannot grow if you are the only one making your cards.
There are many great business plan classes out there, but most are service oriented instead of manufacturing oriented. If you plan on entering the card business professionally, and hope to work with sales reps and sell nationwide, here are some basic questions you will need ask youself. Think of this as your one page business plan:
Profit Quiz
Can you physically make and ship 5,000 cards a month by yourself_____?
How much profit will you make on those 5,000 cards (subtract all materials, commission, labor expenses) _____?
If your material expenses are too high, can you lower them with these strategies _____?
How many hours does it take you to make 5,000 cards_____ ? Is it worth the pay per hour_____?
Can you afford to hire other people to make the cards _____?
How much will you pay them to make each card _____?
After you pay them, what will your profit be per month for 5,000 cards_____?
CONCLUSION: You want to aim for at least a 20% profit per card for yourself. If you are shipping approximately 5,000-10,000 cards per month, and your profit is 20% or more per card, it is possible to make a full time income in this business.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More Articles on the Handmade Card Business
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Greeting Card Business
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work With Sales Reps (Updated 2017 paperback) If you like to make greeting cards, this book explains how to get your cards into stores and sell them nationwide. Learn about changing trends in the indie card market and niche opportunities available for artists. Book includes detailed guidelines on pricing cards for a profit, getting professional feedback on your designs, finding sales representatives, pitching your card line to them, approaching stores, and the industry standards you should follow. Information is also applicable to gift items, such as magnets, journals and calendars.
Start and Run a Greeting Card Business From a British author, whose country has a long history of greeting card design, she takes you step-by-step through the process of starting and running your business with lots of useful practical advice to help you, including: - Deciding what type of cards to produce - Finding your market - Dealing with printers - Copyright and licensing - Pricing and profit. Kate's note: Some specs are different (card sizes) since it is UK standards.
Greeting Card Design This volume features a vast array of fun, elegant, simple and imaginative greeting cards designed by internationally-known artists, illustrators and calligraphers. With over 300 full-color photographs of creative, popular, and inspiring greeting card designs, this invaluable sourcebook showcases the very best of what is happening in the industry today. Accompanying text explores the history of the greeting card industry and examines the major contributions from the leading innovative companies.