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Archive for the ‘Startup Investment’ Category
How to Open a Cupcake Bakery
Business Overview:
With the recent rise in popularity of all things cupcake, if you find out how to open a cupcake bakery, you can take advantage of this old treat’s new trend. All you need to do is turn on the television to see cupcake competitions and cupcake commercials. Cupcakes are replacing standard cakes at birthday parties and weddings. If you already own a bakery, adding cupcakes to your repertoire would be an easy way to take your business to the next level. You will need to decide what types of cupcakes you will offer. The standards will always sell well but also consider catering to special diets by offering organic, sugar-free, gluten-free or vegan cupcakes. If baking is just a hobby but you do see the potential with this business idea and you’re interested in learning how to start a bakery, you can find lots of information online as well as by visiting local bake shops and talking with the owners. There are also franchises available to help you get your business started. A franchise will come with branding, marketing assistance, ingredients and supplies as well as recipes. You will not have as much freedom with a franchise but you will have all the pieces you need to get up and running. If you would rather learn how to open a bakery from the ground up, you’ll need to find a good location with plenty of foot traffic. Your customers will not only be individuals ordering for events but you’ll also get passers-by looking for a sweet treat on their way home or on the way back to the office. If you can’t invest in a full bakery shop, another option is to supply an established bakery or coffee shop with your delicious cupcakes. You would need to negotiate where you’d make the cupcakes (whether you’d make them at home and deliver them or use their kitchen) and when and how often you’d stock the cases. In this case some of your profits would be shared with the shop owner but your overhead would be minimal, as would be your start-up investment. As you can see, there are many ways to take advantage of the cupcake trend that’s taking place. All you really need are fantastic recipes and a place to sell your goodies and word will spread. Soon you may need to upgrade your business to add staff and space to accommodate your hungry customers.
A Day in the Life of a Cupcake Bakery Owner:
If you operate your own bakery business, your day will begin bright and early in your kitchen as you prepare cupcakes for the day. You will spend your day overseeing your staff as they help your customers. If you sell your goods at an established shop, you will need to get their cases filled with cupcakes before they open. At the end of the day you will go back to the shop to check sales and find out if there are any special requests. You may also want to spend some time each day thinking about and experimenting with new recipes.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be individuals who are looking for a sweet treat or multiple cupcakes for an event such as a birthday party or wedding.
What You Need to Start:
- Cupcake bakery business plan
- Baking skills or a professional baker
- Cupcake recipes
- Ingredients and baking supplies (mixers, pans, etc.)
- Storefront
- Display cases, tables and chairs
- Other items like coffee, sodas, etc.
- Computer with finance software
The Good:
- Cupcakes are very popular.
- If you own a bakery, cupcakes are an easy addition.
- Franchises are available to help you get started.
- If you’re not a baker, you can hire professionals and concentrate on the business.
- You can experiment with unique recipes to set yourself apart from your competition.
The Bad:
- With the popularity of this business, competition is high.
- The start-up investment for opening a store of your own can be high.
Resources:
Thrilling the Tourists: Starting a Tour Guide Business
Business Overview:
If you’d like to build a profitable business where you meet new people every day, learn how to become a tour guide and consider starting a tour guide business. The chances are good that you’re already highly familiar with major landmarks and attractions around the city or area in which you live. With this business idea you put that knowledge of local hot spots to use by taking visitors on guided tours. In exchange for a fee, you conduct guided tours to major landmarks while enhancing your clients’ experience by providing historical facts and other interesting information about the sites on your tour. For example, if you lived in New York City you might conduct a guided tour to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Central Park—while at the same time entertaining your clients, educating them on the history behind your landmarks, and giving other interesting facts along the way. Of course, with a tour guide business you’re certainly not restricted to conducting tours in urban areas alone. If you live in the country or if you’re more passionate about nature and the outdoors you could choose a “green” niche and provide guided eco-tours of major natural landmarks—while again providing interesting information, such as geological facts about the natural sites on your tour. One thing that makes setting up a tour guide business an attractive proposition is that it’s possible to do so relatively easily and inexpensively. Yet at the same time, depending on your start-up funds, the potential is there to make this business as big and as profitable as you want to make it. For example, if the tourist spots in your area are within walking distance of each other and most major hotels, you could get this business started really cheaply by giving walking tours. If you have more funds available you can purchase a bus and conduct larger, more extensive tours. Going even further than that you could hire staff to conduct tours for you, and potentially offer a variety of tours in multiple areas and cities across your country—or even globally. Consider partnering with travel agents who can refer business to you when their clients will be traveling to your city/cities. There’s a lot of potential for growth, expansion and great profitability with this business. Moreover, it’s easy and fun to learn how to become a tour guide, and it’s a business that will always contain surprises and excitement. There are no special qualifications required to start this business, and you can easily attain the historical and factual knowledge of your major local landmarks by conducting simple research either online or at a local library. Once you’re up and running, you’ll get to meet a great variety of interesting people from all over the world each and every day. For lovers of sightseeing, therefore, starting a tour guide business truly could be your ticket to an enjoyable and profitable businesses doing what you love.
