I first launched my creative blog back in April 2015, but it took me a further two and a half years to pluck up the courage to actually start selling my own products. In the five years that have followed, I’ve learned a LOT, some of it good, some of it bad.
Since making the decision to shut my business for a minimum of six months, there has been so much reflection, and often I’ve been beating myself about some of the decisions I’ve made. I wanted to write a blog post to share some of those lessons with you, because I’m often asked what it’s like running a small business, and in all honesty, I wish I’d known some of this early on in my small business journey. I hope you find it useful!
One: Start Small
You don’t need to launch with a huge range of products. When I first started selling, I had five different prints, available in two different sizes. I was lucky because at the time my husband worked at a printer and so I didn’t need to make a huge upfront investment. It worked though, right from the start I realised that some products would sell better than others, regardless of how I thought all of my designs might appeal to the masses (spoiler: they didn’t).
Don’t worry about investing in lots of fancy equipment. In those early days, I literally had my prints and some A4 board backed envelopes. I wrote all my addresses by hand and sent everything with regular stamps (no Royal Mail Click and Drop account for me!). The label printer, postage scales, and fancy postcards all came later when I’d started to scale my business.
I also only sold via Etsy. I had a code for 40 free listings, so there were no upfront costs, and I didn’t have to worry about hosting costs for a website whilst I was building my business!
Two: Test the Waters
If you can, avoid going all in with new products. Do the market research, ask your community what they would like, and start with small quantities. If a product requires a bigger investment, consider a Kickstarter. I did this with my iron-on patches back in 2018, as it was quite a big investment with minimum quantities. One design I fully-funded, the other was just not as popular. Going down the Kickstarter route meant that I hadn’t wasted hundreds of pounds on a product that probably wasn’t going to sell!
I still try to take this approach now, I switched to a print at home model so that I can easily try new ideas for prints without investing in large amounts of stock. For items that I get manufactured externally, I try to add small quantities of new products when I reorder best-sellers.
Three: Social Media isn’t Everything
Naively, I thought that I could build a business on Instagram alone. Spoiler, it didn’t really work that way. Sure, Instagram is great for some aspects of my business, but I can’t rely on it for everything, and I’ve had to expand my marketing to other areas. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, and definitely don’t make that basket social media. Investigate other options like email marketing and selling in-person (see lesson 6!)
Four: Community is Everything
Since launching my blog almost eight years ago, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many incredible people, some just on-line, others in-person, and I’m now proud to call some of them genuine friends.
Interact with your customers, build genuine connections with them and fellow small businesses, and you’ll always have a community of people who have totally got your back through the good and the bad.
Five: You Can’t Beat Selling in Person
Another part of my business that I avoided for way too long. Getting out and about to events is great for making sales, as well as getting real-life feedback on your products. I also often find that my best-sellers at in-person events are completely different to what sells online.
When selecting events, do your research. Ask other makers for recommendations, look at marketing from previous events, ask questions about the application process. Is the market curated? Will they ensure that there aren’t too many sellers who are making similar things? Who else is selling there? (I actively avoid markets where a large proportion of the sellers are MLMs, but that’s personal preference) Is there an entrance fee? What is included in the fee?
Some events will be great, others will not be as successful, but they are a wonderful opportunity to network and gain feedback from customers.
Six: Don’t Measure Your Progress Using Someone Else’s Ruler
Put the phone down! And by that, I mean stop comparing yourself to people on Instagram sharing piles of orders / who have lots of followers / who seem to just be smashing it. Social media is a snippet of their lives and you will never know the full story.
Seven: Do Measure Your Own Business!
Spend time setting up some basic spreadsheets to track your sales to see how you are performing, and use them to compare against previous months / years. Tracking your own sales / finances will provide so much insight into your business and help you grow, and is far more productive than doom-scrolling on Instagram!
I also use these figures to help make decisions around how much stock to invest in, pricing, and where to target my marketing at different times of the year.
Eight: Make Sure that You’re Actually Making Money
You don’t have to make a huge salary, BUT the very minimum you should be doing is ensuring that you price your products so that you are making money on each sale. Consider your materials, time, packing, listing /transaction fees, as well as general business costs such as insurance when pricing. If you’re going to offer free postage, make sure you factor that into the cost too!
I like to keep a spreadsheet of all my material costs as well as packaging / postal prices so that if costs do rise, I can easily see the impact on my profit margins and understand if I may need to raise my prices.
Consider setting up a separate bank account when you start your business. I avoided this for years because I was put off by the fees associated with business accounts. In reality it was a nightmare to keep track of everything, and I should have switched sooner. The good news is that there are now free business accounts that you can easily set up, meaning one less cost to worry about!
Nine: Learn When to Say No
One of my biggest regrets in running my small business is not having the courage to stop something sooner when I had doubts. I said yes to events that cost me money to attend, because it would be good ‘exposure’. I gave products for free to be used in goodie bags, thinking it would result in new customers (it didn’t). I didn’t have the courage to stop paying for coaching / training that just wasn’t working for me and / or I didn’t have time to fully dedicate to, because I felt it would be a waste of the money I’d invested so far.
Trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, say no.
Ten: Don’t Beat Yourself Up if You Do Make a Mistake.
You will make mistakes along the way. You might send out the wrong product, forget to order packaging, or completely over-order one item of stock. It happens, and it’s important that you don’t let it get you down. Most things can be fixed, customers are often incredibly understanding, and you can always run a sale if you want to get rid of a particular item. I have made so many mistakes along the way, they made me cringe at the time, but they provided valuable lessons (like always double check the colour of the fabric pouches you are ordering before you submit that order…)
Bonus lesson: Enjoy It!
Make sure you love what you are doing. If you feel like you need a break (and you can afford to) then do just that. Log out of social media, lock away your laptop, and just breathe. Running a small business can be all-consuming, and it’s important to check-in regularly with yourself to stop burn out. That’s part of the reason I’ve decided to shut up shop for now, it’s time for a break and to take some time out to reflect on the next steps. It’s going to be strange, but I’m so looking forward to it!