“Hand Made Selling” made easy

Aditi Mishra is the founder of an e-commerce platform to transact all things made by hand. HandMadeSelling.com essentially provides a cool platform for craftsmen to sell or buy. They ship products across the globe. Aditi has a passion for customized gifts and that exactely what inspired her to start this venture.

Interviewed by Stephen M. Thompson, Ph.D.

Welcome to OpenBeast, tell us about yourself.

Thanks, I am Aditi Mishra. An average MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies. I worked for the corporate world for five years, quit everything to start off with my e-commerce venture HandMadeSelling.com. I think I took the semester on “Entrepreneurship” quite seriously (smiles).

So what is HandMadeSelling all about?

HandMadeSelling.com is an online platform to sell and buy all things made by hand. Anyone can upload any art form that they have made themselves, and anyone can buy the same handmade product online and get it delivered to their doorstep.

How and why did you come up with such a unique concept?

Frankly speaking, I am someone who sticks a lot of emotions to gifts. Being from a services background, I met a lot of people and made lots of friends. Today apart from the facebook, it is the gifts that we gave each other keep our memories and relationship intact. But sadly in today’s times, mall culture doesn’t give much variation or distinctiveness to the gifts that you would want to give to someone special on an equally special occasion. So, handmade gift creating and selling was the idea that brought in the solution. Also, I thought of providing a fair medium to the artists for selling their crafts online bypassing the middlemen.

What are your top selling products?

I provide the Sellers with a subscription based service that expires in a particular time frame. So, I have new Sellers with newer product ranges showcasing on my site. There is one Seller from Estoniawho keeps coming back with more of her trade mark product – “Juniper dishes”. The link to her store is www.handmadeselling.com/home_treasure?task=products.

Do you also design or make crafts?

Well, I used to, not anymore. I am always busy traveling to any of the art/craft fairs in order to gather information about yet to be popular or discovered art/craft forms so that I can get more artists on board as Sellers on my site. Though, I would love to open my own individual store on my site someday selling handcrafted jewelry and paper bags.

How do you market your business?

That is a tough one to answer. I am still in the initial broke stages of business; I therefore try anything and everything to get a little mindshare anywhere and everywhere. That particularly includes all the possible digital modes of marketing possible in my meager budget. Of course, I am thankful to publications like yours to do a story on me. Anything small today counts to a big leap tomorrow.

What is your vision for HandMadeSelling?

I started with the vision to have HandMadeSelling.com as the top of the mind medium for an individual to sell things made by hand. I am working hard to get close to achieving the same.

If you could live anywhere, where would you build your dream home?

Anywhere in this world where my family would be nearby.

Thank you.