Advice on starting a business

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I was recently asked by one of my Steemian friends for advice for opening a gift shop. I thought it best to share my advice with all the women of this community.

So often I have seen people who wants to start a business but they have no idea where, what or how. They take their hard earned savings or pension money, listen to the neighbour and starts a business. If this is how you are going to do it you are for sure doomed to fail.

Opening any business takes a lot of time investigating and planning but if you do it right you are on the road to success.

Herewith points to take in consideration for opening a gift shop.

The most important factor is to do your homework, those “shopping with your eyes”. You have to know;

• what is available in your area
• who your competition is and
• what makes their business a thriving business

The worse mistake you can make is start a business if there is no need for it.

It might happen that you have a gift shop in mind but with you doing your homework you might discover the need for something completely different.

I always tell people to for at least three months you have to be on your feet just visiting and “spying” before you can make a decision.

Secondly you have to decide what you are going to sell.

Souvenirs

Memorabilia

Branded merchandise

Homemade items

vLocal is “lekker”. A saying we have in South Africa when selling products made in your own country

Items related to a certain gender, novelty items, specific theme or topic etc.

In the world of business we refer to it as the “niche” of your business. That what makes your business different. If you don’t have a niche you still be successful but it is going to take you so much longer.

If you have done your homework correctly you will know what the “gap” is in the market. What is it that your customers want and not what you want to sell to them.

You need to know who you will be serving as customers;

• Locals
• Tourists
• International clients

You have to identify your customers and their needs. Your customers are your target market therefor it is important to create a customer profile.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term it is when you create the ideal customer for your kind of business. Here you look at gender, income, demographics, behaviour etc. You then put all the information together which will give you a clear picture of who your ideal customer will be.

Just remember, without customers you will not have a business.

You have to determine in which manner you will start your shop.

When starting a business like a gift shop you have 3 options.

1. Opening a shop
2. Do it from home
3. Online shop

Let’s take a closer look at each of these options.

1.Opening a shop

Opening a shop is the most expensive route.

1. You have to get the correct premises. Location… location… location
2. You have to sign a lease agreement which can become very tricky
3. You have to consider employing staff
4. You have to carry stock and a good range
5. You have to apply for various licenses, get insurance cover etc.
6. You have to put a lot into marketing
7. You have to pay for extensive branding for example, signage, branding of windows, branding of packing bags etc.

Unless you have cash on hand I will for sure not go this route. Not in today’s economic times.

I’ve always believed in starting small and then to grow your business to the full extent. In other words, first test the water and if you are successful you can open a shop.

2. Do it from home

When you run any business from home it is cost effective.
The most important thing is that you have to make sure it does not interfere with you household and you must have an area allocated for your “shop”.

Another fact that you must take in consideration is that running a gift shop from home will not bring in the number of sales that you will experienced from an actual shop nor an online shop. You will have to make the most of each customer that visits your home shop.

More facts to take in consideration;

• Because of sales going to be less you cannot outprice your products
• You will have to dress the part at all times
• You will have to carry a variety of stock
• You will have to market your business intensively to get it off the ground
• You will have to have clear signage outside your home

The beauty of running a shop from home is that you can involve your family. Teach them right and you will have the best partners you could ever asked for.

3. Online shop

Lots of customers these days like to do online shopping. I do believe it is not only the future but it is also the best easiest form of marketing.

The best recommended way for starting an online shop would be for you to be the “middleman”.

⇝ You source the supplier and the product
⇝ Product gets loaded on your online shop
⇝ Client place order through your online shop
⇝ You send the order to the supplier
⇝ The supplier delivers

Pros:

• Cost effect for you as you can start an online shop in a very cost effective manner
• You are only the middleman and don’t carry stock
• The payment method is in your control
• No deliver hassle

Cons:

• The biggest negative is that you have to make sure that your supplier delivers the correct and quality product as you don’t want to sit with unhappy customers.

There is also other ways in which you can run an online shop but you will have to read more and investigate each option.

It is now time for that crucial step, your finance. You have to match the outcome of steps one to four with your budget. Only you know what finance you have available.

The only advice I can give you is that if you have to borrow money to start your gift shop, forget about it! You will save yourself a lot of headache and heart sore.

Any business can be a good business! It all depends on the entrepreneur.

Good luck!

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