Crafting A Business

If it's done properly, your crafts business can generate a six-figure balance sheet like that of Sheree Soles, the force behind Soles Collectibles in Brandon, South Dakota.

Soles, who like Gendron designs clay figurines, started her business in 1988. Now, nine years later, she sells more than $100,000 in merchandise annually through crafts shows and mail order, primarily in the Midwest.

A former art teacher, Soles stumbled into her business by accident when she opened a homebased day-care center. When parents saw Soles' dough art in her home, they were so impressed, they started asking to buy the pieces.

Soles, who has since switched to clay as a medium, says she had no aspirations to run her own business; it just happened. "It sort of evolved, and I am fortunate it's turned profitable. But it's been a long, slow process, and in some sense I don't think it could have gone any faster," muses Soles, who needed the slow pace to learn to become an entrepreneur and perfect her production process.

A significant contributor to the success of her business was an article about Soles Collectibles published in a 1994 edition of Country Woman magazine that generated more than 20,000 letters soon after its release; others continued to trickle in as many as two years later.

One strategy Soles has used to grow her business is keeping close tabs on what's in fashion. She peruses magazines to see what styles of home decor appear repeatedly and follows those trends. "I also do collectible pieces that are available only for one year," says Soles. "That keeps people interested, and it keeps [my creativity] fresh."

This article was originally published in the March 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Crafting A Business.