would any of you be interested in ...

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
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buying homemade natural and organic skin care?

I make them, and it is soooo hard trying ot sell them, because I don’t have the resources for advertisements on tv etc.. I have opened an Etsy shop for now, only have 2 products on there, but will be adding more..

I can make just about anything from moisturizers (face and body), to hair oil packs, to face serums, to cleansers, etc etc…

P.S. – moderators, I tried looking for the classified section as well in this forum, couldn’t find it.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

Classified is under the Bazaar forum. Here’s the link: http://www.paklinks.com/gs/classified-ads/

So here’s a question before I write a novel on this…are you selling these items just to make some extra money on the side OR are you interested in growing this into a full-time business?

What ways have you tried advertising?

Post your store link in classified. I would like to see how it’s put together.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

Hi Paheli .. I am interested in doing this as both.. to make extra money, but my end goal is to turn this into a full time business if I am able to sell enough etc…

I have told people by word of mouth, but it’s hard.. .I believe once I start selling, then those people will get (anticipated) great results, and they will tell their friends and so on and so on..

Right now, I only have a few items listed, I am slowly adding in more.. but the above mentioned items I can already make… They are all made to order, I don’t want to buy all the ingredients, packaging etc too much in advance and have it go to waste if this fails :frowning:

I have posted a thread in classifieds… It’s titled - Inspire Your Skin

https://www.etsy.com/shop/InspireYourSkin?ref=hdr_shop_menu

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

I’m sure Paheli will be writing that novel…

I, for one, would want a comprehensive ingredient list. I also think you need to brand. It doesn’t cost a lot to have labels printed up for your bottles and tubs.

Also, I’m not sure how in demand the products would be as is. Older users will know that I love my oils too. The website I’ve always purchased from in the UK is predominantly a supplier of essential and carrier oils for those in the beauty industry (aromatherapy/massage etc) and they also sell cosmetics bases etc plus have guides on how to make your own blends… so there would be nothing stopping me from making my own unique products. So, going back to the ‘having a brand’ thing.. you need to have a unique selling point/find a niche, your products have to offer to do something that will appeal to a segment of customers. For example, I remember a couple of years a mother created a cream from oils for her daughter’s eczema which became hugely popular as it was so effective.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

I’ll be waiting for that novel haha…

All my products do have an ingredients list, nothing is hidden. I am thinking of b*****ng as well, just have to find something. That way, my items would stick out more from the rest.

And I’ve thought about what you’ve mentioned already.. with making your oils, and it’s true, you can very well make your own. But not all people want to go through that hassle of doing it. That’s why so many people sell it to others. I have seen plenty of online sellers who sell stuff that I can easily make and so can others. However, clearly those customers only wish to buy cuz I have seen 1000s of reviews on those items. So, I would like to be one of those sellers eventually.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

If you want to sell them commercially, you will need to go through from regulations and law of land.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

So I went through your shop and here are my brutally honest opinions. I don’t buy from places like Etsy b/c I have no idea who I’m buying from. It could be someone sitting in some garage putting God knows what into that product. I don’t mind buying from small businesses…but the business needs to convince me that they’re running this as a business and not a hobby; that they have invested time AND money into the products they are selling. You have A LOT of work to do if you want to to grow this into a proper business. To be brutally honest, your Etsy site makes it seem like you haven’t spent any time at all putting this business together.

Here are the things I noticed about your store:

  1. Who the heck are you? Your Etsy store has 0 information about you as a person or business.
  2. While I understand that you don’t have tons of money…the fact is that starting a business will require SOME monetary investment. You don’t even have a logo. As Stoppit mentioned, you need a brand. A logo/name that’s used to label ALL your products.
  3. Read product descriptions on other well established web sites. Don’t write “such as” when listing ingredients. Just list everything that’s in it. “Such as” makes it seem like you’re not listing every single ingredient.
  4. I would not write that your products comes from a “pet free home”. Why do you want to point out to potential customers that you’re making this in your home? You are a business! When I order a product, I expect it to come from a pet free, smoke free environment. You don’t need to point this out; this is a given when you’re selling products.
  5. You wrote “Add several items for a discount on shipping, but let me know before you do so, so I can adjust the shipping costs.” What does this even mean? Does “several” mean 2, 3 or 4? And what’s the discount? If you want to offer a discount, make specific #'s and make it VERY clear what you’re offering.
  6. I would take out the paragraph under each item for allergies/customized product. Instead, I would add another “product” and label it “Customized Cleanser”, “Customized Oil” whatever. And there I would say that if someone has sensitive skin or allergies, they can contact you with their skin concerns and you will be happy to make a customized item based on their specific needs.
  7. The pictures are ugly. I want to reach in the screen and throw away the flowers. Look at professional sites and see how they have pictures of their products. No bright colors/flowers or other crap in the background. Just the product itself with the label clearly visible (and I will repeat, your products need labels!).
  8. What is your return policy? I didn’t see anything about this at all.

As I wrote earlier, you need to invest some money if you’re serious about starting a business. It does not have to be tens of thousands of dollars…but it can’t be $0 either. One good investment is to just create a website. This is the fastest way to make yourself seem like an actual business. Go look MUAC, Garden of Wisdom etc. web site. Your site should have detail sections on FAQ, shipping, returns etc. It should also have a phone number for customers to call. GoW is a small family owned business but they have a local phone number. They answer phones from Mon-Fri, 10:00 to 3:00 with 1 hour break for lunch. But just the fact that they have a number and I, as a customer, can call and talk to an actual person gives the business tremendous amount of legitimacy.

