Book Review: Craft Inc.

Welcome to the first ever book review for the Handmade Business Blog. I'm a bit of a book addict so this is fun. I know I said there would be a guest post this week but it's not ready so it may run instead of the usual Friday or Monday post instead.

I recently bought a copy of Craft Inc. Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco. This is a very well written book, the author has an approachable conversational style of writing which I enjoy.

This book has a breakdown of various issues a person starting up a handmade business needs to consider. I think the strongest chapter is called "Your Business Mind" which covers things like registering your business, accounting, writing a business plan, etc. These are topics that no one really enjoys and so there's a tendency to want to ignore this area.

Pros:

• Good interviews with entrepreneurs
• Covers a variety of important topics like pricing, marketing, craft shows, selling online, etc.
• Emphasizes the nuts and bolts of running a business without being boring.
• Discusses how to stay moptivated and having realistic expectations.
• Delves into how to handle growth and when you should consider delegating some of the work.

Cons:

• Not as in depth in some areas as I would like, such as the press kit section.
• Doesn't give references to check out for further information. For example: when talkign about trademarking a link to the US Patent and Trademark Office would have been useful.
• I think some visual examples would have illustrated some of her points better than just describing them.

Overall I think the book is worth buying as a primer for getting your business started. Now you can find a lot of the information elsewhere but having all the information gathered together is worth the $12 just for time saved.