Featured Business: Perfect Imperfections

Today Caroline Haniak shares her experience of running Perfect Imperfections, a beautiful jewellery store on Etsy

What is your mission for Perfect Imperfections?

Perfect Imperfections mission is to provide unique and creative homemade jewellery but also share my passion for Macrame and Tatting. Macrame is the technique I use to make my bracelets which are popularly known as Friendship Bracelets. I am also experimenting with a dying art of lace making called Tatting and hopefully raising it’s profile.

Tell me more about Perfect Imperfections on Etsy.

Knotted Friendship Bracelet

Perfect Imperfections was inspired by a quote from an American Philosopher – Sam Keen. “Love isn't finding a perfect person. It's seeing an imperfect person perfectly.” I felt this was true of homemade products. My jewellery isn’t made by machines and therefore will not be ‘perfect’ but what is special about my jewellery is that it is unique. You fall in love with an item and you love it perfectly.

Despite my love for crafts spanning a lifetime, Perfect Imperfections is a new venture for me. I have only been open since November 2011, on Etsy, and I have taken my time populating my shop with items that inspire me and hopefully will inspire others. My jewellery is generally for casual wear however Tatted items look so elegant and dramatic that they would be suitable for those times you need something extra special to stand out in.

Friendship bracelets traditionally are supposed to be worn till they literally break and fall off you. You make a wish when you tie them on and when they fall off your wish will come true. They are made by tying small knots in embroidery thread, in different ways, with different colours. The technique takes a lot of patience and time but the end results look amazing. I’ve also added clasps and chains on to some of my friendship bracelets, for those who prefer removable bracelets. You can take them off when you want and mix and match colours in the way you want to.


Who do you target your products at?

Friendship bracelets are adored by young people and teenagers. You can swap them, share them, wear loads at the same time or just one or two. They make lovely, bright, colourful presents for friends. However it’s not only young people who like wearing these unique bracelets. The clasp finish appeals to most people who like to change their jewellery regularly and match it with outfits. My tatted jewellery gives an air of vintage sophistication with a modern twist. These items appeal to people who love Victorian fashion and have a love for lace (like me!!).


Why should people buy your products?

Sea Blue Ankara Friendship Bracelet

Jewellery from Perfect Imperfections is intricate in its detail and a long time is spent making each piece. The friendship bracelets are made with high quality Anchor Embroidery Thread and the colours are chosen carefully for each pattern. I am also interested in making custom jewellery for people. I love the idea of owning something that was created just for me and I want to give that feeling to others. I work closely with customers to make sure I create a piece that they will love perfectly.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
 
I’m 24 years old and live in Manchester, England. I have experimented with different crafts from a very young age. My Mum always encouraged us to be creative and most of my fondest childhood memories involve paint, glitter and glue!! When I got a bit older one of my family members owned a small craft shop and I was mesmerized by the colours of the embroidery thread and the intricate designs of cross stitch patterns. I took up cross stitching and tapestry and created some lovely wall art, but I didn’t come across Macrame until a few years ago when a friend showed me how to make a small friendship bracelet. Since then I’ve been hooked! It’s a great way of relaxing for me and I get a lot of enjoyment out of making each piece. My recent find is Tatting and if it wasn’t for getting involved with the Esty community I may not have ever known about it. I have always had a thing for lace and to now be designing and creating my own is utterly thrilling for me. My tatting collection will be growing and growing so watch this space!
 

How do you build relationships with your customers?

I have recently set up my Facebook page and have been using it not only to promote myself but also share other unique and inspiring crafts from Etsy. Personally I can be a fussy buyer and what really helps me is being able to talk to the seller before I make my purchase and that is what I can offer anyone looking to purchase from my shop. I love getting feedback and critiques because I can then really begin to improve things and strive for that perfection. I am also very active in the Etsy community and try to share and pick up as much advice as possible. Outside of Etsy I am part of the international friendship bracelet community and we share our experiences as well as our products on a regular basis.




How and where do you promote your products?
 
For the time being I use Facebook and Etsy to promote my shop. I believe in Karma though and the more I support other people on Etsy and their wonderful talents, the more support I will get from them. If I treat my customers well and engage their interest they will continue to support me.
  
What do you enjoy most about what you do?

Woven Macrame Friendship Bracelet

The one thing I love about the homemade jewellery I offer is the patterns. It often feels like magic, that making tiny knots in embroidery thread can result in a magnificent, intricate pattern, and better still you can wear them as statements on your wrists. I love the process of making each item and I spend a lot of time with each piece making sure that whoever it’s meant for is truly happy.

 

What is the best resource that you use and would recommend to others?

The best resource that has really helped me set up my shop in the last few months has been the Etsy Community. My advice for anyone with a shop on Etsy would be to join some of the teams and speak to those who are successful or well established. Their advice is priceless and it has and will continue to help me.

To find out more about Perfect Imperfections and to stay up to date with news and offers, take a look at the store's facebook page.

Event Promotion Ideas

Promoting an event can be tricky, but this post explores event promotion by telling you the top 8 ways to promote an event and how to advertise an event successfully. Remember cheap advertising can be just as powerful as spending loads, the key to advertising an event is to make certain the event branding ties in closely with that of your business.

