Choosing the best shipping company for eCommerce isn’t always the easiest of tasks. You want to make sure that your product arrives in your customer's hands in perfect condition.

You want them to be impressed by the fast and efficient service.

You want to ensure that shipping costs fit into your budget, offer the right options when it comes to insurance, tracking and weight.

When you’re starting your online business, it’s vital that you consider how you’re going to get your product into your customer’s hands.

Get it right and you’ll have a happy and loyal customer who will tell the world about your brand and help drive your business towards greater success. Get it wrong and your products might arrive damaged, broken or tampered with, if they even arrive at all. Not to mention the potential of the customer complaining about your service to their contacts.

Ever wished you could read your customers’ minds and understand exactly what they’re looking for in a product or service?

That’s exactly what you can do when you create a buyer persona.

By talking to customers, doing your research and listening closely to your audience, you can learn more about them and their motivation to buy. This can help you solve their problems more effectively, meet their needs and grow your business at the same time.

When you’re starting an online business, it’s essential to think carefully about the product you’ll offer to your customers.

Many people dream of quitting the 9-5 and turning their hobby into sustainable income or career.

But it often feels like there’s too much of a learning curve and too many barriers in the way.

They often don’t know much about running or marketing a business, they’re not sure their ideas would ever work, and they’re worried that they just couldn’t earn enough money to make ends meet.

However, this needn’t be the case. With some focus and dedication, you can start making money from doing what you love and become like the one in six small businesses in the UK that are hobbies turned into successful businesses.

Here are some tips on how you can do the same, plus some encouraging success stories along the way.

Dream of chucking it all in so you can follow your passion and start your own online craft business?

You’re not alone.

Many of us wish we could turn our creativity and skills into a money maker, instead of just something we do on the weekend.

But when you first get started, it’s hard to know how to make enough money online so that it doesn’t just provide you with handy extra cash but replaces your regular income, pays the bills and gives you enough to live the life you dream of.

So here I go with my first guest blog post!  Who am I?  My name is Chris Lynn and I’ve been a professional photographer since 2010.  My focus (pun entirely intended) varies at different times during the year, from weddings during summer months, to studio portraits leading up to Christmas, to location shoots and commercial work throughout the year.

How to Start a Craft Business

Making the leap to self-employment and starting a craft business is always an exciting and daunting prospect.

You would get to do exactly what you love, use your creativity to produce beautiful things, become your own boss and make money at the same time. What could be better?

But it all seems like too much work to get started, especially if you’re not a business-minded person and you’re far from being clued up when it comes to technology.

Let’s change all that today. Let’s break down exactly what you need to do to start a craft business in easy-to-understand steps so you can start making that dream a reality.

I hate making phone calls.

As a business owner, time is money. But, like money, finding more of it can be a struggle. Cutting corners where you can frees you up to focus on more important parts of your business.