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Every good business operates on goals, so let’s set some for your Silhouette or Cricut business. In this post, we will establish clear goals for your business, then evaluate the goals. Start off by printing this goal recording sheet, so you will have a written record of your goals, along with a checklist to mark off along the way.
Ask Yourself These Questions
- Why am I starting this business?
- Are you wanting extra money to take your family out for special events?
- Would you like to stockpile money for a large purchase such as a vacation, a new car, or a home?
- Is you household budget tight and you’d like to supplement it?
- Do you have debt and you’d like to pay it down?
- Do you eventually want to quit your full time job or become part time and craft for money?
- How much money would you like to make monthly?
Record the answers to these questions on the printable goal recording sheet.
Evaluating Your Goals
Are your goals realistic? It’s time to work through the goals you set for your small business. It’s helpful to have a calculator, pen, and paper for the rest of this post. You’ll use your printed goal planning sheet to record your weekly and monthly goals.
1) First we need to determine how much profit you will make per item. Think about the products that you’d like to sell. As an example, I am going to use decorated glass blocks. Using a craft calculator online* which factors in cost of labor, cost of supplies, and expertise level, I calculated a good selling price for my glass blocks of $29. This means I’ll make around $22.50 per glass block sold minus $2.67 in Etsy fees. My final profit is $19.83 per glass block sold, charging exact shipping.
2) Next, let’s figure out how much sales you will need to reach your monthly goal. As an example, I’ve decided I want to make $500 per month in profit within the first 6 months of business. Take your 6 month profit goal and divide it by the profit of your item from step 1. In my example, $500 divided by $19.83 is 26 glass blocks. Then, multiply 26 by your selling price ($29) to reach your monthly sales goal – $754. Let’s recap – that means to profit $500 per month, I need to sell $754 in glass blocks. Lastly, we can divide the sales goal by 4 (because there are 4 weeks in a month) to reach a weekly sales goal. In my example, $754 divided by 4 is $188.50 per week in sales, roughly 7 blocks per week. Record these numbers on your goal planning worksheet.
3) Check yourself by asking: Do you have the time to create the number of products needed to reach your goals, list them for sale, process orders, and ship them? If so, great! If not, you may need to re-evaluate your business goals, raise your prices, or choose different items to sell.
4) If you are planning on selling multiple products, you should figure out your profit for each item you will make, then determine which combination of products will help you reach your goals.
Follow Up on Your Goals
It is important to refer back to your goals regularly to see if you are on track to meet your goals. I suggest recording your sales goal and your actual sales in the chart on your printable goal recording sheet each week. Once your goals are reached, be sure to set new goals. If you aren’t meeting your goals – don’t give up, it takes times to build a business! Each week, you should be getting closer to your goals. If you aren’t, figure out what needs to be changed, and change it.
*Resources
- Expenses and pricing were calculated for this example using an online craft calculator. My expenses were as follows for a simple glass block with a ribbon bow on top and a vinyl saying on the front: $4.00 for the glass block – purchased with a coupon at a local craft store, $.50 for ribbon, and $1.00 for vinyl. My simplified example assumes that packaging for my item, and expenses such as electricity, tape, paper, etc cost $1. Etsy fees were also calculated with the same craft calculator.
Need help pricing your handmade products? See this post.
