Business Start up.

[Mannie]

Hi all, I have been making candles for 5 yrs now and would like to start doing it to generate some income.

I have looked into insurance and recently went to SCORE which is an organization advising how to start up, They have told me that i need a business plan.  Those of you who sell did you have to do that?  How was it starting for you? I am looking to sell on occassions like holidays.  Any Advice would be appriciated. Thanks everyone.

[missy40]

Does the same information apply for selling melts?

 

Thanks

Karen

[Vicky_CO]

Before you start any business even if it is a hobby business you should have some sort of business plan. It does not have to be huge plan.

 

What are you goals?

How are you going to sell?

What will it cost you to sell?

How much profit do you need to make?

 

Who is your target customers?

[David Fields]

Our business plan when we started 16 years ago was to sell as many candles as we could and not go too deeply in debt or at all. Actually never heard of the term back then. We started with $400 in supplies, went back for another $500 worth three months later, started selling after six months (we were not ready and neither were our products), made $260 profit our first craft show and saw stars. lol. All revenue from our fledgling business was plowed back into it. We looked for every opportunity to sell wherever we could. Revenue went up and so did expenses. After 4 years we opened a strip-center store and had to get insurance (required). What really helped us was my wife and I retiring in 2001; we devoted all of our time then to our business (still do). It is darn near impossible to make much selling scented products when you have full-time jobs and no capital to draw on.HTH