Keeping my Fingers Crossed....

[KKoher]

So, most of might know this already...but I own a clothing & accessory store...which is doing so-so...the economy pretty much sucks right now, and most people are not spending too much on tee's and hats or whatever. Our sales are 50% better than they were 6 mos. ago when we opened, so that's good....and we are pretty much "floating" right now. We make enough every month to pay our overhead and replace what we sold, But I am still not taking home a check on a weekly basis (thank god my husband has a 9-5). So anyway...I started to think about what we make our most profit on, which is our gauges (earrings, for people who stretch their ears). And that we sell them for really low prices compared to the tattoo shops in the area b/c we buy them in bulk (like 100's of the same style at a time) and most tattoo place don't..they only buy a few of each style at a time and they pay a lot more than we do for them, so their prices are higher...(Make any sense?)
Cut to the chase...I decided we should sell wholesale gauges and body jewelry to tattoo shops (not the local ones, b/c I don't want them selling the same stuff that we do). So I went on myspace and just started sending messages to Tattoo shop in FL, and got back replies from 7 shops looking for a catalog. So over the past couple of days I put together 2 catalogs (one for acrylic, steel & silicone and the other for Organics), an order form for each one and I just finished getting them ready to send out in the mail tomorrow.
So, I'm like super excited. I really don't want to get my hopes up, b/c it could turn out to be nothing....But it could also be a really good source of income...Just though I'd share some good news with you..I'll let you know if anything comes of it.....-Katie

[exgeek]

Congrats on finding a way to solve some of your problems. I hope it works out! Do you aim to do most of your sales online or at your physical store? If online, you might want to consider doing larger product pics so people can get a closer more detailed view of your items.

[KKoher]

Thanks. Most of our retial sales are in the store. We started the website for people who were on vacation, liked our store, and wanted to shop with us after they got home. Unfortunatly, its not high on our priority list with everything else going on. Thanks for the suggestion, and I'll see what I can do about those pics.

[HarveyJ]

Hey, that's great.

The body-mod scene is just exploding lately. If you're going to wholesale, don't just stop at gauges I reckon. Hooks & D-Rings are really popular where I am at the moment.

[KKoher]

Yeah....we're starting with gauges...but we have access to all body jewelry...and tattoo supplies. We weren't planning on wholesaling tattoo supplies, but I guess we'll see what happens. We've already have 1 request from a shop to get them wholesale on some tat supplies, so we'll see.

[MGraziano]

Eliminate All Doubts In Your Mind! You Have Already Succeeded! Congratulations On Selling All Of It!! Just Visualize Everything Being Sold Sold Sold And It Will Go! No Doubts!

[tazman9r]

You guys are doing what owning a business is all about, finding business solutions to your financial challenges. That's terrific!

It's frustrating when your business does not produce the way you want. This is the reminder that even during times of high profit, one needs to be always looking for that new niche to attract new business and generate fresh interest from repeat customers. Your willingness to design a new way to diversify is the very spirit and drive that will breath new life into the economy and turn it around.

[KKoher]

Haha...Thanks for all the great input...I don't know if we deserve the congrats yet, but we'll see...

[tazman9r]

Sure you do. You actually have a store, that is making at least enough money to cover it's own expenses. I'm still paying for my website bandwidth right now. I know that will change when I have some more of my site finished, but it's been 2 years, and I have not gotten it finished yet, not because I am dragging my feet but because I am putting together some capitol to finish it off. I want to be where you are, owning a working business that needs an infusion of new income from an infusion of different business practice.

But I'll get there, I know I will.

People like you are my heroes. *sniff sniff* (hehehe)

[KKoher]

People like you are my heroes. *sniff sniff* (hehehe)

Its so weird to hear that ...because I feel like I live off of nothing, and have nothing. The store is "floating", but I'm not taking home an income from it right now. With my husbands income we are barley getting by....more so in the past few weeks because of the increase in prices on like everything... gas, food, etc. I work 65+ hrs a week, and barely get any time with my daughter or husband (who works a regular 40 hrs/week, but then get stuck being Mr. dad taking care of our daughter and our house) It's REALLY stressful....So its hard to believe that anyone would want this....especially where we are right now...maybe in a year, or 2 when the store is turning a profit...but now? I don't think most people know what they are getting themselves into when their "dream" is to own their own business....I know my "dream" didn't include 65 hrs a week....but seriously, thanks. Sometimes it gets really hard, and you think like, wow, was this totally the biggest mistake ever? But hopefully somewhere down the line it will pay off....Sorry, I tend to go on rants when I get started on something. The focus of this post was on our new wholesaling venture...which, after reading the above, you can see why I'm really hopeing it turns out to be profitable.

[HarveyJ]

Just a thought here, but the clothes you sell, are they your own designs? Local designers? Or just stuff you're getting off a supplier?

Some guys I know had a surf wear shop for a while, but then invested in this "printer" that prints directly to fabrics in laundry-proofed inks.
Came with the software required to use it properly, so all they had to do was wrap vector images around the garments, load the machine with clothing, and it did the rest.

Anyway, they publicised the service to local designers, and started doing "microbrands".
The designers would pay for the clothing blanks, and then they'd split the profits on the sale, letting the designers pick the mark up.
It's a really interesting community based business model.
They're actually doing REALLY well out of it as all the designers are doing the promotions of their own stuff, and it brings people into the shop, who then pick up exclusive stuff as well as stuff by the other designers.

[tazman9r]

Owning a store is tough. It takes a lot of hard work and a lot of hours. My mother owned a health food shop for a while. She grew, doubling the size of her store twice in three years, in a town of 12,000 people, by doing exactly what you are talking about now, diversifying. It's something every business has to do. The struggles and pains you are feeling are very real, and I don't want to detract from those at all, but I also know it is easy to lose sight of the positives.

You will figure it out. I am confident in you. You wouldn't be where you are without being a smart and intelligent woman with the capacity to recognize opportunity. You wouldn't push yourself so hard if you didn't love your husband and daughter as much as you do. Everyone has to weather "the storm" occasionally. We tend to never have to face things that we can't handle.

I wish you the best in your venture. I hope this diversification works for you, and it seems to be.

[KKoher]

Thanks sooo much. I think it is very easy to lose site of the main goal, and what has already been accomplished, especially on a stressful day. And I apologize for the rant above, because I really am happy with the store so far, and I know we have great potential to grow if we can just stick through this tough time. And even thought it is very stressful most days, I wouldn't change it for the world. I mean, come on...what 23 yr. old wouldn't want their own store, right? haha...can you tell I'm in a better mood today? But thanks...for all the encouragement and support...sometimes its just what someone needs. (I also have 8 more requests from tattoo shops for our catalog, so I have some hope)
And to HarveyJ...We mostly sell branded clothing lines. We do sell some of our own stuff, but not too much. We've been working on getting a line together, but neither my husband nor I have any artistic ability, so we hire out for our designs, which gets expensive. And, we have them printed by a local screen printer. But thanks for the idea, and all the luck to your friends, its great he found his niche.