Monday, January 14, 2008

5 Ways to Get Paid to Scrapbook and How to Run a Successful Scrapbooking Home Based Business

by bm1127

Getting paid to scrapbook isn't as easy as people think. It 's true that a scrapbooking business doesn't require as much capital funds as other Internet businesses. But that doesn't mean you'll immediately have money pouring in. If you wish for your scrapbooking home based business to work, you need to think of it just like any other Internet business and devote to it a lot of your time and effort.

5 Ways to Get Paid to Scrapbook
If you don't possess ALL of the following characteristics then it 's very unlikely that you're suited to successfully run a scrapbooking home based business or even to just get paid to scrapbook.

Imagination / Creativity - Although you can make templates of your designs, some or many of them will soon run out of favor with your clients. These designs will have to be "retired" and replaced with something new, and herein lie the most important question: are you sure you can consistently create new, attractive, and unique designs for your business?

Scrapbooking is an art. It 's not a science. You need to show a flair for creativity for each and every aspect of your design. You need to be willing to explore the very limits of your imagination. So are you ready to do that?

Diligence and Patience - Scrapbooking is hard work. If you've been doing this for a long time, you should know that by now. But making a scrapbooking project for yourself and your loved ones is entirely different from doing a scrapbooking project for profit. There is no emotional motivation to ensure you work diligently on the project. Money and maybe a sense of achievement and pleasing someone are the only motivational factors you'll get, but are they enough for you?

Scrapbooking isn't governed by objectivity. It 's an art, after all. In mathematics, you add one and one and get two. There 's no other right answer than that. But in scrapbooking, what you may think is gorgeous may appear gaudy to others. There will be times that you and your customer will not be able to see each other eye to eye. When this happens, can you exhibit the required patience to see things through till the end of the project?

Pressure - Making scrapbooking projects can be high-pressured tasks. There 's the deadline, for instance. Because you're creating scrapbooking projects for others and for profit, it 's what they say that matters. Customers will always want a deadline: you have to give it to them and meet it. And of course there are the expectations from your customers: you need to ask clearly what they expect from you and determine if you're ready and able to meet all these.

Business Mind - Never forget that even if a scrapbooking home business allows you to earn money from your hobby or artistic talent, it is still essentially a business. A business can't survive if it doesn't profit. To obtain profit, your income must be more than your expenses.

Are you prepared to handle the business front of your scrapbooking business or will you have someone manage this aspect for you? Either way, you must be sure that your scrapbooking business can satisfy the following conditions.

Firstly, your scrapbooking must have competitive pricing. You must determine just how much you can reasonably charge for items. Determine how much would appeal to your target market. What other pricing strategies can you employ to attract more customers to your business?

Speaking of target markets, do you know who it is your scrapbooking home based business will best appeal to? For that matter, do you wish to work with a general market or carve a niche for yourself?

Someone has to handle the accounting aspect of your business if you're not prepared for it. Like other businesses, yours have to pay taxes regularly. Performing financial accounting will also let you know if you're earning or not.

Fourthly, determine your goals for the business. You must have vision and direction. You need to have something to work for because your business won't survive for long without a plan.

Last but certainly not the least, you need to develop and implement the necessary marketing strategies to make your scrapbooking business more well-known.

Internet Savvy - Home based businesses in general flourish and succeed more in the virtual world. If you want better ROI and greater access to the market, you need to develop your Internet marketing skills to create a formidable online presence for your scrapbooking business.

If you have all these then congratulations! You're definitely suited to having your own scrapbooking home based business!

About the Author

Brett McFall is a specialist writer on how to turn scrapbooking into a home-business even if you're a beginner. His course "Scrapbooking Profits" is only available at:

http://www.scrapbookingprofits.com

Article Source: Content for Reprint

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