Copycat Crafters - 5 steps to protecting your work

As a crafter you spend hours dedicated to making beautiful unique items. So finding out that someone else has stolen your idea can be heartbreaking.

on the 1st of October 2014 the Intellectual Property Act 2014 came into force. This means that it is now a criminal offence to intentionally copy a registered design.

In today's world of Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram It's difficult to protect your ideas, but there are ways that you can reduce the chances of someone poaching your intellectual property (IP).


First lets talk a little about Intellectual property rights.

It is possible to own the intellectual property of;

• something you have designed.
• something you have invented.
• the name of your product or a brand.
• something you have written or produced.

Step 1 - Protect your name and logo

Your brand is possibly the single most important part of your business. It encompasses the combined reputation, standard and quality of your enterprise. The last thing you want is to find out that someone has been riding on the coat tails of your brands success by imitating it.

You can search to find out if your business name is available to register as a trade mark and apply HERE. 

Step 2 - Protect your designs

These are classed as "design rights" and automatically protect your 3D designs from 10 years after they were first sold or 15 years after they were created. 

if your design is 2D, for example a fabric or wallpaper then you MUST register them to be protected. 

You can register your 2D designs HERE.

Step 3 - Protect your images

I have written a much more detailed article regarding how to protect your images HERE. 

Step 4 - Protect your data.

This may not seem that important. But remember that all of your product research, images, passwords and written content is most likely saved on your computer.

80% of cyber attacks could have been avoided by taking steps such as updating anti-virus software. IPO, IP Basics 2016

To protect your designs you must first protect your computer.

Step 5 - What to do when you find someone using any of your IP

If someone is using your IP on Facebook

If they are selling through a group then report the post to the group admins and to Facebook. 

You can do this by clicking the downward facing arrow to the top right of the post and selecting "Report Post".

If they keep using your IP than you can escalate the issue to Facebook directly HERE.

If someone is using your IP on Etsy

Report IP infringement to Etsy HERE. 

If someone is using your IP on their own website

It is much more difficult to implement an IP notice on a website. This is because website hosing providers are not held responsible for the content held within the sites that they host. You can try to report infringement to Wordpress etc, but as they are not legally liable it is unlikely that they will do anything about it.

In this instance the only option you have is to contact the website owner yourself. Often the site owner has no idea that they are infringing copyright, and will be more than happy to credit any images that belong to you. 

If they refuse then you can enlist the help of a copy righter or a solicitor that has experience if working with IP infringement.

If someone is using your IP on Instagram

I have found a great article over on the Me & Orla blog all about what to do in the event of Instagram IP infringement.

Read it HERE.

For more information on where you can go to register your designs, click HERE.

How to get a Booker card for your craft business

5kg bags of Dolly Mixtures for sweet jars. Kegs of beer for that special product launch and cut price duct tape for when your husband complains about the state of your craft room. 

Whatever your crafting enterprise you probably want to get your hands on a Booker card.

While seemingly elusive, obtaining a business account for the biggest wholesale retailer in the UK is quite straight forward.

So who can apply for a Booker card?

You can apply for an account if you own a UK based business. 
It doesn't matter if you are entirely based online or if its not full time. You don't even need to be trading yet.

Do I need to be VAT registered?

No. When you shop at Booker you will see two prices on the tags. The larger price (and cheaper one) is the price minus the VAT. 
The price you pay at the till will be the smaller price that includes VAT. If you are registered for VAT then the difference is what you will be able to claim back.

How much is it?

Free. Some cash and carry stores charge you for becoming a member, but not Booker.

How do I prove I own a business?

After you apply for an account online you will be required to go into the store to receive your card. 
At this time you will need to provide two pieces of evidence that you run a UK business. 
These need to have the name of your business and your registered business address on them. I used an invoice from when I had some business cards made and a copy of my business insurance certificate.

How do I apply?

The first part of the process is done online. It just asks for things like what Kind of business you have (the closest I could find to my shop was "Retail").

You need to select your local branch and go from there.

