Scrapbook Business
How to Start a Homebased Scrapbook Business
by Guest Writer, Kim Guymon
“The scrapbook industry has grown in leaps and bounds in the last few years. It is now a $3 billion a year industry. According to the latest research, 25 percent of American households participate in the craft. Approximately 14 percent of scrapbookers are involved in the industry in a business manner. They either work for a scrapbook company, own a scrapbook business, or participate in one of the many direct sales companies as an independent consultant. “
THE BARRIERS TO ENTRY into the scrapbook industry are low. It’s fairly easy to get a business license and find wholesale sources. However, the biggest challenge is running your business profitably. So many talented women just don’t know HOW to run a business, or they get bad advice that sets them off in the wrong direction. The result is a very large number of failed businesses. I started ScrapBiz because I wanted to help women with their dreams. As one member put it recently, I am the “research and development” part of her business. I hunt down the business resources and information that members need to be successful so they can concentrate on the “fun” parts of their business – scrapbooking, teaching classes, developing products, etc.
What Some of Our Members Are Doing
We have members doing just about anything you can imagine in the scrapbook industry. Some of them are making names for themselves nationally. Basically, I am providing an alternative to multilevel direct sales scrapbook companies such as Creative Memories. Many women don’t like the restrictions of that sort of atmosphere, yet they don’t want the risk of opening an actual scrapbook store. So we help them become home-based retailers. Some might set up a store in their basement and hold classes in their homes. Or, they might take their supplies and catalog (they make their own custom catalogs full of products they want to sell from wholesale companies we have relationships with) to other people’s homes to teach a scrapbook class and take orders for products. Some of them have online stores that they run from home while others are paid to scrapbook for other people who have neither the time nor desire to scrap their own photos. We also have members who develop products that they turn around and sell wholesale to other retailers, or they might work with nationally-known scrapbook companies to develop products for their lines.
Connecting with Wholesalers
The home-based sales channel can be a legitimate one, but many vendors are afraid of working with home-based businesses because checks and balances like copies of a lease, yellow pages ads, etc. are not available. It’s easy for a woman to use her husband’s auto-body shop business license to purchase scrapbook supplies at wholesale for herself and all her friends, but there are few ways for a home-based scrapbook business to prove she is a “real business.” So we work with wholesalers in the industry to build relationships with them that our members can take advantage of.
BEING A SCRAPBIZ MEMBER is one way our vendors can be sure they are working with real home-based businesses. We help vendors tap into that channel by providing them with legitimate, educated, professional businesses who just happen to work out of their homes. We have a Code of Conduct that prohibits unprofessional behavior. The result has been that several large scrapbook wholesalers have eagerly offered “deals’ to help our members purchase in smaller quantities than they might require for stores. For instance, Kreinik, a big name in the craft and thread industry, has eagerly embraced our members. They understand that some of our members can get their new iron-on threads right into the hands of consumers because we teach classes using their products. We find that if you demonstrate a product, you will sell it!
We feel that educated and encouraged business owners have the best chance for success. Our philosophy has been proven time and time again by members who use our support and information to make names for themselves in the scrapbook industry.
Kim Guymon has helped hundreds of women set up homebased scrapbook businesses, giving them the real-world business tools to get them started on the right foot. Visit Scrapbiz.com for more information and real help.
© 2009 by Kim Guyman.
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Another positive consequence of teaching is that you also will become more knowledgeable about your subject area once you have taught.