Overwhelmed

[lilbratbunny]

Hello, I've been dwelling on the idea of starting a small business for some extra cash. I'm still in school, relying on financial aid & loans, with an on-campus part time job.

The idea of a small business I can do on my own time seem simple enough. Things are a lot harder than they seem. I ran into problems like, where do I buy my supplies from to sell to others? How to I register to open a small business? Filing taxes? I decided to look a little bit more into small business, but ended up finding there are so many other things involved and it got a bit overwhelming. The good part was I stumbled on this forum.

I've thought of selling hobbies/crafts supplies on eBay. But I'm not 100% sure where I can get the goods from. I'm thinking department stores sales, how practical is that?

When that idea didn't seem too do-able, I thought of making postcards to sell, since I'm involve in a postcard exchange project I thought I could advertise there. But of course, I never thought of copy right issues and such.

I'm hoping someone could see some light in this situation and tell me that it's actually more do-able than I think.

Thanks very much.
-Ann

[Logan]

Hi Ann, welcome aboard. I'm glad you found us

I think it is doable, but it takes some time to get things in place. While I understand all of your concerns about what needs to be done, my own experiences would lead me to approach things a little different. I would start out (very) small and wouldn't worry a lot about the business setup, etc until you start selling things. As you attain sales, you can then establish the business more formally as it is justified. There is a lot out there, but at the same time in the United States there is a lot of flexibility in getting started with any new business to make it easy. We can definitely help you here, and also consider additional support programs such as the Small Business Associations SCORE program - that would be a good route to consider in my opinion because (for free) you can also setup a mentor with previous business experience to assist you along the way.

Regardin the hobbies/crafts scenario, I don't think that is very practical. There are other businesses (wholesalers/manufacturers) that only sell to stores at discounted price. If you are selling a product, I think you need to establish a source that is competitive. Typically, since a store sale item is available to anyone, reselling others retail merchandise you have purchased isn't going to be viable. With what you should do, I don't have any great ideas but one suggestion is to look at you own habits (and friends/family) to generate ideas also. Hope this at least gets you started, and keep us posted how it goes for you.

[mktgbiz]

I'm with Logan on this one. Not that Im' usually opposing him, just that he makes a very good point.

Most people get frozen before they do anything. They ponder the fees, expenses, taxes, marketing, licenses, insurances and the next thing you know they mat as well be living in a non-capitalist country.

I can't tell you how many peoiple I've talked to over my lifetime who literally get paralysis. Paralysis mentally and they freeze right in front of me. Never to do anything with the ideas they once had. It's a real shame I can tell you that. If I could wave a magic wand I would!!

Just do something. Worry about the details later.

That's how I have ALWAYS done it. As a matter of fact, my method of operation is.......Get things going, we can fix the mistakes or oversights later.


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[zoobie]

Just want to you here, Ann.

Hope everything is doing well. Best of luck on your venture.

[DBeavers]

Ann,

First of all, welcome.

Secondly, what is your field of study? If you are looking to start a business, it will make more sense in the long run, it if adds value to your resume' as well as to your bank account.

If you are going into business or marketing, than almost any business will add to the skills employers will be looking for. If your degree is in History, where your career choices are basically school teacher/professor or historical writing for the next series of textbooks, than almost no business experience will add to your resume.

Any additional info you can provide could lead to better suggestions and options for you to consider.

Dennis Bevers

[pete]

Hey Dennis, good to see you here. I've been recommending you for years. Glad you found your way over.

Ann, welcome to you, as well.

You might consider doing some affiliate marketing to get started. You can make a commission for just recommending books to folks and linking them to the page on Amazon. Just an example, there are many similar programs.

[lilbratbunny]

Wow! Thanks so much for all the inputs.

I'm a Film major (with 2 minors in Digital Arts and Education). Good amount of marketing available in the field, but not until I'm further down the road it seems.

I'll brainstorm again on what I can do with retail. I live about an hour away from the warehouse district in L.A., I suppose I can buy small bulks and start with that.

I've never heard of affiliate marketing, but that's something I definitely want to check out.

What Logan said about starting at a competitive source. How do I start searching for things like that? I was searching for most demanding products on eBay, but the sources I found weren't completely free, and the top 10 products I found were mostly expensive electronics. Are there free resources for such research?

-Ann