Several people have been urging me to try and sell the handmade bits and pieces that I create - be that the crochet decorations at Christmas or the greetings cards that I seem to be doing at the moment. I care about these people and respect them so feel I ought to make a bit of a push to try and do something. However it's really hard!!
The market is saturated with handmade cards and I have no real hope of selling anything on ebay or etsy as what I make has no unique selling point. My health wouldn't allow me to spend all day at a craft fair with a stall either and I know from someone who has spent years doing this that it's actually rather expensive and can be difficult to make your money back. My family are quite happy making their own cards so have no need to buy any from me and I feel awkward offering to sell to friends. I'm not sure I'd want to put a box of cards in a local shop either; I would have the confidence to walk in and see if they'd let me but it doesn't seem to sit right with me as an idea.
As well if I was selling I would technically be a small business and I expect there would be a certain amount of paperwork required and my brain wouldn't be able to cope with the concentration and stress. It's a lot of work to get something set up and potentially money involved which I would then have to make back. It doesn't seem worth the effort and it's certainly not financially viable to try to make a living out of it - I'm only looking for a few pounds to cover costs and buy more craft bits, maybe to buy me other pretty things for my life and make donations to charity as well.
I have the supplies to make an awful lot of cards and could do so relatively easily, but getting rid of them seems much more difficult! If I went ahead and made cards in large numbers I might end up stuck with them and whilst I regularly post cards to a couple of friends it doesn't add up to that many!
There are so many things stacked up that say 'don't do it' but I feel guilty coming to that conclusion. I do live as a 'lady of leisure' at the moment because my health doesn't allow me to do very much at all. If I stick within my limits then I can live tolerably well and get to do various bits and pieces that are enjoyable and that if I was working I wouldn't have the time/energy/effort for. I know I shouldn't feel guilty about it but it's very hard not to and it means that I would really like to do as my friends have suggested so that they don't view me as a malingerer. Sigh.... Any suggestions from out there?
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