To be successful business events need visitors, and remember you want a reasonable quantity of attendees but quality is what counts! What I mean by this is your target market needs to be there. If not you probably won’t reach the goals you set out earlier.

How to promote:

8. Online- Promoting an event online may get a lot of visibility but it’s not very specific and people from all over the world will be reached, and realistically many of them won’t be able to attend.

7. Your website- This is better than just online promotion, because if someone is already on your website they are interested in your business offering. Remember to also be using social media. But again distance may be an issue.

6. Promotional leaflets- These can be used to target people local to you, and how many people are reached depends entirely on your dedication. However it may waste a lot of your time if people aren’t that interested in what your business is selling.

5. At local venues- Local venues are good for attracting local people and you can pick venues that you think your target market are likely to visit.

4. The venue where your event is to be held- If people are already at your venue they may attend events there regularly this means they are more likely to come to yours.

3. Word of mouth- This is a great way to promote there is no cost, and your friends and family can help. Hopefully their enthusiasm for your event and business will intrigue people and because someone has personally recommended it to them they will be more likely to attend.

2. Amongst existing customers- If you have contact details or an email for your previous customers be sure to send a personalised invitation.

1. PR and local press- Local press coverage is great for any event but particularly promotional events,  it will be seen by lots of people and give your event more credibility. Tie this in with your PR and create a story around your event that will increase interest in your event.

When you promote an event remember to tell people the benefit they will get out of attending, will they receive discounts on any of your products (remember if this is a product or business launch it’s probably not the best idea to discount products quite so early on!), will it be the first chance to see new trends and to buy therefore giving your event an exclusive edge?

Events - The 3 W's

Running a successful event will depend not entirely but really rather quite substantially on the 3 W’s. They are key to creating a buzz around your event, achieving your aims and providing valuable interaction with your customers.

1.       WHO

Who needs to attend your event to make it a success? Friends and family for support? Existing customers or new ones? Business contacts or even dare I say it rival businesses? Can you even get the press involved, even if it is just local press it is still great coverage. Who attends is up to you but make sure you invite the right audience for your event. Send appropriate invites, that get your message across and include key details - location and time of your event etc. Explain what the benefits of attending your event will be and remember to end with a call to action! If your event is trying to attract a new audience for your business remember to advertise widely and target your businesses tribe (your key consumer segment) Promote in places they go or in the media they are most likely to follow.

Think about what your audiences will expect as standard at your event, and then create a WOW factor that will get them talking about your event and embed your brand in their memory.

2.       WHEN

Decide on the key factors first – how long will your event take to plan? And when will it fit cohesively with the rest of your marketing strategy? For example if it is a product launch you need to make sure your product is finished, top quality and ready to sell! The time of day, week, month you choose to host your event should fit with your target market, for example working mums aren’t going to attend a mid-week event in the middle of the day. Remember to balance opportunities for increased footfall with the potential costs involved. And consider carefully how long your event should last, all day is a long time to fill!

3.       WHERE

Does your venue fit with the image of your business? Will it help create a theme or particular atmosphere, do you want guests relaxed or buzzing? Is your venue the right size? Forecast carefully the number of attendees, they won’t stay long if they feel like sardines ,but vast swathes of space don’t always feel that inviting either. Are you going to rely on your own advertising or can you attract a lot of people passing by. Remember to keep costs tightly under control as venue will most likely be your biggest expense. Make sure the venue is suitable for everything you have planned and design a floor plan to check everything will fit!

WWW is key to designing events that will be successful and engage your audience. Let me know what your three W's would be. Next time I'll be giving you great tips on promoting and marketing your business during the event

Featured Business: Natural Bathing Co

Today's interview features Carrie Freeman the owner of Natural Bathing Co, which can be found on Etsy and Ebay. Now to Carrie, to tell us more about her luxury handmade bath and beauty product business.

Tell us a bit about your products.

At Natural Bathing Co I sell my own handmade bath and body products, which I make in our kitchen at home! I like to make my products as natural as possible as I know how hard it is to find products suitable for sensitive skin, and I'm hoping that in 2012 we can expand our shop to include up to 50 different items.

What makes your products stand out from the crowd?

The things that make my products stand out from the crowd are the ingredients. All the ingredients are researched and are only put into the products if they will benefit the user in some way. I do my best to give great customer service and repeat customers have the opportunity to obtain discounts!

Sandalwood and Vanilla Soap

How did you start out?

I originally sold wholesale made bars of soap until I found out that these included artificial foaming agents which in fact dry out the skin. I looked into making my own soaps and haven't looked back since. Now I am running my business to set up a fund for my first home and to give me a little bit of extra income while doing the thing I love.

What has been the hardest part of running your business? How have you overcome it?

Personally I think the hardest part of running my business has been time management. As I am also a student at university I have a lot of reading and studying that I have to do at home, as well as making my products. I've tried to organise myself by setting aside designated time slots for doing studying and then using a lot of my spare time for my business.

What motivates you?

As previously mentioned, I have set up my business to provide a fund which will help me make a start in life. My dream is to expand my business to the point of it becoming my full time job, where I can work from home and be there for my children when I decide to start a family.

What is the best resource you would recommend to others?

