If you are a plumber or electrician selling a service, you can probably work from home, storing your equipment in the garage and using a desk in the corner of the lounge as your office. If you plan to sell goods you will have a supply of stock. This must be stored and possibly displayed somewhere, and you will need some way by which your customers can obtain these goods from you. How you do this will determine whether or not you need premises to operate your business from.
Party plan
You take your products to your customers so do not need premises. Small items work well, such as jewellery, cosmetics and the original party plan classic–Tupperware. Certainly in the early days of your business, stock can be stored in a corner of your home with paperwork being done at the kitchen table. Going into people’s homes in the evenings or offices at lunchtimes, to sell to them in their own environments, is a cheap way to set up a business. This way of selling relies very much on the personality of the seller and would suit someone who is gregarious and outgoing.
Mail order
To do this really well, traditionally you would have needed to produce a glossy, colour catalogue, showing photographs of all the products you sold. This was a costly exercise to produce and frustratingly inflexible to maintain when you wanted to include new products or delete those that were no longer available. Postage was expensive to send copies out to all enquirers, not all of whom would have placed an order.
Nowadays, with the invention of the digital camera and the Internet, this is a much more appealing way to trade. There is no question that a professionally photographed catalogue should look superb but you can get started by taking photographs yourself and setting up a website. Email prospective customers or post them a one-page flyer directing them to your website for the full catalogue.