A Day in the Life of a Tour Guide Business Owner:
You will start your day by reviewing your tour bookings. Depending on the size of tours your business offers, you may have several groups of people booked for smaller tours at various times throughout the day, or you may have one group of people booked for a bigger daylong tour. Having reviewed your bookings, you will then set out on your guided tours. You’ll either meet your clients at a specific location, or you’ll pick them up from their hotels and then take them on to the major landmarks and hot spots of your tour’s itinerary. As you do, you’ll entertain your clients and by providing them with interesting historical and factual information about each of the landmarks on your tour. You will then end your tour either by dropping your clients back at their hotels or by taking them back to the location where you initially met them. If you have hired people to conduct your tours for you, then a typical day will be different. In this case, the majority of your day would be spent focusing on growing your business by marketing it to attract more clients for your tours.
About Your Customers:
The majority of your clients will be tourists from abroad, or visitors from other parts of your country. You may also attract local customers who are interested in learning more about the major landmarks around them by coming on your tours.
What You Need to Start:
- A tour bus for conducting your tours (or you could provide tours on foot)
- Good knowledge of hot spots and landmarks for your tours, including historical facts and other interesting information (alternatively, you can hire tour guides to conduct your tours for you)
- Insurance
- Business license
- Marketing
- Financial tracking software
The Good:
- No special qualifications are required to start this business.
- It’s possible to start this business at a fairly low cost.
- You’ll get to meet interesting people from all over the world.
- The potential is there for you to increase your profits and expand this business nationally or even globally.
- If you love sightseeing, either in cities or in natural environments, you’ll be doing what you love every day.
The Bad:
- You’ll have to work hard to get your tour guide business established as tourism can be competitive.
- The majority of your profits will be made seasonally (usually in the summer), so you’ll have to account for periods of low profits during tourist off-seasons (usually in the winter).
Resources:
Up the Flue: Starting a Chimney Sweep Business
Business Overview:
Once you’ve learned how to become a chimney sweep, starting a chimney sweep business is a great way to help your community by offering a valuable service. Even if a fireplace isn’t used very much, the National Fire Protection Association recommends an inspection about once a year to ensure it is free from debris and is structurally sound. The same is true for woodstoves. The Chimney Safety Institute of America recommends that standard masonry chimneys be cleaned at 1/8 inch of soot buildup. It’s hard to tell how much soot has built up in a chimney just by looking which is why a chimney sweep business is one of the most important business ideas you can consider. Although not mandatory, chimney sweep certification is available and would put you head and shoulders above the competition. If you are not able to become certified yourself but you do see the value in having these credentials, you can hire certified chimney sweepers to work for you. Once you are certified—or you have your staff in place—you’ll need to purchase tools to get the job done. Some basics you’ll need include brushes, rods, a vacuum and tarps to cover clients’ furniture and carpet. You’ll also need a truck or van to transport your equipment and protective clothing for you and/or your staff. You don’t need to have a storefront for your business, but you do need to have a nice website that explains your services and lists your prices. Be sure to include safety recommendations and outline why it’s so important to have a clean chimney. The more aware potential customers are of how essential these services are, the more likely they are to use your services. Another important piece of your marketing is to create business cards and fliers to leave around town. Home improvement stores and fireplace stores are excellent places to advertise your business. Chimneys can be swept any time of year but you’re likely to be busier in the fall and winter when people start using their fireplaces and woodstoves. Since you won’t be as busy at certain times of the year, it’s a good opportunity to market your business. Offer “early bird” specials to get customers before the busy season kicks off. To fill in the gaps in your schedule and to attract more clients, you can offer additional home services like carpet or roof cleaning. You can also offer related items such as chimney pots, chimney caps and chimney guards. As word spreads about your business, you are likely get a lot of referral and repeat business. You will likely need to add to your fleet of trucks and hire more staff to handle the demand.