You can start your application by clicking HERE.

Its that simple! Go forth and enjoy jumbo packs of loo roll and 10l bottles of Fairy washing up liquid!

What does your brand say about you (and your Squirmlets) behind your back?

Victoria Reece-Heal from DHBS Marketing is here to help us understand how a little brand awareness can help improve your business image within the marketplace.

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You’re creative, so crafting a fantastic brand should be a doddle (or is that a doodle).

Wrong.

Your wonderful creations are a personal testament to your creative ability and your passion. You spend hours carefully stitching detail, moulding intricacies and blending colours. This is about what you want to do and what you want to sell. However, your brand isn’t about you, or even totally about your amazing creations... it’s about your customers and what they want and like.

To show you what I mean, let’s go back to the birth of your creations...

Introducing Squirmlets.

One day you have this wonderful idea and you turn that idea in to (for the purposes of this blog) a ‘Squirmlet’. Now this Squirmlet is soft and squishy and adorably cute. They come in a range of colours and there are ten different characters to collect, each with their own personalised poem about their individual likes and dislikes. Fantastic idea and absolutely perfect for primary school aged children to collect.

So how is a brand going talk about your Squirmlets behind your back?

Well, your brand is how your Squirmlets (and your business) are perceived by others, and most importantly by your target audience (i.e. those mums, dads, aunties, grannies, etc of primary school children, as well as the kids themselves). Your brand literally speaks to your customers, telling them what to expect from you (quick delivery and quality craftsmanship) and your Squirmlets (hours of fun and swapsies with friends).

So how does your brand do this?

• Through the words and pictures on your flyers and adverts;
• By the quality of your Squirmlets and how you package and present them;
• With your Squirmlet (and non-Squirmlet)posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest;  
• Through your Etsy descriptions, images and price-points;
• By how your Squirmlet website and online shop look and how easy they are to navigate and purchase from...

Everything that is seen by those mums, dads, kids, etc. is your brand and each one of those elements will create an impression about you and your Squirmlets. So you need to be sure you are creating the right impressions.

So what impression are you creating right now?

• Is it an honest and representative impression?
• Is it the right impression?
• Is it an impression that will interest and entice your customers?

Here’s how to craft a brand that will say the right things (up-front or behind your back!)

1. Define your best (and actual) customers. You need to know exactly who your target market is in order to understand the best way to promote to them, with right images, best words and most suitable methods that will grab their attention.
2. Know your competition and define how/why you are different. What makes you stand out, and what sets you apart from others offering similar products/services, is what will make customers come to you. Shout about what makes you (and your Squirmlets) special and unique.
3. Create the right logo. A single image can convey numerous messages, and these messages are providing your potential customers with their first impressions of your product/service. Creating a first impression only happens once and creating the right impression is vital.
4. Set the right tone. People don’t always remember the words and images you use, but they will remember the impression and the feelings they created. So how you say things is just as important as what you are saying. The right words delivered in the right way can influence your customers and persuade them to choose you
5. Define your message. Strong, clear and consistent messages are needed across all your promotional and sales activities, in order to sell yourself to your customers... to get their attention and guide their actions.
6. Be consistent. Make sure your customers recognise YOU instantly on your website, your Facebook page, your Etsy page, your Eshots, your craft fair signs, etc. So that means the same use of colours, imagery and messages in the same way across everything.

And one final thought for you...

Does your brand whisper sweet reminders when you deliver your products... a branded gift tag, a logo’d sticker on the packaging, a leaflet about your product range inside the package?

Or does your brand sneer and say ‘you can’t find me’ as it hides on a plain white carrier bag, a blank Facebook cover, or a missing strap line?

Blog post by Victoria Reece-Heal, who helps small businesses get new customers. Check out her blog for more marketing know-how and advice:

http://dhbsmarketing.blogspot.co.uk/

5 steps to increasing organic reach on your Craft Business Facebook page

Social media had become a game changer. 15 years ago if you wanted to promote your craft business your options were things like; advertise in craft publications, attend craft fairs and give out business cards perhaps even have a radio ad. Now with platforms such as Facebook and Twitter it has never been easier to put your products in front of potential customers.

