Advice on starting a business

in SteemWomen Club2 years ago



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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.



FIRST STEP

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.

SECOND STEP

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.

    THIRD STEP

    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.

    FOURTH STEP

    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.

    FITH STEP

    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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    Sort:  
     2 years ago 

    Thank you very much for these valuable pieces of advice. I think we will be able to get a great success if we follow the above-mentioned facts. Thanks again for your valuable post.

     2 years ago 

    The pleasure is mine! I hope that one of the women in the community can put it to use 😊
    Thank you for your support.

     2 years ago 

    What a helpful post for ones who are ready to go on that business journey.
    Thank you for sharing dear

     2 years ago 

    The pleasure is mine! Instead of sending you a word document I thought it best to share as a post. If you have any questions feel free to WhatsApp me.
    The pack, the move and the unpack is done.
    Whoop whoop!

     2 years ago 

    This is indeed so helpful to wveryone sister. Thank you for this nice content

     2 years ago 

    Pleasure. I do hope that it can be put to use by some of the women 😊
    Thanks for reading and engaging 🌼

     2 years ago 

    You have got my vote ✅ for such easy and simple ways to start up a business. You have presented them in a very simple format.

    Steps one to four can be possible if step five is available. That is who determines the other steps as you have mentioned. Thanks for this. I think an online shop is the best and I will rather go for it. I appreciate

     2 years ago 

    It’s my pleasure! It will bevgreat if I can help just 1 women in starting her own business.
    I’m sure an extra income will go far in many households.
    Thank you for your support 🌼

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

    Yesooo, when one plan very well you will make it

     2 years ago 

    Indeed! Thank you for engaging 🌼

    Thank you for contributing to #LearnWithSteem theme. This post has been upvoted by @fabio2614 using @steemcurator09 account. We encourage you to keep publishing quality and original content in the Steemit ecosystem to earn support for your content.

    Club Status: #club100

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     2 years ago 

    Worth reading 😍This is very useful for us to got our opportunity. Thank you for sharing such a valuable lesson for us. Have a good times!❤️✨️

     2 years ago 

    Pleasure! I trust it can help a few potential business owners in making the right decisions 😊

     2 years ago 

    This is an interesting article, I really enjoyed and benefits from this post, thanks @patjewell for sharing this with us here

     2 years ago 

    Goody! I hope it can be put to use by you sometime in the near future 😊

    A good tips on how to start business, i once consider this last two years when i was about starting a business even though i didnt start Gain due to financial challanges, but these points you mention are as good as they appear, because i considered them.

    I'll get back to this soon. And thanks for sharing these tips.

     2 years ago 

    I hope they can be of use to you when you make that decision my friend! Good luck and don’t hesitate to ask me questions.

     2 years ago 

    Doing business requires a lot. Thanks for sharing ma.

     2 years ago 

    Pleasure! I hope you can use it one day 😊

     2 years ago 

    Of course...o will