Critique my business idea

[facepaints]

Hi,

Over the years me and DP have toyed with the idea of starting a business/pop up type stand to cater for festivals/seaside towns and at events.

We are looking for a low initial outlay and this is not intended to bring a full time income but obviously we'd like to make money!

Our idea is a face painting stand - kids face painting as well as glitter/rainbow festival paint. We're also thinking of selling bits from the stall - possibly festival t-shirts/hats/hair accessories etc.

We know we'd need public liability insurance, a street trading licence I assume? And obviously to offer good designs!

Having shelled out up to £5 per child at events after standing in long queues of other parents waiting to part with their cash it does seem like a good idea.

I suppose my question is, are there any obvious pitfalls I've not thought of. Are there any street traders/festival traders/face painters out there with any tips?

Thanks

As a parent I would love it if you had a system in place so that I didn't have to queue for hours. And also I think you will need to think very carefully about cross cintamination/hygiene etc

I guess you will need to pay for a pitch at whatever location you want to trade from. You'll need to factor in that cost.

Face painting is usually a popular thing amongst children. However, in the current climate of Coronavirus I can't see there being many events for you to trade at and I wouldn't let my children have their faces painted by anyone right now. It's close contact work and therefore high risk for transmission. I'm assuming you are planning this for at least 12 months time.

Thanks for the replies. Thinking about a system to avoid queuing is a good point.

Yes Lindy we are thinking of starting from May next year as the next summer season starts, assuming that things are back to normal by then!

We live in a seaside town and it is busier year upon year but understandably all festivals have been cancelled for 2020

I bought a decent set of face paints myself and paint my kids faces for parties/events. We also take the kids to festivals and the only off putting thing for me about getting professional face paint is the big queue. Could you do fancy face paint AND sell kits for people who want to try it themselves/not queue?

Can you answer why you want to do this? Do you honestly want to spend your leisure time painting faces of small children for at best a modest return? What's the attraction? Do you want to work with children? Do you want to work outdoors? Do you want to work in a creative field? Do you want to work at festivals?

Pros are presumably low overhead and setup costs and you think you want to go around to festivals. Cons - which I suppose is what you really asked: Possibly significant travel costs - not a lot of places are crammed with different festivals in easy reach every weekend. Limited festival season - what will you do for the rest of the year? How many hours per day / weekend do you intend working? Including travel, set-up and packing away time - it will be a lot of faces to make even net minimum wage. Are both of you women? Lots of small children can be wary about men they don't know and some parents can be concerned about men accessing small children, so this might cut your 'productivity' rate. What about supplies? How would you deal with allergy risk? Also the idea of selling fun stuff alongside is another business again - will you have someone else to deal with sales while you are both facepainting? The trend is very much away from snap purchases of cheap plastic souvenirs or throwaway clothing and I imagine the profit margins are tiny. Again sourcing suppliers, storage of stock, transporting your merchandise, VAT... And absolutely everything the earlier poster said about Covid and this being entirely the wrong time for this sort of thing.

Working for yourself is an enormous hassle. I can't see a lot of positive elements in return - you almost certainly won't get rich. If trying to set this up alongside your regular jobs, can you imagine never having weekend or leisure time?

I'm obviously of a very different mindset to you but you did ask for critiques! Obviously you could give it a whirl and you're unlikely to bankrupt yourself. However, you might be better off using the time to do a bit more detailed business planning.

Very good points raised by Sycamore

Most festivals will have established retailers and it may be expensive to get a pitch even if one is available.
There are plenty who do it so why not seek one out and ask about it? They may not want to talk to a competitor, but they could give you the inside scoop about what it takes.

Thinking about the queues. Could you sell a set of facepaints and then give a lesson/demo for parents to paint along? You could 'do' several children at the same time and it would also mean no worries for parents regarding cross contamination etc. For parents who didn't want to take part, those children could be the model for your demonstration.

I agree. Very good points raised by @sycamore54321 and a lot to think about.

We are currently discussing why we want to do this and when I've got a coherent answer I'll let you know

The town we live in has a regular festival season normally, there isn't really an established face painter here (there's one but she mainly caters children's parties). We're not both women and DPdid suggest people mightn't want him painting their children's faces because he's a man - despite him being very friendly and great around kids and probably the least threatening person you'd meet.

We love the festivals and would love our own business to be part of it in that sense. I think, as we're not in need of the income from it (but it would be a welcome bonus), it felt like a fun and low risk way to make that extra bonus.

I'm not sure about tutorials and selling face paints as surely that just encourages your customers not to return at the next festival/weekend?

Pip yes, we're intending on messaging some established face painters outside of our local area to ask their views/tips etc. As a MNetter this was my first port of call

As regards queues, could you have a cork board of tickets. If it takes ten minutes to paint a face, then the tickets say 10am 10.10am 10.20 am etc...all through the day. Then the parent can buy a ticket for say 11am , go off round the festival, and come back at 11am to no queue and straight in to get the face painted.

You could maybe leave a ten minute gap free every hour for people who miss their slot. They can have it done then, or get half their money back if they don't want to. (assuming that you are so fully booked that you don't have any gaps earlier.) (I haven't thought it through properly, but just an idea.)

@Erictheavocado it is a good idea though and something different to what others are doing. Again....more to think about

Here's an alternative idea along the same lines (you wanting to be at festivals etc). Real fruit juice slushes - apple, orange, berries etc. What parent wouldn't buy their kid a 100% fruit juice slush puppy at a festival?

Could you do face-painting workshops, where you guide the kids through a basic design?

You'd need to take mirrors and chairs, and perhaps the price would need to include kid's own minikit to use there and then take away, to avoid cross-infection. But that might seem like a reasonable outlay if it comes with instructions for other designs.

Festivals and events will all have varying pitch fees and will also charge you a clean up deposit. I know many traders who have a very hard time trying to get that deposit back. From past experience you'll not likely get your fees back if the event cancels. Council run or town sponsored events are the worst for sorting their Admin.

You'll need infrastructure (gazebo? Event shelter) for when it rains and be ready for a dip in sales when the whether turns.

It's long hard work, carrying stuff back and forth from your vehicle and setting up your stall.

I'm a self employed face painter, well was until covid. I definitely wouldn't recommend working on a ppf (pay per face) basis only. Most established face painters do this very rarely. Say you pay £100 pitch fee and it rains all day? You don't make any money.

I assume you've done all the research on hygiene and have learnt to face paint. Can you confidently paint at least 12 faces an hour to good standard whilst under the pressure of having a queue? If so you can charge £40-£60 per hour during the day and double in the evenings.

Face painting is very lucrative but there's a lot of competition and it takes a few years to build up to getting regular bookings.

I'm not expecting to work until at least March next year the way things are at the moment.