Facebook cottoned on to this and now provides the "boost" feature. For a modest fee you can have your ads placed right in front of potential buyers that fit in to the criteria that you have set.

But do you know the one thing better than cheap publicity? Free publicity!

The number of people that see your business is described as your "reach". The more people see your posts and share them, the more your reach will increase. 

So whats the best way to do this?

Here are 5 ways that you can increase your reach on Facebook without spending a penny.

1. Share content onto relevant groups.

Only sharing content on your own page is just preaching to the converted. You may get a couple of shares from people who already "like" your page, but your going to be waiting a long time to see your reach increase that way. 

Start sharing your content with Facebook groups that would find it interesting.
For example, if you specialise in making button frames you may want to share a picture of a recent commission on Crafting with Buttons

If you make Harry Potter inspired book folds then you may want to share a picture onto Home made Harry Potter


2. Encourage interaction by asking questions.

If you put an interesting post on your page, someone may "like" it but that would probably be the end of it. 
If instead your asked a question, then someone may leave a comment answering it. Facebook ranks post with comments higher than that of those with just likes. Comments also work by "bumping" posts up to the top of the news feed meaning they are more likely to get seen.


3. Create "shareable" content.

Shareable content is something that the reader would think that other people would find interesting.
We've all see these posts on Facebook;

(Sorry for the naughty swearing)

This is a prime example of "shareable" content, because nearly everyone will know someone with their name on that list who will inevitably "tag" them and share the post.

By creating content that the readers friends and family will find interesting, you are encouraging them to press the "share" button. 

4. Leave the hashtags where they belong! #######

There's a time and a place for hashtags and Facebook isn't it. Facebook just doesn't like hashtags. If you can't bear to leave those scratches alone then use them very sparingly.

This info-graphic from Surepayroll demonstrates how using too many hashtags on Facebook can do your post more harm than good.

#just #don't #do #it

5. Don't be all about business.

If all you ever do is bombard people with images of the same woolly hat you have made in 20 different colours, your page will be getting "unliked" faster than you can blink. Keep the content fresh and engaging. Direct sales and marketing posts should only be making up about 50% of the content that you share. 

What are your customers other interests? If you make customised wool gloves then why don't you share that article you just saw about us being in for the coldest winter on record? If you sell bath bombs, then write a post asking people when was the last time they had a proper soaking session in the bath? Keep all content topical, relevant and consistent with your brand image.

I hope you find these tips useful. If you have any other queries as to how you can improve your Facebook business page then please get in touch, we love hearing from you!

Click the image below to be taken to our Facebook page.

What a load of Blog! How blogging can help your business identity.

Newsflash! Tesco is blogging about 5 things you can do with a pineapple......

OK I'm not sure if they actually are, but its the sort of thing that they would blog about.

In today's social media culture, nothing is private. Your savvy customers want to know everything about your business so they can make an informed choice about who you are, and if they want to do business with you. 

And that's a good thing! 

A customer that is engaged with your story and your brand is far more likely to buy from you, and more importantly keep buying from you. 

Blogging is about strengthening your businesses identity. Creating and sharing content that promotes your businesses core values instils interest in your customers and helps them to trust you. This makes them want to buy from you, because they feel that they know you better than they do your competitors.

Blogging is the human face on the mechanical business machine.

I'm not saying that your business is a faceless robot. But if your looking to have hundreds or thousands of customers that could be spread all across the globe, It's difficult for them to really "know you" unless you help them out a little. 

But your blog doesn't need to sound like a teenagers diary entry.

"Dear diary, today I made a sale *happy dance*"

Blogging needs to set the tone of your business. The blog of a legal firm will sound very different to that of a sweet shop. Imagine you are talking to your customers sitting in front of you. What sort of language would you use? How formal would you sound? Is the tone conversational? Frank and to the point? Chatty?


