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| Card sold by CallMeArtsy you can view/buy here |
I know there are many people like me, that are wanting to start a greeting card business. If you've researched online you know that most of what you find are articles and blog posts on selling your writing and/or illustrations to other card companies.
But what if you want to sell your own creations straight to consumers?
Well the few others that I read have set, in my opinion, a high number as a start up guideline, they say on average it will cost $1,000 to get started.
So far this has not been my experience.
I did find some of the information useful, but mostly the suggestions feel as if they were written pre-Etsy, pre-eBay, pre-social media well basically, pre-internet. That isn't to say you shouldn't pound the pavement and use the consignment method to get your cards into local shops if that is part of your plan, I just feel that it isn't the only way.
And yes, I haven't actually open my (virtual) doors yet so please take this with a grain of salt. But so far the focus groups and research I've conducted leads me to believe these days people usually turn to the interent to shop for greeting cards BEFORE heading out to stores (if they can't find anything). It's the convenience factor.
And because I found so many "how to start a greeting card company" articles during my initial research lacking what I was looking for, I decided to simply look at similar businesses. I read about how they started and what worked for them. Just remember to research while still staying true to your own vision. That vision you had when you first decided to start your business.
It's easy to want to do exactly what others have done. But we are all different and so are our businesses, we need to test and find what will work for us.
The businesses I looked into where textile, stationary and paper companies as well as a few artists that sell their artwork in different formats.
So remember, research, keep true to your vision and look into all avenues to get your cards seen. After that you can decided on a sales and marketing plan that fits in with your product line.
Luck to us all. :)
