Is this a good idea for a business? Be Honest.?

I am really into making Cards and cakes. My fiance's sister is a trained florist too. I would like to set up a business in my local area in which you can get everything, all your cards, birthday cakes ect, balloons and flowers. Would this be a good idea for a buisness, is it a good idea to turn my hobby into my dream? I would also like to keep my weekend job would that be possible, I just work in a shop.

That would definately be possible and sounds like a great idea. Just have someone run the shop for you or have one day off (on the weekend). You will have to invest in it, but if it becomes a great business, then you will get all the money back and more.

go for it you can do anything if you want it enough

It would be difficult to get the business started and running, especially if you have another job, but if you really want to do it, it's worth a try. Good luck and God bless!

It sounds like a great idea. Very convenient.

Oh yes that sounds good! Well florists are always popular, you just have a little extra involved. If all the card stuff doesn't work well just leave it as a florists. I expect that it would do really well though.

If you are talking about setting up a business - opening a shop - I think it is very risky and expensive

However if you are talking about offering a service - you will bring the cake and balloons and flowers, you will work the people to plan the party, you'll do the coordination and running around - maybe. Your biggest problem will be publicity, letting people know you're available. And making sure the items you need are ready when you need them.

Sounds like a great idea. You can put out a survey at surveymonkey.com and see what the polls say.

I doubt that you will be able to keep that weekend job. But that is a good business to start. People are bent on convenience, so they'll enjoy being able to get all their birthday stuff in one place.
Good luck!

Weekends would probably be a busy time cos of all the parties at the weekend, so keeping your job might be a bit difficult. Its a good idea, go for it. But make sure you have a good business plan, advertising etc

yeah sounds really good

Its a great idea, go for it.

In business you must be enthusisatic & you seem to be that to me.

I don't know whether or not you should keep your weekend job because in buisnes you should give 100% to succeed.

You can try it but I think you will find that your shop will get very busy especially on a saturday.

Good luck & don/t forget to let us know how you get on.

sounds great..do your homework, business plan, choose suppliers (carefully) and develop a relationship whereby you support each other, financial, location etc. I did exactly that and turned my craft shop into a franchise and on-line as well...I also worked the markets at weekends once a month...for the first year...with products from my store..

WARNING: you will not succeed unless you are committed..and you research in depth...your weekend job comes last..

good luck

If you can make a job out of something you love doing and can make a decent wage then I say go for it .

But I also say running a business even it is something you love is not totally stress free. There is tax and insurance plus other overheads (finding and paying for a premises) to take care of and it is not something you can leave, you have to be on top of it.

If you are going to bake cakes you have to have a separate kitchen from your home kitchen for hygiene reasons.

If you can deal with this then I still say GO FOR IT. and the BEST OF LUCK

specialist shops like that tend to thrive more in larger towns or cities. it may struggle to get trade in a smaller town, although u could also sell your goods via an online link to your shop. it does sound like a good idea though. go talk to your bank or a financial adviser, they should be able to help u and get u started out. good luck !

sound good...maybe you need to put some more effort ...do some research about similar businesses and understand how they are successful but after that be original with the way you create your business ..make it unique and fun ...create a business plan ..start thinking about how you want the store to look, name , logos..ect...start to figure out if you love your current job more then to follow your dream...because when you are a 100 years old you could look back and say one of two things I wish I had followed my dream ...or my dream job came true...

good luck...

I think it's a very good idea. One stop shopping for party needs? I'd love to have that in my city.

You know what your dream is, okay, that's the first step.

Step two: BUSINESS PLAN

I make part of my income writing these things for other people, so to see if you have a workable plan, fill in the blanks with real thought through answers.

1. Who is my customer? (this isn't EVERYBODY - who are you planning to market to? Who is going to be attracted to your shop? age? income? education level?

2. Who is the competition? What other businesses are you going to have to compete with and how are you going to be different and better? Remember, you have to convince other business's customers to come to you, so how are you going to do that?

3. What makes your shop DIFFERENT than everybody elses?

4. What regulations am I going to have to meet? Licenses?

5. Location? Cost of location?

6. Marketing. See number 2. How are you going to draw people to you - and away from businesses they are already using?

7. Financials. Grab a spreadsheet and start figuring out your start up costs and how much money you're going to have to make a month to meet those costs. This is also the section where you have to be totally honest with yourself. Don't fudge those numbers and spend the time to get REAL numbers.

That said, visit your local Small Business Development Center. They are provided for your use by your tax dollars, so you might as well get their advice - you're already paying for it!

You're probably going to need to keep your part time job for the first few months of your new business, at least. Remember it takes 3-5 years for a new business to truly give a picture of what the future is. You've got to hang on through that time of growth.

yes it is a good idea of course

yep sounds good.

yes i think you should go for it if not you will always be wondering make your dream a reality good luck x

go for it that sounds a great idea

If you can follow all the advise already given - great. Then think about tapping into the wedding market. There's great potential there, for flowers, cakes, cards, invitations, balloons etc etc. It's a huge market out there-grab it! Good luck!

Go for it, you will never know until you try it.

Getting into cards is certainly a good idea. Even if there's a recession, people may dumb down on the present but they always buy a card, and possibly buy a better one because it helps their conscience about the present.

make the choice
full on business or hobby/business
the expenses of full business can take away the fun and add pressure and so much comitment
premises are huge expense especially at the times of year when business is a little quiet
if you have a reliable constant weekend job and can make extra with your flowers and cards then go that way
if it gets to the point where there is so much work you can't cope that is the time to make it full time and ditch the part time work
have fun
and good luck

give it a go girl.

Yes it is an excellent idea. these days I think you would have to include a delivery service for that business but your skills and your fiances sisters skills complement each other perfectly to produce an excellent partnership. Between you, you will have the celebrations market covered and you do have to be a bit cold when considering business so you can take account of the fact that at christenings, weddings, brithdays and even at funerals getting the cheapest deal is not usually the priority so if you offer a good service and quality products you should have a high profit margin.

Sounds like a really good idea as saves people going in loads of shops for the one occassion! Though maybe should consider doing wedding stuff as well, as people tend to spend more on weddings than birthdays, and with all the hassle that goes with organizing a wedding (I'm in midst of doing mine now!) would be great just to get so much from one shop. Would be good idea to set up a website so you can reach lots more people!
Also with weddings you have more stationary to offer therefore more revenue per customer!
Any business is a risk but the last thing you want to do is look back in ten years and think what if, life's for the living and following your dreams is important. Best of luck! Steph x

you wont no till you try and if don't try you will never no can i be yur firs customer

I think you should do it! It's worth trying and that's your dream....go for it!

Go for it, what you got to lose? You will regret it, if you dont try