What will it cost you?

Quite often, nothing.

If you have a website already then you probably have everything already in place to start blogging. You may want to add a page to your website that you can keep updated and use as a blog. Alternatively you can use a free or very cheap blogging platform and link it to your site.

These are two of the most popular free blogging sites;

Wordpress.com

Wordpress is so simple to use! 
You can create a very professional blog in literally minutes. It looks great, but it costs.  The most basic packages are available for a minimum of £2.50 per month but these are so basic that I'm not sure that you would find them much use for business purposes. 

Their business package means that you can use your own domain name, remove the word "Wordpress" that would otherwise be plastered all over your blog as well as a host of other benefits. 
But with prices starting at £20.83 per month, (that's a whopping £249.46 a year) you need be sure that your blog is going to be earning you some revenue before you leap in. 

You can get a free website or blog through Wordpress. But if you are serious about blogging then I would recommend upgrading to one of the more professional packages.

If you want to monetise your blog or use it as a store/shopping platform for your product then it's great.

Blogger.com

This is hosted by Google. The advantages to this are that you blog will be fully integrated into your google profile, making sharing your content and getting it seen easy peasy. Blogger also includes Google analytics free. So if you like to know where your audience is coming from and what they are looking at, then this is the one for you.

Blogger is compatible with Google Ad-sence, so making money from having ads on your page is as easy as clicking a button.

It is also absolutely free. 

The downside it that it is not as user friendly as Wordpress. It's also quite complicated to try to set it up as a shop.

How often do you need to blog?

This entirely depends on your audience. You want to keep your content fresh so that your readers have something new to interest them each time they visit. 
Popular blogs with 10,000 readers a day need to update their content every few hours but that's because they have a huge reader base to be kept entertained. 
Blog as often as you think your readers will visit, whether that be once a week or once a month.

What content should you put into your blog?

Content needs to be;

Honest

Part of the reason why you are writing a blog is so that potential customers can get to know and trust you. If you value your businesses integrity (and I'm sure you do) then you will only write about what you know to be factually correct. Giving your opinion is fine so long as you make it clear that's what it is, and so long as that opinion fits into your brand. If in doubt, leave it out.

Interesting

If what your writing is boring, your customers won't read it. If what you are writing about is fundamentally boring (tax legislation for example) then use interesting language and try throwing in a few info-graphics to liven it up a bit.

Relevant

If your business is a bouncy castle rental in Croydon, don't blog about the political situation in Cuba. Leave that for your own Facebook page.
Do however blog about the largest bouncy castle ever made, or link to an article about throwing the best ever kids birthday party (just make sure it recommends bouncy castles).

Helpful

Your customers want to be better informed about your business, so inform them! 
Write an article on how your product has helped someone live a better life. Or how your service has helped someone save a ton of money. Your blog is about promoting YOUR business.

Shareable 

Shareable content is like the philosophers stone. One article that hits the right note with your readers can be shared countless times, propelling your business ahead of your competitors. There is no real formula to what makes something go "viral". 
New, innovative content that makes people go "wow, I haven't seen that before! everyone I know needs to see this!" is what makes people press that magic "share" button.

Branded Fabrics - The great copyright debate

Ok, I know this post is probably going to make you either love me or hate me. The topic of copyright legislation surrounding fabrics and papers has been long contested and comes up in crafting chat rooms every couple of days.
For a long time I was under the impression that if a crating material whether that be paper, fabric or otherwise featured a copyrighted character then you could not make that item into something else and sell it, right? WRONG!

So many crafters ASSUME that because something has a character on it that you cant go near it with a barge pole, but this simply isn't the case.

Here I attempt to make this clear for those who wish to use fabrics in their makes....

Time to take a break

You should probably just give up....


Did that statement surprise you? If it did I bet its only because your hearing it from someone else, when you're so used to saying it to yourself.

I see this everyday....

You know what?

Giving up is exactly what you should do, because whatever it is your doing isn't working.

