NancyJo

Ok, I am no where near you but I am trying to get something in place. I don't know how you get your orders, thru website only, phone, etc. or how you handle your operations, who will do what orders.

You should probably have one person in charge of passing out "work orders" to keep better track of inventory, what is on hand, etc. Very simply, have a beginning amount and subtract what was used for a job. This would also give you a better idea of how much of raw materials you are going thru and if it would be more advantagous (sp?) to order the next bulk size.

That is so cool!!! Things have a way of working out. I think the key is if you are there every week, you will get a following. Also, when you open your store, you will have a larger customer base. This will also give you a chance to play a little with your lotion bar and see what works and what doesn't and then you can get it set in your mind what you exactly want when you open the store!

And, if you are going to wait, work on that credit. It can be done. I went through a bankruptcy in 2002, and very soon after I was able to get a credit card and start building credit. The rate sucked, but after working in fianance for a few years, I understood this was the way to start. Since then, I have bought a car, unsecured and been approved for a mortgage. You can do it, you just have to start at the low end. The loan through your bank is an excellent idea. Start there, pay it back and that will definitely help.

Just read the terms of the "hard luck" credit cards carefully. Cards like Capital One will give you a $200.00 credit increase and charge you $100.00 for it, ending up in higher payments. Also, check the annual fees, start up charges etc.

Store credit is great if it is something you need anyway. I am having financial trouble (lein on my house) so but Sam's Club gave me $600.00 credit on my membership card. Came out of the blue, the cashier said I qualified and had to ask her again what she said!!!

So yes it can be done, but credit card companies want to see that after bad credit you are now able to make payments.

I think you made the right decision, to wait because now you can step back and start planning to have all the items you wanted in the beginning to be in your shop, maybe even ALL the FOs you had to trim down.

Just make sure about a 3 year lease. You said you cleaned up your credit (yeah) but if your name is on the lease and it needs to be broken, that could adversly affect your credit again. I am sure you will do great with the shop, but what if something happens health wise to you or a family member?

Do you have any outs with the lease, can you sublet if needed?

If you choose store B (the larger one), is there any way you could partition it off by putting a fake wall to make the space smaller? That way you wouldn't need as much inventory so it won't look so bare?

Is the downtown district more offices? Maybe you could have some kind of lunch time special for office workers. Send flyers to the tenants of the buildings and say from something like 11:00 to 2:00 get 10% off.

Rachel--that was the closest thing without it being 20 pages!!!

Please:yay:

TIA NancyJo!!

Need your e-mail addy

Check you E-mail, sent you one. May have to rearrange it to your needs but it gives you the general idea

Those are absolutely beautiful!!

OK, I'll give it a shot.

Do you make your lotions, shampoo and conditioner from scratch or a base? I don't make these yet but I have seen some recipes and some have specialized ingredients to make them from scratch. Maybe if you concentrated on items that are very similar in ingredients to buy in "big" bulk to save on some costs and then introduce your other products.

Maybe you could also incorporate that into a market plan, by getting peoples names and addresses/emails addys and then let them know you are now introducing new products. To get their addresses maybe raffle off a basket and everytime they purchase something, they fill out an entry form.

Not sure how your store is going to be set up or how much space you have so but this is my try...LOL

Glad that helped...I too am having one of those days...all planned out and nothing working out, going in circles.

Will try again tomorrow

Is this what you are looking for?

http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin55.html

Ok, that makes sense. It is just that I have one of the monster boxes of table salt from Sam's Club and thought I would use that.

Oh man--of course it has to be on a Saturday I have to work!

Thanks for your help

Wow, thanks, that looks cool!!!

Many people run their jars through the dishwasher to clean before pouring. I don't clean mine at all. Too lazy.

LOL--I'm lucky my dishes get done!!!

I am looking at a recipe for a body polish and it calls for sea salt. Is it okay to use table salt as a sub?

I know in something like a bath there are therapeutic properties in sea salt but seeing that body polish is basically a wash off product, can the table salt be used for exfoliating purposes?

line your cups up on a cookie sheet before you pour. Those buggers are little and even though I have been pouring for years and have a pretty steady hand, I still make a huge mess with them. I quit making them because of that and the fact that it is just cheaper to buy them.

Also if you use a dixie cup to pour it makes it easier for such a small container. I also use a dixie cup for my 1.5 oz hex jars, get a little more control over pouring

Just an FYI...

From Sam's Club....the 7 dozen egg cartons (yes 7 dozen...we go thru so many eggs here). The egg cartons hold 30 votives per tray and they are slightly tilted for easy viewing. Found this was easier than having a ton of baskets.

The phone number is 716-877-3146, their name is Make N Mold.

HTH

If you call them, they have bulk pricing, something like 2000 bags for $20.00. I don't think they advertise that on their web site.

I know the candy bags from "Make N Mold" are the material you are looking for. Called and verified with them, they are out of Buffalo NY

I think with flea markets (and I am no expert) but is to be there every week and have your base of regulars. Yes, people are looking for cheap stuff but a couple of years my BF and I did one. He wanted to get rid of some junk and I took some candles there (only sold about $12.00) but across from us was a lady selling homemade cookies. She did not "selling", just sat reading her book but sold out of her cookies. She seemed to have her regular customer base because she was there every week, in the same spot and people came to see her.

Just a thought.....

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions. You have given me things to think about in formulating my business plan.

You are all so generous sharing your ideas with me, I really appreciate all the time your have taken!