The best resource for anyone looking to start out in soapmaking would be The Handmade Soap Book by Melinda Coss. It is a great book with lots of helpful information for troubleshooting and ideas. For anyone looking to start their own bath and body business I would recommend checking out the legislation in their country as often there are certificates that you have to have in order to sell your product. Other than that, research! Research and practice making your products is essential! You might also want to look at the current market and see if there is a niche, which you would be able to fill nicely.

How do you connect with your customers?

I like to connect with my customers through social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook, but with Etsy, the community discussion boards are also a great way to keep in touch. I am a member of the CraftBritannia team on Etsy and often like to take part in team events, chatting with other people and helping to promote other people's items as well as my own. Etsy is so community focused that not only do I make friends with other users, I also get some sales through doing so. I'm ordering some new business cards as well which I will pack into each order with a coupon code for each return customer.
 

How do you make your customers feel valued?

I know that sometimes it can be hard to make each customer feel valued so I try my best to make sure I send them informative but friendly emails about their order status. You have to remember not to be overly friendly though as then you are at risk of losing your professionalism. As mentioned before, I also like to include a coupon code for customers so that if they come back to my shop and buy again, they can get a small discount.

Dragons Blood Soap

Tell us about your latest product range?

Coming in February 2012 will be several new products. I am adding a fruity strawberry smoothie scented soap which reminds me of strawberry milkshake, a lime, mandarin, and basil soap which is very citrusy and fresh, and a baby butter bee soap, which is similar to the fragrance of baby powder. I am making these soaps as my shop has been open for a couple of months now and I feel it is time to expand my range. I am also planning on making some more bath bombs in the same scents as my soaps, and I'll be looking into recipes for making wonderful flavoured lip balms for Spring 2012.

What ingredients do you use in your products?

The main ingredient for all my soaps is an organic base, to which I add shea or cocoa butter, followed by a fragrance or essential oil. I pour it into my silicone moulds and wait! I love the silicone moulds because not only do they provide me with a good chunky bar of soap, but it is really easy to unmould my soaps and they are super easy to clean.

My favourite ingredient is organic unrefined cocoa butter which I use in my chocolate truffle soap. It is a hard butter but is rich in the chocolatey smell which many people love as well as having all of its natural properties.

To find out more and stay up to date with the Natural Bathing Co please remember to stop by and visit Carrie on facebook and twitter.

Event Management

Planning your event should incorporate everything that needs to take place in advance, and on the day itself. There are lots of elements to running an event so it is very important to have a clear plan and great organisational skills!

Firstly decide the purpose of your event and what your goals are, for example, to make sales  or new contacts. You need to do this so that you can work out what actions your attendees need to undertake whilst at the event. This way they won’t turn up and leave with no positive outcome for your business. Maybe have a contact form so that when people turn up they can sign in and leave an email address. Or do you need to make sure there is a demonstration of your product at the event so people are more likely to buy? Do you expect them to take any further actions after the event? Say to visit your website, if so do you need to hand out a business card or a voucher for the site?

Now you know what needs to happen at the event and what elements you need to include. Decide on the event itself, where will it take place, will there be a theme? If so how is it relevant to what you are trying to achieve and how does it represent your brand? Depending on the type of event you decide upon do careful research on local legislation, are there any rules you should be aware of in terms of health and safety or if you plan to serve any alcohol?

Begin to decide on the time frame involved. Decide on a suitable date for your event to take place and begin to create a schedule for all the elements you need to organise.  When will you have to book a venue? Send invites or place an advertisement? Do you need to plan any entertainment or activities?

Remember if it starts to become too complex break it back down to the goal you decided on at the beginning, you really don’t need a lot of bells or whistles! Is it a one off business launch or a little monthly catch up?  Plan the scale of the event accordingly! Make sure you stick to a budget otherwise costs can spiral. Remember sometimes the events that are free to set up are the most fun! As you have to think a little bit more creatively about venues and activities.

It can be a bit daunting arranging an event by yourself, so can you round up any helpers? Do you need any greeters or speakers at your event? Could you get them to carry out some market research for you while they mingle with your guests? Or could you combine your event with some other local businesses?

As for the day itself, plan how long your event will last, will it go on all day and people can come and go as they please or will it only last an hour and guests should be there for the duration? Plan what activities will take place and when. Don’t try to cram too much in, as schedules always slip a little and you don’t want to bombard people!

Most importantly make sure your event will be something to remember. As not only may you gain new custom from attendees. If your event is exciting, interesting and well planned it could increase exposure for your business through word of mouth promotion and this really is the best kind!

Your Business Event Will Create A Buzz

Your first question is probably why host an event? Well there are plenty of reasons! It is great for making sales or getting your business noticed, whether this is launching your business or just a new product. An event is a great promotional activity and way to network with customers, suppliers or even your competitors. An event will make a fabulous PR opportunity and can broaden or create a whole new audience for you.

It can also be a great way to share information whether this is by you giving a talk to your customers or hosting a seminar for businesses that operate within your market. Treat the event as a learning experience, this is a great opportunity to talk first hand to your customers and to see what they do and don’t like. This makes an event the perfect place to not only market your products but conduct valuable market research.

Create a new product range like I have here!