Without realising it, you have "Crafters Block".

If what you're currently doing is not matching up with what you want from your craft business then you need to make a change, and that will require a break. 

Don't worry I'm not suggesting you burn all your yarn and feed your decopatch papers to the dog. But to make any significant change you need to draw a line under how you were running your business and concentrate on how you are going to run it in the future. You may have had this beak already, just in the time it takes to read this article.

To crate a successful business you need to have GOALS.

If you really know what you want from your crafting business then read on. If your not 100% sure of your crafting goals, head over to this article for some ideas and inspiration.

Right so you know what your goals are? Great!

Its time to refocus on those goals and do what needs doing to achieve them. 

Our blog is FULL of articles CRAMMED with advice on helping you to achieve success from your business. So whether your goal is to increase Facebook reach, Etsy sales or customer satisfaction, we will be here every step of the way to help you.

Its OK to take a break, we've got your back.

Finance for crafters

There is an old saying; "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves"

In reality, the pounds take just as much care as the pennies to work effectively. But by ensuring that you have basic procedures in order to keep the pennies in the right places, you will find that the pound slot in quite nicely too.

In part 2 of my free e-book we will be delving into the historically complicated and sometimes confusing area of money management, specifically with regard to how it affects your craft business.


Become registered as self employed

If you are working for yourself then you are classed as a "sole trader" this means that you are the exclusive owner of the business and will keep 100% of the after tax profits (but you are also liable for company losses).

You can be both "employed" and "self employed" at the same time. For example if you work in a regular job 9-5 and run your own business in the evening.

Registering to be self employed is easy. Lust click the link below to get started.

Once you have been successfully registered as self employed then HMRC will send you a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTF). You will need your UTF to be able to fill out your tax return online.

You will also require a Government Gateway account. You may have one of these already if you have ever needed to change the details on your drivers licence, or use any other government service online. If you are unsure as to whether you have a GG account, follow the link HERE.

Filling out your tax return online

Until April 2017 you do not need to fill out a tax return if your turnover is less than £2500 a year and you are employed. If this is the case you can just call HMRC and tell them your figures. They will then remove the amount of tax payable through PAYE.
If you are unsure as to whether this applies to you then HMRC have a handy (and short) questionnaire that you can find HERE.

If you don't need to fill out a tax return then great! Sit back, chill out and be happy in the knowledge the HMRC has it covered. If you do (sorry about that) then read on.....

You can log in to your account  Here  (you will need to GG username and password)

The process of filling out your Self assessment tax return is quite straightforward. You can also save part way through your tax return and come back to it later.

For some great videos on how to fill out your tax return online just follow this link to the HMRC YouTube site.

National Insurance

National Insurance (NI) is what pays for the majority of our state benefits such as the pension, statutory maternity pay and bereavement benefits.

It is paid by everyone who is;

• 16 or over

          And

• Employed and earning over £155 a week

          Or

• Self employed and making a profit of £5,965 a year or more.

If you are self employed then the amount you pay depends on your profit for the year.

Profits of over £5,965 a year = Class 2 = you pay £2.80 a week NI

Profits of over £8.060 a year = Class 4 = You pay 9% on profits between £8.060-£43,000

                                                                  You pay 2% on profits over £43,000

This is paid through your self assessment online.

Tax

The very word can strike fear into any crafter and small business owner. People spend their while lives trying to avoid it, accountancy firms make millions by managing it and people have been ruined buy not understanding it. But not you!

I spoke to HMRC to get some clarification regarding our tax requirements as crafters. You can find a concise article on this by clicking this link;

Managing Cash Flow

Once upon a time the management of you business funds probably consisted of a small metal box, (usually black or red for some reason) that you would keep under the table at a craft fair or on a shelf at home. Nowadays with the majority of our business being done online, your money could be in many places at once, and keeping track of it is a tad more complicated than turning the key and opening the kitty.

By far the best and easiest way of managing your cash flow is to have a husband like mine who insists on taking care of everything because he's OCD about finances. Just kidding.

