For handmade entrepreneurs, this is especially challenging because we love what we do so much, it’s tempting to spend most of our time creating things, and not enough time marketing and selling them and planning for the future.  This often results in lots of nice products, but few sales.

If you find yourself in this situation, or want to avoid it altogether, don’t panic. I created a list of 10 specific essentials that will help you focus on revenue-generating activities, without sacrificing your passion for the making the products you love.

1. Develop consistent systems. Systems create structure and help things run smoothly and efficiently, but handmade entrepreneurs, who often start as hobbyists, often resist them. The shift from hobbyist to business owner is a critical one to make — I know because I made it. I want you to assure you that it’s worth it.

Set aside specific days of the week when you will make specific products. This will help you plan how to organize priorities. You won’t waste a moment wondering what to make next. You can even share your manufacturing schedule with customers (wholesale and retail) so they know what to expect.

Use a tool like Google Calendar to plan and schedule blog posts, Tweets and Facebook updates. You don’t have to be rigid, but a basic schedule will allow you to lead your business with more predictability, and you can tweak it you grow.

2. Embrace technology. Each year, business success depends more heavily on effective use of technology. Handmade businesses are very high touch in terms of products and physical interaction with customers, but tend to be less so when it comes to using technology to increase sales. The good news is that I have seen people who were once fearful of technology fall in love with it when they begin tracing sales directly to the use of a once scary tech tool.

Begin by discovering what technologies are used by businesses that are similar to yours. Make a list of 3 or 4 things they seem to use effectively and watch their methods. Adopt similar approaches in your business and put your unique stamp on them.

If anyone with credibility offers classes to help you get started, it’s worth it to buy the instructions. Technology is like arithmetic in the sense that new technologies build on old ones. You will have more difficulty figuring out the new Facebook, for example, if you have never used the old one. The further behind you get on technology, the harder it is to catch up. Don’t delay. Get started today!

3. Don’t identify yourself as a “crafter.” There’s nothing wrong with being a crafter. I’m a crazy girl and I love making all kinds of things. I still make many of my own soaps and cosmetics, but I no longer sell them. Why? Because I’m a crafter, not a cosmetics business owner. Once you start selling the products you make, you are a business owner. Linda Balon Stein of Zosimos Botanicals in Gaithersburg, Maryland, puts it this way:

“The personal care products we sell are handmade, and when people ask what I do, I say I own a cosmetics company. To me, that implies a professional career creating handmade products. Even though I know there are people who make high quality products and travel around the country exhibiting and selling their wares as “crafters,” there is a big distinction between what we do and making crafts to sell at markets and shows. We pay taxes, follow good manufacturing practices, get a merchant account and many of other things that “crafters” may not do.”

Identifying yourself as a “crafter” minimizes your professionalism as a business owner. It does not instill trust when you ask total strangers for their credit card number either. If you want to grow your business, be very wary of using this term to describe yourself.

4. Invest in yourself financially. The reason many people say they don’t have a coach or sign up for classes or attend a great conference is because it costs money. Here’s a different approach. Don’t think of it as spending money on a coach (or a conference or a class). Think of it as investing money in yourself. I host the annual #IndieCruise to so entrepreneurs can MasterMind together in an unplugged environment, and come out on the other end with guns blazing.

The transformations I witness every year are amazing. Coaching, classes, conferences and similar events are experiences that enrich your life and challenge you to push yourself, to maximize your talents, to stretch the limits of your capabilities. What’s life anyway, if you don’t do that? Create a 2013 professional enrichment budget for yourself and make it a point to go to at least one event that will force you out of your comfort zone. Your business, not the mention the world, will thank you.

5. Toot your horn. Many handmade entrepreneurs tell me they are uncomfortable with marketing because it feels like bragging. Well, it is, in a way. If you are proud of the products you make, and your are confident that they are worth every penny you ask for them, then you have every reason to proudly to tell the world what you have to offer.

Share, share, and share some more. It’s not about holding a megaphone and deafening everyone within ear shot. It’s about using your natural personality to share what you have to offer, and you’ve got to do it.

6. Solidify your niche. When I launched Indie Beauty Network, I could have tried to service every single type of small business there was. As an attorney and entrepreneur, I had the background to do it. But instinctively, I also knew that if I tried to be all things to all people, I would drown.

So I decided to focus exclusively on handmade beauty products and that’s that. Since then, we have expanded some to include items like handmade candles, jewelry and baked goods, but our core is still handmade beauty, and I like it that way.

