Trying to start a business

[caissa]

I've been unemployed for quite a while.  I'd been a stay at home mom, and then after my divorce, I was unable to find any work, and it just stretched on and on. I applied wherever I thought I had even the tiniest chance of being qualified, and over the course of several years, got a grand total of one interview. I ended up getting turned down for that job because of my credit score. While struggling with the job search, I started making jewelry to keep myself occupied, since it was something I could do to keep myself somewhat busy. Eventually, I decided that if I couldn't find a job, I'd make my own.  So I began listing my jewelry for sale on Etsy.  So far I've gotten a few sales, though not a lot. I'm struggling with finding ways to get out there where people will see my jewelry. It's especially hard to do when I've pretty much tapped out what assistance my family can offer.  Currently, I'm attempting a kickstarter to raise the money to set up a booth at my local farmer's market, though with just 6 days left, it really doesn't look like that's going to work out.

 

I'm looking for any advice that might help. I've tried so many places in those "free places to advertise" or "tips for free marketing" type articles, but honestly they seem to just lead to places where tons of people are posting ads (mostly for scams or direct sales) without ever really looking at any of the other postings. I just don't know what to try now. Sadly, most advice I get is "borrow the money from someone"  but that's really not an option for me.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Artinum]

This may not be what you want to hear, but you need to get back into jobhunting. Starting a business is a slow and difficult task, and you are seriously unlikely to be able to live on your earnings for a good long time. Unless you have savings to fall back on (and I'm guessing from your post that you do not) you will need another source of income to keep you going. Even a part time job will help in this regard.

 

I'm baffled by your credit score being a reason for turning you down. You turn up, you work, you get given money for it. What has your credit rating got to do with that?

[Robpocalypse]

I'm baffled by your credit score being a reason for turning you down. You turn up, you work, you get given money for it. What has your credit rating got to do with that?

It's become very common now. Employers use it as a tool to try and gauge how responsible a candidate is, which considering the economy over the past seven years, is often times not fair. Standard practice in finance related jobs for awhile, it's been spreading to many openings unrelated to accounting.

[Robpocalypse]

I think (and this is just my opinion) you should consider growing more through online outlets before making a big investment in a physical stand, stall or store.

Online your barrier for entry is pretty low and it gives you an opportunity to refine your style, explore new designs and test the waters. If you sink money into a farmers stall and don't sell anything your out not only time and cost of materials but also your overhead costs (food, fuel, booth space). You have none of these losses online. Maybe try looking at flea markets? Second hand, thrift or consignment stores might sell on a commission basis.

If it were me I would focus more online. The caveat is if you live in an artsy or tourist area, the local market may have enough volume to support an in estment in a physical sales avenue but generally the local market is always far more limited. If you do want to go that route consider trying to find a couple people to team up with and split the cost.

I would also consider state and local fairs before a regular farmer's market booth. More foot traffic, more volume. The fees would probably be higher but you are hitting a greater density if people who are looking for gifts and souviniers.

[caissa]

I haven't stopped searching for a job. I still make a point of applying when I find a job I'm qualified for. I've been making the jewelry while job hunting for a few years, since even with the work going into the search, it leaves a lot of time to fill.  I've also been selling online for a year already.  What I'm looking at is a farmer's market, which costs the same to cover the entire season as many craft fairs or flea markets would for one day.   There are losses that come with online sales, granted not as much, but they are there, and online is not a simple matter of "if you build it, they will come". 

 

I'm paying for food and fuel no matter what I do. As a business, the mileage going to and from the market is deductible. State fairs would be awesome, if I wanted to drive to the state fair, pay for hotel, pay the fees, and still have to buy all the supplies I need for the local farmer's market which gets quite a lot of traffic as we're on a fairly popular tourist route during the summer.  The farmer's market gets similar traffic to our other local fairs, with the added benefit of $50 reserving me a space each week from June through October. 

 

Getting out and into the community, at a booth where I am interacting with my potential customers is a valuable thing. Sure, I can put pictures up in my store and sit and wonder why I'm not getting more sales than I am, or I can get a booth, display my items, and actually interact with customers face to face, get their feedback, and then adjust my efforts accordingly. This is a factor that is in general missing from the online transactions unless the seller is already getting a lot of traffic.  Online, I have limited means to get people to visit my online store. The booth also helps to gain more online sales. Even if someone chooses not to buy at the booth, they can take a business card and buy online when they're ready to do so.

 

Anyway,  really I'm just posting this as an update. Since the kickstarter failed, I've just had to pull together what supplies I could to prepare.  Thanks for the advice, y'all.

[ReaperXIII Sori]

I wish you the best of luck in both getting a job and starting your business. I know when I was looking at opening up my Tea Room, the city, county and state gov would actually help me get grant packages together to help me start. Never got to finish the process because AF picked me up first. But it might be able to help you out.

[Nosehair]

Hey - why aren't you getting any interviews even when you apply? Maybe you could use some help with your resume and cover letter? I'd be willing to take a look at them if you want since I am a pro at getting interviews (just not at actually getting a job...). feel free to PM me if you want some feedback

[Artinum]

Here are some interview tips for when you do get that far:

http://freedom-muse.com/2014/05/19/how-to-excel-in-job-interviews/

[LeftArmOrthodox]

It might be rather a different angle to engaging with people, but could you teach jewellery making classes?? It would make you known in your community and you might earn more money getting people to pay for classes than selling jewellery. Just a thought!