If you are not sure you have a reason to host an event make one! Maybe it’s time your product range was injected with a little bit of excitement. Make sure your event has a specific purpose and that the way you portray your business fits with the message you are conveying to your customers.

Your event should fit well with your company, and attract the correct target audience. For example if you sell cakes, think about hosting a family orientated event, a tea party or traditional village fair for example. You can put a creative twist on it but make sure it is relevant, for example why not make it themed, the mad hatter’s tea party perhaps? If however your business is more about designing couture jewellery, how about an evening event with canapés and your products displayed decoratively or even hire some models (or friends)!

Hosting an event will get your business noticed, give you credibility within your market and help give your company some more history, could this become an annual event for example? It will help consumers identify with your brand and give you more presence especially if you currently operate online.

Plan your event carefully as you want an event that runs smoothly and has a polished and professional feel. Remember the event will reflect on your business and customers want to buy from companies that are reliable and can deliver especially on quality.

Remember to take plenty of photographs at your event and get some customer reviews, these will be great for future promotional material!

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to update the blog with plenty more advice on hosting your own event. So that you can create an event that maximises the potential benefits that have been outlined and creates a real buzz about your business!

Positive = Proactive

Aspire2Inspire99

Running your own business requires a lot of positive thinking, but don’t confuse this with dreaming or wishing! Which will not get you very far at all and will most likely result in a number of wasted hours. Remaining positive can be hard work in itself, but in the end will reap huge benefits. You need to keep going when progress is slow, overcome set backs, cope with rejections and learn from criticism rather than taking it to heart.

Remember customers will react much differently to someone who is positive, upbeat and has obvious enthusiasm for what they are doing, rather than a business owner who seems desperate for a sale or even worse like they don’t really care.

How to stay positive when things don’t seem to be going your way?

Firstly start writing down your goal for this month, just doing this will help focus you. A month is long enough to sink your teeth in and make real progress, but short enough to give it some momentum. Now everyday write down what you have done or what has happened to help you achieve this. By keeping a record like this it will remind you of everything positive you have done, how you are moving yourself and your business forward and what you are successfully achieving. Repeat every month!

Another way is to reaffirm one good thing every day, it could be about yourself or your business. It may be an improvement you have made, something new you have tried or a goal you have met. Every day wake up and think of what your successful moment of yesterday was. This will help you start your day in a good mood and with more confidence.

Seek out feedback from your customers and your peers. You can display the positive feedback you receive on your marketing materials or on a page on your website, helping build your businesses positive reputation and increasing consumer confidence.

Whilst this may not seem quite so positive if you receive customer complaints especially if you feel they are unjustified, it can be turned in to a positive action by yourself, by recognizing this as a learning opportunity. Take the criticism and make it constructive. It will help you to improve your businesses processes for example returns or deliveries, how are they organized, or how the customer is kept informed etc. Therefore improving your customer service and the likelihood of future sales.

Finally remember to believe in yourself! Have enthusiasm for what you do and continue to explore what works well for you. If you come face to face with a problem remember to keep the focus on finding a solution, this will help keep your business ahead of the game!

Start Your Business With A Penny

So you’re just starting out and need a little money to get your cash flow going, how to do it? Well that’s the tricky part, banks aren’t lending and business angels are looking for the investment of a life-time. Go limited then? Looking for family and friends to invest can be awkward and most people are looking to save money right now, not risk it. And trust me, right now, when you’re starting out you’re a risk! So you want to fund the business yourself and limit the damage to your own bank balance, here are some simple tips on how to do it:

-Lead the frugal life. Sounds great fun! Well maybe not, but trust me this is one easy thing we can all do. Cut back, it may have to be a little or a lot but it can be done. Yes we see those glamorous entrepreneur types, but that’s not how it is at the start. You’d be surprised the wealthy are known for their penny pinching and shrewd spending habits. They literally do save the pennies until the millions come rolling in!

-Know your assets. Some of your expensive purchases house, car, those you’ve put sneakily on your credit card so they don’t wipe out your bank balance, they’re assets surely? Nope, if you are paying back monthly and with interest these are your liabilities. Although it might not be possible to get rid of them entirely, I don’t want to make you homeless! Pay them off as quickly as possible and avoid loans in future.

-Turn green, and not with envy! This can save you loads of money-grow your own food, cut your household bills, use your bike not the car and recycle, reuse, regift. All of these put together can give you massive savings.

-Make your money work harder. You pay back interest on loans, but make sure you are getting interest back on your savings to compensate. Yes rates overall aren’t great at the moment but with some research behind you there are a couple of little gems. And remember use your ISA first, so you don’t pay tax on your interest!

-Coupons and Cutbacks. Price comparison sites are your best friend, you can find some great discounts. There are also many group purchasing, cashback and voucher sites that are worth checking out, see if you can use any together to lower the price further! Think about the opportunity cost of every purchase and work out how much certain purchases cost you over a year, that 60p chocolate bar you have everyday for example, over a year that’s costing you £219!

How to manage your money, set yourself a budget. Keep it simple, work out your income and outgoings, work out what expenditure you can cut out or at least cut down. The figure you are left with is what you need to save and not spend! Work it down to a daily budget so you can keep track of what you spend easily.

