I want to open up my own little fashion boutique that sells unique and some vintage clothing.?
Is it worth it? Will I make money from it? How do I start my own business? I don't have any money. This is my dream though.
Start by researching the business -- how to run and operate a retail clothing store, where to get suppliers, what is the type of clothes that your local market wants. The article "10 Things You Need to Know When Starting Your Own Business" http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/startingbiz.htm lists the steps you need to take when deciding on starting a business.
Clothing store is very broad, so the first step is to define whether you want to be Macy's that sells clothes to everybody or do you want a specialized clothing store such as JCrew or Banana Republic. Define your target market -- do you want a clothing store for teens, young professionals, tailored women, or plus sizes.
You may want to read the free article "Starting a Clothing Line Business" at http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol66/clothing.htm . It contains information on how you can get started in the apparel business.
I suggest you read the following articles on how to start a clothing store:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,287057,00.html
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/guide/cases/anna1.htm
I suggest you read the following books:
So You Want to Own the Store : Secrets to Running a Successful Retail Operation by Mort Brown, Thomas Tilling http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0809232367/ref=nosim/powerhomebizguid
Start and Run a Profitable Retail Business (Self-Counsel Business Series) by Jim Dion, Ted Topping (Contributor) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1551801000/ref=nosim/powerhomebizguid
Start Your Own Clothing Store (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Up) (Paperback) by Entrepreneur Press http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891984314/ref=nosim/powerhomebizguid
The following Associations also can give you information on how to get started in this business
Professional Apparel Association http://www.proapparel.com
American Apparel Producer’s Network http://www.usawear.org/
Worldwide Responsible Apparel Manufacture http://www.wrapapparel.org/
American Apparel and Footwear Association http://www.americanapparel.org/...
National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers http://www.nafad.com/
Fashion Group International http://www.fgi.org
Apparel News http://www.apparelnews.net/
You also need to start scouting for a location. If you are going to find a location at the mall, here are some tips to consider http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol41/mall.htm
Write a business plan to help you plan out your business. Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:
- SBA Business Plan Basics http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/businessplan.htm
- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,7253,,00.html
- Bplans.com http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm
- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners
http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html
If you need help in terms of guidance, you can find free advice and mentors from the following organizations:
Government Mentoring Programs such as SBDCs, which works with community colleges and local business development councils to offer mentoring programs http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html ; or the Women's Network for Entrepreneurial Training http://www.sba.gov/womeninbusiness/wnet_roundtables.html
Volunteer programs such as SCORE http://www.score.org which is composed of mostly retired executives and entrepreneurs
Formal mentoring programs such as Athena Foundation http://www.athenafoundation.org/programs/globallinks.html , Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program http://www.helzbergmentoring.org/HEMP/ , or The Aspen Institute MicroMentor Program http://www.micromentor.org
Professional organizations such as the National Women’s Business Council http://www.nwbc.gov/Mentoring/programs.html
Industry and trade associations
Local business groups, such as the chamber of commerce
Local chapters of business groups
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