I started my first business in high school. Some of my friends and I got together and decided to make some necklaces with clay beads (they were a fad at the time). We went to Ben Franklin (a local craft store) and bought some supplies.
The total cost was less than twenty dollars for clay, rope, and metal clip ends. We assembled them and ended up with about thirty necklaces. After we started wearing them at school other people asked us where we got them.
We told them that we made them and had a bunch more. We ended up selling about ten to other classmates for $5 a piece. Then we decided to try to make a nicer product.
We put some of the money back into buying plastic beads, some white with etching and some turquoise in color. We wrote down some different combinations and took to the streets. Going door to door.
One of my friends was very good at this and he became our salesman. We had been selling them for $5 a piece and doing well. He upped the price to $7 and did just as well.
Things were going great. We had made over $100 in cash and had an inventory of about 20 necklaces. We didn't do any advertising (except wearing the necklaces ourselves) and did well by word of mouth.
Then we were robbed by one of my friends' older brothers. The older brother and his friend raided our workshop (located in his basement) stole many of the necklaces and the money we had made. We kind of lost interest after we were unable to recover the stolen merchandise.
The older brother gave away a bunch of necklaces to his friends thus flooding the market and decreasing the demand. The fad was gone soon after that and that was the end of my first business. Have you ever started your own business?
What worked and what didn't? What can you learn from your experience?
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