Every crafter or, for that matter, every business person must learn to control spending from very onset of venture. As a matter of fact, you should not even be in business unless you have drawn up at least a simple business plan and budget.

Your budget should be grounded in reality and subject to change as circumstances require. In other words, if you income came in 20% below your projections, expenses will have to be cut to make up for hopefully temporary shortfall.

One serious mistake a small business person makes in a situation like this is to assume that s/he will make up income shortfall and continue spending side of budget without any adjustments.

Most small businesses are undercapitalized to begin with, so it really pays to be conservative. I have always tried to make sure that a craft is making enough money to pay for itself before stocking up on more supplies or new equipment. I try to get a substantial down payment if

an order would require that I increase my raw material inventory. Everything that I do must be self-supporting.

Do some research if you plan to add a new type of craft to sell. Try to determine if there is a market and if it looks profitable. Again be conservative in your assumptions and start out slowly.

When doing business in Asia you may encounter several common problems:

*communication problems: language barriers, different terminologies, engineers with little or poor English skills

*cultural differences: East and West business practices can be very different which often leads to misunderstandings, mistakes, poor quality, and delays.

*empty promises: sometimes shops you will find can't deliver what you need when you need it, they just don't have technology or resources to provide you with quality you are looking for, many countries have poor infrastructure with communication failures and can't make delivery as promised.

*most shops in Asia are small and cannot do a wide variety of jobs, they may not be able to do everything you need for all your projects, you'll end up looking for other shops for each different project. They may not be able to provide you with after sales maintenance and services.