My wifes hobby

[hillberg]

and want to be business.

[Gyro_Kai]

Beautiful, I hope it works out.

Kai.

[Mike484]

That's taking up enough room for a gyro.

[WHY]

She is very talented

Tony

[GyroCFI]

Done that... My wife is also very talented with flowers. For about 3 years we would go to all kinds of craft shows all over the midwest. She did dried and silks. We lived in the country so we would go around with our van and cut all sorts of weeds and wild flowers and then hang them upside down in our building to dry. then she'd dye them or use a special flower spray paint and make her arrangements. Of course we would have to buy flowers/plants that she wanted to put in her designs that were not indigenous to our area and some of them were very expensive.

It takes a lot of work and more than one person can do especially at the shows, you have to set up the booth, put out the items and then watch them like a hawk (especially your money box). Believe it or not we've had people just come up to our booth and try to just walk away with an arrangement, especially when there's a lot of people in the booth.

We enjoyed that but it got to the point of diminishing returns. She would spend tons of hours and money making the arrangements and sometimes we'd only make a hundred bucks at a show...

[Thomas]

Try funeral homes, wedding stores, high school and college graduations, proms, flower shops, hospitals, grocery stores, birthdays, holidays: get demographics from the Chamber of Commerce.

Openning a shop concentrate on LOCATION.

Interview florists and get some idea about costs and sales expectations before doing anythings expensive. It might be difficult getting return business with flowers that never die. They look fabulous but any business takes lots of leg work to get it going.

Know the local market cold before investing. Looks like you have a good starting inventory.

Great Idea.

Thomas

[WHY]

Great advice Thomas !

Location and know your market, I would add make sure your competitors do not have a inside "political" advantage over you ( been there done that).

Tony

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by WHY

Great advice Thomas !
Location and know your market, I would add make sure your competitors do not have a inside "political" advantage over you ( been there done that).
Tony

________________________

Yes sir, Tony.

Most believe that risk in business is centered in public interest for a new product or service; it is not. The risk is in high roler$ dominating the market and they decide who to let in.

There are many cased in point: Mattlel Barbie signed an agreement to a potential competitor wanting to sell a doll "similar" to the famous Barbie. They ask if Mattel felt their product was an infringment on the Barbie product. Mattel signed a release stating that the new product was dissimilar and approved the manufacture and sales. After spending all their start up capital and before they could make even their first sales contract to retail outlets Mattel sued for copyright infringement stopping all sales effectively putting the "competion" out of business.

You can never be sure.

Aviation market in Alaska seems wide open to an adventurous pilot with a plane wanting to fly the bush. However, the big companies are well entrenched and they decide who does and does not fly in Alaska. They can and do control prices, under cutting and out last any small investor.

It is all a game of politics, good ole boy networks, scratching palms & backs.

You can never be sure ............ risk.

Thomas

[kbwelder]

Originally Posted by hillberg

and want to be business.

Has your wife tried to sell on eBay?

I'm trying to do something similar with my metal sculpture of the Huntington Beach pier, and found someone that already has an eBay store. I haven't sold it yet, but it's only been on eBay for a few days.