How I Built a Handmade Business From Scratch — 7 Lessons That Actually Helped
Acquired Thoughts | Small Business + Entrepreneurship
I recently sat down with Sarita of Built from Scratch — a YouTube series dedicated to real conversations with small business owners about how they built their brands. We talked for about 10 minutes and covered more ground than I expected. You can watch the full interview here.
But after it aired, I kept thinking about the things I said. The stuff that felt most true. The lessons that took real time and real money and real failure to learn.
So I turned it into this.
If you're thinking about starting a handmade business, a creative business, or any small business from scratch — these are the seven things I wish someone had told me before I started Acquired Taste.
A Little Background
My name is Hannah Jackson. I'm the founder of Acquired Taste — a handmade Austin small business where I design and handcraft artisan incense holders and incense burners, and curate incense scents that make your space smell good and feel like you.
I started this business about three years ago out of my garage. I had no business degree, no funding, and no blueprint. What I had was a promise to myself to see one thing all the way through — and the willingness to figure out the rest as I went.
What I learned:
1. Use Your Launch as Your Market Research
One of the first questions people ask when starting a handmade business is: how do I know if anyone will actually buy this?
My answer: go find out.
I didn't do focus groups or surveys before launching Acquired Taste. I did vendor markets. I put my artisan incense holders and incense burners on a table at local fairs in Austin, TX, and I watched how people interacted with them. What they picked up. What they put back down. What made them stop walking.
That was my market research. Real people, real reactions, real feedback in real time.
Some pieces resonated immediately. Others sat on the table all day. I stopped making the ones that didn't move and doubled down on the ones that did. Simple — but only if you're actually willing to pivot based on what you see.
The takeaway: If you're starting a handmade or creative business, get your product in front of real people as fast as possible. Vendor markets, pop-ups, local events — the feedback you get in person is worth more than any survey.
2. Picking the Right Vendor Market Matters More Than You Think
Not all markets are created equal. And this took me a full year of trial and error to really understand.
There's a big difference between a market where people happen to be and a market where people come to shop. Events like art fairs, artisan markets, and retail-focused vendor events tend to attract buyers. General community events or festivals where shopping is an afterthought — not so much.
Look at the venue, the organizers, the other vendors, and the vibe before you commit. Is this an art-oriented event? Are people there with the intention of discovering and buying? Are the other vendors selling things that complement yours?
In Austin, I found my most consistent success at markets where the audience was specifically coming to support makers and small businesses. That's where I found my people.
The takeaway: Research your markets before you apply. Pay attention to who else is there, who's attending, and whether the audience actually buys — not just browses.
3. How I Got on Urban Outfitters (And What Actually Made It Happen)
This is the question I get asked the most.
A buyer from Urban Outfitters reached out to me directly. I did not pitch them. I had no inside connection. She found me because I had done the work to be findable online.
She was specifically on a mission to bring Black artists and makers onto the platform. She was intentionally looking for us. And when she searched, she found Acquired Taste — through a local directory called Do512, which I had listed myself on early on.
Here's what made that possible:
- SEO — I researched and used keywords specific to my product category so my site would show up in relevant searches
- Backlinks — I listed Acquired Taste in local directories and got my business mentioned on other websites, which tells Google my site is worth trusting
- Consistent branding — When she landed on my page, everything looked clean, cohesive, and intentional
- Styled product photography — I took my own photos. They were good. That matters.
The lesson isn't "be lucky." The lesson is: make yourself findable, keep your presentation clean, and show up consistently even when nobody seems to be watching. You never know who's looking — or why.
Internal link: Shop Acquired Taste on acquiredtaste.me — available online and on Urban Outfitters.
4. Keep Your Job While You Build
This is probably the most practical advice I can give to anyone starting a small business from scratch.
I built Acquired Taste while working a 9-to-5. I did both at the same time for a long time. It was exhausting. It was also one of the best decisions I made.
Having a stable income while you build removes the scarcity pressure from every single decision. When you're desperate for revenue, you make desperate choices — you take any client, any market, any opportunity even when it's not right. When you have a paycheck covering your bills, you get to be strategic.
It's a short-term sacrifice for a long-term goal. And it protects you from the version of entrepreneurship that's just barely surviving instead of actually building something.
5. There Is a Whole Business Built Around Making Money Off Small Businesses
Nobody warns you about this.
The second you start something, people come to you with services. Pay me to run your social media. Pay me to design your website. Pay me to do your email marketing. Pay me, pay me, pay me.
Some of it is worth it. A lot of it isn't — especially early on.
I've done most of everything myself: my own photography, my own branding, my own marketing, my own bookkeeping, my own content. That wasn't just about saving money. It was about learning my business from the inside out before I handed any piece of it to someone else.
Now I'm at a stage where I'm intentionally bringing in help. But that's a choice I'm making from a position of understanding — not because someone pressured me into thinking I couldn't do it without them.
The takeaway: Learn to filter. Figure out what you actually need versus what someone is trying to sell you. And build your own knowledge base before you outsource the things that matter most.
6. Your Presentation Is Your First Impression — Even at a Table in a Market
I started small. I still do vendor markets. But from day one, my presentation was on point.
My artisan incense holders were displayed intentionally. My branding was consistent. The signage, the packaging, the way the table was set up — all of it communicated something about what Acquired Taste was before I said a single word.
People buy with their eyes first. Whether someone is landing on your website or walking past your market table, the visual impression they get in the first three seconds determines whether they stop or keep moving.
You don't need a big budget to have a clean, branded, professional-looking presence. You need intention. You need to think about what you want people to feel when they encounter your brand — and then make every touchpoint reflect that.
This is also where incense becomes more than a product in my world. Burning an Acquired Taste incense stick at my table wasn't just atmosphere — it was an invitation. Scent pulls people in before they even realize they're moving toward you.
7. What Actually Keeps You Going
Someone asked me in the interview what keeps me motivated.
My honest first answer: my bills.
But underneath that — the real thing — is this: something I made and painted in my garage is sitting in someone's home. They look at it. They use it. They chose it.
That's not nothing. That's actually everything.
Building a handmade business from scratch is not a shortcut. It's trading one kind of hard for a different kind of hard that you actually chose. The admin is unglamorous. The slow months are real. The visibility is scary. The financial uncertainty is constant.
But when you make something with your hands and put it into the world, and the world receives it — that feeling doesn't go away. It's the thing that keeps me going back to the garage.
Want to See the Full Interview?
If you want to hear all of this in my own words — including the parts I stumbled through and the moments that surprised me — you can watch the full Built from Scratch interview with Sarita here:
📺 Watch the interview on YouTube
And if you want to support Sarita's work:
- 📸 Instagram: @sarguchi
- 🌐 Yukio Beauty
Shop Acquired Taste
Everything mentioned in this post — the handcrafted artisan incense holders, incense burners, and curated scents — is available at:
Acquired Taste is a handmade Austin small business. Hannah handcrafts artisan incense holders and incense burners and curates scents that make your home smell good and feel like you.