BellaOnline Forums Career Small Office/Home Office Marketing Questions??

That's a great idea... I just don't know if I can, legally. I'm registered as a sole proprietorship, which means no employees. Would that be considered 'independant contractor', and would that be legal as a SP(if you know)?

And that is exactly my problem, you hit the nail on the head. I *don't* want to be pushy. I don't want people rolling their eyes or cringing when they see me coming. And I am no good at recognizing the lines there, and when they are being crossed.

I am fortunate in one regard... because I have had no funding for advertising or website related things or retail space, I don't have anything I have to pay for besides supplies, and I can make things per-order at this point... so I basically have no overhead. Which means 'I ain't goin' nowhere'. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I can stick around till the cows come home.

Sole proprietorship means one owner, and you can have employees, but yes, a commissioned rep would be an independent contractor--essentially they are their own business and you're selling to them. You'd do a 1099 for reporting their earnings to the IRS. This is easier than hiring them as an employee & paying employment taxes and unemployment. But, this is not my area of expertise, so I suggest more research, and maybe looking into the LLC thing (it's not very expensive and offers personal financial protections you don't get from sole proprietorship).

Forget the pushy part--you are offering new products to help people--either personally with the product or for a small business by helping them create happy customers & make more money. If you think in your customer's viewpoint, and of being of value to them, you're not pushy, you're helpful. For instance, if you can help a spa owner increase their product revenue, how is that pushy? If you can help them create loyal customers, and help them help those customers, that's not pushy. Ditto for individuals--if you have a product that will fix a problem for them, it's a shame to keep it a secret! So, you're not selling lotions & potions, really, you are selling comfort, relief, healing.

Hello Deb,

Thank you so much for all the great tips I have already picked up by reading this thread. I have a small shop on half.com, but it is growing everyday. Currently I have over 500+ books, and some movies and music as well.

Thanks to your advice in another thread I have already ordered business cards. Do you think I should put the cards in with my orders, or would that be repetitive since my url is already on the invoice?

Do you have any other suggestions as to how I can make myself stand out a little more amongst so many sellers on a site like that?

Thank You!
~Carol Anne

Thanks for posting here Carol Anne! Definitely put your cards in with your orders. Most people have someplace to keep cards handy--even if it's just all in a stack--but most people file or toss invoices.

You could perhaps offer a newsletter that you could email to notify them of new products.

And, I don't know much about half.com, but perhaps you could "package" some of your offerings. For example, a few books by the same author or the same genre, or a book & a movie or something like that. I know you can package on ebay, but I'm not sure about half.

And, you can maybe find synopses of the books/movies on Amazon or on the book covers or somewhere to put in the full description, so if someone is just "browsing", they will find more info to determine whether the book, movie or CD is something they would like.

Good Luck with your business! Sounds like you & mom will having some pretty great trips!

Enjoy!
Deborah

P.S. If you haven't already, you might want to sign up for the SOHO newsletter, and browse around the SOHO site for other ideas. Here's a link:

http://www.bellaonline.com/site/soho

The latest article is on ebay trading assistants--you might find it interesting.

I've had homebased bath and body business for almost two years. I'm gonna be honest. this is the hardest thing I've had to do in my life.
you'd think your neighbors and church friends will support you because they know you. this isn't always the case.
we depend on these people to get our business up and running. and to keep it that way.
I've been out of a small fortunate since I started my business. and if you're a small company. I wouldn't fall for any kind of advertising. you're gonna be in the negative for quite a while!
my advice to all small business starting is... just use your head. keep advertising as simple as possible. and if you're online. just do free online submissions for your website to promote it to search engines.

Norma, thanks for visiting & posting here in the forum. One of my missions is to help people learn how to market effectively and efficiently, and a key component for small businesses is learning from others. I'm sorry you had negative experiences with advertising. There are a lot of ineffective venues out there and it's a common mistake small business owners make. I'm sure others will benefit from your advice.

Check out the SOHO site here at BellaOnline for articles that might help you in your business. Here's the link: http://www.bellaonline.com/site/soho and, there's a free newsletter you can sign up for that will keep you posted on updates.

Good luck with your bath & body business--it's still a great business--we're all still stressed out!

Hi Deb,
I just wanted to thank you for all the great information you're providing. I think many of us women are very shy about getting our business names out there by direct contact with other business owners (asking them to post our flyers or leave the little plastic thingys with our business cards), so your advice about writing a "tips" column for newspapers is really a great idea. It wouldn't even require any face time with the editor--just an introduction letter with a sample column enclosed, and maybe a follow-up phone call. Safety tips as you suggested for the locksmith biz and cold-and-flu-season tips for the aromatherapy biz could really go a long way toward building credibility (and new business) for each! Really super advice, thanks again.