Maggie Hanus of A Wild Soap Bar sells Texas-themed handmade soap in Austin, Texas. According to Maggie:

“Deciding to narrow our line down to “native plant soaps” was the best business decision we ever made! I mean, everybody has a plain old Lavender Soap, but you won’t find many lavender scented Bluebonnet Soaps, which celebrate the Texas state flower and which contain real Texas blubonnets.”

Since starting her business over a decade ago, Maggie has gone from her core handmade soap products to other items including body balm and facial oils.

When you have a niche, marketing and sales efforts are magnified because you’ll know exactly what you are selling, and who you are selling to. You won’t spin your wheels trying to sell everything to everyone. Instead, you’ll invest your energy in selling specific products to specific people who want those products. Score!

Ask most any successful entrepreneur and they will tell you that having a narrowly defined niche is how they built their businesses — and continue to do so.

7. Leverage success in your niche to create new revenue centers. If you have solidified a niche for yourself and your business is on solid footing, you can consider how you can leverage your brand to sell new products, or sell your existing ones in different ways. For example, Tisha L. Morris has leveraged her expertise in feng shui to develop several lines of products, including a smudge spray.

By offering a variety of products in “sub-niches,” Tisha appeals to more people without losing focus. Says Tisha:

“If it is not in someone’s budget to hire me one-on-one, they can access me through an online workshop, an ebook, a hard copy of my book, or my iPhone app.”

A quick word of caution: as you expand, be careful that you don’t introduce complementary products without first making sure your core is strong. If your core is solid, and running smoothly, it may be a good time to consider adding new sources of income that complement your existing niche and create new ways for you to boost revenues.

7. Brand yourself. As your business grows, you will find more people wanting to identify with more than just your products. Your repeat customers will start talking about you *and* your products, and in some ways, the two will merge into a single brand.

Handmade entrepreneurs are in the unique position of making the products they sell. This means that when a customer sees your product, whether you like it or not, they also see you. Take advantage of this by letting people experience you personally as you market your products.

Sharing photos of you in your production studio making things people love to buy is a good way to leverage yourself as a person, as you also promote your products. In time, if you’d like, you can translate this visibility into new streams of income as a speaker, a blogger or coach.

A quick caveat: unless you think you’re the next Thomas Kinkade or Martha Stewart, you’ll want to try to keep some distance between you and your business, so you can preserve the non-you part of your business for the future. If you become inextricably intertwined with your business brand, it could become difficult to sell it or move onto something else in the future. It’s a delicate balance, and there’s a great deal of overlap.

It takes time and practice to find the unique balance of personal brand and business brand that works for you. Take this one step at a time. Evaluate how it’s going each quarter, and make adjustments as necessary.

8. Involve your family members. If you are a business owner with a family, then whether or not you like it, you are not in business alone. My members and laugh all the time about the importance of integrating life and business. As a wife and mother of two, I say:

“If mama is in business, then everybody is in business!”

There are so many practical reasons to be intentional about this … first of all, you family can help you.  They can take products to the shipping office, restock office equipment, help with filing and calendar maintenance, or watch the kids so you can work. These days, many of them can even train you on how to use computer equipment!

Involving family is also important from a teaching perspective, especially if you have children.

9. Find time for fitness Personally speaking, this is the single most challenging part of business ownership for me, and I’m terrible at it. In my prior life as an attorney, I became used to sitting all day long. I was either thinking, writing, strategizing, meeting, deposing or reading, and I did all of it in a chair.

Today, I have all the flexiblity I want and I still find it hard to get to the gym. But there is a distinct difference between how I feel when I’ve worked out and how I feel when I don’t, and I prefer the former. And so does my business.

Whether you’re fit today or not, try to make it a point to do something each day that allows our body to move, stretch, and flex. For me, running usually does the trick. It seems to clear my head and make way for new ideas. After a run, I feel like I can tackle anything — a good feeling when you have to slay small business dragons all day! For you, it may be yoga, tennis, or just walking around the block. Find what works and fit it in as best you can.

10. Collaborate with your fellow entrepreneurs. Now for the most fun part! As your business grows, you will have much more to offer than just your products. For example, if you blog, you’ll have intellectual property. If you Tweet, you’ll have followers. If you publish an email newsletter, you’ll have subscribers. Look for other people with similar appeal and connect with them to create new business opportunities.

For example, my members Mary Humphrey and Alyssa Middleton teamed up earlier this year to write a soapmaking book entitled, “Essential Soapmaking.” Another example is how this month, four of my members teamed up for a Holiday Ladies Shopping Night where local women paid $20 a person to shop and enjoy a Peppermint and Chocolate martinis and crudité. (Notice: they paid a fee to enter the store to spend money … did you catch that?)