If you try all of the things above it will greatly help you raise the first couple of hundred pounds you need for materials, equipment or marketing. It will also help you practice the skills you will need to manage your company’s cash flow and keep within budget.

Live Your Life The Way You Want To

Why run your own business, it’s a lot of time and effort right? Well true you will have to work some long hours to get things going, but it can be terrific fun when it’s a project that you are fully behind. I’m sure you’ve done enough over time in your day job, this is no different just in the end – you get the pay off! Ultimately though running your own business will give you full control over your working life as well as just your leisure time and in the end this control will give you freedom, the freedom to work when you choose, to have more time at home or with your family or for the ambitious among you more time to work on your own business and create something fantastic. It will also give you the chance to work in your own way, in the end you should have great fit between your personal and working life as you are not constrained by the traditional 9-5 model. Maybe this is the time you will spend with your family and then evenings will be the time you focus on your work.

To achieve all this, decide on your aims, is working for yourself to allow you to spend more time with family or are you looking to live in the nice house with a flash car? Remember all self-made millionaires started off just like you now, there’s nothing different about them, no unique skill, they are just ordinary people who made their business idea work.

Decide on your aims, make them specific so you can stay focused. Now break down into small steps how to get from where you are now to where you want to be, this will not only help you visualize your target, it will help you break the process into manageable steps. Work out exactly how much money you need, so for that nice house or the car what would the monthly repayments be? All of a sudden it doesn’t seem so impossible, right? Create a board of all the things you want and look at this regularly, I’ve even heard of people visiting the homes they want but can’t afford to help get them in this mind set! Set your targets high, this may make it seem all the more difficult in the beginning, but thinking big never hurt anybody and this will stretch you to your full potential. Challenging yourself will only help to motivate you and begin to think more creatively about problem solving! Every time you achieve one of your steps write it out on an achievement chart so you can see as you progress.

Anyone really can live the dream, it’s all about mind set. Challenging yourself in the ways set out above will help you develop a positive attitude to self-improvement and create a great sense of achievement. What you do now could have a major impact on supporting not only your lifestyle choices now, but right into the future. Remember you don’t have to stick to the conventions set out by others, starting afresh in a career or business of your choosing can be really exhilarating and help you enjoy each day.

Online Alternatives

Not sure about the hard sell but want to earn some extra cash, give writing online a chance. The business start up: share a topic you love and promote products your readers will find useful. For this you must have patience to see any return on the time you spend writing and the ability to write interestingly and informatively about topics that people want to learn more about. Write about niche topics that interest you, become known in your field. Share your expertise in your subject with readers so they build trust in your opinion. Don’t be too pushy or people won’t read what you have to say but be convincing if you are recommending a product. Be ethical in the ways you promote goods, and be clear if you are benefiting if your readers purchase something, rather than claiming to conduct independent reviews for example, this is a big no no and readers won’t return if they feel they have been tricked or misled. And the number one rule, always publish original content!

Squidoo/Hubpages- Use one of these well established writing platforms to get your articles noticed by search engines. They are both easy to use and incorporate easy to follow guides about how to write and how to monetize your article. Squidoo in particular makes linking with external websites particularly easy. Earn commission on any sales made from your article. Be prepared to publish a number of articles and update them regularly to keep them ranking highly.

Blog- Start your own writing page, choose any topic that suits you and type away! Be consistent and try to stay on topic, general blogs do not tend to perform as well. You need to build a loyal following who are interested in what you have to say. Update your blog regularly you don’t want readers to forget you exist. The most popular blogging platforms are Blogger run by Google or Wordpress both sites are easy to use and make posting blogs and designing your page simple. To make money you have to get a good following and a regular high number of hits, you can track your progress using Google Analytics. Once you feel confident your blog has been noticed offer businesses the opportunity to advertise on your page, make sure the adverts do not become overpowering though and keep them targeted and of interest to your readers. Another way to do this is to allow Google Adsense to list targeted adverts on your blog earning you money per click.

Affiliate Schemes- If you have your own web page, blog or belong to one of the writing platforms above join an affiliate scheme. Many websites run these now, including Amazon. Sign up to as many schemes as you like but keep on topic as to what you write about. When you visit websites scroll to the very bottom of the page to see if there is an affiliate or marketing partner link, this will show you how to sign up and how commission will be paid. Link with sites that have products your readers will like, if you talk about the products directly make it clear you will earn money from the sale.

Sell, Sell, Sell - Online

Do you want flexibility, to work at home? To work your own hours? Then the internet has opened up a whole range of opportunities for you. Your business idea: to sell goods online. For these types of business you need to be able to spot a gap in the market a niche, a place in the market you can call your own. You need to have confidence predicting markets and a great eye for figures. You will have to buy stock, the right stock and know that you will be able to sell it on for a profit. Otherwise you risk losing the money you invest. Build an online identity that users can trust, this can be much harder than businesses that sell face to face with consumers. You need to keep in contact with customers, answer their queries, provide a great service and this should help you gain the positive feedback that is crucial in increasing consumer trust and therefore sales. Be as informative and open as possible, in a shop a user can see and try any item, you have to recreate this using only words and photographs. Practice your writing and methods of photographing your goods in an interesting way to get customers hooked. Describe how the product looks, feels smell, how and when the customer will use it. What will it add to their lives, how will purchasing your product make them feel?

