How do I start my own pregnancy clothing and other baby items related business?

Question

I have this idea for a small business for pregnant women: selling items like clothes, books, videos, maganizes, etc...the thing is I have no money to start with. There is no business like this where I live, so I do believe it will work...how do I start??? Any suggestions or comments will be more than welcome...

Answer 1

It will be hard to start the business you envision without capital. You are thinking of a retail store where you need money to pay the lease, buy inventory, purchase equipment and even hire staffers to help you. All these need money.

I suggest you first research the market. How big is the population of pregnant women in your area? If you are in a small town with a population of 1,000 it may not make too much sense to open a store for only about 30 clients.

Then start preparing your business plan. The business plan is an important document as it helps you think through about the business and the myriad questions you need to answer. It helps you know the target market -- where do pregnant women in your area currently buy those items, what items do they want, what other items will they want.

An important part of your business plan will be the costing for your startup capital. How much would you need to start this business? What are these expenses? Check around the area for how much commercial rentals are going to give you an idea of your lease amount

Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:

- SBA Business Plan Basics http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/businessplan.htm
- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,7253,,00.html

You may also want to review some sample business plans to see how it actually looks like:

- Bplans.com http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm
- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners
http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html
- VFinance - View hundreds of real business plans in pdf format. http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?bps=1&ToolPage=bps_main.asp
- Business Owners Toolkit Sample business plans and information on how to create a plan. http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/buspln_m.asp
- PlanWare Planning software and information. http://www.planware.org/
- Virtual Business Plan Walk through the design of a business plan. http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan.html

I suggest you also start to read more about retailing. Here are some recommended books:

Specialty Shop Retailing: How to Run Your Own Store (National Retail Federation Series) by Carol L. Schroeder
Retail Business Kit for Dummies by Rick Segel
Start and Run a Profitable Retail Business (Start & Run a) by Jim Dion
Start Your Own Clothing Store (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) by Entrepreneur Press
1001 Ideas to Create Retail Excitement, Revised Edition (2003) by Edgar A. Falk
Retail Success! by George Whalin

Answer 2

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Answer 3

The best routes to take are to research the process of starting a business as well as the industry you're interested in.

I recommend checking out the SBA, Entrepreneur, The Start Up Journal & Nolo. All 4 are great informational resources for the new/small business owner. I posted links for you in the source box.

Associations may be a good avenue to explore as well. These organizations will address many of the thoughts, questions and concerns you'll inevitably have as well as many you haven't anticipated yet. See the source box for some relevant links.

Research, research, research – this cannot be stressed enough. Read as much as you can about the industry. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* Start Your Own Clothing Store (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) by Entrepreneur Press
* Start and Run a Profitable Retail Business by Jim Dion, Ted Topping
* Retail Business Kit for Dummies by Rick Segel
* Specialty Shop Retailing: How to Run Your Own Store Revised by Carol L. Schroeder
* So You Want To Own The Store: Secrets to Running a Successful Retail Operation by Mort Brown

There are plenty of free informational resources out there. Check the source box for links to articles.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 4

Are you planning to sell new or used?
You can buy out lots from garage sales too! Offer a price for their table load of items (something rediculous like $20 for the whole tableload...most will do it so they get rid of it, haggle!)

You could start by placing an ad on craiglist that you are selling the items, its free and a good way to get started.

You can place an ads on there for the items you are looking for (if used) and offer a consignment fee (like 30%) to get started. Once you build up and show some profit (keep records) you can probably approach a couple of companies that you can buy "seconds" from at low cost to sell new....

Look up some sites for starting a small business
Start a Yahoo Business Site, its only $8 per month.....let people know you are there and start by plastering flyers & biz cards all over town...talk about it and tell everyone!

Answer 5

You can set up a direct shipping account with a direct shipper. I am not sure who does this. I do know that it can be researched on line under direct shippers and search for the type of products that you are trying to sell and then you can post the products on E Bay or Amazon.com. I tried this and was not successful. I was not really into doing business like this. I currently run and operate my own business on line and I do well. If you would like to take a look at the business that I am in you can look at www.serina1568.yourpassionconsultant.com and see what the business is about.

Answer 6

The idea is to start small. Get a supplier who can supply you the need goods on consignment first. Alternatively, you can get a list of suppliers or wholesalers that are willing to do drop ship services, that is once your customer places an order through you, the wholesaler will ship the goods to your customers. However, you have to be very careful as not every wholesaler will do so. You can also get a wholesaler or consignment shop to loan you some catalogs for you to show customers and get their orders, you collect the money from them first, then make the purchases and deliver to your customers.The key is leverage on your customer. Once the needed cashflow comes it, you then reinvest in flea mart or garage sales space.exhibition booth to get more traffic or awareness or maybe set up a website. It does not take money to make money, you just need a strategy and planning is most important. I think you have quite a lot of links to the site on sba in your answer board.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

try going for a loan,you have to show them a portfolio though...

Answer 9

go to a bank, get a loan

Answer 10

You have to get pregnant first, then only you know what to do. Hi...hi...hi...