Tobacco and salted fish are traded for the fur and feed grains. A block of raw wood is whittled into a toy horse and sold in a stall at the local artisan market. Watermelon seeds tended and sowed, become a fully-fledged fruit before even exchanging hands at the roadside stall. That’s where it all started to run a DIY Business.
Making things from scratch, cultivating them by hand, and carving out for a living by selling and trading them, these are some of the inceptive transactions of commerce.
Commerce has evolved in the past few hundred years, with the biggest changes coinciding with rail transport, the manufacturing boom, and the internet. As far as we have come, the roots of commerce remain firmly planted.
Today, thousands of merchants produce made by hand goods, by selling at craft shows, pop-up shops, and through their online stores across the globe. Ecommerce gives makers much more reach, and apps help to keep their business running kore effectively and efficiently, which lets them focus on what they do best: their craft.
Over the years, we have shared some of the deep drives into the Do It Yourself business, which produces the case studies and guides to help you turn your handmade passion into a living.
But maybe you are not quite sure about what to make and sell. Maybe you are looking for a new hobby to busy your idle hands, or maybe you have not crafted at all.
We have compiled with a list of things to make and sell, something to appeal to everyone from beginners to the advanced craftsperson, from the skilled trades to the relative hands-off the venture. Each idea will include a link to a comprehensive guide, to help you run a DIY Business, to inspire your own.
1. Bath Bombs and Soaps
A simple Google search returns pages of the tutorials to teach you to make your own sort of soaps, bath combs, and some other beauty products at home.
They range from simple recipes for the bath salts to more sophisticated formulations requiring the preservatives and emulsions. This successful business idea has low creativity requirements – bath combs and soaps can be made with the help of commercial moulds, but packing and branding are essential in beauty, so make sure to hire the designing person for the same.
2. T-shirts and Printed Merchandise
This is a maker business for the non-maker. Your original idea can be designed and printed onto the various goods like tote bags, dog bandanas, t-shirts, mugs, and shipped directly to your customers. It is an ahands-off business that has a very low barrier to entry.
3. Jewellery
Jewellery is another business idea that can range from simple and low tech to skilled trades with the help of special equipment. It is a saturated market, so doing your homework upfront is essential – how can your designs stand out? If there is a niche market to sell out?
4. Curated Gift and Subscription boxes
A subscription or gift box business is s a great idea for those who are less crafty but have an eye for the curation. Contrary, to print on demand t-shirts, curated box businesses can be very hands-on.
Assembly can be a tedious task, but the business has its own advantages: subscription boxes are usually packed all at the once at the same time each month, and in the same-size box, which makes the shipping process much simpler.
5. Candles
The candle business in the market is of a billion-dollar industry, and within that, there are some of the niche s to explore: birthday, religious, beeswax, novelty, eco & natural, and more.
Just like with the soap, there is no shortage of DIIY tutorials for the novice candle makers, and a basic melt and out some of the different methods to require little to no previous craft skills.
We hope you got an idea to run a DIY business from this article. Here are some more articles you might be interested in reading