How to Teach a Craft

This week on the Craft Business Challenge:

Have you ever considered teaching your favorite craft? Here's how to get started as a crafts teacher.

It's been a while since I've sent a newsletter. I have to apologize for that. 

I've been deep into some experimenting with Pinterest, and it has taken me away from writing new articles for a couple of weeks.

The jury is still out on how successful my Pinterest experiments will be, so I won't share any details right now, but if they turn out to be worth the time spent, I'll definitely share in a future newsletter.

What's Exciting For the First Week of March?

A few weeks ago, I shared some virtual merchandising strategies that work for traditional retailers and can be effective in portable craft booths.

When I wrote those articles, I couldn't find many good examples of craft displays using those concepts, so I used graphics to illustrate different techniques. 

I managed to find some great example photos!

I went on a really thorough hunt through hundreds of unpublished craft booth photos on my laptop (I really need to get moving on posting more). Happily, I was able to find good examples of craft displays using effective retail merchandising strategies!

This week, I have 9 brand new photos of craft booths that demonstrate 3 effective visual merchandising techniques you can use in your own craft booth.

Want to Teach Your Craft? Here's how to get started.

In this week's timely tips from past articles, I'm bringing back the series on how to become a crafts teacher.

There are plenty of strategies and venues to teach crafts to either adults or children, and early March is a great time to think about this possibility for growing your business.

Kids will be out of school for the summer in a few months, and parents will be looking for ways to keep kids occupied. Offering a week long summer craft camp would be one way to try your hand at teaching crafts.

If you live in an area that's popular with tourists, you could run craft classes designed for tourists. Offer a class creating an item that has a connection to your area, so tourists can create a keepsake with local authenticity. Keep in mind travellers' needs in terms of timing and transporting. Think single morning or afternoon classes with a finished product that can be packed in a suitcase. 

If you want to try teaching on a smaller scale with less commitment, you could approach your local library and offer to run a few two or three hour art sessions for kids over the summer. Alternatively, you could offer to run a crafting club for adults at your local library. 

There really are plenty of possibilities, and you can make the project as big or small as you like based on what suits your needs best.

Want to try your hand at teaching crafts? Here are links to the series:

How to Teach Your Craft: Here's the craft teaching series overview with links to all five of the articles in the series. If you start here, you can follow links on the page to get to all of the other articles.

How to Be a Craft Teacher: This first article in the series helps you think through the fundamental logistics of teaching your craft, so you'll have a good understanding of the tools, equipment, space, and time you'd need to teach a craft class.

Teach Art at Home or in Your Community: Next, you need to decide where to teach your class. Will you invite students to your home studio, or teach your class somewhere in your community? 

Best Crafts to Teach: What, exactly will you teach? This article will help you develop a class that works logistically, and will be popular in your community.

How to Teach Crafts: You have crafting skills, but do you have teaching skills? Here are some fundamental teaching skills that will help you meet your students' needs and expectations and run an engaging and informative class.

The Business of Teaching Crafts: Of course, there will be a business side of your craft classes to consider. Here's how to handle the business and practical aspects of teaching your craft.

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