A Little Business?

Like so many other stay at home moms I have been pondering the idea of a having a small business. David and I both agree that I am at my best when I have something in my life that is challenging and “for me.” It’s not that raising a child isn’t challenging; however I have been feeling like something has just been missing for me in the creative/ self department. I love being a mom and I love being at home. But I do really miss teaching. I miss the kids, the staff, the ability to be creative in teaching and planning, etc.

Knowing that I won’t be heading back into the classroom anytime soon, I’ve been thinking of what I could do from home. I’m not looking to make a ton of money. However, some money would be good. With another baby on the way, I’m pretty limited in the freedom and hours for myself department. We also have no extra money to sink into any possible venture start up or product costs. I’m not into doing home parties and have no interest in any of the related product selling businesses (Tupperware, etc). I need my hours to be totally flexible right now.
Amazingly, I seem to have a little idea that just may be going somewhere. I have spent the last couple of weeks doing what I would call “research” to see if it is something that is feasible for me and if there is actually a market out there.

So what is it?

A web based “announcement/ card” business. Some of you may find this is no surprise.

This is something that actually fits all of my requirements, allows me to be creative and is something that I enjoy doing. I already have Photoshop which I love using. I have also created a website with a free hosting service. It’s still pretty rough, but it does the trick for now. I have only advertised on some Kijiji sites (free) to see if I would get any bites. I’ve also set up a PayPal account as a means of payment. Start up costs 0 dollars. And I don’t have to invest any money as I go either. I only have to pay my transaction fee to PayPal with each purchase which is very minimal.

The verdict: I spent last week offering the service for free to whoever wanted it. Surprisingly, it was harder to give away something for free than I thought. My point in doing this was to see what kinds of cards people were looking for, get some experience, build a sample portfolio and see what kind of a market existed for this. It doesn’t take me too long to put something together so this really wasn’t a big deal. As I have templates created it just gets faster and faster. I love how this is something that I can do while Sarah naps or in the evening when she’s sleeping. It doesn’t take away from my precious time with her or my household responsibilities. David has a couple of evening classes (and will continue to), so now I have something to work on in the evenings as well.

After my week of “free” on Monday I decided to post some ads on the internet, offering the service for $10 (rather than my regular price of $15). I have received several replies a day with several paid orders already. Not bad considering it’s just been a few days and my sample portfolios are very minimal. As a goal, if I could get 10 orders per week I’d be really happy.
It seems that birthday invitations are the most requested so far. This surprised me at first, but with the extravagance of so many birthdays these days I suppose I shouldn’t find this too surprising. I’ve also done up several wedding thank you cards, save the date cards, baptism invites and birth announcements.

People have responded very well so far, loving the product and service. I’ve also had several people e-mail me asking them to notify them personally at different times in the next few months when their baby is due or before an important birthday party.

So we’ll see what happens. I’m not too attached to the idea at the moment in case it doesn’t work out. I’m still at the “research” stage. But it does seem like a good opportunity for me at the moment.

If you’re curious to see what I’ve been up to in this area feel free to check out my little “under construction” site http://www.yourcustomcards.webs.com/ It will give you much more of an idea about what I’m actually doing.