Anyone starting a business?

[luce79]

And want to help each other out with motivation etc....

Im in the process of setting up

I'm in the process of setting up too Luce. My business is very low scale and unlikely to be launched for another 18 months or so (still have a pre-schooler at home and don't want to commit to anything until they have started school). Interested to hear how you are getting on. I have a fair bit of work to do, I'm currently sourcing packaging. Logo designed and business name sorted. I don't think I will make much money but I have enjoyed the process and it has given me something to think about as well as being connected to a hobby of mine.

Sometimes I feel discouraged and consider how it will feel if it all fails (thereby demotivating myself)...but then as mentioned I have enjoyed the process so far and keep hold of this. I have a business degree (earnt many, many years ago) and have helped others start up i.e. family business etc. but I have never done anything like this for myself before. Sometimes it feels like a lonely path to tread...you have to keep hold of self belief (something I don't have a lot of).

Where have you got to with setting things up?

Oohh I’d love to join. We launched our (very very small scale) side business just before Christmas.
At the moment most of our sales have come from friends and family although now I’ve been putting a bit more effort into Instagram we’re getting a few coming through from local people as well.

I don’t ever expect to make millions from it but I enjoy making our products and it gives me something to do in the evenings. At the moment anything we make I’m just reinvesting back into materials.

A couple of lessons I’ve learnt so far that might help other people -

• Be wary of taking up offers from friends or family to do things for you for free. A friend did our product photography and it’s just so so bad! We just paid him with product so can’t complain but it’s awkward now and I need to find the time to take new photos.
• Don’t underestimate the benefits of a good website builder. I have zero technology experience but used Squarespace to set up our site and it was so so easy. Everyone has commented on how slick and professional it is which I really can’t take credit for
• Don’t expect success overnight. We launched a product for Valentine’s Day which I thought would be so so popular so made absolutely loads of them and was worried about selling out. It wasn’t popular at all and 90% of people ordering for Valentine’s Day bought one of our normal products instead. I also made this mistake when we first launched and had delivery boxes all lined up ready for hundreds of orders which just didn’t happen!

It would be great to chat to others in a similar position and hopefully learn from each other’s mistakes!

I have a small side hustle I started on maternity leave and just started selling on etsy before Christmas. I haven't been giving it as much attention as I should.

I've decided to get help setting up my fb ads. I work in marketing but a different part and I'm so glad I have done, as she's set everything up perfectly and is great at analysing results.

@doadeer how do you find Etsy? I’ve listed everything on there but haven’t had a sale yet which I’m guessing is down to not having any reviews so far and coming quite far down the listings.

Short of putting some orders through myself I’m not sure how to get it going

I've done 12 sales but I don't have a huge product set and im in a competitive sector. Most people don't leave reviews which is annoying when you're building!

I'm experimenting with seo and titles, tags etc - hoping I can build some momentum.

You can get good advice on the forums if you haven't already

I've run a successful business for 12 years, last year was our busiest year to date, we are incredibly fortunate and I will never forget that.
Tips

1. Customer service is paramount. If someone contacts you with an enquiry/question get back to them immediately. Dont leave it for more than an hour, they will move on and you will have lost them to your competitors
2. Don't undersell yourself. Just be better than your competitors. People will ask for ridiculous discounts, offer a little off but never too low. Its about finding a balance, where the client is happy and you are still making a profit.
3. Google Ad words is your best friend. Learn how it works .

I hope its useful and good luck. Its a scary feeling but also incredibly exciting. In our early year I liked it to being on a roller coaster, the highs and the lows. The excitement of winning a big contract is like no other feeling but then there will be times when it's quiet and you get the fear that everything you have worked for will be gone .

