Your Top 10 Burning Questions About Starting an Arts & Crafts Club

Starting a new venture can be daunting, especially when you're passionate about creating something meaningful but don’t have all the answers. 

The fear of the unknown can be overwhelming. We've been there. We were once where you are now, wondering if we had what it takes to turn our dream of running a successful club into reality.

When we first considered starting our own arts & crafts club, we were filled with excitement but hesitated because we had so many questions and no one to turn to for answers. We really were diving into the unknown! 

Neither of us had formal qualifications in teaching or art. Would we even be allowed to teach classes? Would parents trust us to teach their kids when we had zero experience? How would we attract customers? What if no one showed up? Tons of questions swirled in our minds, creating a fog of uncertainty.

Our story is not unique. Many of our members started just like we did, with a passion for creativity but no clear roadmap. They felt the same apprehension and faced the same doubts. 

We learned the hard way, navigating through trial and error, figuring out what worked and what didn’t. 

Now, we're here to share everything that we’ve learned so you don’t have to go through the same struggles. You can skip ahead to the good part—seeing your dream become a thriving reality.

Today, we want to tackle those burning questions together. Whether you’re wondering about qualifications, equipment, marketing strategies, how to teach online, in person, or sell kits, we’re here today to reveal all.

Here are the top 10 most frequently asked questions we get about starting an arts & crafts club:

 1. Do I need any prior experience or qualifications? 

We've seen time and time again that formal qualifications are NOT necessary. 

Many of our members do not have backgrounds in art or education and they own thriving, successful businesses. 

Depending on where you are in the world, it's possible that you may need some sort of childcare license to work with kids (depending on the age of the kids, the number of kids, and the duration of the classes), but you certainly don’t need a degree or any formal training.

The easiest way to find out what's required is to reach out to your nearest Small Business Development Center (SBDC) or Administration Office and let them walk you through what you need to do to make your business legal and legitimate.

 2. How long does it take to become successful?  

It depends on what you want out of your club and what success looks like to YOU. Do you want to run your club as a hobby, passion project, or full-time? Is your dream to grow your business and employ a team so that you can reach more students?

The opportunities are endless for creatives like us!!

We managed to scale from 1 location to 61 within 2 years. You can read our story here.

Our members commonly find success within a few months by consistently applying the strategies and techniques we provide.

• Take Solenne, who launched a bilingual craft club in France part-time less than a year ago—and now welcomes over 30 students every week! You can watch our interview with her here.
• Natalie sent out one flyer to a school, and it turned into $1280 in extra income per month. Plus, she has 25 kids on her waitlist! You can watch our interview with her here.
• Jo went from zero background to owning a thriving arts and crafts business with over 300 students! You can watch our interview with her here.
• Heleen went from having 1 student to 154 students! You can watch our interview with her here.
• Nicola already had a database of kids who were ready and excited to join her classes, so when she launched her club, she earned £ 10,000 (over $12,000) in the first month. You can watch our interview with her here.
• For Cara, only two years after joining CCC, she now runs after-school classes at 36 schools and has hired 7 instructors! You can watch our interview with her here.
• In addition to running booked-out classes at schools, Makayla teaches underprivileged kids in India. You can watch our interview with her here.

Just imagine what you can achieve if you start today!

 3. How do I find and attract customers? 

One of the biggest challenges we see with new club owners is when they pour hours into getting everything ready to launch their club, and then when they finally launch they have no one to launch to! This is exactly what happened to us in the beginning too.

Having no signups when you’re just starting out is disheartening, to say the least, and it can really be a major roadblock for a lot of people (if they don’t know the right way to market themselves). 

That’s why we’ve dedicated an entire module inside our CCC Academy to implementing the right marketing strategies, and we’ve even gone one step further to help automate the process of building your customer base with a done-for-you lead magnet, so that our members don’t have to make the same mistakes we did. If you want to get your hands on our automatic lead generator, it comes free with our all-in-one website solution for creative businesses - WebHub. 

CCC Academy members get 50% off WebHub in their first 30 days of joining the membership. Click here to join the waitlist for CCC Academy and get a free info pack.

Now back to marketing:

Since we started our club we’ve learned two super important things about marketing:

1. You can’t wait until you are 100% ready to launch before you start thinking about your marketing. 

This is something you have to start with from day 1. Attracting and engaging your ideal customers so that you have an audience to launch to once you’re ready is sooo important. You have to build relationships before the big launch. Otherwise, you’ll have no one to invite once you’re up and running.

Think about your marketing as an opportunity to build the “know, like, and trust” factor with potential clients over time. It's about developing a relationship, keeping in touch, and letting them learn more and more about who you are and what you do, so that when they are ready to purchase you are the one they’ll turn to.

 2. You need to change your mindset about what it takes to sell your product or service.

You are providing something valuable and you should be proud to sell it! Even if sales aren’t really your thing, there’s no need to shy away or feel awkward when you’re pitching your classes or kits to a potential customer.

Starting out, we had hesitations and limiting beliefs about selling because we were scared it would come across as "slimy" or that we’d bother people by pestering them too much. 

But we learned over time that marketing isn't about tricking people or convincing them to buy your stuff. It’s about serving people and helping them to elevate their lives by offering them something valuable; teaching their kids essential skills and helping them to boost their creativity (value = priceless!). 

When you become deeply connected to the transformation you are creating in your students' lives and the ripple effect of that transformation, what you’re offering takes on a whole new meaning. Keep that in mind with your messaging and in everything you do.

OK, messaging and mindset - check. Now let’s look practically at the different ways you can market yourself: 

The most popular methods include email marketing, reaching out to schools, collaborating with local businesses, and leveraging word-of-mouth referrals.

You can check out this blog we wrote where we shared 8 proven marketing strategies that you can use to spread the word about your club.

