How to Open a Successful small business on a Shoe-string Budget

A dear friend asked me the other day what I thought about the idea of designing her own product(s) All hand sewn ( well sewing-machine) - talking about clothing here - or buying wholesale from an existing line and if one picks a line existing; how to go about it.

My friend is a great seamstress and has had great success with velvet scarves and such...anyway. I gave it some thought along with my own limited experience with retail/wholesale, as being a P.I. it isn't really my thing, but I do find it interesting. So here is basically here is what I've come up with so far.

Unless you desire to take the leap of financial faith (and can afford to play while you learn and/or earn s the case may be - lkol) )as well as in people faith and hire say; new out of school designers looking for work because you WILL need help going *bulk* (or you have a LOT of $$$ - which she doesn't); I said I would stick with an existing line(s) that are each interesting as well as appealing. As we are both rather *picky* as to what we wear an carry ( purses/briefcases,etc...)

Choosing what to order the first times, those first items was not nearly as difficult as we had thought it might be. It was NOT a daunting task.

The only way to find this out (what people want - will buy -and what they will pay for a particular item is to do *trials*.

This seems to work quite well. My friend did it with a purse line and ended up with a really great online drop-shipping wholesaler with a medium to high end product range.

Another benefit to this is the wholesaler gets to *warehouse* (hold on to) the goods so you don't have endless boxes to label, etc....of course you will have some, quite enough I found (starting out with EIGHT Very Large boxes.

The wholesaler she chose from online has an enormous stock so she didn't need to worry about running out of well-selling items. She could re-order and the items would arrive in a week or less! I thought this was FDQ considering they are about 3000 miles away.

Shipping costs were quite reasonable (watch for that - they can be horrendous!!) and also, the more you bought, the less you paid - not only on shipping;/handeling but also in items.

For example, a Case of purses (20 to 40 depending on size) cost FAR less than ordering 5 to 10 of them.

The start up cost was; considered to most business start-ups, a very small investment- maybe 2G, if that, and it didn't take but a month to figure out what sold and what didn't.

Those in mall shows that run once a month or so in the isles - like that you know? And it was fun to. She is also a master at sewing so she had drawings and some of her *one of a kind* handmade purses - 200$ each and boy were they ever funky! Anyway - the mark-up on the wholesale purses (there were also sunglasses) was between 200 to 350% - MOST retail cannot be that high but she just happened to find a very very inexpensive wholesaler's so long as you bought cases.

Which can dicey the first time; not knowing FOR SURE what would sell but hay - just look around! Sit in a mall for a day and WATCH for whatever it is you want to sell - you will be amazed at what you will see when you are looking for it! Like you don't normally notice a woman's shoes unless that is what you are looking FOR/AT - shoes on feet walking around.

Oh yes, and tools, business card are a must - FREE at vista print. Take a hole punch and a ribbon or whatever you wish to use and use those cards as your sales tag (put the price on the back - this is a truly Very good tip.

All in all, it worked out even far exceeding our exptations - and we figured - worse case senerio - she'd have gifts to give for life!!

Hope this is helpful! -- I know it will be if you want it but really don't have a clue how/where to start. If you leave me a message - I would even be willing to give a *few* people (who don't live ANYwhere near us! lol) the one wholesaler that got us (her mainly) started with handbags.

Just a few though so if you want to know - tell me #1 Why. #2 area you are going into business #3 what you want to sell.