Unemployed and Starting a Gift Basket Business
Penny asks:
“I’ve just lost my job and want to start a gift basket business. I have a mortgage to pay and children to feed. Tell me how to get up and running quickly.”
No matter how much a business wants to push their fee-based books and materials on you, it would be cruel of that business owner, including me, to encourage you to start a business in your present circumstances.
The decision to make and sell gift baskets is best done when you have access to monies not set aside for food, clothing, and shelter, especially where the well being of families is concerned.
This business requires products, equipment, and training to ensure that your gift baskets sell steadily and at the highest possible profit.
Starting your business now will be frustrating and unwise. Investment money, concentration, and persistence are required to succeed. You’ll find more information about the traits of highly-successful gift basket designers in the frequently-asked questions section of GiftBasketBusiness.com.
When you’re truly ready, financially and otherwise, the gift basket industry will be here for you.
Selling Gift Baskets with No Foods
Anna asks:
“I want to make baskets with gifts rather than with just food. Can I make money with that?”
Absolutely. When I began my business in 1990, I started by including all gift items. The only edible product in my baskets was a handful of lollipops with my business name pre-printed on the candy.
I launched with all gifts because I wasn’t sure, at the time, if my city’s laws allowed me to store and sell pre-packaged foods from my home base.
Some of my most-popular items included:
As with food baskets, the marketing you choose to promote your all-gift baskets must be positioned to help you reach the intended audience.
That’s what I did, and my baskets sold quickly.
I constantly reminded customers that the gifts would last a lifetime. That’s what worked for me. Perhaps that same type of message will also work for you.
Are the Holidays a Good Time to Open for Business?
Ruby asks:
“I’m thinking of starting a gift basket business next year, but I want to make money now so that I have some extra cash to officially start making baskets. So are the holidays a good time to jump into this business?”
Wally Amos, the man who put Famous Amos Cookies on the map, once said something similar to, “If you don’t start your business now, when will you?”
The way your question is posed makes me think that there is some underlying reason why you’re hesitant, but if you have enough capital (cash) to buy inventory and enough contacts who will buy, why not start business by selling holiday gift baskets?
You wouldn’t be the first. In 2002, I worked with a designer who started business on November 12. She was confident that her business would make $5,000 gross (income before expenses are deducted) because of her business connections.
We crunched numbers, determined the inventory, and she started marketing a few days before Thanksgiving. On December 31, we checked her financials. Her gross sales were $4,893.78, and she continues to thrive today.
Some of the marketing tactics in her plan are documented in 101 Ways to Market Gift Baskets.
If your research convinces you to start now, do it without hesitation. Or wait. The choice is up to you.
