Tips & Talk 84 – How I Started My First Business

Hi there.

It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk

Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions

and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small

business. If you'd like to submit a topic DME over on

Instagram at Gift Biz Unwrapped,

gosh, this year I've rolled out a number of new opportunities

for you.

Here there are the bashes where you have a chance to

showcase your business to this entire listening audience.

There's the new Owl app.

When you have a quick question where you'd like my input

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think of these as free strategy sessions,

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a fresh approach,

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Ever since I can remember,

I always like to dream up and create little side ventures.

When I was really little,

I was the doctor in my pretend veterinary clinic.

My patients were my stuffed animals who had terrible ailments,

broken legs,

bite wounds,

and sicknesses of all sorts.

Every morning and throughout the day,

I'd check in on them and check their progress charts.

I'd give them their medicine,

which was little rolled up papers stored in real leftover medicine

bottles, and I wanted to always ensure that they were on

the road to recovery.

This was my little baby business for I'd say well over

a year.

My first money making venture was the traditional lemonade stand and

later selling Girl Scout cookies.

I even tried my hand at creating and selling a woman's

fashion accessory very early on,

but even through all that,

I really never thought I'd seriously start a business of my

own. After college,

I had my share of a few short term unsatisfying jobs

where I put in my time,

learned what I could and moved on.

My significant corporate career actually came about pretty quickly.

About two years after I graduated there,

I learned sales,

marketing, and management skills.

I consider myself wildly fortunate to have been intimately involved with

many small boutique shops and quite a few,

few big brands too,

like Osco Drug,

McDonald's, and a company which was called Main Street that's now

Kohl's. I had an up close and personal look at things

I never realized would serve me so well when I did

start my own businesses,

and they often now pop up in my coaching discussions today

too, traveling,

working with fabulous people,

finding out that strategic business planning was a passion and building

a dynamic sales team,

if I must say so myself,

all got checked off my list.

As I climbed the corporate ladder,

I found myself in the running to head up one of

our 20 nationwide production facilities.

It was then that I realized that if I continued on

this path,

a path that I loved,

it would also keep me away from my young children,

and this was time I could never get back.

There's no pause button on children and they are my priority,

so no matter how sad I was to walk away from

a very fulfilling career,

that's exactly what I did.

I spent five wonderful years at home as a full-time quote

unquote traditional mom.

I headed up Creation Station,

a publishing department for students writing in the grade school.

I took positions on the pta.

I coached my children's a Yso soccer teams and was fully

integrated into their childhood.

These were the most amazing years,

but even so,

my love of business kept buzzing around in my head.

For a moment,

I thought of going back to my past company because they

kept calling me and checking in to see when I'd be

ready to return.

That however would put me back in the same place of

being away all the time,

so not an option cuz I was talking all this through

with my husband.

One night he said something to me that changed everything.

He said,

Sue, why don't you start a business of your own?

You've been telling everybody else how to be successful and grow

their business for years.

Why not do it yourself?

Omg, instant light bulbs.

Yes, that fit into my mind perfectly.

To this day I still can't even believe.

I never considered it myself.

I mean,

really, why did it take someone else to suggest it in

a way?

Give me permission to even consider it.

Now, this was almost 20 years ago and back then times

were different than they are today.

Today starting your own business,

the whole entrepreneurial thing is much more widely accepted than it

was back then.

Once this idea of my own business was in my head,

it wouldn't go away except now what type of business should

I start?

Once again,

Michael to the rescue with some great advice.

He told me to consider the qualities my business needed to

have and then list 10 types of business that would fit

the bill.

The most important thing for me was that I could still

be available when my children were home and to participate in

their activities.

Definitely no travel,

something that was fun and had the potential to make decent

money. Of course,

I don't remember all the types of businesses on the list,

but the final two were a gift basket business and investing

in a wine shop franchise that I envisioned would be on

Central Avenue in our downtown community.

At the end,

I chose the gift basket business because that I could do

out of the house with that basket.

Time was born when this decision was made.

I'd never built a gift basket in my life,

but I knew my strategic business angle.

I wanted to target small businesses and use these gifts as

a way to recognize and show appreciation leading to higher retention

of employees and customers that is trackable in the numbers.

Nobody else in the industry had this approach and I was

able to use all my corporate training to become more than

a vendor to my clients.

That was the vision and how I would set myself apart.

I had a lot to learn about the gift basket business.

It was such fun researching,

developing professional building techniques and sourcing product that probably was my

favorite. Lots of tasting and sampling.

Once I was ready to flip on the switch to be

open for business,

I immediately went into my community to get my new business

known. I joined the Chamber of Commerce,

several actually and BNI Group.

My very first sales were from these organizations and also my

first large corporate contract,

which came through connections from networking.

This corporate account eventually kicked me out of the house.

It became too big to manage from home,

so I moved into a production facility and brought on employees

and it was up from there.

Basket time was a fabulous business that was growing and making

great money as I phased it out.

That sounds crazy,

doesn't it?

But I found something else that sounded like even more fun

and even more challenging,

and boy was it ever.

I'm referring to the Ribbon Print company,

which is one of my businesses up and running today.

In addition to Gift Biz Unwrapped,

I wanted to share my experience with you today to point

out five significant things.

One, you don't need to wait for anyone's permission to start

your business,

and if you are,

I give you that permission right now.

Two, before you start,

think of what you want in a business and consider multiple

options before making a final decision.

As a handmade product maker,

this would be selecting only one type of product so you

become known as a specialist in that craft.

Three, the easiest way to get your first sales are at

in-person events.

Craft shows,

festivals and farmer's markets are perfect for this and also help

you validate that what you're offering has a market and people

who will buy it.

Four, think about your past experiences and how they might add

value to what you're doing today.

If you make lotions,

do you have additional knowledge from the time you were a

nurse? If you make jewelry,

can you apply experiences from your time in the theater?

For me,

it was merging my strategic business knowledge to help other businesses

grow through gift baskets.

Who would've thought and five,

your business may morph into something else over time,

allow room your brain for that expansion,

even if it's a complete change like mine was.

Perhaps this review of my past has you thinking about what

you do in a whole new way.

Maybe there's another angle you can add.

Having listened to me,

each of us is an original and applying that to your

business makes your company truly one of a kind.

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl,

and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn.

Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

Share your handmade products with us.

We want them and they bring us both.