Public Liability & Specialist Craft Insurance

 There are a lot of brokers out there who offer Public liability insurance, but do you READ the small print?

Do any of us ever read the small print??   

Well for our own sakes, we need to start doing so.

MY BEGINNINGS - THE MARKET STALL
I started off on a market stall, many moons ago selling something completely different to what I am now.
The insurance I was advised to get was from the National Market Traders Federation which turned out to be a good place to go.
What happens is - you join them and get Public Liability thrown in for up to 5 million GBP (at the time of writing this).
This was great while I was on the market stall, but when I diversified into Craft & Wedding fairs selling my handmade jewellery, I found I needed a different type of cover.

NOT COVERED?
You need to always check with your insurer when your circumstances change, as with any insurance. But especially when you change drastically what you're doing/making, and/or how you do it.
What I am saying is - as your circumstances change, at the very least check it out.
The moral of the story is to check your small print as you may NOT have the cover you need for what you are doing!

Where can I get public liability insurance for my craft?
This is the question that often gets asked....

SPECIALIST CRAFT INSURANCE - public liability
If you're into any kind of craft, you really should have specialised craft insurance.

The best answer that I have found is here -

IAN WALLACE    (click on the name to go there)
They are specialised Craft Insurers and can cater for whatever you do. (I'm in no way associated with them & have no hidden agenda).

I'm a Jewellery Designer, but even if you're into Sewing, Soap making, Knitting, Sock monkeys - whatever it might be, they have seemed to be the best and are recommended by A LOT of other crafters too - which is how I heard about them in the first instance!

Hope you've found this useful.

Pricing for a Profitable business

Do you have a "proper" business where you are:                     

• Registered self-employed
• Registered with the HMRC for tax
• have to do your own bookwork 
• account for EVERY cost
  
  If this IS you - You NEED to make a PROFIT to survive, not just a WAGE!
  
  I watched a video on Etsy the other day on Pricing for Profit.
  This is the link if you'd like to watch it, just to warn you - it's quite long!!
  http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/etsy-success-the-art-of-pricing-for-profit-workshop/

I thought it was a great way to explain it, so I'll try and condense it to make it easier.
This is the way they suggest and it's soooo easy...

1. Put in a figure of how much profit you would like to make -
YES REALLY!! £5, £10, £20???

2. You need to work out how much your materials cost you.
Include EVERY bit no matter how small as you have had to pay for them and add in the postage you had to pay to get it to you - plus a little for your overheads.

OVERHEADS?
Even if you're working from home, you might use e.g. electric for heat/printing, ink/glues - you get the picture...

3. This is the easy bit - How much do you want to be paid per hour? Be honest (& realistic!)
If you're a designer/crafter like me, up until now, you've probably sold yourself short!

Add up the total of all three of the above.
** This gives you your WHOLESALE PRICE.

** Double it and you get the RETAIL PRICE.

I can almost hear you gasp from here!!

Remember, just because you can't afford it, or think it's expensive, others won't!
It's all about perceived value.
Make sure you describe:  the materials in detail, how you made it, why you made it, what inspired you, if it took ages - say so, if it's a one-off - say so.
It all adds to the story of the item and makes it unique   

WHY SO MUCH??
If you're happy to sell at Wholesale prices then that's up to you, but what if you get your "big break" and a shop wants to stock your goods??
They will immediately cut it in half
(as it's your RETAIL price they think they're looking at)
which takes them back to the WHOLESALE price.

You can just about guarantee they will still try and knock off some more from there - so it's something to bear in mind.

Hope this makes it all a little clearer for you.....


You can find some of my designs over at www.raspberryjewellery.co.uk
They are unique, original and made with lots of attention to detail - go take a peek...

Angie x

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