Sewing Business Blog » business success

Is Fear Of Failure Holding Your Business Back?

Sarah J. Doyle — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:45:03 +0000

Or, is fear of failure keeping you from starting a home business? The only way you can be assured of not failing is to never do anything!

74% of all American millionaires own their own business. The first day you start a home-based business you instantly TRIPLE your chances of financial independence!

Consider eBay and how it was started in a college dorm room; or how about Michael Dell of Dell computers and how he started his business in his garage. Neither of these great businesses would have had a chance if the owners were afraid that somebody would laugh at them or that perhaps they would fail in their ventures. These are only two of the thousands upon thousands of small “home” businesses that have made the big time, or at least have been successful businesses in their own niches.

A very wise person once said, “Make a living doing what you love to do, and you’ll never have to work another day in your life.” Excellent advice!

As you start thinking hard about using your talents and/or hobbies to start a home business, remember this: don’t allow others to kill your dreams! Some will automatically tell you why your idea won’t work and others will dismiss your ideas with a shrug of the shoulders. Listen to your own inner voice – it sometimes will be the only intelligent voice you’ll hear!

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises. If you have an opportunity to begin a part time business in an area that interests you, we say “go for it”! You’ll never hit the target if you don’t shoot for it.

An example of “small opportunities” could very well be at this time of year when school is getting ready to start. You’ve already done all the hems for your child’s skirts, pants or shorts and a friend who can’t sew a stitch asks you to help shorten her childs’ school clothes. Think about it! An alteration business in the making!

Keep your thinking cap on, and your friends’ negative opinions to themselves and you just might surprise yourself with the successful business you can start.

Time Management Important To Business Success

Sarah J. Doyle — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:10:00 +0000

In the past we’ve talked about organizing your sewing time in order to be more productive in your work (organizing sewing projects so you’re using white thread for several items before changing to a different color thread, etc). There are many ways to actually be more productive while working, therefore getting much more work done.

The question is, what about “time management”, in order to cut down on stress and frustrations in your daily life? We’re talking about your “sewing / working” life as well as regular “family” life.

I remember in past years, with six kids all needing to be in different places, AND my sewing / alterations piling up, I could feel the frustration building. Even if you have only ONE child or two children, and trying to shuttle them around while customers are trying to make appointments, pick up work (that perhaps you haven’t done yet) – stress can be a killer for the business. Just try working under this kind of stress and see how many mistakes you make — or work on something that isn’t even due out to a customer for a week, while something due out today sits on a shelf! YIKES!!

The best solution that I found in these working conditions is to do everything systematically! I KNEW what time the kids had to be at various places, and I KNEW what work needed to be done before they got home from school. Sooooo, cut down on the telephone chit chat, turn off the tv, and quit procrastinating about that “difficult” alteration that you agreed to do. JUST DO IT! In most instances, the “difficult” alteration isn’t nearly as difficult as your mind wanted to imagine, so the longer you put it off, the more behind you got, until the stress of starting the alteration job was near a boiling point.

By organizing the workload in daily increments —- get up half an hour earlier in the morning to get a job out of the way; plan the amount of sewing/alterations/craft work that you can handle before the kids get home from school; and if you’re overloaded on work at the moment, perhaps you could work another half an hour or hour after the kids go to bed, rather than watching tv. That would be “just for tonight” – not every night, and would be so you could get enough caught up to prevent stress and frustration tomorrow.

By prioritizing your workload and not postpone things for tomorrow when you could easily do them today, you will have a much more stress free and relaxed lifestyle.

Give Your Customers What They Want

S. Denise Hoyle — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:19:00 +0000

The decision on what type of content to place on a website is usually always made by people within the company. While it is important for a company’s stakeholders to determine how much and what type of information to put out there for visitors to their website, it is even more important that they give their customers what they want!

Of course your website needs to focus on the products and/or services that you provide, but all of your web content does not need to be company centric. A significant part of your website’s content should be focused on what your customers want and what they are actually looking for online.

