Trying to find a way to replace some of my income! any help much appreciated

Karmacat

kaisersouzee wrote: »

If you already have a pet shop, can i suggest you look at 'trying' to get more people in the door!?

donmon wrote: »

Yes, we do have a facebook page, and your right about needing to update it regularly, we do to an extent but once again part of why I want out of my extra job is so I can spend more time updating my facebook page. Also its high time we built a website but once again that can take a little time. I think that time management may be one of my biggest problems, first i need more of it, then I need to learn to get as much done with it as possible

donmon wrote: »

No the shops income doesn't necessarily rely on us both being there but it certainly makes a difference when we have all hands on deck. ...
We don't currently have a mail order website and it is definitely one of my current aims to start one up, however I have no experience in setting up and running a website so i'm not exactly sure on the best way to get started?
Sending objects like large bags of dog food for example is very expensive as far as I can see, but somehow big internet companies often manage to do this for little or no charge, Does anyone know how I might go about finding the cheapest way to do this? thanks everyone who has answered so far, discussing things is very helpful!

These few posts sum up what you need to do, in my eyes - grow what you've got! It will take time, yes, that can't be helped. Any second business will take time too. You (well, none of us) have any big chance of starting up a business and getting an income of at least £100 a week right away, I don't see how it can be the case. That being so, building on what you've already got, the pet shop, has got to be the best idea.

- getting more people through the door. Promotions? Posters? Free delivery in your van within a 5 mile radius? Show and tell afternoons for the under 10s with quiet animals?

- selling online - high value stuff for pets? Cheaper stuff like dog food, surely the prices the big companies can charge rely on bulk purchase? If you can't do that, do the high end sales. But truly, if you're not selling online, your business could have problems 5 years down the line. You have to get on - a domain name costs £10 for two years, you can get a free website from weebly or somewhere. Even a couple of pages for now would be better than nothing.

- mail order used to be the classic way of upscaling your efforts, and its still popular. If you need to make more money, and you've got a business, then grow the business, any way you can!

- is it always go go go at the shop? Do you have any spare time there to go online and start this stuff, or at least research it? There's a lot of information on this very forum if you look, honest!

Good luck! You've kept afloat in one of the worst recessions in a long time, so there *must* be potential in your business. Please believe in it, and in yourself.

MysteryMe

Get qualified in related businesses, for example animal husbandry and then for example offer boarding for small pets and exotics if you have room. Do you have room to either offer dog grooming or rent out space to a dog groomer?

donmon

Karmacat wrote: »

These few posts sum up what you need to do, in my eyes - grow what you've got! It will take time, yes, that can't be helped. Any second business will take time too. You (well, none of us) have any big chance of starting up a business and getting an income of at least £100 a week right away, I don't see how it can be the case. That being so, building on what you've already got, the pet shop, has got to be the best idea.

- getting more people through the door. Promotions? Posters? Free delivery in your van within a 5 mile radius? Show and tell afternoons for the under 10s with quiet animals?

- selling online - high value stuff for pets? Cheaper stuff like dog food, surely the prices the big companies can charge rely on bulk purchase? If you can't do that, do the high end sales. But truly, if you're not selling online, your business could have problems 5 years down the line. You have to get on - a domain name costs £10 for two years, you can get a free website from weebly or somewhere. Even a couple of pages for now would be better than nothing.

- mail order used to be the classic way of upscaling your efforts, and its still popular. If you need to make more money, and you've got a business, then grow the business, any way you can!

- is it always go go go at the shop? Do you have any spare time there to go online and start this stuff, or at least research it? There's a lot of information on this very forum if you look, honest!

Good luck! You've kept afloat in one of the worst recessions in a long time, so there *must* be potential in your business. Please believe in it, and in yourself.

There are certainly quiet times, but these are unpredictable I love your suggestions and the others posted here, unfortunately due to my second job i'm finding it hard to put that little bit extra in that i need to pull these things off.
The internet is crazy competitive it seems that my best option for selling on sites like ebay is to find items that are light (cheaper to post) and have a high mark up (so that I can drop the price to be competitive)
As for our own website, that is definitely high on our 'to do list' but I still haven't figured out a way to offer a good rate on postage?
Large items like 15kg sacks of dog food cost far too much to post that I could never hope to compete with companies that deliver them for free (does anybody know how that is possible? even buying in bulk does not generate the sort of discount to pay such high postage costs!)
I'm having so much fun working for myself and have surprised my self by how motivated I am with the shop (not normally a highly motivated person)
It has made me realize that working for myself is where I am most comfortable but unfortunately as this has been a late realization (currently 25 years old) I have limited business knowledge (luckily hard work and will seems to help supplement this) can anyone recommend a good place/book/website that could help me hone some of my business skills, I was considering buying basic GCSE level business books just to get some foundation knowledge before moving to the more technical stuff.

Karmacat

donmon wrote: »

As for our own website, that is definitely high on our 'to do list' but I still haven't figured out a way to offer a good rate on postage?
Check out things on this forum first - the ebayers have great tips on courier firms instead of Royal Mail.