Selling platforms-

Ebay- The king of online selling. Most of you will have sold a couple of things on Ebay, but how to do it professionally? Buy in bulk, a great way to do this is at auctions. This will give you the volume to sell your products in a range of sizes and styles. List regularly so your items show up at the top of searches and experiment with titles and descriptions see which one works best then replicate this on your other listings. Decide carefully whether to use the auction, buy now or a combination of settings. Open a shop rather than selling as an individual on the site so once visitors have clicked one of your products they can see a full range. An alternative to Ebay is Price Minister.

Amazon- You don’t just have to sell books, Amazon is now a market leader in a range of products. Listing is easy and quick, but it is easy to get lost in the crowd. Pick a niche of books or product to sell. It is easy to see what competitors are charging for exactly the same product so be prepared to be competitive with your pricing and your feedback ratings will be key. Remember to send out a business card or promo leaflet with orders so shoppers remember to search for your store again.

Etsy/ Folksy/ Deviant Art- For the creative amongst you, sell your own hand made products. These sites are great for setting up a small online store to sell your crafts to a world-wide market. Remember to promote your store on other sites, facebook, twitter, LinkedIn or a book marking site to gain a following. And get involved with the online community built into these sites including the blogs, teams, circles, treasuries, and forums the more you put in the more you will get out of it.

Zazzle/Café Press- Don’t have time to make your own products? But still want to create something unique or never seen before, use one of these sites. As long as you hold the rights to your image or design you can upload it onto one of hundreds of products. Keep strict control of your designs or allow your customers to customize them to their needs, the choice is yours. The best part? These sites handle the order fulfillment, payments, and returns. You just take a commission payment on every sale! You can increase your income by earning a volume bonus on sales or by referring people to your shop or others on the site and taking a percentage of any sale made!

Your Own Website- Want even more control over the type of online store you run? The best option- to set up your own website, you can sell whatever you like and keep all of the profit! Sounds great but remember you may need to pay to have someone design your site, users will have to have confidence that you will fulfill sales, and you need to set up a trusted payment system that customers will be happy to use, paypal for example. But the hardest part? Getting people into your store, it will take a lot of time and dedication to get people to find your site and then even more effort to create interesting content that will make them stay and actually buy something. Consider using google adwords where you can design your advert and a daily budget. The key-EXPERIMENT, find out, which ads work and those that don’t, play with titles and keywords and do your SEO research carefully! But the effort of setting up your own site could definitely pay off in the future!

Buy A Brand

Not sure about going it alone? Feel like your lacking a business idea or a great sellable product. Then buy into an existing business. Your business start up idea: To run a franchise. This means you get access to a well-known brand name, identity and established reputation. The company will source products and undertake larger scale marketing campaigns. However you will only earn a percentage of what you sell through commission. For this type of business you will need to be prepared to work evenings and weekends, as the most popular method of sales is through running parties. You will also need to be a confident public speaker and able to create a fast but friendly sales pitch, often whilst demonstrating your products! Be prepared to create an interesting display area and encourage consumers to touch, smell or try your products. Use parties as an opportunity to book future events. To start one of these types of business there is usually an initial outlay to buy a kit of products or catalogues. But in the future there are few expansion costs as there are often opportunities to grow your business through building a team and taking a percentage of their commissions. Or of course you could start up your own party planning business. Companies that you could look into joining include-

Ann Summers, The Body Shop, Virgin Vie, Usborne Books, Girlie Gardening, or Avon. Research how much you have to pay out initially, how the commission structure works, and whether you will receive any on going training and support.

Provide A Great Service

 

Service businesses are great to start, because you have no product there is no initial outlay on stock. Your business idea- to let people purchase your time. For these types of business you still need to be a people person, as you have to build strong rapport with customers, because you’re not selling a product you’re selling yourself. But the key to providing a great service is organisation. You must be able to fit in a number of customers at different locations, customers like services to be prompt and professional. Marketing yourself is key and word of mouth is great for these types of business start up, but remember consumers are five times more likely to report a bad service experience than a good one, so you really do have to be exceptional to stand out from the crowd

Home Services- Ironing/ Cleaning etc- These are great ones that anyone can do. You only need some basic kit. However you must build a trustworthy reputation with your customers as they are letting you into their home! Build a routine of tasks so that you can increase speed and efficiency. But remember to do a good quality job, as this is a task anyone can do, so you must prove hiring you is more worthwhile than customers tidying themselves. Build packages including different tasks at different price points.

Dog Walking- People are willing to spend more and more on their pets nowadays and this is a great idea, but make sure you love the outdoors whatever the weather! This is a great business and it can be easily expanded to include pet sitting and care of other animals once you have a consumer base. Remember to take out insurance though and make certain you are confident working with a range of dogs. Plan schedules carefully so that you can take out similar dogs all at once and ones that are harder to handle individually.

Personal Shopper- This is great fun for any shopoholic! Getting paid to shop is always going to be fantastic. The hardest part- getting people to pay for a task they feel they can do themselves. There are two tacks to this, time saving or luxury. You are either going to save your client time by finding the right outfits when they are to busy or give them a luxury experience, take them to the best locations, do runs to the changing room for them and make them feel like a celebrity for the day. Keep on top of trends and make friends with store staff. Research what’s in the shops so you don’t waste time. Make sure you get a tight brief of what your client is looking for and remember to take precise measurements, maybe also have a look in their closet to get a feel for their style.

