Made at the Kitchen Table™
Products created in Lake County coming soon!
Across rural Oregon (especially Lake County) there are hundreds of individuals producing a wide array of hand crafted products in their homes.
The "Made at the Kitchen Table" concept is a simple program that virtually anyone interested in a business endeavor (large or small) to earn money from….can do. This program will provide you, the kitchen table producer, with skills that you need to figure out if your hobby can be used to generate extra income or even be developed into a business. There are six workshops.
The Back of a Kitchen Napkin Analysis workshop will cover the feasibility of doing something more with your idea or hobby. Should you go forward and develop this hobby into an internet-based business, a home-based business, a store-front business, etc.? What factors should you consider?
The What’s it Cost & What Must I Charge? workshop will address pricing. How much does it cost to produce your product and what should you be charging to make a profit off of it? This will include looking at direct and indirect costs, your competition's price, the season, the economy and your competitive advantage.
The Your Price, My Price & The Market Price workshop will look at cash flow and inventory. Are you going to be able to get through those periods of time when you have put money into inventory but aren't selling anything? Are you going to factor in seasonal fluxes and other issues that will affect how much money you have on hand and how many products?
The Your High Quality Product workshop will look at quality control. How do you consistently keep up the quality of your product(s) when you're making a large quantity? How can you assure quality? This will also touch on the idea of competitive advantage. If people think it's a higher quality product, they will be willing to pay more for it.
The How to Market at the Market workshop will talk about the benefits of cooperating, collaborating and co-marketing with other people that sell similar or complementary items and how you go about doing that. One idea is to form a cooperative. Another idea is to share a website with various craftsmen, etc.
The Co-operate, Collaborate & Co-Market workshop will look at effective strategies for marketing your product. What catches your eye when you're shopping? What environments are more inviting?