The best piece of advice I could give is to invest in some basic spreadsheet software.
Excel is great, and for basic finances suitable for your small craft business it's all you really need.

the most important figures are those that record the money coming in and where it has gone out as these you will need for your tax return. Everything else such as profit projections, margin calculators and invoice payment rates can be useful, but are by no means essential.

You can also usually find courses on how to use Excel at your local school, college or community centre.

If you don't have any courses running near you, then you can take this free online course from Home&Learn. Link Here


I hope you have found this article helpful. If you think it will be of use to others then please share it on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up to our mailing list (up the top on the right) to be the first to hear about new articles as they are released!

If you missed part 1 of our e-book then you can find it here;

Tax for Crafters - What you need to know, and how it will change in April 2017

Tax and copyright seem to be the 2 biggest sources of arguments between small craft business owners.

As the rules stand at the moment, you can earn up to £2500 from crafting without needing to fill out a tax return BUT IT IS STILL TAXABLE! you need to telephone HMRC and inform them of how much you have made over the year so they can adjust your tax free allowance. Not needing to fill out a tax return does not mean you don't need to pay tax.

This changes in April 2017.

Here is the information regarding the new tax break for "micro enterprise"

10. New tax allowances for money earned from the sharing economy

From April 2017, there will be two new tax-free £1,000 allowances – one for selling goods or providing services, and one income from property you own.
People who make up to £1,000 from occasional jobs – such as sharing power tools, providing a lift share or selling goods they have made – will no longer need to pay tax on that income.
In the same way, the first £1,000 of income from property – such as renting a driveway or loft storage – will be tax free.

source https://www.gov.uk/government/news/budget-2016-some-of-the-things-weve-announced 2017

We sought some clarification from HMRC as to what this actually means for crafters.

Here's what we found out;

1. This tax break only applies to "irregular, part time and hobby earnings".

This means that if you sell your old bike on ebay then this rule will cover you. If however your income is "regular and advertised" eg you have a FB page selling box frames or bunting, then this is classed as being self employed and you need to fill in a tax return even if your earnings are less than £1000 a year.

2. This is only a tax free allowance. If you are earning over £1000 from your craft business you will not be taxed on the first £1000 regardless of any other income stream you have.

So as of April 2017 the ONLY scenario where you do not need to fill out a tax return is if you are selling sporadically eg a craft de-stash, spare crafting equipment or a one off item you have made.

Effectively if you have a Facebook business page selling ANYTHING, you need to fill out a self assessment tax return.

However all is not lost! New guidance as to how this is going to be implemented has yet to be released. HMRC are keen to make their lives easier by removing a lot of sole traders from the self assessment process altogether. So we may find that the new £1000 rule means that you may only need to fill out a tax return if your income goes over £1000. As soon as I have more information from HMRC I will update this post.

Add your e-mail to our mailing list to be the first one to hear about how the new rules will affect your business!

How to build a Successful Craft Business from the Ground Up. Step 1 - Setting strong foundations with insurance

When running your own small crafting business it's important to be able to wear many hats. Marketing, PR, administration and accountancy are things that we "expect" to be able to do for ourselves. The benefits of this are huge, with the average small business in the US spending on average $7,600 a year on legal expenses alone, the advantage of a little knowhow can go a long way to improving your bottom line.

But where do you start? Say you've made an amazing cushion and sold it on Facebook, Great! Then before you know it you're making 30 a week to fulfil your FB and Etsy orders, you're supplying 5 local shops and you're starting to think that this could be a serious income stream for you.

Congratulations, You have a business!

But with great power comes great responsibility and It's important to ensure that your new business had strong foundations on which to build on.

In this series I will be going through some of the essential requirements that you will need to fulfil in order to protect your fledgling business. And great news, you can do them all yourself.


Step 1 - Setting strong foundations with insurance


This is quite possibly the most important foundation stone for your business.