Personal Assistant- You need to be highly organized and focused on your client’s goals, your job to save them time and help them reach their goals. Clearly set out each client with a portfolio, what tasks they have you do and their key contacts with whom you may need to liaise with. Keep clear records and make sure your client is aware of everything you arrange for them. Be prepared to go the extra mile when it counts you may want to expand this into almost a concierge service. Be clear with your clients if you work set hours or are always available.

Gardening- Again this is a business anyone can undertake but physical fitness does help! Pick a target market-helping the elderly, the busy professional, providing advice on restyling or design? A portfolio can help, especially if you are aiming for the design market. Be clear what tasks your customer expects you to undertake maintenance could go from mowing the lawn to full garden care-planting, watering, paving. Be clear if they are paying for certain tasks or time. Work out- if this is a restyle you may want to price the whole job and provide designs. If you are just maintaining an elderly neighbour’s garden you may want to charge a weekly rate for a certain number of hours.

Use Your Skills

What are you good at? Are you academic or sporty? Arty or intellectual? Choose the skill or subject you are best at and most enjoy. Your business start up idea- to share your knowledge or talent with others. To succeed at this you need to be a people person, great at communication and able to share your enthusiasm with others.

Types of business include:

Tutoring- This may be academic or musical, charging per lesson or for a course. You can be at any level, but should have some form of qualification. Just target those at the level beneath you, so if you have a masters tutor graduates, if you are in your final year teach first years. You will have a lot of valuable experience. Make sure you are up to date with current teaching in your subject and any syllabus requirements. Create a great range of professional and easy to use teaching materials that you can use in your sessions and give to clients. Chart their progress so they can see how your service is benefiting them. If working with children you may need a criminal records check. Share your academic achievements with potential clients.

Coach- Teach people your favourite sport. You may need to hire a court or pitch but by teaching a group of people and starting courses so people bulk buy for example ‘Beginners 6 week tennis course’ you can cover costs and easily forecast income. Be patient and make these lessons interesting, people take part in sport for fun and to meet new people. Plan lessons in advance, focusing on one aspect of the sport each lesson so people can pick it up step-by-step and incorporate fun games. Maybe play a ‘real’ game just for the last 20 minutes after they have picked up the new skill. Take care of people’s safety and fitness levels, target your lesson at those with the lowest fitness. It may be wise to undertake a health and safety course and get a coaching certificate in your chosen sport.

Consultant-Fashion Stylist/Interior Design etc- Have people ever commented on your impeccable style? Use this to advise others. Attract customers by creating an attractive and interesting portfolio. Make it professional and get clients to write you references. Nothing to go in your portfolio? Redecorate your house or someone in your family. Restyle a couple of friends! Make it fun, but try to stick to a theme or trends so potential customers can see if they like your style.

Artist- Share your artwork with the world! Sell it at local art fairs, online, approach shops, start a facebook page, hang it in local venues with promotional material, join an arts trail. There are plenty of ways to get your artwork seen. Be prepared for rejections artwork is highly individualistic, but if one shop knocks you back another will love your stuff. This is about volume, keep approaching people and you will get accepted. Create a style, let people know the story behind your work, and let them know if you will take commissions!

Author- Do you love to write? Create a beautiful story or share information on a topic that interests you. You can write about anything, have passion for your subject or story and share that with your readers. Practice your writing constantly, write on all the subjects you can think of, this will increase your creativity and help you develop a ‘voice’ or style of writing. From here you just need focus, set a daily word limit and meet it every day until your book is finished. Once your book is complete then you can edit it, the most important thing is to get the full book out on paper this is where most people fail, they just don’t finish it! Once you have completed your manuscript you have to decide between approaching a publisher, keep going and submit it to a number of publishers and be prepared to overcome rejection! Or the increasingly popular option of self-publishing, remember you will have to create your own marketing campaign and this is where your people skills and ability to network will come to the fore.

Business Start Up - The Idea

A new business that’s gotta be hard right? A business plan, new business development, and a new career, it can seem daunting no doubt. But it can be done, and anyone can do it, you just need drive and determination. You need the motivation to get the ball rolling and the perseverance to keep it going!

But finding a way to make money doesn’t need to be hard and your career path doesn’t need to take a massive change in direction from where you are today. If anything you should be thinking of all the ways your current experience and skills can be applied to your new venture.

This week I’m going to update you daily with a brief overview of the quickest and simplest business start-ups. They will help you to flex your entrepreneurial muscles, and with very little or no initial outlay are generally very low risk. They may not initially earn you a full salary but a lot of people have become very successful and eventually do use these businesses as their only method of income.

10 Key Tips To Becoming A Successful Entrepreneur

 10. BE SMART

Set yourself clear objectives, ask yourself what am I trying to achieve? And be focused, to be an entrepreneur you need to be dedicated and the best way to do this is to create SMART targets. This means they must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and have a Time Frame. Don’t be too broad, set yourself something objective and quantifiable. This will help you to measure your success, for example increasing sales by 10% this is very specific and will be easy to measure. Your targets should be achievable if you haven’t made a sale yet don’t bet on selling a million, by setting smaller more achievable targets you can see your progress as steady steps and it will help motivate you. Give yourself focus by setting a time limit.

