Hello, lovely friends! Let's chat about improving our handmade businesses! The handmade marketplace seems to be a happy land of smiling people in neatly organized studios, just living their dream of crafting beautiful handmade goods. {Cue the twittering birds and curious woodland creatures.}

Ummm, no.

Don't be fooled by those twittering birds. And those super-friendly foxes? Rabies.

The handmade marketplace is lovely , of course. What isn't magical about getting to create beautiful things that people (hopefully) want to buy and treasure forever? The truth is, to be successful in any market, we sellers have to put in a lot of hard work on the business side of things. Like so many new small business owners, I am still deeply engrained in the learning process, and would like to share three handy resources I've come across.

1. The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and Online by Kari Chapin

This book is a good resource for small craft business owners, and covers social media, marketing basics, and the essentials of selling your items through various venues: online, in craft shows, and through wholesale and consignment. Chapin draws on the knowledge and expertise of various successful industry members, and does so in a format that is easy to understand and read.

2. The Etsy Blog: A Simple Formula for Pricing Your Work

One of the most important choices you will make about your business is how you price your work. To make your business successful, you have to take a fair approach to your pricing. This handy post on the Etsy Blog is fantastically helpful in forcing you to be honest with yourself about your business finances.  Are your prices helping you make a profit while still accounting for all of your overhead, supplies, and hours of labor? Go ahead, start adding it up. I'll wait.

... Holy cow, right? Do yourself a necessary favor and fix those prices!

3.  Create & Thrive  - This website, created by jewelry designer Jess Van Den, is a great source for inspiration and information about growing your handmade business. Create & Thrive offers advice from other successful members of the handmade community, along with e-courses, Q & A sessions, and a  weekly newsletter that shares various tips and tricks. Bookmark this page and spend a few minutes browsing - you might learn something new!

I'd love to do a (somewhat) weekly roundup, so please share any handy resources that you rely on to help grow your handmade business!