Hey guys it's Olivia I'm so happy back here today this content writing is so vital if you're starting a wholesale business whether you're a handmade maker like me and your business is all products are making in-house or if you're importing goods or just starting. a wholesale business in general it might also be interesting if you are a consumer and shop at boutiques or you know just kind of want more information about how retail as a whole works. I said I definitely think that it's not an industry or thing within the industry people talk super openly about it's pretty complicated there is a good amount of learning that goes into it.I am trying to take five tips and kind of condense it for you guys and hopefully this is helpful and interesting please let me know if any questions give this video a thumbs up if you enjoy it comment below I'd be happy to respond to you and consider subscribing if you're new here I have tons of business tips and just kind of life as being a small business owner okay. so I want to start by just telling you guys my wholesale history just so you know this information is coming from a trusted source I started my business almost nine years ago which is wild to think about but I've been doing wholesale probably for about eight years and it's been a huge learning curve for me I've learned so much along the way I started doing wholesale just kind of by chance someone contacted me if they could carry my hair there my hair ties and their boutique in Seattle Washington and I just kind of like fumbled it together and figured out a formula since then I have sold to huge companies like Juicy Couture pop sugar other things that that nature big retailers in Japan and Korea I have learned so much but I really do think about wholesale as being my bread and butter kind of what is paying the bills each month for me and makes me feel comfortable being a self-employed in a small business owner with wholesale for me comes security and all my retail sales and craft fair sales are kind of icing on the cake that's. how I think about it obviously retail sales are incredibly important to my business but having a good core of wholesalers that I know will be ordering for me a few times a year it really gives me peace of mind like sleep at night if you want to put it down into the most simple way of talking about it so anyways these are my five tips for starting a wholesale business number one is going to be getting at your margins right and this ties in with getting your pricing right I have an entire video about pricing your goods and I'll link that in the cards in the description box but just fundamentally when you are pricing your goods whether the handmade or you're importing them or whatever they may be are just reselling them wholesale make sure your margins are right and make sure that you are going to be making money the industry standard for wholesale is you sell your goods at 50% off and the logic behind that is if you're selling them at 50% off you're selling them in bulk so you're basically kind of making a deal with the wholesale client that you're selling them in bulk and that is kind of indicated in what your wholesale minimums are and a lot of people if you do a trade show or something like that the Oskie where they're opening order minimum is and then what reorders are you need to price your goods so you can make money so selling your goods a wholesale price and I talked about that more in depth in my pricing video but basically getting at your pricing down and making it competitive and appealing to retailers is really really important okay so number two is going to be sourcing your materials to get the best price possible this goes hand-in-hand with pricing your goods and sourcing things correctly spend time trying to cut costs by investing in more bulk supplies I do this by purchasing elastic in bulk purchasing brass in bulk package prep even buying packaging in bulk like playing my cards I string my hair tie it on it's stuff like that my cellophane bags really if you're going to be selling products wholesale which means if you're reselling in bulk invest in inventory whether that means the final product or the pieces of the final product like the materials this will help you so much meat and get your margins down and make more money well selling wholesale I highly recommend that and that's something I think a lot of people overlook but there is a level of investing in your business you can sell wholesale effectively and efficiently so number three builds off the back of one and two it's basically are you able to fill large purchase orders this might mean that you need to hire help to do some of the production it might mean that you need to take out a small business loan or ask friends and family for help kind of buying into your first chunk of inventory it might mean that you you know stay up late and work extra on your side gig but before you start doing wholesale in general you really need to make sure you can fulfill wholesale orders I personally dealt with this where I've taken on huge orders or just a lot of small orders and then abandoned totally crunched trying to get these orders of filled and out the door and it's extremely stressful because you're doing things in bulk and both work takes a lot of work so that's something I really recommend and looking at your production process and really digging into how you can be efficient and if you are hiring help how they can be the most helpful for you before is going to be getting at your line sheets made and this is one of the things that I think can be really daunting but does not have to be there are templates online even on Etsy for making line sheets you can design them pretty easily in. In Design and things like that if you are a design savvy but having a really clear beautiful line sheets which are basically the information you're giving to your perspective wholesale clients that give them the minimums the pricing the retail pricing all the information that they need to know to place a wholesale order from you that's where they're getting it and it's kind of an old school system but it's really important and the more clear and efficient that can be the better chance you have for retailer for placing a whole set order with you again not to keep sound like a broken record I have an entire video dedicated to building line sheets which I'll link in the cards in the description box which kind of breaks it down I think I even show you a version of my own business design sheets ok so number five is make a game plan for how you're gonna find shops to sell to and this is the most broad and confusing and complicated of all the tasks but there are tons of resources out there to help you wholesale onfox is something I always mentioned they have types of videos I've made collaboration videos with them in the past about different ways to pitch yourself to retail stores they have this entire new kind of Education workbook series from they're doing it under one Milko is how they're advertising it I'll link this in the description box but they sent me these and this one is standing out to store owners and on store shelves is this workbook and it's very very helpful and then this one is kind of a goal planning workbook about not then now and soon it kind of helps you make your goals for your business but I really recommend them checking them out they basically help you and coach you through kind of writing pitch emails to shops that are curated for your business's needs they are targeted more towards handmade businesses but again they have so many blog articles and lit that can help you highly recommend checking them out the other way and the most obviously to kind of get your product seen by shops is going to be doing a trade show and trade shows are expensive they're time intensive they're emotionally draining they're physically draining but it is how you get your product seen by shops boutiques every type of thing like that I'd recommend if you are a handmade business checking out shows that have a handmade kind of curated section these will be definitely more targeted to you and what you are doing if you're not a handmade business there are other like up-and-coming kind of sections and shows but just do your research on trade shows and cough areas before doing them so recommend just going into the entire process with an open mind because every single trade show that I've done has been a huge learning experience you meet people you meet shops and you don't know what's gonna happen when you're there and it is just a great way to get exposure those are my five tips for starting your wholesale business.
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