I'm sure there are plenty of single mothers out there with jobs who would disagree with you.
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Gemma.
Go for up market lingerie. I was going to design a site for a mate on those lines but he wanted to include adult toys and there are 1,000s of cheap tacky sites which must lose a small fortune because punters won't want to hand over their credit card details.
I think there is a very real opportunity there then and you get all the great graphics too. Take a look at the Dreamgirl site.
Rob
Go for up market lingerie. I was going to design a site for a mate on those lines but he wanted to include adult toys and there are 1,000s of cheap tacky sites which must lose a small fortune because punters won't want to hand over their credit card details.
I think there is a very real opportunity there then and you get all the great graphics too. Take a look at the Dreamgirl site.
Rob
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gemd89
- Original Poster
- #97
And where do i buy upmarket lingerie? Cos i have no idea how to design it.
Theres lots of people selling lingerie out there, the places like playboy/ann summers and la sensa sel expensive stuff.
Funnily enough i started out selling lingerie and the wholesaler went bust
Gemma
Theres lots of people selling lingerie out there, the places like playboy/ann summers and la sensa sel expensive stuff.
Funnily enough i started out selling lingerie and the wholesaler went bust
Gemma
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When it comes to business, always think about yourself and your business first. You can be damned sure everyone else is thinking like that.
I agree though, I don't think this is the right business to be throwing money at.
I think what you need to be asking for advice on what you can realistically do at home to make a living, not what you should do to this website to make a living.
Gemma, let this one go and let it rumble along on the side if you want rather than scrap it, and find something else to concentrate on.
What about home based PA / Virtual PA sort of things I mentioned? There are a lot of VA/PA's on this site, some may have space for a home based VA?
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gemd89
- Original Poster
- #100
I dont want a job, i want to work from home.
The last time i sent my son to nursery, i took him at 8am, went to work - picked him up at half 6, walked him to health centre as it was closer and they rung ambulance straight away, he spent 5 days in hospital, nursery said he was like that since 10am all his chest muscles were breathing for him! Im abit sceptical about nurseries or anyone other than family look after my kids im afraid.
Gemma
The last time i sent my son to nursery, i took him at 8am, went to work - picked him up at half 6, walked him to health centre as it was closer and they rung ambulance straight away, he spent 5 days in hospital, nursery said he was like that since 10am all his chest muscles were breathing for him! Im abit sceptical about nurseries or anyone other than family look after my kids im afraid.
Gemma
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Again, competing in a very saturated market. The profit margins may be greater, but you're still having the problem of site design, marketing etc that need money thrown at them.
Do you honestly believe that an ecommerce store selling lingerie is the right business for a 21 year old single mother of 2 unwilling/unable to to spend money on it? (or a huge amount of time it seems)
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I am completely lost now Gemma. You said eralier childcare only pays £3 an hr. Now you say it is expensive.
No 360. I don't think the quality market is satuated .It is just a question of marketing. Think bankmanagers - accountants etc and yes - Gemma is quite capable of putting a web site together and as mentioned all those quality graphicsare supplied on disc too and that is a major problem she has now.
A couple of grands of stock would easily do it then and I know from my own research average order £60-£90 with over 60% GP.
Rob
No 360. I don't think the quality market is satuated .It is just a question of marketing. Think bankmanagers - accountants etc and yes - Gemma is quite capable of putting a web site together and as mentioned all those quality graphicsare supplied on disc too and that is a major problem she has now.
A couple of grands of stock would easily do it then and I know from my own research average order £60-£90 with over 60% GP.
Rob
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E
Esk247
- Original Poster
- #108
but thats a couple of grand of stock..can't we talk in the hundreds stock wise and then a few hundred for marketing?
a few grand is chicken feed to yourself but for us little fish thats 6 months wages
like i say, i started with £1500 in total, including a £1000 grant from the Princes Trust, i'd returned that twice over after 12 months, if i'd had more idea about business at the time i would of been ahead of the market but i let it slip...you live you learn.
i'd say its better to spend on marketing than have boxes full of stock sat in your living room getting you depressed because you can't sell anything.
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"K is a lot to me at the mo ESK I was talking max. Wholesalers will do samples and single items to help started.
I amnow begining to think Gemmas biggest problem is she don't want to leave the house in which case she will fail at whatever she does.
Complete isolation from the real world leads to laziness and complacency with no fresh idea to bolster the spirit.
I amnow begining to think Gemmas biggest problem is she don't want to leave the house in which case she will fail at whatever she does.
Complete isolation from the real world leads to laziness and complacency with no fresh idea to bolster the spirit.
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gemd89
- Original Poster
- #111
I understand that however i want an ecommerce site simple as. I am happy to use my family for childcare however that limits the hours i can do and im happy to put lots of time into a project, i have alot of free time in the evenings when my babies are in bed. Im also happy to spend money wisely but not throw it at something thats not going to work and clothing certainly isnt an option at the minute
Gemma
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Esk247
- Original Poster
- #113
what about reselling goods to companies in Leeds city centre? are you able to book appointments with Buying Departments to get stock in to department/high street stores for people?
York is just a 30 min train journey up from there too.
this limits the hours you're out of the house too
York is just a 30 min train journey up from there too.
this limits the hours you're out of the house too
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Gemma
I think you need to stop with putting problems first and turn it around.
Think of what you can do skill wise that could be applied to making money, what you have learnt and take it forward. Think of the business work out how you could run it or do it and then slot in your other issues instead of putting your other issues first and trying to slot a profession in to that.
I think you need to stop with putting problems first and turn it around.
