Do you love crafting with your Cricut? If so, we have that in common! I love all things crafting and Cricut related. You might have even thought about starting a business using your Cricut! And girlllll, I am all about that life! Listen, if you aren’t working toward making your passion a full time gig, then you aren’t truly living! You may have read a past blog I wrote called, Get Over Your Fear and Start a Side Hustle, and if that means figuring out How to Start a Business With Your Cricut, something you are already passionate about, then by all means, let me give you some pointers on how to get started!
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First Things First How to Start a Business With Your Cricut
Here’s the first and most important thing that I learned when starting a business with my Cricut cutting machine. Don’t start a business doing something you can’t replicate over and over without killing yourself. For example, if you think it takes way too much time to make mugs or t-shirts, don’t do it! Frustration and burn out will ensue. Believe me.
Therefore, the first thing you want to do is to create a business around things you’re passionate about and things you like doing. People are being called to do more and more of what their passionate about lately. That’s not by accident! The world is shifting and changing, and it’s a big reminder that we only live once. We’re here to do things that light our fire and bring us joy! For you, a creative soul, that means using what you’re already good at to make money. That’s called living from our purpose. And you can find your purpose by following what you’re passionate about.
Don’t Make the Mistake of Selling Copyrighted Items
Okay, listen girl. When your considering How to Start a Business With Your Cricut, you might be thinking that you can get away with selling copyrighted items. You know the ones. (I.e. characters and images from movies and shows we adore, etc.). However, that’s a big no no! Sure, in the beginning, it will be all good and fun and you’ll make some sales on Etsy. But then, you’ll gain traction like I did and get slapped with copyright infringement. That’s right. It happened to me. And it just so happened to occur during the worst year of my life, which you can read about here.
So here’s the deal. If you’re looking to GROW your business and be the BIG amazing entrepreneur that I know you can be, then you can’t hide out being a “super small Etsy shop owner” forever. That will only last so long until. Then, one of your Pinterest Pins will go viral and you, my friend, are screwed. All the money you made on those items will be for nothing because you have to pay up to that establishment who owns those images. Point being, it’s a waste of your time and energy to sell items that someone else owns. Unless you do it in the right way. Which I will explain a bit more below.
How to Legally Sell Things You Make With Your Cricut
Well there’s a few ways to do this. First, check out copyright.gov that explains how, “as a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.” So, here’s a general example. If, for example, you want to create something using imagery from The Giving Tree, you’ll have to wait until the year 2069. That’s because Shel Silverstein died in 1999.
Before selling items using Cricut’s imagery, you’ll want to read their legal terms here. However, there’s other ways to get clipart to use with your Cricut as well. You can purchase items from Etsy sellers who are doing what their clipart! Like you, they’re doing what they’re passionate about, which is so helpful to small business owners like you and me. Just make sure to read the fine print. A lot of them either have you purchase a license to sell works using their clipart or they require you to make mention of them as the owner of the artwork when you sell your items. Sometimes I forget to list it and it’s always a “DOH!” moment.
Selling your Cricutmade Products
The next step in How to Start a Business With Your Cricut is pretty obvious, but you’ve got to have a place to sell your stuff. Now, you can certainly sell your items at craft fairs, or local street markets, or even out of your homes, but the number one place I recommend doing it is ONLINE!
Okay, hear me out. If that scares the bejesus out of you, don’t worry. We’ve all been there. All the limiting beliefs pop up like, “but I’m not techy”, or “but there’s so many other people already doing it.” Both of those thing are hogwash. Why? Because A., that’s what Google and YouTube are for. (Although, lately, I’m more into DuckDuckGo, but anyway.) And B., if people didn’t do things just because other people were doing something, then we would have a lot LESS things in our lives that benefit us as consumers. You have to get your stuff out there. And you owe it to yourself and to the God that created you with your talents. You can do this and you will make an impact on others doing it.
Now that we have that covered, you need a place to sell online. You could start somewhere like I did, which was on Etsy. However, my business coach always teaches that you should never put all your eggs in one basket. Meaning, don’t build your entire business on someone else’s platform. Therefore, you need your own website. You can read this article I wrote about how to start your website for your creative business. Don’t worry, some of it involves hiring someone to do most of the grunt work so you don’t have to.
Once you Start Making Money with your Cricut
The big WAHOO moment comes when you start actually making money with your Cricut. Yay! That is huge! …and slightly complicated lol. That’s because now you have to get serious about being a TRUE business owner. You’ll start to realize what all the hoopla was about during past elections for small businesses. You’ll get invested in some of those laws that you never cared about before. It’s a whole new world.
Here’s just a few things you’ll have to do to get started if you’re in the United States. First you have to get a business license in your state and register it as a legal entity. Then you have to register your business with your county. You also need to start keeping track of your income within your state to pay sales tax. And don’t forget that you’ll have to pay estimated taxes each quarter on your income. Like I said, it’s complicated. But it’s only hard in the beginning – just like everything! Once you get over the first few years of all that crazy stuff, it will get easier, I promise!
Related Articles
You might also be interested in the following articles:
How to Create a Photo Studio at Home For Your Small Business
How to Sell on Your Website AND Etsy
The Best Cricut Setup for Your Office
Lastly, thank you so much for taking the time to read about How to Start a Business With Your Cricut. I hope this gives you some ideas about what to think about as you begin in your creative small business journey! Tell me below what you thought! I love to help you celebrate life through party decorations and beyond. Above all, I’d love to connect with you. Reach out to me on Instagram and let’s chat, or continue celebrating your life with The Celebration Effect.
xox
Lindsay
