5 yrs, 2 mths ago

Starting A Small Business

Hey guys,

I know this isnt beauty related but I’m after some advice. These past few months I’ve been working on starting my own buisiness, making candles.

I’ve started product creation, and have set up my own site on shopify.

For those of you who have small businesses, or sell crafts/items, what have you found to be the best site to sell them on? Ebay? Etsy? Anywhere else?

Shopify seems to have all I need but I’m not sure about the monthly fee. I’m giving it a go on the free 14 day trial though.

Also feel free to chime in with any other unrelated tips that could help me, I’m just starting out.

(Also cheeky self promotion but my new Instagram is @burnthewickcandleco)

30 comments 17 voices

Replies

  • 2 yrs, 5 mths ago

    Good share.

  • 2 yrs, 5 mths ago

    Hi, I think I can help you. I do business on Amazon. I sell posters and various little things. I was able to quickly develop because my product was almost unique and there really was no competition. Maybe you should take a closer look at this site. If you do not like this project, you can sell your business, I can advise the guys on page . They will help you assess the value of your business. If you want to continue working in the field of candles, I think there will be a place for you, the main thing is to recommend your product and sell a quality product.

    Find your strengths

    This is something all startups seem to overlook because they’re too busy thinking about their weaknesses which they believe they need help/advice from others to deal with. They think that building a startup requires this kind of thinking but in reality, this attitude has done more harm than good to most startups. If you do not have a clear understanding of what your strengths are then it is very unlikely that you can build something valuable.

  • 2 yrs, 10 mths ago

    I’ve reported the spam by akalas.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    All the best Beccaduncan23!

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    Start to look at the markets that are around the place. there is one every month near the power house museum in the city Sydney.
    Um, I don’t know where you are located so it is a bit hard to advise you.

    Go to your nearest information centre, they often sell locally made goods and go to your gallery,

    My long candles sell very well through a gallery

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    Wish you all the best. Beccaduncan23

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    Oh can I just add another little trick I found very very helpful. After you have made and put up a dedicated web page try and get it put onto as many search engines as you can. I found that I ended up being one loads and they are mostly free and I got loads of people from all over the world as well as here in Australia contacting me and some I’m still in contact with. Hope all these tips helps. BH is so good and the people are great always someone will try and help.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I’m not adding much more to what other helpful beauties have already said, but just adding my experience – my husband and I started a small business selling homemade Sicilian products. We sell at markets and found it is really important to choose the right ones where your target market will be. We also found having really well thought out branding – logos, theme and ‘story’ were super important, as well as a really strong social media presence was key, especially on Insta and Facebook as well as a website.
    Wishing you all the best of luck on your journey and every success!! It’s a lot of work, but so, so rewarding 🙂

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    To be honest a lot comes down to good PR/Marketing to make people find you.
    You have to get your name out there, there are quite a lot of small business groups that run competitions, or even find a few other newer businesses and put a basket of goodies together and get people to follow each of you in order to enter. It’s also a good opportunity to offer a discount/free shipping to new followers also.
    All the best with your new venture.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I’ve not been in business for a while now but I used to have a skincare (handmade products) business. I tried a variety of methods to sell my products. I didn’t do eBay as I felt it was already over saturated with products, I didn’t want any negs (I sell other things on eBay and people can be mean), people want bargains and the fees are too high. Instead I went to breakfast meetings, results were just so so. Local markets were reasonably good but the fees made it hard to come out with a decent profit. The positives though were repeat business. I used to go out and about with samples and brochures and I found that was the most successful way because I made a connection with people. Be prepared to try a variety of ways to promote your business. There’s lots of markets, fetes and festivals (though you need to check out how much competition, what are they doing and how you can fill a niche in the market)

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