Sewing toys work. How to make money on homemade toys? Requirements for the premises

Time does not stand still, and nowadays many young mothers do not want to sit idly by on parental leave. And I think that's right! Some just want to spend their free time usefully, and some want to earn an additional fee. We, mummies, know how many things our kids need, and that's all, it costs a lot of money. But you really want them to have everything the best and most beautiful. Therefore, all of us, sitting at home with a baby, sooner or later begin to think: "How can a young mother earn money?"

Likewise, after a short time after the birth of my child, and this is somewhere close to a month, I began to think about how to make a profit. After changing my mind on many ideas, I settled on one. How it was, I will tell you further ...

My name is, Antonova Svetlana, a young and modern mom. I have a wonderful daughter, she is already a year and a half. I'm actually 24 years old. My business is the idea is to make do-it-yourself children's development rugs and books... It is this type of my activity that I decided to engage in after I saw a huge amount of just these products on the shelves of children's stores. And, let's face it, the price for them was quite high. They interested me very much, so when I came home I decided to try to make a small play mat for my baby.

How to start your own business by sewing and selling do-it-yourself rugs

I found material for my first piece - it was old, unnecessary things and a few small soft toys. I was pleased with the result. I think then my 1.5 month old baby too. For over a year now given view activities bring me a pretty good profit.

At first, I didn't think my products would sell so well. Once, walking with the child and talking with the mothers in the yard, I invited them to look at my play mat, and at that moment, I still made a little book. She said, if they want, you can make an order at their discretion, the color of the product, the details that should be there, women can choose for themselves and I will do it taking into account their wishes, or if, like, let them look from what is.

I set the price for my products quite low in comparison with those branded toys that are sold in most stores and cannot be affordable for many. Then everything worked out, I earned my first fee and received a couple more orders. Then I wrote ads on the Internet that I was selling this type of children's goods and, having thrown off a few photos of my work, I successfully continued to do my job and waited for orders. Of course, at first there was great excitement about whether anyone would be interested in my products. And to my surprise, they began to call me and write questions, sending orders to my email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots.You need JavaScript enabled to view it... Well, my business began to improve, and it turned out to make very good money.

My husband was very supportive of my undertaking, he went to the store to buy fabric or some other details for products. For this, of course, I am very grateful to him. Everything is going so well that in the future my dream is to open a small sewing factory or open an atelier for sewing educational toys to delight little children. For me, this type of activity is a hobby and a type of main income, since I had not worked anywhere before.

Naturally, at first I was very worried that nothing would work out, no one would be interested in my products. But, all this is just excitement, so you do not need to doubt your abilities, always go forward and are not afraid of anything. But what feelings of joy and pride will overwhelm you when your beloved and dear business of sewing and selling developing rugs and books develops and flourishes. This, of course, is something!

I will not hide, at first I didn’t really have enough time, I tried to do everything while my daughter was asleep. When she got a little older, her sleep time decreased, and she naturally began to demand more attention to herself. It was here that our grandmothers came to the rescue, who with great pleasure spent time with their beloved granddaughter when I needed to fulfill some order. And then my daughter, and she herself began to help me in something. She is how interesting everything is! It was hard, tired. At times I simply didn’t have enough strength, then I gathered my spirit again and went to work. But all, it was worth it, the more I like to do it.

Therefore, young aspiring business women, I want to say, at first glance, it is very difficult to take the first step towards your business and career. There are many concerns. It seems that nothing will work. Before us, a bunch of questions immediately arise, where to start, and whether it will work out, whether I can handle it, whether I can combine a business and a child. But, you should never doubt your abilities.

Getting started with the choice

Parenting leave is a great time to discover new talents and find interesting hobbies. In mom's maternity leave, all the time is devoted to the baby, and even a bunch of household chores need to be redone. Being a mom is not an easy job. Occasionally, engaging in creativity is just a necessity, an attempt to add variety to your daily routine. With the advent of the baby, there is often a desire to pick up knitting needles, or start taking pictures. In general - to create.

Perhaps there was not enough time for this earlier, or maybe because an object and consumer of your creations appeared. Sometimes it brings not only joy and satisfaction, but also additional income... It is important for a young woman to realize herself. His story with the readers of the magazine Reconomica shared Diana. She sews educational toys.

Hello everyone! I am Diana Vladimirovna Soboleva from the city of Novomoskovsk, Tula region. I am 28 years old, currently in maternity leave(son 2 years 8 months). I sew educational toys and books for children, mainly from 0 to 5 years old.

