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- How To Start A Home Based Business Legally
- How To Start A Home Based Business With No Money
- How To Start A Home-based Business In Los Angeles
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Decide on a Business Entity Type for Your Home-Based Business. I recommend putting a great deal of thought and research into this step! It will have legal, financial, and administrative impacts on your company. Common business entity types for home-based businesses include: Sole Proprietor; General Partnership; LLC (Limited Liability Company. Starting Your Own Home-based Gift Wrapping Business Determine Start-Up Costs. First you have to determine the start-up costs. Since you would be running the business from home, this eliminates a big chunk of what your investment costs would be. There won’t be a need for office space, remodeling, utilities, permits, etc. Flexibility: Starting a home-based or freelance business provides the flexibility to keep your current job while you pursue your new business on the side. Some people call this “moonlighting” because you might work one job during the day, and a second job in the evening.
Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link to PromoRepublic for social media marketing templates to promote your gift wrapping business. If you decide to sign up to try this product, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!
More people are getting busier nowadays. There’s work, family, kids to drive around and some are doing side hustles to make extra money.
With all those responsibilities there is little time to do things like shopping for gifts and wrapping them. And now that the holidays are underway, the thought of wrapping a whole bunch of Christmas gifts can start to be overwhelming.
Those are the kind of peeps – myself included – who would pay to have someone wrap their gifts. And believe me, that’s a lot of peeps!
This is the kind of stuff you have to think about when you’re brainstorming for business ideas.
When I worked in Corporate America I dreamed about becoming my own boss one day. I would think about different scenarios and think about how I could turn that need into a business opportunity.
Of course, back then I didn’t know I could run a business from home and I was too chicken to start a brick and mortar business.
But for you, dear reader, if you have a knack for gift wrapping and enjoy doing it now is a great time to start your own home-based gift wrapping business.
The holiday shopping season is about to start and since you don’t need much to start this business, you can get it up and running just in time for the rush.
And there is an opportunity to make money all year ’round. Besides the holidays there are birthdays, graduations, weddings, and other special events where a gift will be taken.
If it sounds like something you would like to do, here are some tips that could help you start your own gift wrapping biz.
Starting Your Own Home-based Gift Wrapping Business
Determine Start-Up Costs
First you have to determine the start-up costs. Since you would be running the business from home, this eliminates a big chunk of what your investment costs would be. There won’t be a need for office space, remodeling, utilities, permits, etc.
Assuming you already have a computer and work space, your start-up cash would go toward things like starting inventory of supplies, marketing materials, and any licensing that may be required by your state.
Hint: Save on inventory by buying in bulk.
Recurring expenses would be for things like advertisement, paying for internet connection, web hosting and maintenance, office supplies and car insurance if you deliver.
I found this cool business start-up cost calculator. Just plug in an estimated amount of the items needed and hit the calculate button at the bottom and see how much it would cost to get a home-based gift wrapping business started.
What Kind Of Skills To Have
You would have to have great communication skills since most of the time will be spent talking with potential clients and nothing could kill a deal more than having someone who is speaking slang on the phone or in email.
Other skills and characteristics like an eye for décor and color schemes, organization, time management, motivation, and being able to work with different personalities is also important.
Some Ideas For Promoting Your Gift Wrapping Business
Once you get your business going, it’s time to start promoting your business.
Before you start, you want to get a marketing plan together to map out what, where and how often you will promote your business.
There are plenty of marketing tools to use. The one I’m using now is PromoRepublic* and it has become one of my favorite tools to create awesome images and posts to promote my business.
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PromoRepublic has thousands of templates available. All you have to do is edit it and you can even schedule it from their dashboard. Click here* to get more information and try it out for free.
As for where, here are a couple of places to promote your new biz.
Social Media
Ah yes, you have to have known I was going to say those two little words! When it comes to free promotion social media is the best way to go. Here’s what I mean:
- You can post pictures of your latest project or special promotions on Facebook
- You can post pics of your projects on Pinterest and create boards for different seasons, occasions, themes, etc.
- Post pictures of your projects on Instagram with a promotion tied into them.
- Use LinkedIn to create a professional profile to tell the world about you and your business.
- You can create a channel on YouTube and make how to gift wrap videos.
There are plenty of other social media sites you can use but keep in mind not all social media sites will work for you and that’s okay.
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Create a Website for Your Business
For a permanent place to promote your business, hire a web designer to create a website to showcase your work.
You might be wondering if you really need a website when you have social media. I know where you’re coming from. But remember, a website is a forever home for your work. Social media is not.
And to really boost your chances of landing clients, include a blog on your site to write about stuff like gift wrapping ideas, recommend gift wrapping supplies and other topics related to your business.
You can also include testimonials on your website to visitors on your website will know what others have to say about working with you.
Speaking of clients…
Getting Clients
There is no time to be shy when you’re managing a business. You have to have that go get ’em attitude and let nothing hold you back when it comes to approaching new clients.
But there are some ways to get your feet wet.
Start With Friends and Fam
Tell friends and family about your business offer your services. Put the word of mouth method to use and ask them to spread the word to everyone they know.
Hit Your CoWorkers Up
Let your coworkers know you are in business for yourself. Pass out business cards and pics of your work. And of course tell them about your website!
Send an Email or Mail a Letter
Another way to get clients is to reach out to people by email or mail.
Start a newsletter to get an email list going. Those email subscribers are the ones you will be promoting your business to.
If you want to mail out a promotional letter, the United States Post Office has a program called Every Door Direct Mail.
It’s an affordable way of advertising that let’s you map your marketing mail audience by age, income, or household size.
You can use the EDDM mapping tools to choose the zip code that will target your best possible clients.
Click here for more information about it.
Remember, when writing a pitch letter to potential clients paint a picture they will respond to. Something they can actually imagining themselves going through.
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You want your letter to make them realize that they do have a need for your services.
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Wrapping This Up
How To Start A Home-based Business
I hope this post provided enough information and resources to help you start your own home-based gift wrapping business. Good luck!