Cake Icing or Confectionery Business
If you have a talent for cake decorating, you will never be short on commissions. Weddings, Christenings, Birthdays, etc. all call for unusual or decorative cakes. This is a business that can grow simply by word of mouth. School functions are an excellent place where someone running this type of business can find clients. Not only can you sell cakes (buns, chocolates or all manner of confectionery) during the function, but you can take orders, pass out advertisements, and generally get the word out on your blossoming business too.



Placing post cards in local shop windows can be very effective for this type of business as it has the personal touch. You will have to have some contact with your customers to discuss order details, so starting out in a small way like this works very well. You take on as many or as few clients as you want. If you are friendly with the shop or store where you are placing your advertisement, you could ask them to put one of your delightful confections on display for a commission.



If you don't decorate cakes, but do like baking, what about making your own hand made chocolates, toffee or truffles? Fancy chocolates cost a fortune in town, so those that have been individually made fetch a pretty penny. This sort of product can be sold at parties, fairs, garage sales, fetes, festivals or craft fairs.  Neighbour of mine sells only Cornish Pasties and various scones at the local car boot sales. She has been doing this for years and does very well thank you!



Another variation on this theme cashes in on the boom for extravagant cheesecakes or delectable cakes which people never seem to get enough of. It would be possible to focus on large fancy cakes such as these, supplying one or two specialist outlets such as cafes or local stores. You could also take one off orders for this type of confectionary for parties, engagements and weddings etc.



Selling Crafts On the Internet
Many crafts people sell their wares over the internet. In this way, you could produce any hand made item and sell them from your 'virtual store'. Many people do this as on the internet you will find many of these 'malls' where individuals, or groups of craftspeople, put up their work for sale. People order the products over the Net and they are sent out via mail order. It is incredibly simple!



It is SO easy these days to take orders from your own website but adding a shopping cart of one off 'Buy It Now' buttons for each item for sale. Paypal (www.paypal.com) has these merchant tools which can easily be added to your site simply by adding bits of code which THEY supply for you in order to take secure payments from your site.



Of course, you must have some knowledge of the internet to start . If you have no experience with it at all, or are unsure of setting up your own site, there are plenty of ways to sell your goods online.



Three are dozens of online auction sites, the best known being eBay (www.ebay.co.uk or www.ebay.com) where you can list your items for buyers to bid against each other, as in a real auction. You have to pay a small listing fee and a commission if your item sells, but there are literally millions of eBay users and it is THE best place to sell your good at auction at the present time. It is by no means the only online auction site though. Check out;

www.amazon.com

www.cqout.co.uk

www.ebid.co.uk

www.bidville.com

www.epier.com

Www.artbyus.com


There are LOADS more, many of them free to list as well as 'shops' where you can place your craftwork such as www.rubylane.com . Here you sell things at a fixed price rather than auctioning them off.



This doesn't have to be your only sales outlet however. You can still sell your products in the real world too, but this just offers another tool with which to sell your craftwork. Many thousands of people go on line every minute so this is definitely a way to go for some.