If a visitor to your site is able to easily locate the information they are looking for, rather than just what you want them to see, they will feel more engaged with your site and they will stay and look at more of your pages. Furthermore, your site content will be more likely to match the search phrases that most people type into search engines when you focus on customer centric content. This means your site will naturally move up in search engine rankings, which equates to more eyeballs on your site.

So, how do you figure out what your site visitors are actually looking for? It’s actually easier than you may think! First, start by simply asking them.

Add some surveys or polls to your site to ask visitors specific questions. Make it easy for your visitors to interact with you by allowing them to post comments. Provide a “contact us” form requesting that visitors let you know if they were looking for something they didn’t find, or if they have any questions. If you ask them, people are much more likely to tell you what is important to them, and what their needs or questions are. Keep track of any questions that are posted or emailed to you and display the questions and your answers on a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. The questions and comments will also provide you with current topics to write about on your site.

Another great way to find out what your site visitors want is to use keyword search tools to see what terms and phrases they are searching for online. Two of my favorite free keyword search tools are Google’s External Keyword Tool and Wordtracker’s free keyword suggestion tool. Simply type in a search phrase or keyword that relates to your business, and the search tools will return a list of keywords that users have recently been searching for. Another terrific tool is Wordtracker’s keyword question tool. Type in the same phrase or keyword and it will return a list of actual questions users have typed in related to that keyword. For example, if you type in sewing and hit search, the most asked related question is “Who invented the modern sewing machine?”

This is valuable information that you cannot afford to ignore. Once you find out what it is that people really want to know or learn about in your field, you should figure out some ways to give them the answers. If your site is brand new and you don’t yet have any “frequently asked questions”, you can find some here to get you started! You should also be sure to highlight any frequently searched terms that relate to your site, or create content based on those terms.

These are quick and easy methods to give your customers what they want. Find out what they want to know and give it to them. This will not only instill loyalty in your current visitors, it will bring many more visitors to your site because you’ll get higher rankings in search engines.

Getting Started With Online Videos

S. Denise Hoyle — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:27:00 +0000

In a previous post, we briefly mentioned using technology to increase sales, as well as the fact that 94% of Internet users report that they watch online videos with some frequency. Additionally, a recent Neilsen report estimates that people will spend 46% more time watching online videos this year. Since these numbers are sure to only increase in the future, and getting started with online videos is cheap and easy to do, its a great time to consider adding some videos to enhance your web presence.

You don’t need a lot of equipment or a fancy studio to create videos that will demonstrate and market your products. All you really need is a webcam and a plan. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Keep It Simple - Start by producing a short clip, perhaps a 20-30 second introduction to your business, or welcome to your site.

Determine Your Goals - Is your goal to educate users? Entertain them? Give information on specific products?

Look At Your Budget And Resources - A webcam can easily be used for seated videos, however you may need a digital video camera for other types of shots, like how-to pieces or “on location” sites. Inexpensive cameras can be purchased for around $100 these days. Although the quality will not be top notch, it will be more than suitable for the Internet.

Create A Simple Studio – Select a corner or small area of your house, store or office and plan your lighting. If your space is not already well-lit, you can purchase a couple of inexpensive clip-on style work lights for less than $10 each that will solve that problem. You may also choose to use a green screen (simply hang some green fabric on the wall behind your shot) along with some video software to easily change backgrounds, create professional voiceovers, and add effects like fade-ins and fade-outs. We recommend Pinnacle Studio (around $140) and Vegas Movie Studio (around $50).

Write A Script – Although I don’t recommend that you read while taping, you should definitely prepare a script in advance to be sure you get all your main points across in the proper order. Practice in front of a mirror or friend or co-worker, then start filming once you’ve got the basics down. Keep it short and don’t be afraid to add some humor if possible. You don’t need to be a comedian, just keep it fun!