Dawn Fitch of Pooka Pure and Simple provided the venue (her retail store), and the goodie bags included handmade candles from Yum Yum Candles, handmade soap by La Shonda Tyree, the “Handmade Soap Coach”, and lip balm from Naturally Good Soaps. Dawn told me that the event was such a huge success that they are going to grow it and make it an annual event.

Collaborations like these help everyone’s business grow, but they cannot happen unless you have something to bring to the table. An audience is a big part of that. After all, it doesn’t do any good to co-host an event with you if you don’t have anyone on your list or Facebook page to announce it to.

A Final Reminder

I am not sharing all of this to overwhelm you. On the other hand, as a seasoned business owner, I feel it’s my duty to tell you the truth about what it takes to be successful.

Do not start tackling all of these things at once. That would be too much.

Select the ones where you are weakest and start there. Add a new goal each month, and by this time next year, you will have advanced both personally and professionally, your revenues should increase, and you’ll be having more fun in your life and your business.

More fun? Yes please!

Handmade Soap Photo via Shutterstock

The post 10 Essentials For Handmade Business Success appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Over the years, I have had numerous in-person, telephone and email conversations with CFSAN representatives. These exchanges have always been cordial, and CFSAN representatives have gone out of their way to offer me and my members an opportunity to share our questions and concerns about how the FDA regulates cosmetics.

The upcoming Cosmetic Microbiological Safety Public Meeting meeting is of critical importance to all cosmetics companies. As you can see from the announcement,

“The purpose of the Meeting is to provide stakeholders an opportunity to present information regarding cosmetic microbiological safety and to suggest areas for the possible development of FDA guidance documents.”

As you might imagine, the nation’s largest cosmetics manufacturers, representing billions of dollars in annual sales, will be present at the meeting with their attorneys, lobbyists, research scientists, cosmetics chemists and other stakeholders.

I also expect representatives of special interest groups, including the Environmental Working Group and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, both of which support federal legislation to overhaul state and federal cosmetics legislation, to be present and possibly offer comments in support of their positions on the pending legislation.

This Will Be a Critical Meeting for Cosmetics Manufacturers

The people who make oral comments live at the meeting will share information of critical importance to all cosmetics manufacturers, yet unless my members attend in person, they will not be able to see and hear what others say, nor will they have an opportunity to request to be heard in person.

This meeting would be important under any circumstances, but is is critically important now because HR 2359: The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 is pending in Congress. That bill contains numerous provisions having to do with the safety of cosmetics, including microbiological testing, preservative systems, ingredients, microorganisms, adverse events associated with microbial contamination of cosmetics and more.

Yet the meeting is not currently scheduled to be live streamed so the public can see and hear firsthand what is discussed. More importantly from my perspective as the leader of a trade organization serving hundreds of companies whose interests will be directly affected by the information shared at the meeting, I am concerned that the meeting is not going to be streamed live.

The FDA Has Live Streamed Important Meetings Before

On November 12-13, 2009, the FDA live streamed Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools (PDF). The live stream link is still accessible online. Along with several of my colleagues, I tweeted and blogged about the event. Even though I’m not in the medical products industry, it was incredibly informative and beneficial to hear the public comments live.

For small business owners, there is simply no substitute for seeing and hearing firsthand what influential industry participants are saying about your industry.

The meetings will take place at the L’Enfant Hotel, which boasts state of the art audio visual equipment and personnel. It appears from the FDA’s announcement that it has contracted with Planning Professionals Ltd. of Allen, Texas, to coordinate the meetings. I’m sure they can work with the hotel over the next few weeks to arrange an efficient and cost effective live stream.

Public Should Mean Public

It is my firm belief that a federal government public meeting is not truly “public” unless everyone with a stake in the outcome has a meaningful opportunity to attend and participate. Today’s technology makes this an easy task, yet so far, no such opportunity is provided here.

I have contacted FDA personnel to request that the proceedings be live streamed. My contact has assured me that I will be put in touch with someone to whom I can make a formal request.  However, there isn’t much time, since the meeting is in a few short weeks, and those weeks include a federal holiday.

Additionally, because the deadline to request oral presentation time is November 10, and the deadline to submit written materials is November 21, time is of the essence. Because of the time constraints, I have informed my contact of my intention to publish this blog post so readers from all industries may share their comments and ideas about how important it is for the federal government to live stream this event so small business owners and the public can see for themselves what is involved in addressing cosmetic safety.

Do you think FDA should live stream this event? Why or why not? If you have experience in this area, is there enough time to set it up?

