How I Started My Small Business

How I Started My Small Business

"How did you start your business?"

Now, this is another question I get tons of DMs about on Instagram so I thought I'd share a few things I picked up along the way for anyone who's just starting out.

 

ETSY

I started selling all my earrings on Etsy because I knew it was a great platform to get my brand out into the world. It was just perfect because anyone could look up "earrings" and a whole bunch of things show up and you kinda just hope that someone actually likes your design and buys your product! Etsy is super easy to use and I guess the only downside was that you couldn't change 'the look' of your store and also there were a few fees that they charge. Once my following on Instagram grew, I decided to transfer over to my own website.

 

INSTAGRAM

Instagram was my main marketing tool and 85% of my website traffic came from my Instagram. Here's what worked for me:

instagram tips and tricks
Taxes, Registrations, and all the other not-so-fun stuff
From the very beginning, I made sure to keep track of all my expenses. I didn't think it was going to be a business, but I still kept all the receipts anyways. Once I started to sell my products, I had spreadsheets and all sorts of ways to keep track of my expenses, revenue and profit. I also had a separate bank account for all my purchases so it wasn't mixed up with my personal purchases. This is going to come in super handy during tax time!
The moment I decided to sell my products, I registered for and ABN (Australian Business Number). I was absolutely clueless about the small business world and so I did plenty of research. I would recommend doing your own research as well and note that taxes and registrations may be different in other countries!
Packing and Sending Your Orders
The most important advice I ever got about packing orders was personalise your orders! This was my favourite part just because there were endless amounts of possibilities as to how you could design and prep your packaging. I wanted to maintain that rustic and minimalist look and so I decided to go with the regular brown box because then it would make the earrings pop when customers open up their package.

 

I included my brand name/logo all over the packaging and even have a handwritten thank you on each of them.

Finding a good delivery provider is another super duper important thing. You would want to find one that has a decent flat rate postage so that your customers know how much they're paying when placing their order. Also, make sure that tracking is included because I had to learn the hard way with parcels getting lost which resulted in unhappy customers.

 

As you can see, starting your own small business is not easy. It's all you and you've got to stay on top of everything! It's absolutely amazing being your own boss and I have no complaints about where I am. Just have fun and don't stress about everything too much!

Isabelle

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