As for advertising, you should have business accounts on FB, twitter, instagram. Ask ANYONE you know to like your page or share it. Update your page on a regular basis with skincare tips or whatever. Do you ever watch YouTube videos or go to makeup/nail blogs? Do you have any idea how many of the products that are reviewed by these people are given to them for free? That’s something you can easily take advantage of. Reach out to people on YouTube and on various blogs; tell them that you’re a young woman trying to start your business and you would love to send them samples of some products to have them review it. This will require you to invest some money in making these free samples, but getting these bloggers on websites/YouTube to review your products is HUGE. Of course, in order to do this, you first need to make your products/website look professional. Same goes for people you know in real life. Give them samples to try! Don’t just say that you’re selling stuff and expect them to spend money.

As for the samples, you don’t need to give full size items. Get 1/2 oz bottles for samples. Speaking of which…I would also as a “trial pack” where you sell 3 different things in 1/2 oz sizes for like $10-$12. This way, someone can try multiple products without having to shell out $$$.

That’s it for now. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. :slight_smile:

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

I will look into what you wrote and see what I can do.. Thank you sooo much for your help and ideas… Some of the things you have mentioned, I have already done, such as reaching out to the makeup divas on YouTube, and I haven’t gotten any response…

To my defense, I only started this about a week ago, so I know I have a long way to go and it’s a work in progress..

again, thank you :slight_smile:

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

honest answer:
I simply wouldn’t launch a product line without having a completed “look”. That includes name and labels.
First impressions in this industry are key so if you start reaching out to people and talking up your line without having it appear professionally done, even if it’s home made, they will dismiss you and be reluctant to have a second look later on.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

Either you’re able to create a professional looking business or you’re not. That’s why I asked you whether this is a silly side thing to make a few extra bucks OR if you’re interested in making it into a proper business with a lot of earning potential. If you talk to any business owner, they will tell you how hard it is to get started. It requires TONS of time, effort, and some monetary investment. Do you ever watch Shark Tank? Or Billion Dollar Buyer? Watch those to get an idea as how the people got started and how much time/effort it took for them to get to where they are.

As Muzna already wrote, first impressions are key. I would be surprised if ANY reputable bloggers or YouTuber agrees to review your product based on your current store. And it’s naive for you to think that within 1-week of starting, you can/should open a store, list products, and contact established people in the business.

I would take down the Etsy store for now. The first thing you need to focus on is creating a name for your brand, a logo, and labels. Once that’s done, you need to look into creating a professional looking website with all the things I listed above. Once you have all that done, THEN you can start listing products and advertising.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

100% agree! First impressions/reputation is everything when starting a small business that’s so competitive.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

I am going to take a different approach and say start small. I have been using and buying from etsy for god knows how many years. I have always been into natural care products.
Etsy is a great place to start. People have had great success with it. You don’t have to have a million products listed and you don’t need a big business plan for it. That’s the great thing about etsy. It’s caters to home businesses.

I would say make a list of products you want to sell and how the packaging will look (doesn’t have to be fancy. Simple and clean always works too) and then someone who can take very creative pictures. Put them on etsy. Spread the word around starting with family and friends. Share on your FB . Start an Insta page (find tags that cater to clean holistic skin care). It takes time, could be an year before you get some headway, but once you do pick up it, it will be an easy ride. Someone suggested samples, that it a good start too.

Key is to finding a niche market. Maybe start with a product that is unique (Just for ideas, I was recently looking for a hair oil and saw this lady on etsy (I always check reviews etc. before I buy), was selling a bottle with a bunch of great herbs. (Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/266197479/organic-ayurvedic-25-herbs-mix-for?ref=shop_home_active_2 ). I loved how she had the bottle and the herbs (I am sucker for good creative pictures) With a fulltime job, I don’t have the time to buy and make my own. I rather buy from someone. You WILL always find a buyer (like me) as long as your product is interesting enough and by interesting, it doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. You will be surprised how simple things sell well too. Make your products the key.

When you don’t have the resources, I think it’s better to leverage etsy rather than build your own website . It already has a customer base. Sometimes when you plan big it can be overwhelming and bog you down.
I am not going to go into details on what you can do to your etsy site (People above have given good advice on logo etc) but I have listed some shops that I have brought from. Maybe you can take some tips on how they package and present them etc.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/good4you
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SoapyLayne
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShantiAromatherapy
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BellaromaBoutique

And this is my fav shop that I have been buying for sometime
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Herbolution

Lastly, if you are thinking about it just do it. I was in your place few years back and wanted to start something. Everyone gave me good advice but it always started with “you need huge investments, you need to hire a planner, you need to watch this, do that” . I took a step back, focused on starting small, taking full advantage of social media (fb, insta) and have had good success. Had I aimed for the stars, I would probably be nowhere.

**you mentioned you reached out to some diva’s on YouTube. Since you are just starting, look for bloggers/youtubers who have a small following. They will be more willing to listen than someone who is big. Also I would focus more on bloggers who are more into vegan/clean/green living and use more natural products then your box standard makeup youtuber.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

^ good advice.
I don’t think that you’ve taken a “different approach”…nobody is suggesting that a huge investment is required…just professionalism.
Labels and proper b*****ng does not need a lot of money. Just creativity.

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Re: would any of you be interested in …

Its so refreshing to see strangers reaching out to help strangers.

Opinions are very valuable. Lovely of you to share them. Good work folks! @Munza, Twittwit, Pahelo, Stoppit.