Okay. All the advice I have been reading is fantastic. So I hope no one mines if I spill a little a get some feedback.


Here are the basics of my plan for my business.

I have a website that will go live soon.
1) Blog
2) Store

Hopefully both will be open December 1st. On January 1st I will be traveling from west coast to east coast. My hope is that I can find places to set up vendor space where the organizer will take a percentage. I also want to promote the website and just generally have some fun.

Has anyone done anything like this? If yes, how did it work?
Any suggestions? I’m working on a 99 cents store budget
Any ideas on how to find organizers that will take a percentage not a rental fee in different states?

Other?
posted by:
Sierra
offline Sierra
Austin
78 friends
join to post
  • Cliff
    Cliff
    offline 76

    Re: Best Tribe I have visited in a while - Questions, feedback, suggestions

    Fri, November 16, 2007 - 8:23 AM
    You are going to sell inexpensive things online?

    How about shipping? If I pay very little for something do I really want to pay to ship it?
    join to post
    • Sierra
      Sierra
      offline 78

      Re: Best Tribe I have visited in a while - Questions, feedback, suggestions

      Fri, November 16, 2007 - 9:41 AM
      Good point.

      A lot of the things I will be selling at custom made and reconstructed so the items are $20 and above. I will also have a vendor booth from location to location.... I'll have to think of how to keep the shipping down in order to help customers want to buy online.


      What if I offered recycled boxes / bags?

      i.e. "in order to save you money we ship items re suing bags and boxes such as grocery bags as packaging and free boxes to ship products in."


      ???
      join to post
      • Cliff
        Cliff
        offline 76

        Re: Best Tribe I have visited in a while - Questions, feedback, suggestions

        Thu, November 22, 2007 - 8:23 AM
        **********A lot of the things I will be selling at custom made and reconstructed so the items are $20 and above. I *************

        Well Amazon sells books for about that and less and people pay to have 'm shipped. So I guess my idea of inexpensive was somewhat less than what I imagined you'd be selling for.

        "Recycled" always encourages certain people. Other's who won't respond to it are not troubled by it - - unless they get the idea that they are paying a premium for it. So wording is key.

        This Clearly does not sound like a premium is being charged: ". "in order to save you money we ship items re suing bags and boxes such as grocery bags as packaging and free boxes to ship products in." "
        However, I might just say that you use "recycled shipping materials" because there are going to be people who might not like the idea of someone's used grocery bags. That way you avoid any connotations that might be taken as a negative and you get the benefit of the cashe from using "recycled."

        join to post

  • Air Fair Sourcebook

    Fri, November 16, 2007 - 1:57 PM
    One terrific site I know folks have used is ArtFairSourceBook.com and I assume you have looked at some of the other ways to drive traffic to the web site such as participation in online fora (where your sig file includes your URL), well-crafted reviews on Amazon (which also mention what you do with enough hints for folks to find you), making comments and sending trackbacks to other blogs as well as things such as constantly having a few items for auction available on eBay (generating hits back to your site) and setting up standard small-crafty stuff such as Etsy.

    The only thing I would encourage you to consider is how blog software might be used to run as much of the website as possible, since this will keep down long-term maintenance costs. A lot of designers understand Movable Type and WordPress well enough to do this for you, since essentially blog software is just a few templates nailed to CSS and a database of text entries.

    Artfairsourcebook.com may have data on who will work for a percentage, and I know a lot of small folks who set up various consignment deals with small shops along a circuit which they trust, using fairs and trade shows to identify who those people are in different markets.

    Good luck and have fun!
    join to post

Recent topics in "Small Business Development"

Topic Author Replies Last Post
Any accountants in SF with experience in art/video-film produc... SatsiSonik 1 July 12, 2008
Looking for a small business telephone bundle reccomm. Sierra 3 July 4, 2008
books jason 11 June 12, 2008
Small Business Loan Therese 12 June 5, 2008