You would think that it would be easy to sell a product. Especially seeing as it is only one product (different styles of course but still...). I thought, make product, sell product, done. Silly me. First things first, I needed a business license. Easy right? Wrong. Dealing with the Government can be very interesting. Everyone wants you to have the same things at the same time. At any rate here is the best way to do it. Go to the Federal website and get an EIN number. Then go to the State Department of Revenue and get a Tax ID number (this it so you can collect sales tax...yippy). After THAT you can get your business license. Total cost: $77.00.
Logo, check (and thanks little bro). Website...hmmm...a little problematic but finally got something up that looked decent. Photos, check (thank you good friend the photographer). Inventory....um....lets work on that.
Well, now I have a small business. But, what I really want to do is go big, right? So, time to set up a corporation...Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. Why the rush? Well, back in June I did my first show. I couldn't keep the scarves in stock. I did really well at the show and thought I would make a go of it. Well my 'business manager' advised me to do a trade show. Ok, cool. When is a good one? Oh, there is one right here in Phoenix at the end of July! That only gives me less than two months! You can do it! Ok.
So, the rush began. Back to the story....a corporation is what I needed to do. So, we got some legal advice and applied. Six weeks to wait and $300 later we were getting it done. BTW, after one changes from a Sole Proprietorship to a Corporation you have to go through the whole business license again. Another $77 (sigh).
How many scarves do I need for this Trade Show? Thousands? Are you kidding me! I can't make those all by myself! Time to figure out how to mass produce. Remember, I have only been making these for the last month. It took me one month to make 140 scarves. I've got to find an easier way.
With a little research I did find a way. I found a place that I could outsource the cutting. Fabulous! Now what? Oh, labels. I need brand recognition, right? The search was on to find just the right label. After hours online and some samples I finally found one that would work. I put together artwork (once again with the help of my talented brother and the graphics team at the label company) and sent off the order. Mind you, I only had six weeks at this time so hurry please!
Fabric!!! Oh no! I need a lot more fabric than I can buy at the local fabric stores to make thousands of scarves. Where on earth can I find Polyester Chiffon at a reasonable rate? Online? Nope, can't really see the pattern and the prices are not wholesale. Dang it! Connections, not really. So, I thought, how about the Fashion District in LA. Surely they have fabric!
Booked a last minute trip to LA with my good friend and 'fashion consultant'. We flew out in the morning and flew back the evening. Now, here is an interesting story. I had done a little legwork before I went. I called some shops in the fabric district and was assured that they could get me "anything I wanted". Any fabric at all? Yes. Any pattern I want? Absolutely! So, if I send you some swatches you can procure the same patterns? Oh, yes, we can do that! Ok!
So, I spend $70 to overnight some swatches on Friday. He said he would have the fabric by Tuesday when I would be there. So excited, right! Ha ha, silly me. I go to talk to J____ and he pulls out my swatches and says: I'm sorry, I don't have these but here is some I do have! Those are really ugly! You promised me you could get anything. Well, these fabrics are not in the country so sorry! Aw STINK!
The hunt was on. I had exactly 8 hours to get 700 yards of beautiful chiffon. Good thing there are over 100 stores in the Fashion district. Now, I don't mean to be insensitive but for those who have not gone to the Fashion District, it is at least owned by 80% Persian. No prices on anything (except for a few stores) and barter, barter, barter! Thank goodness for Peter at the UPS store. That man has it going on! If you want to be successful at business...finish this blog and go talk to him. He gave me store ideas, labels so that everyone could send the fabric to him and then ship it out all together and kept is all organized. Everyone in the district knew Peter. (sigh of relief).
Store after store after store. 35 yard here and 75 yards there. After LOTS of "I love you" and "God bless you" and "you're killing me" from many Persian store owners :), I finally ended up with 650 yards that I could send out to the cutting factory. That is another week wait for it to get from California to Ohio. Now down to just 5 weeks. Panic, Panic, Panic.
The good news is I was VERY happy with the fabric we found and my 'fashion consultant' was indispensable in helping me. Note to self, however. Take samples of everything. My big mistake was going home without samples of the fabric I bought. Makes it very hard to put photos on my website! I'm not telling you how much money I spent on fabric. Ha ha.
Well, I have a week to do some other things. Booth! Ah, the booth for the trade show. I don't know if you have seen booths at a trade show but generally they are quite elaborate. I have a 10x10 space ($1350 mind you) to decorate and make inviting so people will come in and look at my product. I don't think a couple of coat racks are going to do it. So, I had a brilliant idea. A lot of work but brilliant. After the show I will post pictures and maybe a tutorial of what I did. If the scarf thing doesn't work out, maybe I'll go into booth design. At any rate. The booth, ordering, waiting, painting, etc. was going to consume another 3 weeks (of course this was overlap with other things so, I'm now down to 4 weeks to show time and in it about $800 dollars.
Fortunately ordering more business cards was a piece of cake (thank you little bro, again)!
Party favors for the trade show? Who would have remembered that! Thank you 'business consultant'! How about pens with the logo and contact information on them! OK, one more use of my awesome logo and another two weeks wait and another $320 dollars.
Now, how in the world am I going to track orders? Better make up some order forms and receipts. Easy right? Oh, legal mumbo jumbo again! Time, time, time. Find a printer, get the designs off, $400 later, and another two weeks wait. Man am I cutting it close!
Hey, the fabric finally got to the cutter, and, it is 4th of July week-end. No cutting for 4 whole days! Yikes! Two week turn over and I still have to assemble them when they get here! Plus there is another week of shipping time to consider! Panic! Panic! Panic! Poor V_______ and S_______. I pestered those poor men almost daily. Getting the pattern and prototypes right and getting them to get the cutting done for me. Not the easiest thing to do, I'm told...and...I'm not even going to tell you how much that cost either (hey, I can't give every detail away! Everyone has to do some legwork on their own).
So, how am I going to accept credit cards and how am I going to keep track of inventory, cost, expense, tax, etc. etc. etc. Hello new computer, hello new phone, hello credit card system, hello services. $$$$$$$$$$$
BTW, during all this time I had a family vacation (planned way before the business venture was). Four birthdays of my daughters and an anniversary. I must be out of my mind! (see previous post).
Anyway, I am now down to two weeks. I am waiting for my product to get here which should be in two days. I will then have to assemble thousands of scarves and hope they will all sell either online or at the trade show. AND, I have a TV spot on a local morning show in 1 week (thank you 'socialista') and am running specials to launch my website. My website is up but, like I said, I have no photos of my products (and, no products yet). Darn my poor planning in LA. Crazy, crazy, crazy!!!!!
Excuse me while I go work on my sales pitches, my banner order, my inventory line, my business plan, press release, info sheet, tax forms, uhaul, storage unit, facebook page, website, booth, etc. etc. etc.
Next up, problems and successes.
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