Insurance is the one thing that YOU MUST HAVE! If something goes wrong it won't be a tap on the knuckles or a small fine. It will be a no holes barred legal frenzy in which a very powerful and very knowledgeable legal firm will be working exceptionally hard to take EVERYTHING FROM YOU. Would you seriously put everything you hold dear at risk for the sake of a 10 minute phone call and £50?

Insurance doesn't need to be scary or expensive. Taking out a simple policy will protect you and your business should anything unexpected happen.

So What sort of insurance do you need?

Here are the 3 main areas of cover that you should be looking for in a policy;

Public Liability Insurance ( PLI)

This protects your company against claims made by your customers for accidental injury and damage to property.
If you plan on selling at craft fairs then you will defiantly need PLI. Some events are happy with you having £2 million in PLI cover, but most council run markets require £5 million.

Some things I have heard people say;

"I don't need PLI because I don't do craft fairs"

PLI would cover you for any claim made as a result of someone injuring themselves due to your not showing "reasonable care". This can be at a craft fair, in your car, at your home/office or anywhere that you may have interaction with your customers.

"I don't need PLI because I work from home and don't see my customers"

You need PLI even if you work from home and never see your customers face to face. What if a customer comes to collect an item as a one off? They may trip on that loose paving slab outside your front door and makes a claim against you?

"PLI isn't a legal requirement"

It is true that your are not legally required to have PLI. But unless you have an emergency £2 million in your back pocket, I would get it anyway.

"I don't need PLI because I only sell to friends and family and they would never make a claim against me"

Lets say a family friend (who is a self employed plumber) buys an item off you. They then injure themselves on that item and can't work. They then make a claim to their OWN business insurance for their lost earnings. Their insurance company then claims against YOU for the lost earnings of their customer. It's not only individuals that can claim against you.

Products Insurance (PI)

This covers the cost of compensation should someone be injured as a result of a faulty or damaged product that is produced, designed or distributed by your business.

Some things I have heard people say;

"I don't need PI because my products are 'safe' "

Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public.
That small button in the centre of your hand stitched lavender bag, can be chewed off by a child in 10 seconds flat.
That bubblegum bath bomb that you made last week was fine for Mrs Miggins, but it gave her sister a horrible allergic reaction.

"I don't need PI because I don't make the items I sell"

You need PI even if you are only distributing items. If you buy Items from other suppliers and sell them on, you are just as liable.

"I don't need PI because I'm only designing items"

As above, even if you are only designing an item (eg a sewing pattern) you are still liable if the finished product develops a fault that results in an injury. The court will probably find in your favour if the injury was a result of the pattern not being followed correctly. But your still going to wish you had legal cover for the £5,000 solicitor fee.

Legal Cover (LC)

As you might guess, this covers you for legal fees that result if a claim is made. You do not necessarily need legal cover. You can represent yourself if an issue should arise, but for the sake of what could be just a couple of pounds if anything on your premium, I would recommend having it.

Like dental work and upholstery, the law is one of those things best left to the professionals.

The way this is paid works slightly differently depending who you are insured with. Some insurance companies expect you to cough up for the legal fees yourself and then re-imbrues you afterwards, and some pay direct. If in doubt, ask you insurance provider.

Insurance providers

There are many providers that can cover your craft business some like Direct line and AXA are large companies that do many kinds of insurance. You are more likely to get low cost and basic packages with these providers.

If your craft is something that is a little more niche them you may wish to consider using a specialised craft insurer. Craftcover.com provides insurance specifically tailored for the craft industry.

My experience

I have my insured through Direct Line. It costs me £55 a year and covers me for;

• Public Liability (£2,000,000)
• Product Liability (£2,000,000)
• Stock away from home (£1,000)
• Money away from home (£3,000)
• Legal cover (£100,000)
• Loss of earnings (£35,000)

Summary

If you don't have insurance, go get it. Like now.

If in doubt, get more cover than you think you need you will never regret having too much protection.

I hope you've found this article helpful Step 2 will cover the financial requirements for your business including accountancy, tax and cash flows.

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