When I set my business up in the 1980's there was no website to put your business onto but now you need to set up a website, preferably one that you can add a shopping basked to so that you can sell some of your products online. You can have a FREE website at WIX where you can create your own stunning website. It may look a tad daunting at the beginning but if I can make one so can you. Before building your website check our your competitions from the list below of jewellery party plan businesses in the UK and abroad.
Next go onto the internet and download a business plan, you can get some for FREE or head to your local council and look under Business Start Ups. There is a ton of free help out there so don't be frightened of asking for it.
Once you have your business plan up and ready and you roughly know how much you can make out of your jewellery and you have a business name, business cards and website all in place then if you have no funding of your own to proceed then you can look for some help from someone else.
There are a number of businesses that just help start ups with funding or can tell you where to go for funding. Some useful sites are The Federation of Small Businesses and The Business Advice Website and finally UK Business Angels Association.
Once you know how much funding and help you can get then you can decide how much stock to start off with and then you need to plan who your customers are going to be. With the advantage of the internet you can soon print off your own party invitation fliers which you can send to friends and hand out to anyone you know.
I started with one friend and made sure she had a great gift and a percentage from the sale of the jewellery, check out other party planning companies online to see what they offer their hostess and come up with a bigger and better offer. Some people will have a party just to get something free, so if you look after your Hostess she will look after you in return.
Some jewellery party plan businesses are Fingerpint Jewellery, Ice Jewellery, Miglio Jewellery, Silpada, Stella & Dot, J. Bloom, and this website for overseas companies Jewellery & Acessories Party Plan.
Your table is your shop, it will need to look spectacular to interest potential customers so check out sites like Pinterest to give you ideas on how to give it the WOW factor.
Your first party will be the most nerve racking but once you see people loving your stock (and they will) then you will soon have the confidence to get cracking with more. You MUST not forget to thank you hostess in front of all your potential customers and let them know what they could get if they have a party. Hopefully you will come home with at least another couple of parties booked.
Make sure you have the right stock ready for all the different celebrations we have during the year ie mothers day, valentines day etc as these can be your real money spinners especially at times like just before Christmas. Work as hard as you can over Christmas as it is well known in the retail trade how bad January and early February can be as everyone has spent up over Christmas. I used to spend January getting rid of my stock at wholesale prices and seeing what was coming into Fashion for the New Year. You could always sell job lots of unsold items at the end of the year on Ebay so that you at least get your money back for the stock you bought.
Once you have been running for a while you will soon be needing to look else where for your stock. There are plenty of exhibitions going on throughout the year with the biggest at the NEC in the Spring. This one is well worth a visit even if you don't buy anything as you will see what everyone is selling and connect with other suppliers. Some of the biggest suppliers will probably have a big minimum order but you will find the smaller companies who will be quite happy to supply to an individual.
I hope by this stage you will be nearly up and running as my next posts will be how to expand and get BIG in the business. Good Luck and don't forget to keep every receipt for anything you buy from your tickets to the NEC to the petrol receipts for your business trips. I will write a separate article on how to keep your books.
Finally, like with any new business, you must let the tax man know you are setting up your own business and keep your book keeping up to date.
No comments:
Post a Comment