All you say seems right, John. ... and thinking it through, I could get started with the project with half a dozen wind chimes of various sizes and see what people want. I have no shop setup to do and don't need any new tools. It's nearly zero investment except for the materials for the wind chimes and they aren't that pricey except for the copper if that's what someone prefers. Steel and aluminum tubing is reasonable. I'm getting excited about the whole thing.
That's an interesting idea. I do miss the chimes even though they were loud. To a deaf person they were like heaven.
Might be a good idea to have a couple of each for folks to hear the difference and decide if the up-charge for copper is worth it.
Another great idea! Stop it, you're making me feel kinda stoopid by contrast.. ( I don't really mean for you to stop with your very good ideas.)
Thanks, I really like your quote and many others that I’ve seen here, too! You’re a realist, that’s how I interpret yours anyway. Realism is good. ☺️
I'm less of one than I used to be. It seems God is trying to get me to believe in him. Agnosticism isn't the comfortable place it used to be. Plus, I'd really like the universe to work out in such a way to let me be with my life's love again. Now I'm getting upset. I'm going to sign out for a while.
Selling at a local market is fine to start, but from my experience I've sold in a flea market for over 20 years on weekends, the key is traffic traffic traffic, no customers no sales. I was constantly looking for closeouts to sell, but I also made lucite picture frames using a strip heater I made out of materials I had. I started selling used items on eBay in 2001, again a very large audience. I stopped selling about a year-and-a-half ago do to covid and other things.
I forgot to mention there is a site call ETSY.com they cater to people selling craft, I think you're right it would fit nice there https://www.etsy.com/
It sounds like a fine idea. Remember, though, that most things that are made by hand don't support themselves if you think of an hourly wage for work. How do you plan to get your customers? What do you think they'd be willing to pay for custom made ones? What would be your turnaround time and would people be willing to wait? Etc. If you want to make a real business out of this, you should start with a business plan. If you're in the U.S., the Small Business Association has all sorts of help: https://www.sba.gov/ . Good luck with it!
To begin with, you might open a booth at a fair or trade show if you're in an area that has those, or maybe sell them on consignment from existing stores. Custom orders make sense but, I'm only guessing, but I would think that many of these purchases would be impulse buys, although wherever you offer them for sale, you could include a card or notice that mentions custom order options, to match the house or whatever. There are several options to sell stuff online, from sites like Etsy, to selling them through Amazon or another outlet, to having your own website. Facebook has sales options too, I think.
Thanks for the advice, Joyce. I don't need to make a great deal of money from either my carpentry work or this potential business. I'll just be glad to stop borrowing money for living expenses and losing equity on my house.
I've gotten so many good ideas from members here that I'm almost embarrassed, including yours, Ken. Along the lines you mention I thought that I could even offer to place a free set of wind chimes in a tree that's in the yard of a nice house. in a nice neighborhood where passersby could see it and a sign for my business that the owners would allow for a few weeks because they got a freebie. I'm definitely going to get this thing going.