Craftybase walk-through part 2

Craftybase walk-through of selling an item

Hopefully you have had some time to use Craftybase and are comfortable entering all your expenses and inventory items! I had to get into a bit of a rhythm when entering my manufactures and my orders and actually had to make myself little notes that I put right next to the computer at first. I had to think of it this way: I am not just taking the fabric and balling it up then sending to my customers, I am actually making a tangible item with it. This is what your manufactures are, that tangible item (my cheat sheet said "I made this!" to help me remember why I am entering my item there).

screen shot of an item in my projects tab- the manufactures tab is circled in blue and this is what you want to update anytime you make an item!

 

I am going to use the example of pants I make for little ones. I buy my fabric and get it all entered as an expense. Then I am going to go in and create a project to let my system know "hey, I will be making these grey pants with a really cute pink airplane on the tush and these are the fabrics I use when making it" that way anytime I make those pants in the future I don't have to remember how much fabric I use for my applique or the pants. If there is a consistent material I use every single time I make these pants then I will add that to the recipe (the tab for this can be seen in the middle-right of your screen once you save the project). However, if the amount of fabric you use changes because you make different sizes/ colors etc. you can leave it out of the recipe OR you can remember to adjust the amount you use when you create a manufacture. Once I actually make those adorable airplane pants I need to let my system know I used a couple squares of fabric, some elastic and some grey interlock knit fabric as well. This is where you can add that great tracking number as well if you are selling children's items! I use it for my batch code under the manufactures tab as well as my order code under my order screen so I can see that tracking number easily on the main orders screen, which is where we will go once our manufacture is created. Add your item to the order and you are set! If you ever forget to enter the manufacture for an item, the system will have a red negative number in the "in stock" column under the main project screen. It's easy to see when you glace at the screen and you can go back and enter it then so your inventory stays up-to-date! I feel like my business information in much more organized now and after the bulk of my items were entered it felt much less daunting to keep up with. If you haven't had a chance to check out Craftybase head over there and take advantage of their 14 day FREE trial. Play around with it and see what you think. it works great for all types of businesses that create items to sell out of different materials (bakers, jewelry makers, wood-workers . . .)

DISCLAMIER: I am in no way affiliated with Craftybase, I am just a happy customer and work-at-home-mama that wants to help others out by making managing this part of your business easier. When you use my referral link, it does give both you and me 10% off our monthly fees so make sure to use it or someone else's that you know and get the discount!

 

As tax-time has quickly crept up on me I found myself buried in a sea of invoices, receipts and bank statements, without a good system to input them. I knew from last year this isn't something to get behind on yet somehow I did. I was using excel when I started my business and it worked well in the beginning. As sales increased I quickly outgrew it and desperately needed something that would not only handle the revenue and expenses but that would also invoice, keep track of inventory without me manually having to deduct it after each order was completed AND something that would allow me to track my items so I could remain complaint with the CPSC. I had been using an app that was great for compliance but I had to duplicate too much of my information. Entering each snap, bodysuit, shirt and piece of fabric I buy TWICE is just too time consuming when you are trying to be a wife, mom to 3 and business owner with no employees.

I found Craftybase and it has been amazing! I was overwhelmed at first because I had to go back and enter everything from the entire year. It took me a couple times of getting on the program to figure out the best way to do it. I sent numerous emails to one of the creators of Craftybase, Nicole, and she was always very helpful and friendly. Don't hesitate to use the support form within the program to ask any question you have, she is great!

I wanted to walk you through the process that I use to maybe help make the learning curve for others a little easier. They offer a free 14-day trial so I strongly recommend signing up for it so you can walk through it while reading this. I started by clicking on the contact tab and entering the stores/ suppliers I use most often as vendors. To do this you just select "add contact", select vendor from the drop-down category menu and enter as much or as little information as you want about each one. Next, I went to the expenses tab and selected "add expense". Here you will enter the vendor and date and then click "add expense item" and a new window pops up. When you go to fill in the "material" field you will click "add new material" and another window will pop up. Now stay with me here!! I promise once you do this a couple times it goes really fast and it will make organizing all your necessary information fabulous! In this new window you will enter the code (I use the UPC from my receipt), category (which you can create; mine are fabric, KAMsnaps, kids blanks, adult blanks and office supplies), quantity, and then make sure the "consumable" box is checked. Now you can click "save material" and it will allow you to enter your inventory information (amount paid etc) so Craftybase can keep inventory for you as the items are used. You will continue entering all of your fabric etc as "expense items" and then you can enter discounts from coupons, tax paid and shipping if any of those apply. I had to go back and do this with all my receipts for my fabric as well as the blanks I use. You will want to enter all your expenses this way but if they are office supplies/ items that you don't take inventory on, make sure to uncheck the "consumable" box. Next you want to go to your projects tab and enter the item you are making or have already made. Click "add project" and fill out all the information about your item. Save it and then click "create recipe". From here you can add whatever materials are part of the item (snaps, elastic, fabric etc) by clicking "add material". Keep in mind all of this is building the bones of your information so you won't have to do this all the time. You can add variations of the item so say you are making a shirt that comes in 5 sizes and 2 colors you can add that variation to it and you are done, no need to recreate it again!! It will calculate what you should be charging as well which is a bonus. Now when someone buys an item from you, go into your order tab and add the item, taxes, shipping and any other information you want to include. Since I make children's items I use my DOM/ batch# as the order code. I was using a wonderful app for tracking my items for compliance and it worked really well. However, I found I had to duplicate information in order to track expenses, inventory and my items for compliance. It was taking up too much time for me with the number of items I use in production so I have switched to using Craftybase. If I need to go back and find an item they are all under my orders and when I need to get information to fill out my taxes they are all listed without even having to do any sorting of a spread sheet!

an example of expenses sorted out in categories

 

DISCLAMIER: I am in no way affiliated with Craftybase, I am just a happy customer and work-at-home-mama that wants to help others out by making managing this part of your business easier. When you use my referral code (f4940363) or referral link, it does give both you and me 10% off our monthly fees so make sure to use it or someone else's that you know and get the discount!