At Etsy there is a thread about can I make enough only on Etsy?
It caught my eye and I read the post. What stood out were the remarks
mostly saying you need to do other things to attract buyers to your
shop. This I really agree with and if you are not creating you are
marketing.
Underlying the remarks was a sentiment that crafters (I
dislike this description) can never make enough to support themselves
unless there is a husband supporting the family or you. One, these
statements were obviously made by women probably mothers and married.
Making this generalized observation about crafts
is simplifying the real business of creating handmade quality product
and the average crafters is not serious about their work and this is why
it is a craft. The creative artist
is extremely serious and looks at their work as a business. Their
quality highly different work overlooked because Etsy and other sites
are being overrun by the I like to craft people. Not everyone at Etsy
are in this category and many are serious artists and serious business people. It is impossible for Etsy to filter the not serious crafters from the serious artist.
Maybe
it is up to the person to ask themselves if you are not serious than
move aside and allow the serious artist show their work. There are
church fairs and local outlets for those who just dabble. For some of us
it is our livelihood and there is no one else picking up the tab and we
could not be happier. This is our chosen profession and we work every
day at our jobs. Having your own business is not for those that look at
it as being part-time. Art is serious business and artist are serious
business people.
So I ask you are you serious about being a creative artist or are you a part-time crafter?