Tip: Resist the urge to tackle every strategy at once. Instead, focus on one or two main marketing strategies at a time. Doing so enables you to put your full effort into each one and achieve better results.

 4. What equipment and supplies do I need? 

When thinking about starting a new business, the first thing most people think is that it’s going to cost a lot of money to set it up.

Think of an expensive franchise, a bakery, or a school that requires a lot of startup money to get going, with rental expenses, furniture or equipment, staff, and other overheads… Phew, that's scary!!

That's what makes starting an arts & crafts club so unique. You don’t need a large amount of money to get started.

To start with, you only need a few basic art supplies like paint, brushes, paper, scissors and glue. These supplies go a long way so you won’t be needing to refill your stock for a while. 

You can visit our Amazon Store to see which supplies we recommend for your classes. We’ve done the research and tested the products to see which ones are the best quality for the best price.

You’ll also need a stash of recycled materials to craft with. Crafting with recycled materials is the #1 way you can save money with your crafting club, plus it teaches kids (and adults ;)) valuable lessons about saving our planet and being creative with what’s at hand!

Collecting recycled materials can be a team effort. A great idea is to involve your community and get everyone to contribute. People love showing up to our classes with big bags of materials that they’ve collected.

For teaching online, you can start out with a phone and natural lighting. Then, if you want to upgrade your setup once your classes are up and running, you can view our recommended equipment list for online teaching inside our Amazon Store.

 5. What type of venue should I use for my classes? 

From converted garages and church halls to libraries and yoga studios - anything is possible!

Many of our members teach classes from schools. Other options include: 

• Community centers 
• Libraries 
• Restaurants 
• Coffee shops
• Clubhouses
• Parks
• Churches
• Or even your own home if space allows 

Any location that has enough parking space, a restroom, tables and chairs will work - it doesn’t need to be fancy! For more ideas (and the pros and cons of each), check out this blog we wrote with 7 perfect venue ideas. We even included some images of existing clubs for inspiration.

 6. How much should I charge for my classes or kits?  

To price your classes or kits you need to consider your costs, the value you provide, and what your target audience is willing to pay. 

For classes: You can read our blog, 4 Tips to Price Your Arts & Crafts Classes With Confidence, and grab our FREE Pricing Calculator to help you figure out the perfect price.

For kits: You can read our blog, How to Price Arts & Crafts Kits to Make a Profit, and grab our Pricing Calculator to help you determine the perfect price.

You can save on costs for both classes and kits by purchasing from our Amazon Store. You'll see that we have taken the time to preselect the best value-for-money products to save you tons of time comparing costs and quality.

 7. Can I teach online, in person, AND sell kits? 

This is totally possible, and many of our members have multiple offerings at their clubs HOWEVER we recommend that you start with ONE offering and expand from there. 

When we first started out we tried to do EVERYTHING and please everyone… We ran kids classes and adult workshops and arty birthday parties and sold kits… you name it, we did it. 

But we very quickly realized that this only made us feel overwhelmed. Even worse, it made us achieve less, as we did not have a clear focus. 

The moment we got crystal clear about our offering our sales skyrocketed! 

So, pick one avenue to start with, whichever you’re most excited about, and grow from there.

 8. What do I put inside my kits? Can I see some examples? 

One of our CCC members, Lauren, made a super fun how-to video that explains how she puts her kits together and what she includes.

Aside from the supplies needed to create the craft or artwork, you should add:

• Printed instructions (use one of our done-for-you kit lesson plans)
• A handwritten note to make it personal
• Something fun, like a little gift or surprise - stickers, a toy, or a mascot collectible badge

Click here to purchase our super adorable mascot collectibles family - perfect for adding to kits or handing out in class to keep kids coming back for more (they’ll love to collect them all!)

 9. What lessons should I teach? 

To help save you tons of time on planning and lesson prep, we have developed a curriculum with over 300+ done-for-you step-by-step art & craft lesson plans.

Our Curriculum:

• Is the ultimate resource for educational craft lessons for children.
• Has lessons designed for ages 2-3, 4-6, and 7-12.
• Integrates the wonders of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) into hands-on crafting fun!
• Has been tried and tested in over 5,000 arts & crafts clubs! Kids LOVE it!
• Includes detailed supply lists to help you plan and budget effectively, ensuring profitability.
• Uses a lot of recycled materials to teach children the importance of recycling and to keep supply costs down.
• Has fun projects that are not just any old crafts - they become toys and games that the kids can play with.
• Is developed by an architect, engineer, and artist and refined with insights from an occupational and play therapist.
• Is built on our exclusive 'engagement formula' that promises to keep children enthralled from the moment they step into the classroom until they proudly hold their finished masterpieces.
• Has every step planned out for you so you can spend less time prepping and planning.
• Will have your students eagerly return, week after week, anticipating the next craft adventure! 

CCC Academy members get 50% off the CCC Curriculum in their first 30 days of joining the membership. Click here to join the waitlist for CCC Academy and get a free info pack. 

 10. How do I START? What comes first? 

The best way to start is to join our Get Started Workshop - it’s a 1-hour power workshop designed to get rid of the brain fog and help you clarify your ideas for your club. 

In this workshop, we’ll: 

• Guide you through the 6 stages of starting and growing a creative club
• Do a fun sticky note challenge to help you brainstorm ideas for your club
• Give you done-for-you lesson plans that you can use for your first classes and/or kits
• PLUS we’ll have a Q&A session at the end of the workshop where we answer any questions you have about what it takes to run a successful club.

Ready to sign up? Click here to head over to our signup page: https://www.creativecraftingclub.com/gs-live-workshop-signup

PS: Do you have a question not listed above? Join us at the Get Started Workshop, and we’ll be happy to answer!