Starting a Small Business

No doubt with COVID it’s been hard on the small businesses. I say this as an understatement. Over the course of the last year I’ve helped my favorite small businesses by purchasing an item or two to help keep them going. There are so many around the Cincinnati area that it’s hard to help every single one.

Now, I’m not here to explain what has been going on for the last year, but rather to help you get started in your own small business or help you think about what’s needed to help you get started.

In January of this year I decided to start a small business with epoxy resin. At first it started out with Keychains and a couple coasters, then I realized how much technique and patience if needed for this. I wanted to start selling immediately. With resin that’s almost impossible; which leads into my first tip:

Stock Up Your Inventory

It’s best to decided what you’re going to sell first instead of figuring out how man variations of a single product you can make.

For example, I started making Couple’s Keychains for Valentine’s Day. Instead of making 50 variations, I chose three colors and promoted those. I offered the customers a custom color if they wanted it or they could choose from the three I had prespared. Simple and easy to manage.

As you go along, you’ll start to get a feeling of what people are interested in. There will be trial and error, you’ll spend a lot of money before you start making profits, and you’ll have left overs.

On another note about inventory, there are times where you’ll be making one thing and it doesn’t turn out so you turn it around and sell it as something else. An example would be a Domino batch. I made a couple dud batches of dominos because the mold was wonky, so it made some curvy dominos. Since I couldn’t use them, I turned the good ones from the batch into keychains.

Im not saying you’ll find uses for all of your duds, but sometimes being creative can get the most sales even when you think it’s kinda lame.

Leading into my second tip:

Promote Your Stuff

No one is going to know you’re there unless you put yourself out there! Here’s a list of things you can do (you don’t have to, but will help)

• Create one or more Social Media Pages for your business (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc)
• Create a free website! (I like to use Wordpress or Wix)
• Create a logo!
• Create a business card (it doesn’t have to be extravagant. Something simple with your business name, your name, some contact info, and social media handles)
• Leave your business cards at a local coffee shop or grocery store?
• Use your family! (Ask them to share your social media posts or to share photos of your products!)

It will take time before you start getting daily orders. Now that we’ve talked about some ideas for promoting, let’s talk about:

Product Photography

You honestly don’t have to be a photographer to do your own product photography, it just so happens that I am also a photographer. This would be a great opportunity to reach out to any friends or family who are hobbyists behind the lens. If this is your first time starting a small business, I would not recommend hiring a well-season professional photographer. You’re going to lose money faster than you’ll bring it in. As your business grows is when you’ll probably want to start thinking about investing into more quality photos, but you don’t want to go off brand. When I say off brand, it’s how your customers view your business just by looking at your content. For me, my resin business (@NikNakResin) has a light strawberry colored logo with bright, well lit photos on white backgrounds. Pink and White is how I think people see my content. My products aren’t all pink and white, but how I present my business is more pink and white.

My advise: look for someone you know who has an interest in photography and use them. That way you’ll both get the experience and opportunity to grow. The other option is find a well lit area in your home and snap some photos with you smartphone. It is all up to you because you own your business!

Owning your own business also involves:

Knowing Your Limits

Yes you make the rules now, but don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking you have to do everything your customers ask for. Don’t spend bookoo bucks to customize an item, set your limits and politely decline is a customer asks for too much. If your business items are completely customizable then it is completely up to you how much your customers can customize.

Okay what’s the biggest thing about a business...?

Money

If you’re first starting your small business, don’t feel like you have to have everything just right before you start selling. This is 2021, Venmo is going to be your best friend. Almost everyone has Venmo. No more setting up a business bank account. You can use your personal Venmo or set up a new one for your business. Well, you might say, don’t you need to connect a phone number, and if you already have an account it won’t let you connect the same number to two accounts? You’re right. Here’s my solution. TextNow or TextPlus. Free texting apps that assigns you a phone number in your area code. This is great for adding to business cards if you don’t want to use your personal phone number and it can be used strictly for business.

Thank you all for reading! I hope these tips help those looking to start a small business.

Would appreciate some support for my resin art small business:

NikNakResin - Etsy

Tips are appreciated! Thank you all in advance!