I want to start my own business & I'm only 18 years old! However, I have no idea how to get started?! HELP!!

Question

I really like politics and for the longest time I have come up with savvy political sayings that would look great on shirts and pants. My first question is how would I get this started and you guys being the consumer would you guys ever be into buying stuff like this?! Constructive comments only please!

Answer 1

You have the entrepreneurial quality. Very good ideas. You can have a stand inside a mall and sell them there. You can also sell them on Ebay. However, in my opinion, you will have a small market because you'll have a select few of consumers who are interested in politics. If you would like to start your own business you may want to consider having an online business. I recommend owning a reseller website that has a selection of quality products. Online, you will be able to reach out to a huge market. You can check out the link that in my source. They pay out 100% commission. That's $20 for every sale and it's automated. I wish you the best of luck.

Answer 2

Here is a book for you.  A complete plan with lots of example of actual sales on ebay and other places.

Needs only $50 to start, but profits are enormous.

How to make money selling stamps and you will learn a lot of non conventional ways.

You may learn a lot just by the sales page...

Good luck with your business

Answer 3

Good for you.

Do market research before you invest a lot of time and money in your new venture.  Go to a local silk screening company and see what it takes to actually make the t-shirts.  

Test a few samples.  You can do that at school or local athletic association events.  Just ware them and offer them for sale to those who ask about them.

Once you do find a niche, register your company name with the state so that you don't have an issue of someone taking your idea and running with it. (You can do that on line and it doesn't cost much.)

Also, go to the local library and tell the librarian exactly what you asked here.  He or she will point you in the right direction.  That's their job.

Good luck.

Answer 4

you need to read books and magazines on starting your own business and/or take come business courses in college

Answer 5

First things first, don't worry about actually "starting" a business legally yet.  It's easier than it sounds, however it's not necessary unless you're actually making money.  Just do what you can to make & sell your t-shirts and when you sell a few then do your best to re-invest your money wisely back into the business in order to grow it.  Often in business people are scared off or discouraged by what they see as all the "red tape" so they never even get started.  Most importantly GET STARTED.  This company http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/  will set you up a site to sell the t-shirts you design and will make and ship them as you get orders for you.  Once you have your site, you can use google AdWords to start driving traffic.  With adwords you choose keywords and demographics and google will place your ad in search results and drive traffic to you (for a relatively modest price).  It's up to you to make sure that the keywords you use are specific enough that the people that see & click on your ad might actually want to buy your stuff.  I would recommend coming up with a highly controversal or memorable design and focusing on that in hopes of creating a "buzz".  You could also give a few of them away for free to people who would actually wear them around other people who'd be interested in having their own.  You could also pound the pavement and start going around to privately owned clothing stores trying to sell them, they may buy 5 at a time if they really think they can sell 'em, or you can sell them on consignment where you'd take them back if they couldn't sell them.  I agree with the first person as far as reading lots of books, that's an absolute must.  Start with marketing & advertising because if you're not selling anything yet you won't really need any other skills.  Classes are ok if you're going for a degree, but if not, i'd just read the class textbooks to learn the information.  Lastly, as far as t shirts go, consider that slogans and sayings that people agree with & support may not always be things they would want to wear on t shirts so choose wisely.  But get going, just do it, and don't be afraid to spend some money and give a few away for free in strategic places.   Don't let anyone tell you you can't, usually it means that THEY can't.  Go Get 'Em!