TO want to sell the products of one's skill and talent is a natural urge that comes with progress and proficiency in a craft. While the money obtained is important, there is a more valuable return to be considered. The satisfaction and confidence that come from the successful marketing of one's own products are of far greater value than is the amount of cash received. Attractive as money may be, the fact that you have graduated from the amateur to the professional class is the most important thing.

Learn the professional way of selling. It's fun. The techniques involved will prove to be quite valuable later on. Your adult business career may be far removed from the merchandising field but somewhere, somehow, the business fundamentals you have learned now will stand you in good stead.

Preliminary Planning

The very first thing you should do, if you want to sell your own work, is to talk over your plans and intentions with your parents. This is extremely important!

Legally, if you are under twenty-one, you are a minor and consequently your parents are responsible for any debts you may incur or messes you may get into. They can be avoided most of the time but sometimes ticklish situations do arise. If the time comes when you need Dad's or Mother's help, it is far better that they know the entire story of what you are doing from the moment you started. Knowing that they are there behind you will give you a sense of self-confidence that makes you better able to solve your own difficulties.

What Will Sell

It is fairly easy to learn ahead of time what the market is in your community. Visit every gift, antique, book, florist and specialty shop in the town and nearby communities. Examine the window display of department and jewelry stores. Read the shopping columns of newspapers and such magazines as "House and Garden," "House Beautiful," "Better Homes and Gardens," and "American Home". Make notes and cut clippings. Keep these in an orderly fashion in a permanent file or notebook. Look over your findings carefully and try to determine exactly what constitutes their sales appeal. Check through friends, the local bank and telephone directory, to see if somewhere in your vicinity there is a handcraft guild or Woman's Exchange. The Exchange and various guilds are operated to sell the products of home talent. Go see them and talk things over. They have rules and regulations about buying and selling and the types of things they are willing to handle.

Often you will be tempted to go into a shop in order to examine something more closely. Go right ahead. You are under no obligation to buy anything. By following the professional shopper's technique, you will make things easier for yourself.

Shopping Technique

1. Go in and start looking at the items that appeal to you. When you are approached by a salesperson, say pleasantly and simply, "May I look around?"

2. Do not be flustered or embarrassed if the salesperson persists in hovering over your shoulder. That is her job. If she wants to talk, be friendly. She can pass along a lot of valuable information.

3. Avoid handling things as much as possible. Pick them up carefully, if you must, and set them down gently.

4. Look at prices and try to remember those that are important. Most shops mark their prices clearly. Some use code numbers. In this instance just ask what the article costs. That is your privilege but do not abuse it.

5. Do not stay too long in any one shop. When you leave, make a point of saying "Thank you."

The minute you can do so, jot down in a notebook the description, details and prices of those things that had special interest. To keep those details vivid make a simple identifying sketch of them.

The Birth Of Ideas

While you are collecting data on what sells and at what price, you will find a good many ideas beginning to percolate in your mind. That is fine. The observant eye, plus constant study, research and experiments, accounts for professional success. Established craftsmen and artists spend a lot of time studying museum exhibits, magazines, books and the displays of fellow craftsmen's work. You, too, will stimulate your imagination by doing the same thing.

Somewhere along the line you will see an article that will make you want to rush right home to start work along the same vein.

Perhaps it is a decorated bottle from Sweden. It is charming and obviously has sales appeal. Study those factors that make that one article stand out from all the rest. Is it the shape of the bottle? The color combinations? The quaint design? Now, go home and experiment. Plunge right in and give your own ideas a chance.

While experimenting, concentrate on developing a fair degree of speed along with a sure steady hand. The object that takes a great deal of time to complete is all right for personal satisfaction and amusement but not for merchandising purposes. Things that are to be sold, if they are to be profitable, must be completed within a reasonable length of time, for the cost of your time is included in the price of the article. A full explanation of this is discussed in the section, How to Figure Wholesale Prices.