A Day in the Life of a Chimney Sweep Business Owner:
Your day will start with a check of any appointments you may have. You or your staff will travel to the client’s home or business and clean the chimney(s) (or other services offered such as cleaning the roof). You will give the client some business cards so he can spread the word about the excellent service you provided. If you don’t have any appointments, you will concentrate on marketing your business. You will need to employ several types of marketing including making your vehicle a moving billboard (with magnetic signage), advertising in the phone book and newspapers and leaving marketing materials in various places around town.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be homeowners, property managers or business owners needing high quality chimney sweep services.
What You Need to Start:
- Chimney sweep business plan
- Marketing plan and materials
- Website
- Certification or certified staff (optional)
- Tools and equipment
- Van or truck
- License and insurance
- Computer with finance software
The Good:
- Chimney sweep services are needed by everyone with a chimney and the demand will never decrease.
- The start-up costs are relatively low.
- Once you have the equipment, there is very little overhead.
- You can easily operate this business part-time.
- Franchises are available to help you get started.
The Bad:
- This is a seasonal business so you will need to plan for the slow months.
- It can take time to obtain certification or to find qualified certified chimney sweeps.
Resources:
Starting a Garden Furniture Business
Business Overview:
Starting a garden furniture business is a wonderful way to help people enjoy the great outdoors while you enjoy the freedom of owning your own business. When the weather is nice, everyone wants to be outside and what better way to enjoy comfortable temperatures than to relax in high quality outdoor furniture. As a garden furniture business owner, you are able to choose the items you want to sell, perhaps the items you enjoy yourself. However, if you are not interested in making a lot of choices about what items to carry, you can purchase a franchise business. This option may be a little more costly but it comes with a stock of items as well as name recognition. Some franchises have licensing agreements with colleges so you can sell furniture with your local colleges’ logos on them. If you live in a college town, those could be big sellers. You could also offer special orders to those fans who live far away from their favorite school. Research buying habits of those in your area to help you decide what type of furniture to carry. If you live in a city where everyone has large back yards, you should carry larger, multiple piece sets. However, if back yard space is limited or if most people in your area live in apartment buildings with only a patio, you might want to carry smaller sets. Focusing on a niche is the best way to be successful with this type of business idea. If opening an entire store of your own sounds like more than you want to invest in, you could choose to place your items in a larger store. Similar to placing items in a larger traditional furniture store or lighting store, you would pay a portion of your profits to the store owner but you would not be responsible for operating the store. Another option is operating your garden furniture business online. Although you would not need a storefront for your business, you would need a large storage facility for your furniture. With a robust website, you could run your business both online and from a store. As you can see, there are many options available for opening a garden furniture store that could translate into a very lucrative business.
A Day in the Life of a Garden Furniture Business Owner:
If you operate a storefront, you will arrive early and ensure your displays are set up correctly. You will likely have a small staff to help you assemble new displays and accept shipments. If you have an arrangement with a larger furniture shop, you will need to check in on your display area and ensure everything is set up correctly and assist any customers. If your business is online, you will be able to make your own hours but it’s important to check new orders a few times a day and arrange shipments in a timely manner. You will need to maintain your website, adding new items as needed.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be individuals looking for high quality outdoor furniture for their homes and apartments.
What You Need to Start:
- Storefront, arrangement with furniture store and/or website
- Franchise agreement (optional)
- Relationship with furniture manufacturers and distributors
- Computer with finance software
The Good:
- Garden furniture will always be in demand.
- You can select a niche that best fits your area.
