Mommy E-tailers?

[Melaine]

I am looking for advice. I have been a SAHM since my girls were born (they are 21 months now). I have pondered and imagined a work from home job the entire time, and recently have started to feel like I actually have the time/energy to devote to such an endeavour. Mid-May, I began e-mailing Stokke with interest in becoming a retailer for them, but have had HUGE difficulty receiving any responses, so I am ready to move on to a different idea.

I am looking for any kind of contributions from you experienced ladies about setting up a web store. My thoughts are just to find products that I personally love for my kiddos and try to becoming a retailer. I have the time to do it, and reasonable computer skills. My dad is great with web design and computer work, so I know he could advise me when needed on the technical aspects.

Do you guys have advice for me and tips? How much time do you devote to your businesses? Should I start with just a product or two….or more? To those of you who have online stores, do you also sell locally? I ask because where I live there aren’t many options for local shopping beyond mainstream (walmart, target, BRU, etc.) Some of the fun and unique products that I’ve come to love are unheard of around here. I would like to introduce them locally, maybe just through word of mouth and showcases at my home? Where do I start? Thanks SO much for your help!!! I really admire those of you who do this every day and want to join the WAHM club!!!

Thanks for any help!

[Melaine]

No one? Does any one have any resources online about building a business plan?

[kokonutmama]

There's tons of stuff up in WAHM resources and FAQ (I think is what the subforum is called) for this kind of thing. Start with your SBA and inside your own self. You're pretty vague right now, which is why I think you didn't get any replies first time around. As a specific question or pose a specific problem and the ladies on here will be all over it helping.

[Night Owl]

I think the least expensive way to start out and especially to test the waters of your target market, is to start a blog on your topic. So, if you're wanting to recommend organic products to moms, you'd start a blog centered around that theme. And then you'd blog about various products that you use, and make money by being an affiliate for that product and possibly through adwords.

You'll need to write often, and you'll need to figure out a way to offer something different. So I'd start by looking at your target market to see what they would need, and looking at other blogs of this nature to see what they already offer.

One blog you might take a look at is Nature Moms.

[nursingmom]

I spent over 40 hours/week while baby was taking frequent/long naps. Now I can't devote that much time becuase my baby only takes 2 naps/day.

If you plan to be a retailer, more products you represent, better your store appeal.

I did a craft show in my neighborhood with not much success. I do better with online sales.

Night Owl's advice is great if you want to start with limited budget and start earning money right away. It'll also give you time to do some research on your target market. You will need a blog site anyways once you have your online store. I spent A LOT for my inventory and it'll be a while before I start earning money.

Welcome to WAHM board!

[inchwormz]

Ours is and always was a full-time endeavour. In order to make money doing online retail you have to expect to work many hours and put in some $$ at the start.

When I started out DD wasn't even born yet, so I was able to devote 70+ hours a week to getting the business going. This lasted about 2 years, but I also HAD to have things at a certain point within the 2 years or I'd have to go back to work due to us needing 2 salaries. My DH's job doesn't quite pay the bills on it's own, and living paycheck to paycheck isn't much fun. Now I work 40+ hours a week, but I've been very lucky that my sister is also working with me now so she puts in another 40 hours a week so we can keep things where they're at.

A clear business plan is definitely needed to start-up. I LOVE the blog idea. We've been at this for almost 4 years now but if I was to start over, I'd go the blog route. Retail is hard, competitive, takes LOADS of time and more money than you likely realize. We re-invested every penny for 2 years without a paycheck to be able to START paying ourselves at the end of this time. But we both also have 15+ years experience in retail combined, so we had a very clear vision of what we wanted and what need to be done to get there.

Good luck!

[kokonutmama]

Originally Posted by inchwormz

We re-invested every penny for 2 years without a paycheck to be able to START paying ourselves at the end of this time.

This is so true! I was telling someone how much I make (a very close friend) and he was like, "so if you make that much, and you live with your parents... Why don't you have more money?" and the answer is that it all goes into inventory. 2 years worth of profit and about 85% of it exists as stuff in storage that I hope to sell someday.

That said, I think it is possible to be smaller and slower, but it's not easy.

I'm going to start a thread about blogs.

[janasmama]

nightowls recommendation is a good one even if you still want to stock merchandise eventually.

You can start the blog now, start getting placed in the engines, get traffic and then add your products when you have the money to invest in a larger inventory b/c having lots of products will increase the purchase rate.

some affiliate programs are www.shareasale.com and www.cj.com

You can also go to the websites of the stores you like and scroll down to the bottom nav to see if there is a link for an affiliate program.

[Night Owl]

Originally Posted by janasmama

You can also go to the websites of the stores you like and scroll down to the bottom nav to see if there is a link for an affiliate program.

This is what I like to recommend doing.

And if you're not sure what stores you like in a particular industry, like babywearing, you can find a large community centered around that product or concept (like attachment parenting) and do a search on the site for affiliate programs. This especially works if there is a forum like this one. You can often get good recommendations.

Or, you can do a google serach for your product, followed by affiliate or affiliates.

For example:

baby sling affiliate or baby sling affiliates

Just make sure you do some background investigation on forums and other community or review websites to make sure the company is a good reputation overall.