[Rookie]

I'm not sure how it works but sometimes there are smaller stores that will sell local products and take a cut of it. Maybe it's something you could look into. Or if you can't afford the booth at the farmers market, maybe befriend some of the booth holders and see if you can sell your product at their table for a small cut of the profit. Maybe you can get into a hospital gift store? Think out side the box. I mean Christmas conventions might be good, but you have a lot of competition there and you could pay 100$+ on a booth and no guarantee you will sell enough to recoup that and make profit.

 

Look for jewellery web stores too that might be interested in selling your product. 

[Killer]

I realize I'm a little late to the party here but anyone contemplating a new business should read The Lean Startup. It shows how to start small and grow without undue risk. I used these ideas to build up a business of selling an electronic device that the profits from now cover my mortgage. I never risked more than a couple-three thousand dollars. These principles can be applied to just about anything.

[WorkedTooHard]

I agree you still need to go job hunting. Can you even find a part-time job while searching for something full-time?

 

The thing is it's different to monetize a hobby in your spare time versus using a hobby to turn into a full-time business that earns a full-time income. In addition, doing to will take more start-up cash in advertising and marketing.

 

I'd get back to searching for jobs and do the jewelry as a hobby until you're balanced out financially. Then, you can pursue expanding it. Eventually, you can try to obtain a kiosk in a mall, at a farmer's market or other local market, use online advertising, get a website, etc. when you have the cash to spend on it all.

[caissa]

Thanks for the advice, but as I mentioned, I have not stopped searching for a job, so there's no need to get back to doing what I never stopped doing.  The jewelry is what I'm doing in addition to that search, to fill time and bring in money.

[Ripple]

The best thing you can to to be found on Etsy is to really niche down your jewelry. When I go on Etsy, I'm looking for something specific, or an unknown gift for someone specific. If you want your jewelry to be seen you need to decide WHO should be seeing it. Who does it speak to? Is it good for bridesmaids gifts? For moms? For hippies? Can you create custom pieces with things like monograms or song lyrics or band logos? Something about your jewelry has to stand out if you want organic search sales from Etsy. 

 

I just bought a bunch of Phish stuff for a friend off of Etsy - that seems like such a small niche but all the stores I bought from had tons of sales because the people who love Phish REALLY freaking love Phish. I also bought something for my sister in law that I came across while searching for housewarming gifts. 

 

Research what people look for on Esty and who they are usually shopping for. Make jewelry that answers these needs and that stands out. 

[Kevin Mack]

Tim Ferriss The Four Hour Workweek. It's all about how to do this stuff for cheap, while doing other stuff. He emphasizes the importance of identifying a niche and marketing heavily towards the people who are willing to pay the most for what you offer.

[BadassityInMotion]

Great advice from Ripple! Understanding the behind-the-scenes workings of why people ARE or ARE NOT finding your stuff is really useful and important to grok. 

 

I've been working completely on my own for 3 years now (love running my own business!) but before then I spent about 7 years starting businesses on the side (while working other jobs) and figuring out how to run things well enough that I could say goodbye to working for anyone else.

 

Two things I have discovered? 

1) Learn marketing and sales. No matter what business you are in, if you cannot market your business and if you can't make the sales, you will never have stable and consistent income. Devour whatever information you come across and test it relentlessly until you find what works for you. 

 

It sounds like you are doing some of that already - looking for knowledge and noticing what ISN'T working (that's just as important as noticing what IS working). But I think you'll need to up your game here. Look for better sources of information. I don't know anything about Etsy, but look for forums and groups of people that understand what is going on in the background and are willing to share. (I found that Sitesell has some amazing information (nearly all for free) and a huge and extremely helpful forum of people who are all doing the 'build a solid, stable business' for themselves online. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a subforum for Etsy store owners.) Any knowledge you gain will be helpful - even the knowing what NOT to do.

 

2) A steady income is OH SO HELPFUL while getting stuff up and running. I know you are still out there looking for jobs, but I'm going to challenge you a little bit to up your game in this arena a bit. Think about how much stress it costs you, how much extra time you spend trying to find cheap food, how much of a hit on your confidence, etc. Often times I have found having ANY job, no matter how menial, turned out to be better for me as a whole because it raised my confidence, caused me to get up in the morning and move around, helped me buy better food and a little bit of spare time and made a big difference in my ability to focus on building the business rather than on being poor. 

 

I even had a few jobs that were highly conducive to starting up my own thing! One of them was as an NAR (Nurse Assistant Registered) which was essentially a companion for elderly people in their homes. For 3 months I worked the night shift and came in at midnight, spent 7 hours away and on the computer while the client slept (yes, perfectly allowed - I got a lot of research done), helped him get up in the morning and get down to breakfast. I was getting paid to research how to build a business. How cool is that? 

 

(BTW, becoming an NAR is a really simple thing - not much training required and the demand is growing much faster than the supply.)

 

Good luck hon, and welcome to the best job in the world - the one that you choose!

 

BadassityInMotion

[caissa]

thanks for the input,  this is coming up on a year old, though.

[Stephanie]

I noticed that this is a year old (as you mentioned ) and don't want to be spamming, but if you are still looking for a business opportunity, I may be able to help you out in that department...