Go Viral – Once you’re happy with your video you should post it to online video sites like YouTube, Vimeo and iFilm. It is free to upload videos to these sites, it takes only a few minutes to post your videos, and this will allow you to greatly increase your audience.

Plan Your Next Videos – Make a list of the future videos that you’d like to create and plan the order that will work best for you. Make a goal that will fit your schedule, say one new video short a month, or a quarter, whatever will work best for you. Continue to expand your video library by adding “how to” type clips using products that you sell.

Given the growing demand from web users for instant information and ever more product data, in addition to increasing connection speeds and computer processing power, a small investment in video content now can have a dramatic future payoff for your business.

How To Be Successful – Develop An Entrepreneurial Mind

Sarah J. Doyle — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:40:00 +0000

Developing an entrepreneurial mind is probably one of the greatest keys to success available to all of us. The entrepreneur within you will determine to a great extent just how successful you and your business will be.

Those who treat their home business as if it was “just a hobby” are only fooling themselves. If what you do is really “just a hobby”, then don’t go around talking about how your “business” just isn’t getting off the ground, or that you don’t have any steady customers, etc. Remember your phrase “just a hobby” is in reality the amount of work you’re putting in – very little!

Now let’s talk about the “business” and how your entrepreneurial mindset CAN get the business off the ground!

Set some priorities. If you’re trying to get ready for a really big craft fair next month, which do you think is more important – spending a “weekly day at the spa”, or staying in the workshop getting prepared for the craft fair? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, but we hear all the time from people who can’t seem to live without their “day at the nail boutique” or “weekly afternoon get together with friends” to talk over coffee and rolls.

Time is money. How very true this is! I’ve read articles about the requirements of people going into their own home business. The articles try to pound in the heads of those individuals wanting their own business that home businesses are NOT a 9-5 job! They say that if you’re not willing to sacrifice 50-60 hours a week at least the first few years to get the business going, then it’s pretty much a no-brainer that your business won’t go very far. Hard work is part of building a home business, and the harder you work, the more successful you will be.

Don’t procrastinate! I have a friend who always waits until the last minute to do everything! She teaches online college classes and waits until the last minute to do the grading, then gets all out of sorts if something doesn’t go right with the computer, or somebody didn’t send in the right paperwork. DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! I’m the type of person that if something needs to be done for next week, I’ll do it TODAY, just to make sure everything can be worked out and in order BEFORE next week comes. By getting organized you’ll also feel the energy level increase and you will just feel better about life in general.

Don’t be afraid to fail. I’ve read over and over again “the only failure in life is if you fail to try”! Look at Thomas Edison and so many of the great inventors – how many times did they “fail” before their invention actually worked like it should. If you never take a risk because of the fear of failure or what your friends may say, you need to do some re-thinking! Never failing really boils down to the fact that you’ve never really tried. So, get out of your “comfort zone” and get some notes written down as to what you would like to accomplish in your business, then go for the gusto! You CAN do it!

Business is Booming For Collegiate Pants Maker

S. Denise Hoyle — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:47:00 +0000

Mel Pennington and Tygh Bailes stumbled on a new clothing market when Pennington had some khaki pants embroidered with University of Virginia insignias for Bailes. “People just went nuts over it,” Pennington remarked. “We immediately thought about the collegiate market.”

Since then, the business partners have created their own line of collegiate inspired pants, in a variety of colors and designs. The duo are now licensed to sell designs from around 60 colleges and universities and they say that business is booming.

The business has factories around the world, with a central office in Shanghai and a new office opening up in Peru. Their combed and washed twill cotton fabric is produced in bulk, 1,000 yards at a time, and is reportedly as “soft as pajamas.”

The pants are not cheap, they sell for around $135, but since there are 96 insignias embroidered onto each pair of pants, the partners feel the price can be justified. “We’ve made a commitment every year to improve our product in some way. Although some might think we charge a premium price, we think it’s a fair price because we sell you a product that is going to last forever.”