- Franchises are available to help you get started.
- You can operate this business in a storefront and/or online.
- As an industry insider, you have access to the newest trends and designs.
The Bad:
- The start-up investment can be quite high.
- It can take some time to make your first few sales and turn a profit.
Resources:
Look to the Stars: Start an Astrological Charts Business
Business Overview:
If you’re looking for a way to turn your horoscope hobby into a lucrative business, success could be in your future if you start an astrological charts business. Astrological charts, also known as horoscopes, are interpretations made by astrologers based on the positions of various cosmic bodies at the time of someone’s birth. Although there is no scientific evidence supporting the validity of these charts and their predictions, many people cannot leave the house without a quick peek at their horoscope for that day. If you are an astrology buff, this could be the perfect business idea for you especially since you can operate it part-time and from your own home. All you need is a website advertising your services, pricing and contact information. You can then arrange to take phone appointments or even offer emailed astrological charts. Pricing would vary depending on the level of service the customer wants and how personalized they want their chart to be. It would be great to offer your services in any nearby new age stores, and building a relationship with the owners of such shops will increase your business. Whether you decide to offer your services located or operate your business online (or both), you must be skilled at reading charts and interpreting the position of the sun, moon and planets. Customers will take your advice very seriously so if you’re not qualified to offer “expert” interpretations, you should hire experienced astrologists to work for you. If your business is online, your staff can work and take calls from their homes. This option requires very little start-up capital which makes it one of the smartest online business ideas out there if you’re looking to get into the world of astrology.
A Day in the Life of an Astrological Charts Business Owner:
If you operate your business from a storefront and you are doing the readings, you will need to check your calendar to be sure you’re at the right store at the right time. You may also offer set walk-in hours at local shops. You will gather the customer’s information and interpret their astrological chart. If you operate your business online, your schedule will be much more flexible. You can set your appointments at any time of day (or night) and work as much or as little as you like. When not advising clients over the phone (or email), you will spend time marketing your business online.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be individuals interested in skilled interpretation of their astrological charts.
What You Need to Start:
- Astrology experience or a staff of skilled astrologers
- A website
- Relationships with local new age store owners (optional)
- Astrology themed merchandise (optional)
- Computer with finance software
The Good:
- You don’t have to have any official training to become an astrologer but you do need to know what you’re talking about to be taken seriously by your clients.
- You can operate this business either from a storefront or from home.
- The start-up investment required for an online business is minimal.
- You can hire skilled astrologers to work for you leaving you free to market your business.
The Bad:
- It will take dedication and perseverance to build relationships with local new age storeowners for them to welcome your services into their stores.
- It can take some time to build up your client base.
Resources:
Start a Credit Counseling Business
Business Overview:
If you’re good with budgets and enjoy helping people solve problems, you should learn how to become a debt counselor and start a credit counseling business. Regardless of the state of the economy, people will always overextend themselves financially and need professionals to help them figure out what their options are. If you don’t already work at a debt counseling firm, you will need to learn how to become a credit counselor. Since you will be working with customers on a plan for how to pay off their debt, it’s helpful if you have some counseling experience. You’ll also need to be familiar with debt consolidation loans, how to lower monthly interest rates and how to steer clear of bankruptcy (which means being well versed in bankruptcy law). If you don’t have these types of skills but see the value in this type of business idea, you can hire experienced credit counselors to work for you. When you research how to start a credit counseling business, you’ll see that you have the option of seeing clients locally and in person or making your counseling services available via email and phone. In either case, you should have a website populated with as much information as possible about options for getting out of debt, budget worksheets, tips on dealing with the IRS, etc. Outline your rate chart and meet with clients in your office or over the phone. It is likely that you will need to meet with a single client several times (once a month for six months, for example) to monitor their spending and debt reduction. You can charge by the meeting or offer package deals that include a certain number of meetings over a certain period of time. Some clients will need more help than others so it’s important that you are flexible with your schedule and your rates. If you have counselors working for you, they can work in your office or if your business is online only, they can work from their homes as well. As you are able, branch out to include services that help people modify their spending habits so as to avoid having debt problems. With excellent advice and continued encouragement to your customers, credit counseling can be one of the most rewarding online business ideas you can start.
