Ask Fashion Girl

Dear Lindsay:

It's great that you want to go into business for yourself, but a project like this takes a lot of research and development before launching into the production phase. You've got to research what stores in your area carry small handmade articles. You've got to develop your bag idea, and make a prototype. Then you've got to take your bag prototype to the stores you've discovered and ask them if they'd be interested in handling your bags. One thing to ask is if they take merchandise on consignment—that means they display your merchandise, but you get a percentage of the sales price only when the item is sold. Other stores might buy your bags outright, giving you the money when you deliver the merchandise.

You can find appropriate stores by locating the shopping districts and tourist spots in your area where there are small individual shops, not mall stores. This is often in an older part of town, an"historic"part of town, or sometimes even a hip, trendy part of town. Then, methodically go into each and every store on the street looking at what they have for sale, and talking to the people who work there to see if this might be a likely location to sell your bags. Make sure you go on a weekday, during a time of the day when business is slow so that the people in the store will have time to talk to you—not when they're busy waiting on customers. Salespeople can be very helpful and full of advice, so try and find a friendly one and ask lots of questions about how they find merchandise for the store, who does the buying, when will they be in, and so on. Good stores to try are clothing shops and gift shops. Another place to try are the stores connected to art museums, which often like to carry unusual and handmade items.

This is a great idea, and with some planning and research, it could be a great success!

Sincerely, Fashion Girl