Blessed
05-15-2012, 12:05 PM
Quick background - my sister and I have been sewing things for my kids since my daughter was born almost 5 years ago. We both enjoy sewing/crafting and would like to turn that hobby into an income stream.
Grace (my sister) is working at an in-between job, getting ready to pursue her Master's degree since in her field (Environmental Science - specifically in watershed and soil type things) it seems that she either needs 3 years experience or a Master's degree for every job she wants to apply for. Also she's probably going to go for the Civil or Environmental Engineer degree at this point, simply because of how many more opportunities those degree's open up for her. She graduated last spring with her Bachelor's got a forms processing type job in the field with a company that went through employees like paper drinking cups and has been working at part-time or temporary jobs for a year now trying to get the career break-through she needs.
I've been struggling to get my print-only graphic design business to grow. Of course at this point in history everyone needs a website, not just a brochure so my lack of skill in web design is hurting me professionally. My husband has asked that I wait until we get our little bitty 2 bedroom house sold (hoped for last year, actually looks like it might happen this year!) and move into something bigger to really pursue web design - getting the training I need and then putting the effort into doing the marketing I'll need to do to start building the business. In the meantime I've started adding some administrative assistant type services to my portfolio and actually act as a call center for a series of consignment events each spring and fall - that has definitely helped to fill in the gap some with my income, and I'm pushing to add a few more of those clients to my roster but I would like to add another income stream if I can. One that didn't involve hours on the phone would be awesome...
We've both seen a definite difference in how few hand-made, cute items are available at Etsy and even other online resources for boys. I've been making ties for my son and they have been very popular around here with people asking if I would make them some. Also a few of the things my sister has made for my kids have been greatly admired. We know we can start an Etsy store to sell these handmade items. Our main thought is to open a boutique that sells accessories for boys - ties, vests, bow-ties, with matching hair-bows, simple skirts, etc... for their sisters. Additionally we may sell things like color aprons, softies, etc... We both have a decent stash of supplies already at hand that we can use to create our initial inventory. And I do have a stash of ties ready to go that I had prepared to sell at the consignment event I participate in and then also as part of our annual fund-raising booth for the church at the local craft show this fall.
Neither one of us expect to get rich from this venture (but that would be nice!) but the main things that have kept us from starting (we've been talking about this for almost a year) are some questions that I plan to find answers for in the next few weeks because we've both decided it's time to stop talking and start doing:
What about sales tax?
What will be different about claiming the income from this and my other service-based business?
How to expense out existing supplies when figuring the cost-per-item made to figure both price points and profits?
How to share expenses/profits that aren't related to the items we directly created - i.e. marketing, independent web domain costs, etc... things that will come into play if this becomes a successful venture? How to compensate for additional time I will spend on pushing this to make it work and get the word out about our boutique - or if there is something additional Grace will add that will balance that work out?
What would we name our boutique/partnership?
OK - I'm sure I'm missing something - if you have more questions we should be asking or any answers to these other questions or ideas of places to look for answers let me know.
Also - name ideas would be greatly appreciated! We've been sorely uninspired on that topic :)
PS - this sister and I actually work together remarkably well, live 1700 miles apart and have always been fair and upfront with each other on financial transactions we went into together - i.e. joint gifts for our parents, etc... I cannot say the same for my other two sisters, but I trust this sister and I to be able to pull off this type of business together while maintaining our friendship and love for each other. :p
Grace (my sister) is working at an in-between job, getting ready to pursue her Master's degree since in her field (Environmental Science - specifically in watershed and soil type things) it seems that she either needs 3 years experience or a Master's degree for every job she wants to apply for. Also she's probably going to go for the Civil or Environmental Engineer degree at this point, simply because of how many more opportunities those degree's open up for her. She graduated last spring with her Bachelor's got a forms processing type job in the field with a company that went through employees like paper drinking cups and has been working at part-time or temporary jobs for a year now trying to get the career break-through she needs.
I've been struggling to get my print-only graphic design business to grow. Of course at this point in history everyone needs a website, not just a brochure so my lack of skill in web design is hurting me professionally. My husband has asked that I wait until we get our little bitty 2 bedroom house sold (hoped for last year, actually looks like it might happen this year!) and move into something bigger to really pursue web design - getting the training I need and then putting the effort into doing the marketing I'll need to do to start building the business. In the meantime I've started adding some administrative assistant type services to my portfolio and actually act as a call center for a series of consignment events each spring and fall - that has definitely helped to fill in the gap some with my income, and I'm pushing to add a few more of those clients to my roster but I would like to add another income stream if I can. One that didn't involve hours on the phone would be awesome...
We've both seen a definite difference in how few hand-made, cute items are available at Etsy and even other online resources for boys. I've been making ties for my son and they have been very popular around here with people asking if I would make them some. Also a few of the things my sister has made for my kids have been greatly admired. We know we can start an Etsy store to sell these handmade items. Our main thought is to open a boutique that sells accessories for boys - ties, vests, bow-ties, with matching hair-bows, simple skirts, etc... for their sisters. Additionally we may sell things like color aprons, softies, etc... We both have a decent stash of supplies already at hand that we can use to create our initial inventory. And I do have a stash of ties ready to go that I had prepared to sell at the consignment event I participate in and then also as part of our annual fund-raising booth for the church at the local craft show this fall.
Neither one of us expect to get rich from this venture (but that would be nice!) but the main things that have kept us from starting (we've been talking about this for almost a year) are some questions that I plan to find answers for in the next few weeks because we've both decided it's time to stop talking and start doing:
What about sales tax?
What will be different about claiming the income from this and my other service-based business?
How to expense out existing supplies when figuring the cost-per-item made to figure both price points and profits?
How to share expenses/profits that aren't related to the items we directly created - i.e. marketing, independent web domain costs, etc... things that will come into play if this becomes a successful venture? How to compensate for additional time I will spend on pushing this to make it work and get the word out about our boutique - or if there is something additional Grace will add that will balance that work out?
What would we name our boutique/partnership?
OK - I'm sure I'm missing something - if you have more questions we should be asking or any answers to these other questions or ideas of places to look for answers let me know.
Also - name ideas would be greatly appreciated! We've been sorely uninspired on that topic :)
PS - this sister and I actually work together remarkably well, live 1700 miles apart and have always been fair and upfront with each other on financial transactions we went into together - i.e. joint gifts for our parents, etc... I cannot say the same for my other two sisters, but I trust this sister and I to be able to pull off this type of business together while maintaining our friendship and love for each other. :p