87 days...
...but who's counting?
I read an article several months ago in Newsweek about educated women who choose to "offramp" from their careers for the pleasure of raising their kids, and then the ways in which they "onramp" again once they're done. As an aside, they mentioned how numbers of stay-at-home moms open their own businesses, to such an extent that there's a term for this: "mompreneurship". Reason being that creative people now have a little time to try something out that they've wanted to. Many businesses are kid-centered, as one might expect, as bright people start reaching for solutions to their new situations.
Well, I've been toying with this very idea, and in the last couple of days, I've actually been doing some research about it. Part of it seems incredibly daunting to a person with minimal business knowledge. But I must admit, it really gets my juices pumping too.
I don't want to divulge too much (especially if it ends up going nowhere) but it's a clothing solution for small kids. I have five designs and a logo in my head. I'd like to run the whole thing as an internet-only business. I have a buddy in HK who could do the manufacturing end, though it would be nice to have it made here too, perhaps news of the death of NC's textile industry has been vastly exaggerated? It's not something I'd like to do the rest of my life, but perhaps for just a few years until Target chooses to buy me out? I can already visualize Biscuit posing for the ads, no problem.
Looking around the web I've discovered these key things: 1) no one else is making this, apparently, even though it would be incredibly useful and really kinda fun; and 2) the brand idea is also really obvious to me, but the trademark office has nothing like it either.
That's, in a nutshell, about all I know. I don't know how to write a business plan, how to turn the idea into something a manufacturer can use, don't know how to find fabric, don't know if I should at least put the logo into Illutrator and register it quickly, don't know how to make sure my idea doesn't instantly get copied, don't really know how to get the website registered and designed, don't know how much money I want or should risk to start up, I don't know the other players I should get involved (lawyers/designers/brokers?) It's a lot to figure out, which really pits me against my self-confidence.
posted by Anonymous @ 8:44 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Money? you don't need too much if you don't need manufacturing space and are doing this strictly from home.
I'd make sure you did nothing, nothing, nothing at all before getting the business plan nailed. There are lots of books and a lot more advice on the web about how to do this. It makes you concentrate on what you want and think you can do. I'm not sure you should register your trademark before you do this. (But don't share it, either...)
Sounds really exciting, Nicole!
Check out this URL regarding help writing a business plan: http://www.ncccs.cc.nc.us/Business_and_Industry/sbcnmainpage.htm
Also, I think most all states need to provide their own version of a workforce investment board, which should provide the same services. But I am not promising anything.
I keep hearing this issue discussed regarding highly-successful professional women "off ramping" as you call it. My thought is always, I dunno, it still seems OK for women to do that, but men still have to bare the stigma of not being providers should they want to stay home with kids. If it was just as socially exceptable for both sexes to off-ramp, what would it look like then?
there are books in the business section of major bookstores that have do it yourself "business plan" writing guides. I've seen a few out there because I work with a consultant who does diversity training and one of his services is business plan writing, too. Start with Abrams, Rhonda M. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies (she has two editions out now). ~ Mytoan
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