A Day in the Life of a Credit Counseling Business Owner:
If you operate your business in an office, you will arrive before it’s time to open for the day and check your schedule for any appointments. If you operate online only, you will also have appointments throughout the day, but they’ll be strictly on the phone. In either case, if you’re meeting with a new customer, you will arrange for them to receive basic how-to instruction regarding lowering their spending. You will collect spending information from them and discuss ways to cut out some of their “wants” while leaving enough funds to take care of their “needs.” You will give them some “homework” and schedule their next meeting. If you’re meeting with a returning customer, you will review their spending and budgeting charts and discuss how their spending habits have changed since your last meeting. You will help them lower interest rates by either contacting creditors directly or advising them on how to make that contact.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be individuals who either have major debt issues or are worried about going too far into debt. They are in need of professional help to get them out of debt or keep them from getting into debt.
What You Need to Start:
- Experience in debt counseling or a staff of counselors
- Membership in credit counseling association (optional)
- Storefront and/or website
- Marketing materials
- Worksheets, pamphlets, etc. for customers to take home and review
- Computer with spreadsheet and finance software
The Good:
- Credit counseling services will always be in demand.
- If starting this business online, start-up costs are minimal.
- You can hire skilled credit counselors if you are not qualified to offer counseling.
- It is highly rewarding to help people get out of debt.
The Bad:
- There can be ebbs and flows in this business depending upon the economy.
- It can be emotionally challenging working with people and their debt.
Resources:
A Unique Opportunity: An Abstracting Service Business
Business Overview:
If you have superb writing and comprehension skills and are looking for a unique way to help other businesses, you should start an abstracting service business. An abstracter gathers information and reads various publications on a particular subject and creates a document of no more than 10-15 sentences that summarizes the key points of the original. Many industries employ abstracting service companies to go though the enormous amount of information available on the internet and in numerous industry publications. The most common professional fields that use abstracters are the medical, legal, technical, real estate and scientific industries. It’s important that before you get started in this business you decide what your area of expertise will be. You need to be able to understand and communicate effectively in your particular field. If you don’t have any experience in the medical field, you’d have a hard time understanding medical terms and wouldn’t be able to filter out which information was most important. Once you determine your niche, you need to set up a website that explains your business and gives your pricing structure. You will reach out to businesses in your field letting them know you are available and direct them to your website to see some samples of your work. Your clients will contact you when they need your services or you may work on a contract basis and be a company’s go-to abstract service whenever they need information. If your client is a law office, they may ask you to research cases that are similar to one they are currently working on. Once your abstract is completed, you will add it to a database and apply keyword techniques so your clients can easily find particular topics at a later time. Although the start-up investment for this business is negligible, it does require a lot of work. You can run an abstracting service from home and can work as much or as little as you like but keep in mind that the faster you complete work, the more work you will get so be sure to dedicate a few hours a day to your reading and writing. If you are not confident in your internet research skills but see the value and potential in this business, you can always hire a staff of abstracters to work for you. This would give you the flexibility to offer abstract services in a variety of fields. Your staff can also work from their homes anywhere in the world which is why this is such a great online business idea. As long as their work is of high quality and they produce on deadline, you can concentrate on marketing your business and maintaining your database. As information continues to flow on the internet, an abstracting service will continue to be one of the most popular business ideas that you can start from home.
A Day in the Life of an Abstracting Service Business Owner:
As the owner of an abstracting service, you can work any hours you like. If you are writing abstracts, you will need to dedicate a few hours a day to make sure you turn in your work on deadline but you don’t need to work any specific hours each day. If you have a staff of abstracters working for you, you will check in with them daily to monitor their progress. You will spend some time updating your website and marketing your business to other businesses in your area of expertise.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be businesses in a variety of fields looking for someone to distill large amounts of information into manageable synopses.
What You Need to Start:
- Expertise in a particular field or a staff with expertise in a variety of fields
- Database management experience
- Marketing plan
- Computer with finance software
The Good:
- This type of business will continue to grow in popularity as information continues to be added to the internet each day.
- Companies can save money by outsourcing this type of service.
- The start-up investment is negligible.