It has made me realize that working for myself is where I am most comfortable but unfortunately as this has been a late realization (currently 25 years old) I have limited business knowledge (luckily hard work and will seems to help supplement this) can anyone recommend a good place/book/website that could help me hone some of my business skills, I was considering buying basic GCSE level business books just to get some foundation knowledge before moving to the more technical stuff.

Erm, 25 years old isn't late!!!!! :rotfl:Plenty of people are only starting their first degree course at age 25! So you're doing brilliantly.

As for business skills - depends what you mean. Again, check out resources on this forum - plenty of people are trying to get businesses off the ground ( me included).

You actually sound as though you're further on tho, so check out your local authority courses for self employed people, evening classes and whatnot. Then what government departments offer in your area, or online.

Your bank may have free information and advice too, even someone to sit down with you and work through a business plan - that'd be a good idea, actually, get some free information and assistance from them! I used to go along to banks to get business information as a mystery shopper, they were always falling over themselves to help.

Good luck!

lauralouise90

Hi,

First of all I think you need to be congratulated for having your own business at 25!

I agree with others that the best step for you would be to try and get more customers through your door - if you message me the URL of your site I'm more than happy to provide some recommendations from an SEO perspective.

Hope this helps,

Laura

culpepper

Could your other half sort out the web side of things in her out of hours time?
Dog grooming might be quite lucrative for either of you to learn and you could then offer a mobile grooming service.
Are either of you handy?
Home made kennels/hutches etc
Hand knitted or sewn dog jackets/blankets
Woven leads and collars
Those last could be done at home or in spare moments in shop.

pyuicd

Hi Donmon,

I think the most ideal way to proceed would be to boost the pet shop income. If you spent X hours thinking about your pet store instead of working, you should be able to boost your income significantly with much less stress than a second venture. Here are a few tips i have for you.

1) With regards to the facebook page, consider paying facebook £3 a day to promote your page. Keep it running until the amount of likes coming in gets very low. I kept paying them until i had 750 likes as after that i was paying £3 a day for literally 2 extra likes. Although it may seem costly at first, it gives you a captive audience for all of your posts- people don't unlike things very often.

If you have any special offers or sales also consider the paid 'boost post' option, i have had some success with these.

2) Look at what you are selling. Is there something eye catching and high margin product you could keep by the till that customers might purchase? This sort of thing could be a real money spinner. Or even consider diversifying into selling other goods, for example flowers- just an example, this isn't my area of speciality.

3) Upsell to your customers. This can be hugely valuable. When they buy one product, ask them if they also need X and Y (if it is related) - you are often doing them a favour. Otherwise upsell anyway, ask them if they would like that high margin item you have stocked by the till. Humans have very short attention spans and bad memories, it is important to be a salesperson to remedy this, be confident and smile.

4) Gimmicks and tricks to gain attention
- On a regular basis hang balloons all around the outside of your store and (if applicable) the railings by the road in front. It will draw attention to your store- people who drive past that have never given it any thought will notice it and remember it.
- Make sure your store sign is prominent and eye catching. If you don't have one get a mobile sign that you put outside each morning on the pavement.


For now that is all i can think of. Focusing on just the pet store is your best strategy, spread yourself too thin and your pet store income will drop.

Hope some of this stuff helps you, all the best

pyuicd

donmon wrote: »

I still haven't figured out a way to offer a good rate on postage?
Large items like 15kg sacks of dog food cost far too much to post that I could never hope to compete with companies that deliver them for free (does anybody know how that is possible? even buying in bulk does not generate the sort of discount to pay such high postage costs!)

The people who post for 'free' are simply factoring the cost of postage into the price of the product. The idea of it being 'free' is just a trick.

I think you could post 15kg dog food for £7 (24 hour service) (collected from your shop) by setting up an account with a courier- just remember to shop around and negotiate. Also try parcelmonkey.com and parcel2go.com if you don't do many deliveries they are good for one off shipments, just a little time consuming.

Where in the UK are you?

StormyWeather_2

Take lauralouise's offer of help. Getting people to the site is the most difficult part.

You could look around to see if there's a recent graduate to put up the site for cheap in return for the experience. Do you have a logo for the B&M shop?

Ebay and Amazon have ready made traffic. It will take a while to build up a reputation, so don't expect to suddenly start selling tons. Watch the fees. It may work out cheaper paying for a shop on ebay.

You'll need photos of your products. Ask suppliers first if you want to use their images. Some might send out CDs with the images on. Some might not give permission and you'll have to take your own.

How about taking on a part-time 14-16 year old to help for an hour or so after school and on a Saturday. You could recharge your batteries. It might be worth the extra expense.

donmon

thanks everyone for your helpful comments, still dont have a proper website at the moment but will take you up on that offer as soon as i do @lauralouise
@pyuicd we have a great offer on dog food at the moment so I am using the boost promotion option on facebook with it to see how it goes, if it generates a lot of interest I will certainly use it in the future, it could be worth the fee! thanks for the tip
@stormyweather, sorry but what do you mean by B&M shop?

we've really hit the platform running with this business, its probably how i learn best but at the same time it isn't half stressful that way. first time using this forum but you have all been very helpful so will be using it more in the future.! thanks again everyone