Special Feature: Crafting for Profit Part 2 Making Money and Myths

Last time I highlighted how we ended up making bows and then designing ribbon so I thought today we should talk about money. I wish I would have known a long time ago that money and goals plus common sense is what made millionaires. You don’t even have to start with much money to be a millionaire if you can set goals and use common sense. We will talk about goal setting another day, I think money is enough to make us all hyperventilate.

Before any of you quit reading stop, DON'T GO ANYWHERE! This is the exact spot I got to when I should have paid attention in the past. I am not going to get all preachy. I think it would be neglectful of me to talk about how to make a profit, and avoid that whole sticky mess of finically how you should approach moving in that direction.

Money should have its own paparazzi following 24/7 with as many tabloid false statements that we accept as truth because we hear them all the time. Here’s my favorites:

Myth: Money can’t buy happiness.
Semi true: Having money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can take the sting out of some of the yucky things life deals ya. Money doesn’t buy happiness, it buys options!

Myth: Everyone has debt. I will always have payments.
False: This is a choice like all things in life. Most debt is a result of our wants, not our needs. I want a new sewing machine. I need to buy groceries. If you don't have enough money for groceries then you have another need. You need to figure out how to raise your income. After that, then you can work on your wants.

Myth: The cost of an item is the price on the sticker.
False: When you buy a car, you know it will require gas, repairs and insurance. Your embroidery machine will need thread, stabilizer, and fabric. Look at your long term investment in your purchases.

Myth: No one gets paid for doing what they love.
False: You can. Anyone can. It's your job to figure out how to get there. Seriously, if this was true how could Perez Hilton make a good living off his blog? Some people get paid to scout and rate resort destinations and restaurants... I think they have a better hook up than me and my ribbon! Make sure you choose something you LOVE in big bold capital letters because some days you are still going to hate it.

Myth: You have to spend money to make money.
Semi True: You have to spend a little money to buy supplies. You do not have universal permission to buy out your local craft store. I know… that one disappointed me too

Myth: You have to have credit to successfully fund a new business.
False: You can start small. Mentally write off that $50 or $100 as money you paid yourself to be able to dream and hope. You can invest a small amount of money and make something and sell it and reinvest the profits into buying more products. You can keep doing this forever. If you do this long enough you end up with a real paycheck and this weird thing called profits.

The big message here is that you don’t have to have a lot of money to be able to set yourself up to turn a profit. You can set yourself up to fail quickly if you take on actual debt to start a business, you are setting yourself up for a series of unpleasant things. You have more pressure to make sure your debt is paid when someone else says it has to be. It doesn’t matter to them that it’s January and bow sales are down. You start off in someone else’s pocket owing more than your business assets are worth. I don’t want to be paying someone else. I want the someone else’s of the world to be paying ME!

Just because you hear people saying it can’t be done doesn’t make it true. If everyone you know says that debt is the only way successful businesses get started you need new friends or you need to quit hanging out with bankers.

Make sure what you choose to invest your time and effort is something you love. Expect that some days you won’t love it. Work is work, and that never changes. I love my job 99.5% of the time but I have been overheard muttering once or twice that I never wanted to see ribbon again. It happens. The other thing that happens is I LOVE what I do.

You know those people who say, “You can’t do that. It won’t work. It’s never been done”?

Guess how much fun it is to do it, and see them still standing in the same spot in their life saying “I can’t do that. It won’t work.”

Yup. It feels like that!