want to start tiny new business help please

runawaybride

hi as you can probably tell from my signature i was recently married and bought items for my reception which i would now like to hire out, with the plan to increase items and start a small business.
i have 2 small children so im hoping this is a way i could start earning but fit it around them. i do understand there will be tax and national insurance etc to sort out if the business takes off but at present im not at that stage.
i currently have a 3 tier cake stand the type for wedding cakes not cupcakes, 60 glass champagne flutes and 2 heavy metal wine cooler buckets that i can hire.
my main question is how do i go about advertising / promoting my business without costing much. any other advice would also be appreciated.
at the moment i have the items listed on ebay and im in the process of setting up a facebook page for the business. i would like an actual website but i dont know where to start or if its possible to do this free.
i dont want to end up in debt to fund a business that no one wants to use so i need to generate some interest and test the market before i invest too much.
thanks for any help.

InsideInsurance

I wish you all the best for your fledgling business but I am not sure its going to be viable in its current state given Sainsburys, Waitrose etc loan wine/ champagne glasses for free and so your business is really about 1 cake stand and 2 wine/ ice buckets.

Given the micro size of the business you are really going to be looking at any free local mechanisms of advertising like Facebook, Gumtree etc.

You certainly can set up a website for free as long as you dont want your own domain (ie the address will be either http://yourbusiness.theirname.com or http://www.theirname.com/yourbusiness) neither are ideal but is viable if you dont want to invest in a domain (~£7 a year) and webhosting (~£30 for something half decent a year)

If you have your own site then there are plenty of ways to get free google adword funds and given how long tail/ narrow the search parameters will be you will only be paying pennies per click

A quick check seems to suggest wine buckets go for £4, glasses about £0.20 and cake stands £10. I didnt look into the terms but when I hired a table from a similar company the price was "per day you needed the item" but delivery/collection was normally wider - I paid for 1 days hire for a table and chairs but had it in the house for about 5 days due to timings for delivery/collection (was an extra fee as I couldnt collect 20 chairs in my car)

You'll be dependent on people not knowing they can get glasses for free and a hope the cake stand is the type they want

If glasses get broken, can you buy more of the same model to keep your stock up?

Wizzbang

TBH, you'd be best to do what I did and flog the items on eBay. Because I bought cheaply, I was able to make almost everything back. I had mirrored plates, birdcages and the like to sell.

The above poster is correct in what they say. But the reality is this, you need to find a niche market in order to run a successful business- usually something no-one else is offering or a way of doing something that is already offered, better. I can't see how you can do that when as the above poster says- wine glasses are hired for free and places like The Range are making wedding stuff cheaper to buy, than hire.

Plus, what will you do if people break/ don't return items? And if you only have 1 cake stand- you're hardly going to be able to meet demand, either in terms of quantity or style. Some people will want a 4 tier, some 3 tier etc. How will you deliver items, what radius would you cover? That's going to cost petrol and time. You'll probably have to clean items in-between- that will cost you time and money.

I speak as someone who runs their own business- you'd need to be insured as well. As I said, I don't think you've got a business idea here- I think you've got some stuff to flog second hand.

ms_night_ryder

The only thing I can suggest is maybe decorating the glasses if you are creative and selling them via a facebook page.

Sadly I don't think you have enough items to start up a tiny business, you have to think of all the above and if it's worth it, you seem to want to do things on the cheap, so set up a facebook page and sell that way.

Good luck whatever you decide.

runawaybride

hi thanks for all your input. i appreciate the start up is tiny my plan is:
1) hire once use money to buy more stock repeat until i have selection of choices.
2) also have small items for sale table bubbles/crystals etc and some handmade invites/thank you cards.
regarding the breakage non return i have asked for a refundable deposit alongside the hire price which could be a cheque (therefore not actually costing the hirer anything if they return) and yes im aware cheques bounce but thats a gamble. i would be able to replace the glasses for the 50p. people can collect the items themselves or i would also be happy to deliver locally but would charge a delivery charge dependent on distance i think this is normally around 30p per mile but i would need to check that out. cleaning is not a problem as i have plenty of time and a dishwasher just not much money.
my original thought was to sell on but iv seen stands for hire on ebay from other parts of the country (none near me) which seem to be getting hired according to 'sold' listings so i was hoping to possibly be able to make a small income rather than a one off.
but this imput is really helpful as i dont want to spend out on stock if theres no demand so thanks.

soolin

If your cake stand is acrylic then it isn't worth hiring out, they have an average sold price on eBay if less than £20 and that includes postage. No one is going to hire one for anyone near that.

If it is the metal framed one where you use cake boards as bases then they go for a little more, but again I can't see anyone hiring one if they can buy one so cheaply.

The fact that you bought yours and didn't hire it suggests it is more common to do it that way. Also, when my Friend got married the person making the cake included the hire of a stand in the price, I don't know if that is more normal now?

runawaybride

thanks for your reply. its the metal three ring type where you use the cake boards as bases. i think im going to just leave it for hire on ebay for now (free listing anyway) and see what happens then if theres no interest just sell. its had over 100 views and a couple of watchers since i put it on but not sure whether thats good or not.

soolin

runawaybride wrote: »

thanks for your reply. its the metal three ring type where you use the cake boards as bases. i think im going to just leave it for hire on ebay for now (free listing anyway) and see what happens then if theres no interest just sell. its had over 100 views and a couple of watchers since i put it on but not sure whether thats good or not.

Hopefully you have listed it correctly as a business advert/classified and not as a BIN or auction- otherwise someone will pay, you'll send the cake stand and possibly wave good bye to it. I really don't think ebay is the best place to hire out things, it is meant for sales.

EDIT: just noticed you mention free listings, that implies you have listed this for sale as a private seller and not for hire as a business- I would seriously reconsider your listing, I think you will run into issues.

QuackQuackOops

runawaybride wrote: »

thanks for your reply. its the metal three ring type where you use the cake boards as bases. i think im going to just leave it for hire on ebay for now (free listing anyway) and see what happens then if theres no interest just sell. its had over 100 views and a couple of watchers since i put it on but not sure whether thats good or not.

You are hiring out as a business and as such should be registered as a business on Ebay.

Yes, you might get lots of views, but many of those will be from other businesses like yours checking out the competition.
Also, other Ebay businesses might be hiring their items out because they have a larger range.

There are not many people who will go to the trouble of hiring one thing from one business, another thing from another business and so on.
They tend to want to get as much from one place as possible or keep things in groups.

If you hire your cake stand out for £20, and thats being generous, out of that you have to figure in replacement/damage costs, advertising, marketing, tax, Insurances, cleaning costs, delivery, pick up etc.
You might have £7 or £8.

You would be far better off selling the things you have and investing the money in something more in demand, such as a ferris wheel or sweet cart both of which you have the opportunity of making most of your money on the sweets.

Catwoman1975

runawaybride wrote: »

i do understand there will be tax and national insurance etc to sort out if the business takes off but at present im not at that stage.

runawaybride wrote: »

at the moment i have the items listed on ebay and im in the process of setting up a facebook page for the business.

If you already have items on ebay and have a FB page set up you are already "at that stage" and will need to declare yourself to the HMRC as a business. Be careful, as the taxman goes looking round ebay and FB for businesses that have not registered. You could also get in trouble with ebay if you are not selling from a business account.

ms_night_ryder

Sometimes, rather than listening to peoples advice, you kinda have to figure things out yourself and make your own mistakes in order to learn.