- You can charge top dollar for excellent and timely abstract services.
- You can easily run this business part-time and from home.
- You can hire abstracters in a variety of fields of expertise to widen your client base.
The Bad:
- This work is mentally challenging since you will be reading and writing a lot.
- Some deadlines and clients may be difficult to work with.
Resources:
Keys to the Past: Starting a Genealogy Business
Business Overview:
Starting a genealogy business is a wonderful way to help generations of history buffs find the answers they’ve been searching for. Genealogy is the practice of researching families and lineage. This type of research is especially popular in the United States because many families are from other countries and immigrated to the US several generations ago. If you’re not familiar with internet research and don’t know how to start a genealogy business, there are plenty of resources online. First you’ll need to decide what types of services your business will offer. People will pay your business to help them track down their ancestry. A business plan will help you sort out what services you will offer and what you will charge for these services. You can offer customers limited assistance by connecting the dots, so to speak, when they have run into a roadblock. For a higher fee, you can do the entire family genealogy for your customers. Once your services and fees have been decided, you’ll need to create a website for your business. With today’s technology, all the family history you’ll need is available on the internet which makes this one of the most popular online business ideas to get into today. Consider internet marketing and search engine optimization strategies to get the word out about your new business. You should also visit genealogy websites and blogs. Offer little bits of advice to genealogy hobbyists and advertise your site at the same time. Since this type of business idea can be run from home, you can choose to work as much or as little as you like. However, in order to make a good profit, you need to dedicate a few hours each day to the research and marketing of your business. You may find that with excellent research skills and customer service, you can turn this part-time business into a full-time business and you may even need to hire research assistants to keep up with the demand.
A Day in the Life of a Genealogy Business Owner:
As the owner of this home-based business, you can set your own hours but you will need to spend a few hours each day working on your research. You will also check your email for requests from new customers. You will likely need to contact your clients as you proceed through your research to make sure you’re still on the right path. You’ll need to spend some time marketing your business by searching through genealogy websites and blogs for opportunities to give bits of advice and advertise your business. You will also look into placing ads on various websites.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be individuals and families looking for details on their ancestry and wanting to fill in the blanks in their family lineage.
What You Need to Start:
- Internet research skills (or a staff of researchers)
- Website
- List of services and prices
- Finance software
The Good:
- Genealogy is very popular.
- Start-up investment is minimal.
- You can charge top dollar for excellent research.
- You can easily run this business in your spare time and from home.
- This business is scalable; you can hire more researchers as you need to.
The Bad:
- It takes great perseverance to track down every lead when doing genealogical research.
- You will need to be patient while you build up your client base.
Resources:
How to Open a Cigar Shop – Online or Off
Business Overview:
If you’re looking for a unique business that can operate in a physical store or exclusively online, you should learn how to open a cigar shop. Cigars are increasing in popularity with both men and women in all age groups and are more widely accepted among the non-smoking population. Cigars are rolled fermented tobacco leaves that you light like a cigarette but there are no harmful additives. Opening a cigar shop in a storefront can be quite lucrative if your location is a good one. Looking for a location far away from any other cigar and tobacco shops may not be the best idea. If there is not a cigar store in a 25 mile radius of a particular area, there’s probably a reason. Instead, consider opening your shop in the same general area of a competitor. That way, you may be able to attract some of the traffic away from other stores. Find out what types of cigars other stores in your area offer and go a different direction. Select a niche like cigars from Central America and offer a greater variety of those items. Consider dedicating an area of your shop as a lounge for customers to smoke the cigars they’ve just purchased. Install TVs and make video games and magazines available to your customers. The more relaxed your customers are, the more likely they are to purchase more cigars and to come back for the experience. You may decide, however, when looking into how to open a cigar store, that opening a virtual store online may be a better option. Other than proper storage for your stock of cigars (a large humidor or a temperature and humidity controlled room), you will just need a slick website and knowledge of cigar laws and taxes. Your state’s department of revenue will have the latest taxation schedule that will include information about how cigars are taxed. You will also need to have a way to verify each customer’s age on your website since it is illegal (in some countries) to sell cigars to persons under 18. You should include in each shipment instructions for proper care of cigars to ensure they stay fresh and don’t dry out. Other options for opening a cigar shop are to operate a kiosk on the street or in a mall or you could have numerous cigar vending machines. Regardless of whether you choose to operate your cigar shop in a storefront, online or with a kiosk, it’s important to also offer cigar accessories like cigar cutters, humidors, lighters, cases, etc. Selling cigars can be one of the most profitable business ideas out there if you choose your location carefully, advertise your website correctly and offer the best cigars and customer service.
