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How to Start a Business on a Shoestring Budget
By Lisa Risler
http://lisasheaven.com
Starting a
business can be hard and expensive, or you can start small like I
did and grow over time. I prefer to grow over time, pay for what I
have and not do any sort of loans or go into debt.
I started with
$100 and built my own website as I knew it was costly to have a
website built by someone else and I wanted to add so much to it, no
one would have the time like me to update it daily! I used the Cute
Site Builder program as I did not care to learn html code and found
it useless knowledge when such a program like this existed. The
program at the time I started was free and called “Trellix” –
someone else bought it and it now sells for less than $100, a
bargain for sure!
Starting with a
free website on a free hosting area------is free! My $100 went to
start on inventory. I wanted to sell doll patterns because I found
it difficult to find all the patterns I wanted in one place. I did
not like searching all over the web and paying outrageous shipping
prices for every pattern I wanted, so I figured this would be a good
venture; something I loved and something that no one else was doing
much with!
I ordered some
patterns from the United States, put them on my site, and told
everyone I knew about it! (join lists, LOTS of lists, but only ones
that would be interested in your particular items OR interesting to
YOU such as “Acraftbizconnection” list on yahoo, to help you in your
business! With the monies made from a few sales, I bought more
patterns and found out from a good friend that patterns from
Australia were few and far between, but yet there were hundreds
there to buy! I then invested in one artist’s patterns from there, a
few more from the U.S. and just kept moving on up!
Before long,
customers were complaining about “pop up ads” on my website – I
found hosting for very little money and moved there. Pop up ads are
the most unprofessional things you can have on your website in my
opinion. Hosting has gone down so much there is no excuse for not
having someone host you these days. If you cannot afford hosting,
you need to reconsider your motives for business and how you want to
really portray yourself.
The best thing I
did was to add a “cart” system to my website. This was a bit of an
expense, but starting with ccnow.com (at that time it was only 9%,
no minimums and no other charges) was good. It had free start-up
and I was paid twice a month from them. Good deal until my sales
went up to over $1000 every 2 weeks! I then needed something else
and moved to another company but the fees kept moving higher and
higher until I figured there must be a better way.
On “acraftbizconnection”
yahoo group, I saw people posting about Mal’s e-commerce and I
figured why not check this out! I did and here I am, I have
purchased my own credit card machine (I already had a merchant
account because of the last company I had, I just had to transfer
the information over) for only $550 – that cost was covered in a
matter of 5 months time completely! I am now in control of charges,
emails, web site building, web building for others that need a bit
of help, phone calls, ordering, filing, bookkeeping, etc.!
One thing I must
tell new people starting out. Do not go into debt, do not start
thinking you’ll get rich (I am still not there even with sales about
$10,000 a month) and do not quit your “day job” unless you can make
enough to cover every expense there is. I even went and got a job
to order more inventory after I had started, so think of that job as
an investment! I did not quit until I knew I could make it without
it! I worked 8 months.
Sales continue to
go up because I offer something not a lot of people offer, #1,
service with a smile (I converse and get to know my customers; they
are not just numbers to me. #2, I get a LOT of new stuff in each
month and have a mailing list to let them all know what is new; #3,
I keep a HUGE inventory of items and continue to grow and change as
the times do; #4, people know I love my job by my websites and how
much fun I have with them……why else would you work for yourself??
Life is too short not to enjoy your freedom; however you choose to
do it!
Start small,
enjoy every minute and you’ll make it if you have something that
people want or need. Remember, I am selling patterns, something
people need to build something else to collect or sell…..finished
items did not do well for me (and I tried!)…so think of something
you need and try selling it if that niche hasn’t already been
taken! Or, if you have an item that you make that is a needed item
(paper towel holder, shelving, etc.), let people know about you,
have them pass the word, reward the people who share you and
remember, word of mouth is the #1 advertiser!
Instead of
painting something, sell the items necessary to help others paint!
Instead of crocheting an item, sell the items necessary to crochet!
You get what I’m saying here I know. So many people have hobbies
and not every niche has been filled in the hobby industry.
http://globalscape.com (Cutesitebuilder 4.0 program)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acraftbizconnection/
http://ccnow.com
http://www.mals-e.com/
Busy, Busy is the Fall time!
Things have been hopping here at A Frayed Knot. There are new items
to show off. Cleaning up of loose ends. In the following weeks, I
will be adding new items to my lineup. The red on black bowl with
wooden lid in the Home Décor department will have company. There
will be blue, green, and brown bowls added. I am working on small
hanging pots to use as either wall hangings or chimes. Keep an eye
open for some interesting little fish grouped on fish nets to hang
on the wall. Leaves will be tied together to make interesting wall
hangings. Most of my pictures will be replaced with new crisper
pictures. I stated last month there would be 10 new items this
month. They are being added slowly as the month goes on. Keep
checking back at the store. I am working on getting the pictures
just perfect. Also, I keep trying to add little touches to them as
I go.
LAS
Simple
Sachet for any room
Items needed:
Medium size dolly
Soap or potpourri
Ribbon of choice.
Hot glue or almost any glue
Silk flowers 2-3
1. Place the dolly on table flat.
2. Place the fragrant soap with the curved side down on the doily.
Option: You could add potpourri this way also. Then follow the
directions below.
3. Gather the edges of the doily around the soap.
4. Gather the dolly edges tightly right above the soap.
5. Take a colored ribbon and wrap around the gathered edges and tie
in a bow.
7. Put a drop of hot glue on one side of the bow. Press a flower in
the glue.
8. Add 2 more flowers this same way.
9. Let dry.
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