Where is the money in leatherwork?

[paprhangr]

So go to that bench and drip sweat, get string burns and cuts, dye your finger tips black; brown; and red! To hell with Walmart prices and cheapskates! Cut, glue, sew, stain, and polish that leather! It will sell and word of mouth will point customers in your direction!

where the rubber meets the road

[Gang Warily Leatherworks]

This thread has been very helpful!

I am a year into starting my own leather crafting business with my husband.

We am still very new at this, but, what we've learned and what is working for us is doing everything we can to get our name out there. Social media has been integral to our success. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google +, Pinterest and Instagram, to name a few place we hang out to gather and engage customers. We also get ourselves out there and participate in little fairs and local shows to get the local community familiar with us and our products.

We are still learning and growing everyday, but the best advice I have for anyone wanting to make a living doing leatherwork is to work hard, figure out your market, and don't give up when things get tight. AND most importantly, and can't be said enough, is don't sell yourself short by offering a lower priced products!

Good luck future leatherworkers!

[Chit]

Went to your webpage and love the variety you have there!

Im new, trying to work hard and learning each day too.

Cheers

J

[raysouth]

This topic was very interesting to read and feel that everyone has provided good information for all to read.

I believe that every situation is different and will require different tactics/methods for a small business, based on nature of items produced, market desired, and how your promotion of products are handled.

Opening a small business can be a costly venture, for anyone, as most have learned that have made the attempt but again, each situation is unique. Some may have to invest large amounts of capitol, while others may eke by with a very small investment.

I have experienced both spectrums and am aware of the difficulty of each but some constants always remain the same, to be a success.

Customer treatment, quality of product produced, and fairness of price.

Many other factors come into play but if you produce a quality product at a fair price and take care of your customers, they will return and bring new business your way.

The picture you see is what was once a very busy small business and is located away from view of any traffic but yet it worked and was a success.

To build this business a unique plan was developed, implemented and soon became more than I could handle.

It now has fallen to become my leather shop, where I no longer expect to become a revolving door business but word of mouth keeps me fairly busy with small projects.

I could go on and on, boring all of you with my endeavors but just wanted to inject a bit of my own feelings about making small business something to put food on the table, and more, hopefully.

Be prepared to work hard at what you do, develop a unique plan of attack, take care of your customers, produce quality products and expect a return for your efforts.

As time marches on and age takes its toll, we look back and wonder what we could have done to make things better.

Take pride in what you have done and now is the time to do it.

I have a saying/cliche that I remind myself and others of, as follows. Remember, there is one thing in your life that you cannot replace, your time. Use it wisely and have fun.

God Bless you all.

Ray

[NicoleAlaine]

I am a stay at home mom with a very small leather business I have been nursing along for about 3 years. First quarter 2013 I finally paid myself my first salary, and it was not a big one, but it was a definite milestone. I have done some local wholesale but most of my business has come from an Etsy store. I have now put together my own e-commerce site to give me a venue that doesn't depend on anyone else's policies, etc but have only had a dozen or so sales on that site so far.

I started out as a specialty store selling pet collars, but am beginning to branch out to other markets very slowly as I can. I make mostly the same thing over and over to specific measurments and don't build until ordered. I am finding that the more different types of products I have available the better my sales are becoming, but that may be only because leather pet collars are a pretty saturated market already. I would imagine there are some niche markets that a person would be able to specialize in and make a good amount.

My goal is to slowly build my catalog and my business, maybe branching out into wholesale at some point. I am hoping that by the time the kids are older and I would normally be thinking about going back to work I will have nice established business and can just bump up the number of hours I am working (thought they will probably build by themselves as I add more products to my catalog).

I have been happy with Etsy so far, and consider it a great starting point for building my business since I can get full retail price and have a built in audience so I don't have to do as much self-promotion.

As far as competition with mass produced crap, I would have to agree with everyone else who has said you just have to work hard to produce a great product and it will speak for itself. Even among the Walmart generation (which I am on the cusp of being a part of) there are MANY who will see the value of buying something once and knowing it will be a great product as opposed to buying one $16 wallet a year for life. I also think that as the young generation sees how much money they are throwing away on cheap crap they will wise up and start to look for better products.

Hope my little story can give someone something to think about. I know this thread has been really interesting for me as a newcomer to the leather business. I have so much to learn still!

[Snpr9696]

Word of mouth is everything. Once you have a strong buzz about your product you can build off that. Never compromise your quality or artistic talents and stay true to yourself. Specialize in one thing and know it like gospel. Branch out and try new things in order to learn how to do the one thing you specialize in even better. Be kind and honest In Your dealings and know your customers.

Be innovative and tell your customers who you are and where you came from. I have a full time career and make a very decent living however with that said my hobby in leather working has turned into a beautiful part time business that almost equals my full time career. If I retired today and put even more time into it I would probably surpass my full time career. It becomes difficult at times with all the managing orders and shipments, finding new material and coming up with new ideas. Maintaining a presence on social media and posting pictures. The turnaround times become longer and longer. This hurts and helps at the same time. Hurts because as stated above the walmart generation has killed the craftsman or artist. Very few people appreciate bespoke work. It helps because those who know and do respect the craft understand how good you must be if your wait times are lengthy.

Joe

SNPRStrap.com

[Saxnn]

Hehe interesting thing happened today! I stopped by a minute market in a little strip mall today. Strip mall has a small shoe repair shop in it and I decided to introduce myself to the owner and see if he could point me in the right direction for supplies and contacts. Went in and introduced myself and told him that I have a bad addiction to Leatherwork and did he know a local 12 step group! Anyway when I mentioned I do leather work, he looked at me like I was a smokin hot 18 year old virgin!!! He's so busy in his shop with the shoes that he has given up on any custom leather work and has to turn people away every week! He offered to pass out my business cards and to hook me up with a leather supplier! I haven't been at the leather working thing for very long and I'm a little worried that my skills might not be good enough. I'm going to take him a few of my done items and see what he thinks.... wish me luck!

Edited March 16, 2016 by Saxnn

[cjartist]

Great thread with a lot of helpful advice.  It is an old thread and is interesting to follow some of the links and see where these artisans are now.

Absolute respect for this forum and this thread.

[bikermutt07]

Man this thread was a great read. Thanks to all of you that contributed your time and experiences.

[dtgilljr]

Thank you to everyone that contributed to this thread.  I am new to this and love it, I was trying to figure out how to make it a 100% go.  EVERYONE'S points of view and insights have helped me to see what will need to be done to make it work.