07.19.08

Future Plans…

Posted in Main, Mind Wanderings, business-a-go-go at 7:59 pm by carrie

For the past few months, I’ve been sort of sulking around… missing the store and Southern California. I’ve been busy doing odd jobs, some art and unpacking… but I really miss the old routine. I suppose that’s totally normal… but I feel like I should pursue having another store.

So, over the next several months… I have some goals…(posting it here makes me accountable!!!)

• Learn HTML, XHTML and CSS… so I can make a killer website, and make websites for others. I already know a fair amount of basic HTML, but bringing it into this decade would be great :)
• More graphic design and art. More painting, more vector art… more using this smarter-than-I-am tablet.
• Put together a resume website with art, web and animation stuff.
• Get the website back up by mid-August… I have no idea what to sell… any ideas or suggestions?
• Amazon shop? Ebay or other auction site? (Ebay, why have you forsaken me??)
• Research on the area as far as opening a store. I’m finding that the farmhouse, darker wood and rich-colored accent pieces are more popular here than the kitschy-whimsical shabby chic styled items. So, I need to figure out what the area likes before I even venture into the idea of having a store. Also, do I want to rent a tiny retail space or get a small cottage? Lots to think about.

If anything… I find that doing the research super exciting. I light up just thinking about having a store… the possibilities, the decor, the items I’d sell… I love the idea very much. But, I need to be realistic with the economy the way it is… gas, housing prices etc etc. So, I think I’ll just give myself homework to do a little research and post it here… I know there are many of you out there who read this because you want a store or have a store. I’d like to shed some light on the process :) I am, by no means, an expert on how a business works. I just kind of learned the hard way as I went along, and I’m very very thankful for the people who helped me along the way.

Just looking at the pictures below… what the store looked like the day it opened… to the last Christmas we were open. SO different. It grew organically… on its own… I almost feel like I had nothing to do with it. It’s really curious how it became it’s own living, breathing entity. It sounds crazy, but it’s sort of true… and it sometimes got out of hand. If I do this all over again… I want to take my time and be extremely methodical and realistic about it.

So, for me… what are the seeds that started the idea for the store? I did the following:

• I stockpiled tons of inventory. I was already doing street fairs and boutiques… having those 20-something boxes of inventory ready to go and already paid for was key for me. And, when we first opened, 80% of the items were handmade by myself, my Mom or my friends… we grew very slowly from there and added vendors, consignment (not sure if I’d do that again) and vintage items.
• I read every book I could find on having a store or business. I think I had over 20 books. I had been reading them for a few years at least. I think I got 50% of my information from the books and then the other half from just having the experience and being thrown into it.
• Work in retail. I have over 7 years of retail experience under my belt before I even thought of opening a store. It wasn’t until I started hosting my own small boutiques that I felt I wanted a store (for some reason).
• Look at locations. Crunch the numbers. The first space I looked at was huge… in Sunland. I wanted it to be a coffee house/gift store/venue for bands. I’m SO glad I didn’t pursue that space. It would have been a commitment that I wouldn’t have been able to handle (Confirmed later by Tyn and her sister’s attempt at a coffee house… egad!!!). The nearby Starbucks and restaurants would have killed my coffee business… and there is no way I could have worked 6 am – 2 am every day or every day we had a concert. Phew. So, at least I was able to find out how much the rent was, how much the new plumbing would have been… all the equipment and supplies. The loan would have been outrageous. But, now I know. You have to do your research :)
• I would suggest asking other businesses how they do it, but alas… most of the businesses in your area probably won’t share their knowledge. I have to say, I completely understand why. Hours and hours of research… years of getting to know your customers’ wants and needs… it’s a science and an art. Juggling what to buy with what to spend… each business owner has their own secret style. You learn the hard way… and fast. And if you put in years of sweat and tears into something, it would be hard to give away your trade secrets :) Just as if you had a successful restaurant for years and years, you wouldn’t give out your secret recipes. I have gotten bits of information from other business owners… and I’m so glad they were kind enough to share. Some of them were too late… “don’t order those candles! They’ll collect dust!” So, I guess I learned that the “hard” way? :)
• Put together a business plan. Find out how much the rent is… try to find out how much the utilities are. In my experience (don’t quote me on this!)… if rent is X, overhead (phone, internet, electricity, water, alarm, credit card processing etc) is just about half of X. So, if you pay $1000 rent, expect to pay $500 minimum in overhead. This isn’t counting usage tax, inventory, startup costs or anything like that. And I had the bare minimum…. so, if you like fancier lighting, flawless air conditioning, 14 phone lines etc, you’ll pay more :)

I’ll go over things like this more in detail as I get into the nitty gritty of it all…. and if you have a question, please let me know! There are so many things I didn’t know I needed until I got deep into it… my 20 business books mentioned this… unexpected costs… there are SO many of them!!!

I’m laughing at myself as I type this… do I really want to do this again??? Ugh…

So, join me as I dare to start up another retail gift store… or talk myself out of it? hehe! At the very least, you’ll learn something, I’ll learn something… and I’ll get to know my city better :)

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