Think of what you can do skill wise that could be applied to making money, what you have learnt and take it forward. Think of the business work out how you could run it or do it and then slot in your other issues instead of putting your other issues first and trying to slot a profession in to that.
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Why do you think you're less worthy than anyone else?
I'm not a fan of this 'I don't accept 'charity' mindset'. You only live once, so use everything available to you so you can support yourself and your family. Grants and help are there for people like you to use, so take them and be thankful for having the option available.
If I had a grant available to me which I could use to start or improve my business, would I use it? Without a doubt. If not, then I'd sit here with my 'morals' doing nothing whilst others took the opportunities and sailed ahead of me.
For the sake of your family, you need to make the harsh but realistic decisions. This website probably won't work without some cash behind it, so you either try to find that cash through a grant, or drop the idea and come back to it when your finances are more stable.
Anything else is probably just wasting valuable hours of time.
Just be yourself. You're selling clothes, you aren't running a consultancy with blue chip clients. To be honest, I prefer buying from small businesses which are ran by ordinary people just like me. That's why I present my business the way I do.
I've been in tough financial situations before with my family when I was younger, where we weren't even talking 'hundreds'. We were literally talking tens of pounds, so I know you can't just muster up a couple of hundred to put into this. If you REALLY don't want a job, then you need to seek help in the form of grants and free professional assistance from government bodies.
Also, don't be afraid of benefits if you need to use them. They're there to help genuine people. In fact, I'm sure the dole has a scheme where you can run a business and earn money whilst still remaining on job seekers allowance. They keep the cash for 6 months so you can use it to re-invest. That means you can spend hours per day building up your online business whilst you know that you will be getting at least some sort of income in the mean time.
Do some research and explore ALL of your options. That would be my main advice.
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what you are wanting to do is to set up a busines organically - i.e. with minimal investment / no credit / no loans / no investment / no borrowings etc.
This is a slow start business, but in many ways is the best if you can do it as it builds a stable and secure business - it is how I started my current business and it makes it much easier to weather recessions etc.
the difficulty with this approach to starting a business for an online store is that it is not that simple - an online store generally needs stock / ability to respond and deliver rapidly. It is also competing nationally, so more difficult to start small...
normally in this situation I would suggest that it is better to start in physical form locally (from home / your car / a shop / etc.) and then consider web once you have the ability to resource it more completely - an eCommerce website is the equivalent of opening a physical store and needs to be resourced in the same way.
I think that perhaps you need to be more creative about what you do - could you for example offer to run a web store for a current physical shop - i.e. approach someone with a brand / reputation / stock etc. who is unsure about the internet - offer to provide the technical know how and run their store for them - get them to resource it and suggest that you get a stake in the eCommerce business (10% / 25% etc.) a minimum salary (£200 a month maybe ) and commission on sales there-after... you could end up doing well - it will allow someone else to fund it, give you the money you need and set you up ready to then do your own venture in 3 - 5 years time... you say that you are young, you probably need to think about the next few years being about learning as much as about making money...
there will be lots of companies who would love to have someone with a bit of 'get up and go' to work for them on flexible terms... the amount of money you need is not huge, so you should be able to find someone - be creative in exploring what possibilities there may be... but without funding you are not in a position to run your own business of this nature - you can start smaller with no funding, but you can not start a full eCommerce store without more resources...
regards
Alasdair
This is a slow start business, but in many ways is the best if you can do it as it builds a stable and secure business - it is how I started my current business and it makes it much easier to weather recessions etc.
the difficulty with this approach to starting a business for an online store is that it is not that simple - an online store generally needs stock / ability to respond and deliver rapidly. It is also competing nationally, so more difficult to start small...
normally in this situation I would suggest that it is better to start in physical form locally (from home / your car / a shop / etc.) and then consider web once you have the ability to resource it more completely - an eCommerce website is the equivalent of opening a physical store and needs to be resourced in the same way.
I think that perhaps you need to be more creative about what you do - could you for example offer to run a web store for a current physical shop - i.e. approach someone with a brand / reputation / stock etc. who is unsure about the internet - offer to provide the technical know how and run their store for them - get them to resource it and suggest that you get a stake in the eCommerce business (10% / 25% etc.) a minimum salary (£200 a month maybe
) and commission on sales there-after... you could end up doing well - it will allow someone else to fund it, give you the money you need and set you up ready to then do your own venture in 3 - 5 years time... you say that you are young, you probably need to think about the next few years being about learning as much as about making money...there will be lots of companies who would love to have someone with a bit of 'get up and go' to work for them on flexible terms... the amount of money you need is not huge, so you should be able to find someone - be creative in exploring what possibilities there may be... but without funding you are not in a position to run your own business of this nature - you can start smaller with no funding, but you can not start a full eCommerce store without more resources...
regards
Alasdair
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J
joiner
- Original Poster
- #120
Gem, long term you could get this business to a level where it's earning you a couple of hundred quid+ a month, but you've got a lot of hurdles before you. Your website and in particular your home page needs alot of work to bring it up to standard. I don't think there is a quick AND cheap way of doing this. The princes trust sounds ideal for you, they offer loans/grants to enterprising young mums etc like yourself to start up business's which in the long run will pay back society many times over when they start employing people and paying tax's etc, this funding could help you move YOUR business forward. As the saying goes this isn't a sprint so if you need to be earning an income quickly the only way you'll achieve it in this business is by putting ALOT of time and/or money in, if this is not an option on the short term then you need to find something else for the minute at least which will pay the bills. Mark.
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