Articles in the Nuts & Bolts Category
How do you get inspired when deciding to create a new collection? When I had my handbag line I always found the most inspiration in books about vintage handbags – not that I made many vintage inspired bags, but the I was always drawn to the vintage shapes and somehow my mind twisted them into a modern version! Don't ask me how – it just seems to happen. Was always one of those, "if I move this here, make this bigger, reshape the strap" it will be cool kinda thing……:O)
I …
Branding, Innovative ideas, Manufacturing, Marketing, Nuts & Bolts, Sales, Trends »
So let's get down to basics. The whole lynchpin of your business is your target market (TM)…. next to the quality and need for your products of course! But the bottom line, is that if you don't know who you are selling to, it really doesn't matter how awesome your designs are……if no one is there to buy them, there is no money, which is super disappointing.
Let's change that right now!
Here are some things to think about to find and market to your exact TM.
1. Figure out where they LIVE. …
Branding, Business, Buyers, Celebrities, Facebook, Home Parties, Manufacturing, Marketing, Nuts & Bolts, Public Relations, Rejuvenate, Sales, Websites, Wholesale »
Road Reps are independent reps that sometimes work for a larger group, or on their own, and don’t have a showroom. They travel around their “territory” showing products to the stores they service. This can be a more cost effective choice as there is no showroom fee for road reps – they work strictly on commission. Another bonus is they are always out and about so they often have more opportunity for a sale then someone sitting in a showroom waiting for a client to stop by.
A great place to look …
Bootstrapping, Business, Nuts & Bolts, Sales, Sales Reps, Wholesale »
Invoicing can be confusing so let's spell it out here. I have always used Quickbooks for my accounting software so I use their invoicing program too. It keeps track of your inventory as well which makes production much easier to keep up with than counting stuff all the time. If you don't use Quickbooks, you can create an invoice in Word or Excel too.
Most boutiques are used to getting the Invoice with the inventory. You can either put it inside the box or purchase those little plastic envelopes that say “Packing List” …
Accounting, Business, Buyers, Customer Service, Nuts & Bolts, Sales, Sales Reps, Wholesale »
How do you know who to hire first?
If you are doing your own shipping then I suggest hiring a part time person to take that over to free up your time. This is the most menial job you are doing (besides maybe cleaning your office) and can easily be passed on. When I was shipping $1M a year, we had a guy who worked 2 days a week and got it all done!
Having someone else do this time consuming task will leave you time to do the things that bring in …
