Any advice for me on how to start up a body care business? To start i’m a 25 F and one of my biggest dreams and passion of mine is to create and grow a body care business and sell products such as scrubs, lotions, oils, perfumes, body washes and make it all from scratch.I have a name already in mind, a logo, and the look for the product. Also, I already bought a few samples to create a body butter, and the few people I let sample really liked it. I have no experience in selling, creating, or running a business and I really want to learn but have no clue where to start. Any advice? I was listening to some podcasts and even signed up to a couple of websites where they provide a “how to guide” and all that extra stuff. I’ve read into it but I just don’t really know where to start even with all that in mind and I don’t want to overwhelm myself with too much info either even though I think I already did that once or twice already. I would really like some solid advice to where I can start grounding my feet somewhere and take off. Anything helps! :-))))))
Get your branding right from the beginning - it will drastically help build trustworthiness, recognition and drive your products online.
Have a professional look over (and probably rework) your existing logo; develop brand guidelines and stick to them - this will help you push a consistent message on every platform.
Invest in your packaging - when deciding to buy a product customers look first at the packaging and brand, and then the benefits of the item. You first need to catch their attention and stand out on the shelf.
I love this idea, though is there maybe a website or a platform I can speak to about looking over my logo and what I have so far? I feel like this is probably where I need to start at since I already have the logo and the idea down for the most part.
^ This. Branding is the difference between a $2 body scrub and a $42 body scrub.
First issue to address is your goal and objective of “make it all from scratch.”
“….scrubs, lotions, oils, perfumes, body washes….”
Each of these products consists of different ingredients as well as manufacturing process.
I don’t believe it would be possible to make all of these as home-based business.
So, you would need a stand-alone factory or hire a third party to private label your products.
Consider perfume.
If you have someone make it for you, it might take six to nine months to have one product ready for market and it might cost as much as $30,000.
Then you have to sell it, hopefully.
Start at the beginning.
Mission statement – We want to create and grow a body care business
Financial goal – We want profit $50,000
Objective – Achieve gross sales $250,000 ($50,000 / 20% profit margin)
Next, create a business model.
Value proposition – What problem does your products solve?
Market segment – Who is customer? Young, mature, senior, male, female, other?
Revenue/margins – Price/revenues versus cost to produce and sell
Value chain – Make in-house or private label, store or sell online, wholesale?
Competitive advantage – cost, differentiation, or niche strategy?
This is one way how you can go about transforming a concept or idea into a viable business.
Contact SCORE and get a free business mentor, go to a few of their events to meet them and pick one you click with.
https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/score-business-mentoring
Look for a business incubator in your area, many local governments and colleges sponsor them.
Look for similar entrepreneurs on LinkedIn and find one or two informal mentors.
These will help you with the basics and hopefully reduce the number of rookie mistakes you will make.
Good luck!!
Everyone says they like samples. Sell it to boutiques and start making it. You have to make sales to even verify your pricing, manufacturing and quality is viable.
When you mean start selling samples, do you mean without having anything else established and doing that first?