I have 5 children and am looking for extra pocket money for them, Im good at making silk flower arrangements, but tried that and the cost was more to make than the time, effort, postage etc, and market already covered, any ideas that are simple but nice, no sewing, just not me. I was thinking of making up baby baskets but again that probably would cost in postage packaging etc, Your ideas would be appreciated, Thanks
1. Target your market. Who will you ask to buy your product? What is that market willing to pay for your product?
2. What skills will you have to learn that you don’t currently have? How costly will it be in time and money to master those skills?
With the silk flowers, for which you already have the requisite skills, ask yourself, "what market for silk flower arrangements would pay me what it’s worth to make the arrangements?" One answer might be, "brides will pay for silk bridal bouquets." One advantage is that you would be making the bridal bouquets to order rather than on speculation. Another is that you can ask for at least enough to cover your materials up front as a "deposit." (I had to deposit $1200 for the *photographer* for my daughter’s last wedding plan or he wouldn’t even talk to us.) Next, you’d wonder how to make contact with brides-to-be and how you would build a portfolio to show them. You can leave your business card at photographers’ shops, bridal shops, bakeries, and other places that brides will be doing business anyway. You can make up sample bouquets and photograph them (with a model, preferably) to build your portfolio. You can offer the samples to photographers at a reduced rate to be used in wedding portraits and ask the photographers to mention your name as the creator of the bouquet.
The other place that silk flowers might be a seller is in hospital gift shops. Lots of people are allergic to live flowers–the last thing I want when I’m sick enough to be in the hospital is a bouquet that will close up my nasal passages and swell my eyes shut. So put a card on that says "Allergy Free" and advertise them as the appropriate hospital gift that will last even after the patient goes home.
The baby basket idea is a good one if you can make it profitable. Who is your target market? The new parents? Friends and relatives sending a gift? You’d need to work out an array of baskets from the smallest you’d make to the largest and calculate all of the costs and the price you’d have to ask, then find out what people would be willing to pay. OR you could get sponsors to provide the materials which you’d put into FREE baskets that would advertise the sponsors. For example, a small, infant-appropriate toy from a toy shop; sample sizes of baby wash and diaper-rash ointment from a drug store, and so on with a brochure listing discount coupons from all the sponsors. Then you would charge the sponsors a commission for creating the baskets and deliver them for free to newborns’ families. Sort of a Welcome Wagon for newborns.