Next up, the business is planning to create skirts for ladies as well as collegiate blazers, and they are looking into the children’s market. Read more about Pennington and Bailes at South Carolina Now or visit their website at StadiumPants.com.

Ideas To Make 2009 The Best Year Ever!

Sarah J. Doyle — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:51:00 +0000

The New Year is upon us, and sometimes we start to visualize, or dream, about how great this new year will be. The facts are that we have to do more than just dream and wish – we must take ACTION! Action requires us to think about things, write some things down and begin to work on the list we’ve written.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started on your list for the year and help to move your business at a pace that will definitely make it the “best year ever”!

** Update your planner for the entire year. Put in all birthdays, anniversaries, craft show dates, conferences you want to attend, etc. If you don’t have major items on your calendar, you’ll get so busy you’ll forget important items, or worse than that, you may be trying to schedule two craft shows for the same weekend, if you don’t already have something on your calendar.

** Set up 2-3 major goals that you’d like your business to accomplish this year, such as getting started in that new area of sewing for big and tall men, locating two additional craft shows that you can attend or setting up your customer area so you’ll be able to show off and sell some of the crafts that you make from those downloadable patterns. Write these goals into a book so you can cross them off when you’ve accomplished them.

** Plan your time off. If there’s a reunion coming up over Memorial Day or you think you’d like to head into the mountains or to the beach over the 4th of July, mark it down in your planner, and add that to your list. By doing this you know well in advance of the upcoming days that you won’t be in the office / workroom, so you can get your work done accordingly.

** Educate yourself. In every business, there are new things coming along constantly, and you need to keep abreast of any changes. You could even decide to educate yourself a little and learn how to do your own sewing machine repair, instead of having to take your machine to the shop for maintenance and repairs. Figure out how many times you had your machines at the repair shop last year – add up the total spent, and this will probably be the savings you’ll have THIS year, once you learn how to take care of your own machines.

** Organize your office. The biggest problem in any office, at least in mine, are the mounds of paper! Things I want to look at in a few days, magazines I want to browse through again, ideas for projects that get out of control – you name it and it’s all in my office. I’ve decided that I WASTE entirely too much time shuffling these things around to make room for more papers. January 1st I made the decision to clear out the “junk”, get theoffice organized, get a filing system set up and categorized (project ideas in one file folder, future article ideas in another folder, patterns organized in my new clear view pattern holders,) and go through the huge stack of magazines to tear out and file what I want to keep and recycle the rest of the magazine. I’ve made a big headway already and feel so much better about the office – I know I won’t be wasting as much time this year as in past years shuffling and re-shuffling. And guess what – time WASTED means less productive time, therefore dollars wasted!

** Last but not least, after making your list of goals and “to do’s”, plan how and when you will get them accomplished. You don’t have to do everything in January! Spread out the items according to what you’d really like to accomplish first, second and so on; this way you can get a time-table set up that you can easily follow. If you see that you’re nearly finished with your entire list by the middle of the year you can easily set up another set of goals for the last half of the year.

I’m planning on making 2009 the BEST YEAR EVER for my sewing and craft business. How about you?

US Shoemaker Stays in Step With Clients

S. Denise Hoyle — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:08:00 +0000

J&A Shoe Company of Gardena, California produces over 50,000 pairs of wedges, heels and other shoes every month. While most Americans step out in foreign made shoes, this domestic shoemaker continues to battle the foreign competition who can make shoes for just pennies a pair.

“Being a domestic manufacturer, one of the biggest challenges is competing with people who don’t have the same regulations that we have here,” President Leah Kats Bizoumis said. “They don’t have a minimum wage and restrictions that we have. . . . In America, you work your eight hours a day and go home. In China, that’s not necessarily true.”

This family owned business with 150 employees has survived for almost three decades – due in large part to its customer service and relationships with loyal long term customers. Bizoumis’ Greek grandfather owned a made to order shoe store in Athens until the 1950s, and her father, the founder of J&A Shoe Co., would bring home designs to teach her about the business.