A Day in the Life of a Cigar Shop Owner:
If you run your business in a storefront, you will start your day by making sure your inventory is properly displayed before the shop. Throughout the day you will assist customers in finding just the right cigars for their needs. If you operate online only, your hours are more flexible but you will need to check orders often and ship out cigars in a timely manner. It’s important that you continuously update your website with new items and keep in constant contact with your suppliers to ensure you have the right amount of stock and your customers won’t have to wait for their shipments to arrive.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be individuals looking for high quality cigars that come with excellent customer service.
What You Need to Start:
- Business plan
- Stock of cigars
- Storefront or website (or kiosk or vending machine)
- Humidor(s) or temperature/humidity controlled storage facility
- Knowledge of cigars
- Computer with finance software
The Good:
- Cigars are increasing in popularity among a wider age, gender and socioeconomic population.
- You can mark up the prices of your cigars and make a good profit while keeping prices competitive.
- If you operate this business online, you can make your own hours and work from home.
- If you operate this business in a storefront, you get to spend your days with fellow cigar aficionados in a fun environment.
- Your customers will come back again and again for more high quality cigars.
- As an industry insider, you have access to the best and newest items on the market.
The Bad:
- If you open a physical store, start-up costs can be steep.
- It can take some time to build up your customer base.
Resources:
Starting an Art Restoration Business
By starting an art restoration business, you can help art lovers preserve their valuable paintings so they may pass them down to future generations. Art restoration is the practice of cleaning, repairing or retouching artwork in an attempt to return it to its original look. Every effort is made to make art look new without permanently changing it. With this in mind, most art restoration techniques are fully reversible. A famous example is Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” fresco which was restored using watercolors. Before you dive into this business, however, it’s very important you are well trained in art restoration. If you don’t have experience working in a restoration shop, you can take classes to get practice with various techniques and materials. You could also hire skilled art restorers to work for you. You may run your art restoration business from home in which case you would need a storage room and studio space in which to perform your work. Or you can open a storefront and do all the work there. In either case, talk to area art dealers and galleries and give them business cards to hand out when people come to them looking for art restoration services. If you live in a larger city that is home to one or more museums, talk to the curators, show them your work and let them know you are available for any restoration projects they may need. You’ll find it’s helpful to have a website that explains what techniques you specialize in as well as some before and after photos so clients can see exactly what you do. To increase the value of your service, in addition to restoring art, you could also offer to pick up clients’ art at their homes or offices and deliver it when the job is done. You could also contract with a courier service to handle this service. You’ll learn when researching this business that acquiring all the supplies and materials you’ll need is going to be a sizeable investment. However, art owners will pay hefty sums to have their prized possessions handled with care and restored to their original appearance. You should be able to make back your investment relatively quickly with just a few larger projects. As you can see, this is one of the more specialized business ideas out there but with excellent skills and marketing, you’ll find it’s a business that’s in very high demand among the art community.
A Day in the Life of an Art Restoration Business Owner:
If you operate your business from a storefront, you’ll arrive before opening time to get some work done before customers start coming in. If you offer consulting services, you will travel to potential customers’ homes or offices to discuss how your business can help them and their art. You will spend the majority of your day working on current projects (consider having a bell on the door so you can work in the back of the store but be alerted when a customer comes in). If you have a restorer working for you, you can manage the front of the store while your staff works in the back. If you run your business from home, you can make your own hours but it’s important that you dedicate a few hours each day to working on current projects in order to stick to promised deadlines. You will spend some time marketing your business around town and by placing ads in area magazines and online.
About Your Customers:
Your customers will be art owners and art dealers who need high quality restoration services.
What You Need to Start:
The Good:
The Bad:
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