Sydney's Boutique
by Sydney Owen
Six Business Activities
2. Raising Capital: Our boutique was made on the savings of the creator of the company, Sydney Owen. She had $40,000 saved. She took out a few loans, and after our boutique was well established in the fashion market, investors wanted in on our business. We have over $1 million invested in our small chain of boutique's.
3. Employees and Training: We only hire the experts in the fashion business with experience in fashion marketing, fashion designing, and fashion retailing. The majority of our employees have four-year degrees and have interned with major designers, fashion magazines, and fashion labels such as Betsey Johnson, Teen Vouge, and Marc Jacobs. We train our employees for weeks before they are officially an associate with Sydney's Boutique.
4. Buying Goods and Services: We buy our clothes from up and coming design labels such as Princess and Presidents, Fresh Dirty Laundry, and DreamWear. We also buy clothing from the street vendors in Chicago and New York. We make weekly trips to New York and L.A. to search for the trendiest clothing at the best price. We buy our shoes from classic companies such as Doc Martens and trendy shoe labels like Jeffrey Campbell.
5. Marketing Goods and Services: Our boutique has many forms of advertising. We have a huge network of social media advertisements. Our YouTube account features video look books, #OOTD's, and style predictions, and interviews with designers and business partners. We also use the radio for advertisements. We have advertisements in many op and coming magazines as well as some well-established magazines.
6. Maintaining Business Records: We track orders and payments using our tech and social networking employees. They track orders, update our accounts, and manage our payments. Our customer information is managed in our customer database. We keep track of how much a person buys. When a customer reaches over $300 per month in purchases, we give them rewards. Our accountant keeps track of the business records for taxes and accounting.
Sole Proprietorship
When I opened the boutique, I knew I wanted it to be a sole proprietorship. Although, being the sole owner is risky due to liabilities, it is rewarding to be the sole owner of a small business. Some advantages of being the sole owner of Sydney's Boutique is that is was very easy to start, the bushiness is an extension of my fashion hobby, and there is no additional taxes on me! But some disadvantages are that the law sees my business and I as one. My store associates are not liable if my bushiness should fail or if there is an accident. But, at Sydney's Boutique, we consider all of our customers owners in a sense. We think that your ideas are important. We value your business.
Business Goals
1. Have a successful first year. Break even with sales.
2. Build relationships with local designers and well established designers in L.A. and New York.
3. Build a team of associate that have experience in the fashion industry.
4. Use social networking to create a network of customers.
5. Expand from a single boutique to a network of boutiques.
In our first year of business, we surpassed these goals greatly. We have gone above and beyond in our goals. We were glad that our first year was such a success.