Etsy is one of the platforms I am hoping to use. I get the feeling my products will get lost amongst many and I would describe it as more of a side hustle then a business that is likely to grow but as I don't 'work' in the traditional sense, I hope to invest time into it. I am currently working on a website in connection with a book I have written. I will not sell directly from this website but it is another lead in as I hope to have links to the shop page(s). I have someone lined up at a very reasonable rate - not family and with good reviews and recommended to work on the website to make it look presentable as I.T is not my bag. This is my next project. Will also take a look at Instagram and how it can be used as a lead in. I am an amateur writer, so the creativity involved in content as opposed to the I.T. aspect is right up my street. I won't be able to launch anything until at least April next year when I can devote a bit more time to the customer service side of things but I have lots to do until then.

Really interesting to hear about your journeys so far.

I don't get any traffic from my website at all, but my social media is starting to grow.

I have just set up some Facebook ads and made my first sale last night from those after a day of them being on. I am going to refine the audience, as I think my key demographic are teachers of a particular type of fitness.

Etsy have a big handbook about their SEO. I am playing around with tags and titles a lot. But im in clothing which is a competitive sector.

All trial and error!

doadeer I don't think I wouldn't have bothered with a website if I didn't want it for other reasons - in connection with my writing and to write articles. The shop link is an extension of this. But of course it all takes time.

Good etsy weekend for me, sold 5 items 💪 Hooray. Hoping sales will go up a bit now

Hi all. Wondering if you get more sales through social media or direct website traffic?

@luce79 how is it going! It's a shame this board on mumsnet is so dead.

Hi all,

We have a service business, we are not brand new but last year (Yr 2 was our first 'proper' profit year where we started paying ourselves a salary). I still think of us in startup mode as we both still hold day jobs.

Happy to give any advice although I still make it up as I go along :)

I'm in the process of setting up a Limited company for my startup (a small digital agency). Initially, I plan to do almost everything by myself, but I've decided to start with a limited company to separate (protect) my personal money from corporate and to have a registered legal entity. Currently looking for online registration services + bank account, something like Tide, GoSolo banking services. The biggest question for me was to become a sole trader or set up a limited company. Finally, I chose limited co., but if you have a really small business sole trader will be more than enough for you.

I've just opened a dog park after six months construction. It's only £12 a basic session so no big contracts to be won but lots of £12's all add up I guess.

Planning on adding dog photography and long Covid flow rope fitness sessions a little down the line when I've smoothed out all the initial hitches.

I am in the process of starting my own SEO agency. I have been working in the field with different organizations since 4 years. Now, I am starting up. But, I haven't worked on finding clients for my previous organizations. So, that is what I am currently learning from different trial and error methods.

@Inneedofanewwardrobe

Hi all. Wondering if you get more sales through social media or direct website traffic?

An overall digital approach works best for getting more people visiting you. If your firm is very new, you can start with social media - organic and paid. Along with that keep building the website. And as you progress you can maintain both the approaches and get sales from both.

@doadeer

I don't get any traffic from my website at all, but my social media is starting to grow.

I have just set up some Facebook ads and made my first sale last night from those after a day of them being on. I am going to refine the audience, as I think my key demographic are teachers of a particular type of fitness.

Etsy have a big handbook about their SEO. I am playing around with tags and titles a lot. But im in clothing which is a competitive sector.

All trial and error!

You can add in schemas for your products, improve on internal linking, indexation tags, alt text, sitemaps, robots.txt file, some more on-page things that you must have learnt from the handbook and then start up with some off-page SEO. It will slowly start giving you better results even in a competitive niche.

How's everyone getting on? Good month for me on etsy 17 orders which is my highest so far!

Me and my husband set up a small business in January! It was booming for about 10 week but it does go up and down now and I worry it’s going to go down even more now that shops are opening back up!

Is there a thread where we can promote??
Good luck to everyone!!

Hi,

New to this page just wanted some advice and your opinions on a new business venture am looking at setting up.

Plans still in progress at minute but would like to make homemade baby food recipes which I have been making for my little boy since 6 months old( he is baby led)and sell to local area to start with, for working mums and dads, mums that are to busy and mums and dads that are not to great in the kitchen.

Any ideas and opinions would be great to hear and where do you think would be best places to advertise?

Thank you

Michelle

I’m starting a business. Very early stages. How is everyone getting on?