Little Effort, Big Business Results

Do you know that hesitation feeling you get when you are going to have a garage sale and you are doing all this work to get it ready and you wonder...what if no one comes?  Or what if no one wants my stuff?  And then at the end of the day you have a couple hundred bucks in your pocket... YOU did that!  You put your self out there and people responded.  Maybe you posted an add on Craigslist or you just stapled up a couple signs around town.  And people came, they bought, and you conquered.

The same thing amazes me with the things that I have been up to lately.  Like having a handmade clothing business.  Really? 157 sales and wholesale accounts?  Really?  In reality it seemed like little effort and people have responded to my taste and my spin on little girls clothes.

There was another venture I made recently that really made me think about this public response.  I make wrist pin cushions.  I don't have them online yet and really want to get there. (please kick me in the hiney and tell me to get going on this.)  But I made up a batch of them went to Sisters, OR.  To The Stichin' Post. Owned by Valori and Jean Wells, fabric designer and quilters.  I talked to the manager there. She looked at my pin cushions and asked to keep one to show Jean. I also had a very simple line sheet of prices.  That same day I got an email for an order of 72 pin cushions!  I was thinking 20...Nope 72, right on!

Then I made another stop at another quilt shop in Bend, OR. "We would like 48."  They said!  Are you kidding me!?  Ok little to no effort.  No special marketing, just a little stopping by and wabam! 120 sales!

With little preparation you can really get results.  I mean lets get down to some of the effort involved.  You should have a business card, some prices on a paper (hopefully printed from the computer and your logo and contact info) and dressed properly.  When you put yourself out there, people respond.

Just like a garage sale, just like PerryFinalia, just like wrist pin cushions. 

Are you wanting to offer something to the public and something is holding you back?  What is it?