Scrapbooking as a Business

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Scrapbooking as a Business

By Stephen Bucaro

What ever happened to photo albums and scrapbooks? They
have combined into a rapidly growing craft called
"scrapbooking". With scrapbooking, you don't just line up
your photos and memorabilia in the pages of a binder.
Instead, you display your photos in an artistic and
creative way using decorative backgrounds, borders, frames,
stickers, and whatever else piques your creative whimsey.

This new combination of photo album and scrapbook is often
referred to as a "memory book". Scrapbooking is the fastest
growing craft in the U.S., generating 1.4 billion dollars
in annual sales. This presents a tremendous opportunity for
an individual with a passion for scrapbooking and an
entrepreneurial spirit.

First decide which area of the scrapbooking craft your
business will serve:

1. Scrapbooking supplies. Buy supplies wholesale from a
source like Scrapbooking Factory Outlet sfodirect.com and
sell them at retail, or better yet design and manufacture
your own scrapbooking supplies.

2. Books and training materials. Become an affiliate of
amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com, or better yet write your
own book or develop your own website that provides
scrapbooking instructions and tutorials.

3. Develop Kits. Combine your scrapbooking ideas along
with instructions and materials into kits.

4. Publish a newsletter. Keep crafters informed about the
latest events, ideas and trends in scrapbooking. This
could be a paper or electronic newsletter.

Why not choose to serve several, or all of these areas?

Scrapbooking Business Example

Melody Ross, an Eagle, Idaho mother of five had been
scrapbooking for a while, but she couldn't create the
charming prose that she saw in some scrapbooks. She began
writing down any interesting prose that she came upon.
Eventually Melody collected 400 quotations.

In response to a suggestion by fellow students in a
scrapbooking class, Melody ran an ad in a hobby magazine
selling a booklet containing the quotations. She was
surprised to find her mailbox stuffed with over 2000 checks
for $8 each. Now all she had to do was actually create the
booklet!

Today Melody Ross makes over $500.000.00 annually selling
her scrapbooking products at more than 4,000 stores across
the U.S. and at her website www.chatterbox.com.

For more examples of successful scrapbooking businesses,
visit Joan Miller's website Once Upon a Page
www.onceuponapage.com and Caroline Meisel's website
My-Memories my-memories.net.
Mrs. Grossman's www.mrsgrossmans.com is a very interesting
stickers site.

Scrapbooking is the fastest growing craft in the U.S., and
it looks like this trend will continue for some time to
come. If you have a passion for scrapbooking and an
entrepreneurial spirit, starting a business serving the
craft of scrapbooking might be your path to success.
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