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Over the years, I have seen thousands of beauty companies come and go. All day, every day, I am assessing, consuming, filtering and slogging through a boatload of industry information. This process allows me to observe the habits of successful and unsuccessful companies, many of which are highlighted in Indie Beauty University, which I host and lead. Not surprisingly, I’ve learned what works and doesn’t work. If you think 2011 is the year you’ll break into the beauty business, or make an existing beauty business more successful, these tips will help steer you in the right direction.

1. Establish a niche.

Many beauty startups invest way too much time researching and perfecting recipes and product lines before (or without ever) identifying a precise niche market. Since everyone uses soap and lotion, it stands to reason that everyone also buys it. But that doesn’t mean they’ll buy it from you, and that’s what matters to your business. Of course you must develop good-quality products before launching, but you have to do it quickly, and you must simultaneously identify your niche.

As good as your products are, someone else’s are better, or even if they’re not, they do a better job of selling them. But if you have a niche, you can “own” a specific part of the market and fill it with people who love not only your products, but also you and your brand. These buyer personas (as David Meerman Scott describes them) have specific problems that can be solved only by specific products offered by you. The process of identifying the problem your products address leads directly to a unique niche that only you can fill.

La Dolce Diva, an Atlanta-based bath and body line by Jennifer Kirkwood, offers a good example of serving a specific niche. Jennifer’s fashion design career took her around the globe. She’s a fun, hip diva girl who loves to travel but, as she says, her heart is always in Italy. From the Italian landscape to the delicious gelato and biscotti, Jennifer knows Italy and she shares her passion through her upscale, high-end products. Products like Almond Biscotti Sugar Scrub, Limoncello Hand Wash, and Gelato Shea Body Butter are aimed squarely at a specific buyer persona — people who see themselves as well-traveled divas.

2. Keep it simple.

There are countless ingredients, fragrances, bottles and packaging options available to you as a cosmetics manufacturer. So many, in fact, that you could spend a lifetime creating fancy products with the latest and greatest ingredients — and still never turn a profit. At some point, you have to decide on something simple and effective, and then market the heck out of it.

Think about it. The market is saturated with companies making ridiculous claims that their products can get rid of wrinkles, keep your hair from falling out, or make your nail polish last forever. You may feel like you have to compete with these claims to be successful, but you don’t.

New Jersey-based Pookie is a good example of this. Started by college chums, the company launched in 2001 with a line of seven scented, colored lip balms sold in silver quarter-ounce tins. (You can see how simple things were by checking out the archived version of their 2001 website.)

Once Pookie established a reputation for delivering quality lip balm, they added the option of buying it in an opaque tube with a top to match the scent and color. Then they added customized lip balm for showers and weddings. Later, they added body wash and lotion. The effectiveness of their simple, measured launch strategy is made clear on the page announcing the new products. It says:

“You’ve fallen in love with our Lip Balms and ColorBalms®. Pookie® is now pleased to bring you Pookamint™, a refreshing and invigorating combination of Spearmint, Vanilla and Peppermint oils that will refresh and nourish your skin!!”

Trying to be all things to all people will send you straight to bankruptcy court, an asylum or both! Keep it simple, establish your platform, and enjoy the process of measured growth that establishes your crediblity and sets up your business for long-term success.

3. Build your network (then participate in it).

One of the most important things you can do when trying to break into the beauty business is to build your network of industry contacts. Seek out events and opportunities to meet as many industry participants, particularly successful ones, as you can. Attend networking events, subscribe to and comment on blogs, tweet and retweet industry information of interest, and contribute original information to the discussion.

The first place that industry professionals look when they want to expand, take on a new project, share a new opportunity or collaborate on a new line is within their own network. For example, last week, Emily Caswell of Maine-based GCDSpa learned of an opportunity to create private-label products for a gourmet chocolate store and shared the opportunity at our large, beauty-industry-focused social networking site. In so doing, Emily made an opportunity easily and efficiently available to thousands of people at once.

You may wish to join the Indie Beauty Network as well, to collaborate with other industry participants and enjoy focused training, networking and resources.

If you are not a part of a few focused communities, you will not be able to connect efficiently with your peers, and you may miss out on opportunities like the one Emily shared so freely.  You’ll also want to connect with beauty bloggers. The best place to do that is at the Beauty Blogger’s Network. It’s great to find so many of them all in one place, making it easy for you to choose which bloggers would be the best ones to develop relationships with.

4. Remember that the media is you!

After 11+ years in business, I am absolutely persuaded that you are the best media outlet for your business. I teach these principles in The Media Is You Workshops online and nationwide. It’s great to be featured in the pages of the nation’s top women’s magazines, but nothing provides the depth, consistency and richness of experience needed to maintain a strong market position like branded magazines, books newsletter, podcasts, Twitter streams, Facebook pages, etc., that allow your customers to connect with you on their terms whenever they are ready to hear from you.