9. CELEBRATE SUCCESS

How are you going to measure the success of your venture? Will it be through revenue levels, becoming market leader in your industry, increasing awareness of your venture, becoming a recognized expert in your field. Know what you are trying to achieve from the start and integrate it with your SMART targets. Measuring success will allow you to see what works and what doesn’t, it will also help give you a sense of achievement. Remember to share your successes through your marketing.

8. NEGOTIATE

Learn the art of negotiating and also compromise. You have to be able to get key people to give you the resources, time or inputs you need to be successful. Essentially you have to grow something amazing from nothing and you are going to need help to do this. Negotiating well can give your business an incredible boost, but you have to learn when compromise is necessary. By giving something back now you may be able to call in a favour in the future.

7. THE TRUTH OF BRANDING

Your business has to build a brand, not just sell products or services. This helps identify your business and should if done successfully set you apart from competitors and build an emotional link to your customers. Your brand will eventually interlink with your reputation, therefore you should be truthful, honest This will increase loyalty. Branding should be clear, easily understandable and have impact. Consumers are bombarded with marketing, your challenge is not only to stand out but also to be remembered.

6. NETWORK

Make contacts at every possible opportunity, be nice make friends. Use the network you already have, friends, family, colleagues they can really help get your venture off the ground. Use social networking to spread the word and build links not only with customers, but also other entrepreneurs and mentors who may help your business grow. Also connect with other companies in your industry or who are compatible collaboration is a key ingredient in many successful entrepreneurial projects.

5. MISTAKES CAN BE GREAT

Know when you have made a mistake, has a promotion not worked, have you not achieved your SMART targets, have you had negative feedback from a customer? Don’t let this get you down, bounce back, this is an opportunity to- LEARN. And learning is key once you know what went wrong, and have analysed why it happened, it can help you to improve your business, your service and your systems. This will help increase future business performance.

4. ME, MYSELF AND I

Know what you do well and where your strengths lie, make sure your business uses them and that you maximize their potential. But also know your weaknesses and set a plan in place for how to overcome them. This will help you to overcome performance blocks before they happen and being pro-active rather than reactive can save you a lot of valuable time and money.

3. SUSTAINABILITY LIVES FOREVER

Your business idea needs to be sustainable and generate future income and have good developmental opportunities. Jumping on a bandwagon or following hype may score you a quick win, but how can you develop the idea to give long lasting returns. Is your idea unique, can others easily replicate it? Make certain your idea, product, business system isn’t too easy to replicate or you could disappear in the market very quickly! If your idea is everything investigate patenting it.

2. EXCELLENCE

You’re running your start up it’s going well everything is good. WRONG good unfortunately isn’t good enough, your business needs to excel it needs to be the absolute best it can possibly be, everything the service, the quality, your processes should be as good as you can make them and you should constantly review this and look for improvements. Give your customers the opportunity to give you feedback and make sure you respond to their input, this will only enhance your business and deepen the bonds with customers that you have made feel valued through listening carefully to their needs.

1. SPREAD THE LOVE

You have to enjoy what you are doing, you should love your business, your idea, your concept. You need the energy and motivation to keep going, even after setbacks or failures, determination is key. But the moment what you are doing has become a chore and something you don’t enjoy spending time doing your business will be dead. Be enthusiastic and passionate, share this with your customers and hopefully they will come to love your business as much as you do.

In the Beginning

Hi,

Aspire2Inspire is finally up and running! And it's going to be great! This page is all about lifestyle and if you want to increase your wealth, business opportunities, creativity, knowledge and improve the quality of your family life then this blog is for you. It will keep you up to date with everything that's going on and bring you great advice and resources to achieve your goals. The blog will deal with short-term solutions and things that you can do now, but it will do this within the framework of long-term goals and increasing your quality of life. We hope to help you achieve your dreams! You may be thinking this is all going to be a bit of a tall order, will you really be able to make changes and improvements to so many areas of your life? The answer is YES anyone can, all the advice you will find on Aspire2Inspire will be easy to follow, things that anyone can do so that you get a great sense of achievement.

Firstly an article on Performance Management, if you are already running a team this will help you to increase motivation and performance results. But also reflect on it at a personal level and use it to decide what really helps motivate you at work?

http://www.squidoo.com/employee-reward-systems

Now you have read that take a moment to write down a list of your top five motivators and brainstorm how your jobs job design can be improved. These will not only help you get more out of your work life, they will also make great points to bring up at your next performance appraisal. This should help you broach improving your terms of employment with your boss, whilst helping your company. For advice on Performance Appraisals and how they could improve your management style follow this link-

http://www.squidoo.com/performance-appraisal2

Take a moment to conduct a self review, what have you done well? What could you improve? What SMART objectives would you set yourself? Now take a moment how would your peers assess you, and what about your team? What targets would they set you? Now you have some mock results, put them into practice at work tomorrow! And if you feel brave enough maybe you should implement 360 degree reviews to get the real results!