The whir of sewing machines and clatter of tools fills the air in J&A’s 50,000 square foot factory while employees hand braid shoe straps and sew rhinestones on pieces of leather. Workers also wear prototypes of shoes home to look for potential flaws so the designs may be adjusted before they are produced.

The company benefits from only producing the designs and number of shoes that the customer asks for, instead of mass producing a few designs. J&A provides its shoes to boutiques as well as large retailers and they project this years revenue to be $15 million.

Read more about J&A Shoe Company in the Los Angeles Times.

Blogging To Build Your Business

S. Denise Hoyle — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:19:00 +0000

Web logs, or blogs as they’re commonly known, began mostly as online personal journals, or celebrity or cause type sites. Blogs have now become mainstream and more and more businesses are using them to create buzz and help to get their own message out.

In fact, if you start looking around online for blogs, you’ll soon feel like everyone and their dog is blogging! The reason is that there are many benefits of creating your own blog:

Build a community around a topic
Allow for feedback from visitors
Increase your credibility
Highlight your personality
Develop friendships

Building a blog is a cost effective way to market your business even if you have a tight budget. Your blog will allow you to start a conversation with potential customers and others in your field. The open ended aspect of a blog that allows for readers comments engenders trust and promotes credibility.

Many people find it difficult to trust online businesses and advertising, but they do build trust with strangers and even make friends online with those who they feel have credibility. For this reason, blogging can be as effective as word of mouth marketing.

Be sure to ask your visitors for their comments. Don’t block negative comments, politely respond to them instead and use them to help clarify any potential issues. Visit other blogs in your field and comment on them. Build relationships with these other bloggers, respect their time and their blogs – don’t overtly advertise your products and links in your posts.

If you don’t already have a blog, it is both cheap and easy to get one started. TypePad and Moveable Type are two of the most popular, with TypePad starting at $4.95 and Moveable Type designed for larger enterprises. We use QuickBlogCast by GoDaddy for this blog and we highly recommend their service, which starts at as little as $3.99 per month.

Using a blog to increase awareness of and market your business is fast, flexible, inexpensive and fun!

Clothing Company Creates Civil War Era Garments

S. Denise Hoyle — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Gerald Durbin is an avid Civil War re-enactor and former truck driver. During a downturn in his trucking business in 1990, Durbin’s life changed forever when he decided to make a replica shirt for himself because his wife was too busy to sew it for him. He found the pattern he wanted in a book, cut the striped fabric and sewed it up himself. “It was a fluke,” Durbin says, “but every stripe matched up.”

Durbin (pictured at left with wife Linda) wore his new shirt to the next event and a woman in a small tent store near the make-believe battlefield asked him where he got it. She ended up ordering 50 of his shirts, which inspired the launch of a new business that reportedly now earns about $500,000 in annual sales.

Coon River Mercantile now employs seven people, including Durbin’s wife Linda, two daughters, Durbin’s stepson and a grandson. “When they were younger, they all went (to re-enactment events) and dressed up and all that,” Durbin said. “Then it became a business, and everybody just started working here.”

Production occurs at Durbin’s Des Moines, Iowa home, but Coon River Mercantile’s uniforms are available nationwide at stores that cater to re-enactors, as well as through their website at http://www.coonriver.com/. The Durbin family is proud that their uniforms have been worn on battlefields across the country, as well as in the feature films ”Gettysburg” and “3:10 to Yuma.”

Andy Fulks, owner of an Indiana store specializing in Civil War items that also sells Coon River clothes, says that Durbin is “one of only two or three people who produce real high quality Civil War uniforms in this country.” There are approximately 40,000 to 50,000 Civil War re-enactors nationwide, who each spend an estimated $1,200 to outfit themselves with a uniform, tent and gear.

Durbin hasn’t looked back since he sold his last truck in 1991. “In the trucking business, you blow a tire and it’s $300. Here, if I blew a belt on a sewing machine, it’s 12 bucks.”