Tie-Dye Factory
Obviously... We sell tie-dye!
The Money Side (AKA the boring one)
While money has been a slight struggle for me during the start up phase of my company, it has been the best decision I've made in a while. I create one of a kind pieces with tie-dye including, but not excluding, t-shirts, handbags, blankets, rugs, and posters. Living in a small town like I do, the store-front will be a huge success, especially with the amount of young kids and teens that live around the downtown area. There is a local high school in walking distance from the downtown strip and on any given day you can see tons of teens walking around going in and out of shops. I can definitely see myself getting back my investment within the first six months of being open.
Type of Business
I am the sole owner of the business and I chose for it to be this way because I wanted to be able to say that I had done this on my own. I know that is kind of a dumb reason to start a business a certain way, but it makes me feel like I have a purpose in having the ability to tie -dye and be as crazy as I am. I know that I am someone that can control a situation and I can handle a business and employees.
Positions
The only real positions I am currently looking at hiring, are cashiers. I do not need managers because running the shop is going to be my full time job. I plan to be in the store during all of its open hours to ensure that things run smoothly, at least for the first six months. After that I will rely on my cashiers to be responsible for things around the shop, including opening and closing duties and cleaning. Each cashier will start out at $8.50 an hour because I feel like no one should have to deal with minimum wage for a starting position, or a job through college.
Start Up Costs
The main things that I will need to be, will be display items for the store, some decorations, and the materials for making the tie-dye pieces. I will buy display tables and racks for the clothing pieces, and some "hippy-esque" decor pieces for around the shop. For making the materials, I will need to buy fabric that is made of 100% recycled material and the dyes.
Advertising
Twitter is obviously the way to go for advertising nowadays! I will get my niece to help me start up an account and work towards getting my name out to the younger people in the area. The good thing about the business that I am starting, is that there isn't anything like it in the area that I am opening my doors. There are boutiques nearby, but not really any clothing shops that are unisex or really any that even carry tie-dye merchandise. I feel like I am tapping into uncharted potential.
Protecting Against Identity Theft
One of the biggest things that I am going to be strict about, is researching companies and the producers that I am buying from to make sure they are safe. My mother had her identity stolen once and it was a nightmare. The credit card company did not even inform us that someone was making charges from somewhere in Russia, so we were screwed during that time. I don't want to experience anything like that again, so I am going to be extremely careful with who I share my information with and why.