There are so many social media tools, and you must be careful not to use them just to use them. I’m not saying you should not experiment. You should; that’s how you learn. But time is money, and your experimentation should be to specific ends. Here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing.

Brambleberry a Bellingham, Washington, online retailer of soap-making ingredients, makes videos to show people how to make soaps using the ingredients she sells. Each video is posted at her YouTube page, tweeted, and added to FaceBook and her blog. Her community members often use the embed code to share her videos at their blogs.

Brambleberry has over 5,000 people at her FaceBook Page — all of them chatting it up about soap and looking to the company to provide guidance, encouragement and inspiration. Over the past few years, Brambleberry’s use of social media has allowed it to cut public relations and traditional advertising costs, making the business more profitable than ever.

Video is not the only way to skin the media production cat. Take Texas-based LA Minerals, for example. At first frustrated by Twitter, Lorraine stuck with it. Today, she says the key is “giving your followers a reason to click or retweet.” I couldn’t agree more. As Lorraine suggests, “mix personal, light-hearted stuff with information, news and links to your blog.” As Lorraine knows, it takes consistency and focus, and the ever-increasing amount of engagement she sparks at her Twitter page is proof.

Also consider Soapylove, the San Diego company that publishes an ezine of the same name. Created using the inexpensive Microsoft Publisher software program, the ezine includes soapmaking techniques and how-to articles, and features photographs taken by Debbie Chialtas, Soapylove’s founder.

You might also consider these innovative beauty companies: Joan Morais’s ebooks, and Elin Criswell’s newly released soapmaking book.

And since beauty products are more than soap and lotion, check out Virginia-based Charlene Sevier’s Flickr stream showcasing her beautiful handmade jewelry. Each of these business leaders has selected media that works best to accomplish their specific goals within their niche. You can do this too!

Just remember that there is no magic bullet. The idea is to publish information that is meaningful to people in your network, including your customers, industry colleagues and women in general. Create a system that gets results for you by repeating what works well and not repeating what doesn’t. Connect with industry friends (see the importance of a network, above) to discover what works best for others. Engage people who care about the same things you care about, and your efforts will pay off in increased visibility and more sales!

6. Leverage new opportunities.

Most beauty startups tend to manufacture products they use themselves, overlooking market opportunities in plain sight. For example, according to a recent article published by Euromonitor, a global market watchdog, the men’s grooming market is “relatively small and easy to break into.” While that article focuses on opportunities for multinational companies like Procter & Gamble, the same holds true for small and independent startups. Don’t limit your options by making only products you would use.

Another option is to add a unique spin on an existing type of product. For example, Berkeley, California-based Ganache For Lips takes the simple combination of ingredients in lip balm to a new level by adding gourmet Scharffen Berger unsweetened chocolate to the mix. All the other ingredients are commonly found in dozens of lip balms sold by thousands of companies every day. By adding one simple ingredient, the company is making a potentially mundane product more exciting — and is able to increase profit margins as a result. After all, you can charge more for a tube of lip balm containing chocolate than you can for one that does not — yet it takes the same basic amount of effort to make each product.

7. Keep up with regulations and trends.

Contrary to numerous erroneous reports by traditional media and bloggers across the Web, cosmetics manufacturers and products are regulated by federal law pursuant to the U.S. Food, Drug & Cosmetics Act, which is enforced by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and sometimes via state law as well. Use of the term “organic” on a beauty product labels is governed by the U.S. Department Of Agriculture’s National Organic Program.

(Check for any state laws as well. While there are very few of them, you should be proactive about finding out whether you live in a state that regulates cosmetics companies at the local level.) Read the regulations, understand them and make sure you follow them. Not only will this keep you out of trouble, but it will also build your credibility in the industry.

One way to keep up with regulatory and industry trends is to subscribe to industry trade publications, some of which are free. A few examples are Global Cosmetics Industry, Happi Magazine and Beauty Packaging Magazine.

These are easy and inexpensive ways to continually read up on new and coming trends, including things like eco-packaging and green ingredient and manufacturing options.

While product liability insurance is not required, it is a good idea to procure at least $1 million in coverage so you can operate your business knowing you can protect your assets if someone claims to have been damaged by one of your products.

Join the fun!

Like all other industries, the beauty industry is expanding at a rapid clip. It is advancing and changing very quickly, with new competitors, products, services, ingredients and services arriving on the scene each day. If 2011 is your year to take your beauty business to the next level, use these tips to join the fun in an industry that is full of opportunities for growth and success!

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