Make 3 times the Average Artisan Income and 10 times the Sales Revenue by Outsourcing?

Posted on September 24, 2007 by christine

Did you know that arts and crafts businesses with employees make, on average, three times the income of solo artisans who do everything themselves?

The Craft Organization Directors Association (CODA) did the first major craft economic impact survey in 2001, and they found that, “Craftspeople that have paid employees have three times the household income and ten times the sales/revenue of those that work alone.”

Unfortunately there has not been a follow up study since then, but I bet the results would still hold true in terms of who makes more.

What does this mean to you and me? Paying people to do the tasks that you don’t excel at and/ or don’t enjoy doing can actually make you more money.

What is outsourcing? Outsourcing is essentially hiring someone to do work for you, but without the headaches of becoming an actual employer that has to pay benefits, collect income taxes to submit to the government, or any of the other headaches associated with having employees. The work is done by a person who is essentially considered a service provider. They bill you, and you pay the invoice. They are responsible for paying their own income taxes, reporting income, etc. The cost you pay would simply be a business expense, just like paying a lawyer or accountant.

How do you make more money by paying someone? Think about it. If you were free from the tedium of bookkeeping or production work for example, you could free up your time for revenue generating tasks like marketing, sales calls, designing new jewelry lines, meeting with clients, etc.

I know the first thing you are probably thinking is that you can’t afford it, you don’t want to spend time managing other people, you could do it better, or you don’t want to train people. That’s how i feel too, but I’m still intrigued.

I found a blog article about outsourcing from a fellow work-at-home-mom named Alice Seba who outsources. From what i understand, she has more than doubled her income since she started outsourcing much of her admin work.

Alice wrote a free guide offering tips on how to go about outsourcing. I checked it out and it seems pretty good, and it’s free (I looove free) so I thought I would share the link with you.

Here it is: Answers to Your Most-Pressing Outsourcing Questions - Sweetie Style!

Comments welcome!