Why did you decide to do this? It's simple. When a baby is born, I want to do something for him with my own hands, with soul and love. Well, it is useful for every woman to be creative, she needs it. In order to be full of energy, we must create !!!

Bright and fun.

At first, of course, I went online and found many different master classes, paid and free. I bought a terrible Chinese felt, in my city they don't sell another one, unfortunately ... I brought a 1961 Volga sewing machine from my grandmother. And she sat down to sew. Eyes just scattered! Where to begin? What to sew?

And then a client comes to my nails (I am a master of nail service at home), I share my discoveries and plans with her, show pictures on my phone. And just a miracle happened !!! She ordered a book from me, imagine, a book !!! Although I did not have anything sewn up at all, I got down to business. Naturally, since this is the first order, I sewed for a symbolic price, but still nice!

Then I created a group in VK. Now there are over 2,000 people. On June 31, my group will be 2 years old and how I started sewing educational toys! After a while, other orders began to appear, mainly from acquaintances and friends. She also sewed a dollhouse for the birthday of her husband's goddaughter. I promoted my group, did various contests, invited friends, and posted ads to other groups.

Orders, profits, customer search

After about six months, my group began to work. And before the new year, a bunch of orders appeared, everyone needs gifts! I even came up with my own New Year's book !!! And I did a paid master class on it.

I switched to good materials (Korean felt), bought a new Brother 2125 sewing machine. The cheapest, but so far it suits me.

And for this new year there were even more orders ... The night did not sleep, because this process takes a very long time. Somewhere in December I earned on sewing 15,000 rubles... But this is only before the big holidays.

Basically, a page of one book costs 400-500 rubles, depending on the complexity and plot. On average, a book consists of 3-5 sheets. This is 3000-5000 rubles. Naturally, the cost of the material must be deducted from this money. This is somewhere between 1000-1500 rubles. In general, the cost of a product is easy to calculate. You need to multiply the cost by three. And this is almost always how the price is calculated.

Another important point. Sewing toys and books is a very long process.

It takes me three to four weeks on average to write one book. Well, if, of course, you sew all day, then you can sew it in a week. But hardly anyone can devote so much time to this.

Gastronomic fantasy.

At best, earnings came out per month 5000-7000 thousand... But!!! So many things I want to buy ... So many buttons, fabrics ... All kinds of interesting things and things! And all this is needed, always needed! At home, just hamster supplies appear. And this is still not enough (I think that all girls will understand me), and I spent all free and non-free money on materials.

In fact, this is just an insanely interesting activity, it gives me great pleasure! Recently, such a situation even happened to me. I didn’t sew for two months, I completely switched my attention to another project. And I started having panic attacks! It was two days. But then an order came in, and I started sewing. Everything! He took off these attacks like a hand. I directly felt myself calm down.

If you creative person and you have perseverance, you will like this occupation.

But finding customers is actually problematic, since the price of the product is rather big, and not everyone can afford such a toy. It is easier for them to sew by themselves, and then even to organize paid master classes.

Learning numbers.

Now there are a huge number of different craftsmen who sew development items, there is a lot of competition. Therefore, you have to sweat over straight lines, quality work, good photos(blurry dark photo against the background of the carpet will definitely not work), attractive texts, regular work on your group "Vkontakte" or your Instagram account (or better, both).

If you decide to sew for your baby or sew to order, then it is advisable to immediately buy a good, high-quality master class.

About master classes

No, you can, of course, collect grains from free ones ... But why reinvent the wheel ?! To invent something myself, when they tell you everything, show you from beginning to end, chew, answer all questions and prompt. Moreover, the price of such master classes varies between 200-1000 rubles. Agree, this is not a lot of money.

Only when choosing, be sure to pay attention to the conditions. There are those on which you can sew only for yourself, but not for sale (in fact, I do not understand the point in such master classes).

Lacing.

Where to sell

If you decide to sew a book and you need to sell it, then there are many possibilities how to do it. For example, there are well-known Avito and Yula. There is a site "Fair of Masters" and many sites (Russian and foreign) of this type. There is also a group in the contact "Development Fair", where you can upload your work.

In principle, if the work is beautiful, high-quality and functional, then there will be no problems with the sale. Of course, you have to wait, but there will definitely be a little master.

What toys develop and the technique of making them

What are these educational books for? For the development of babies, of course. For the development of fine motor skills, learning to cope with various types of fasteners in a playful way (fastex, Velcro, sew-on buttons, magnetic buttons, buttons, zippers, lacing, etc.), studying geometric shapes, numbers, letters, colors and much more. The list can be almost endless (the rules road traffic, cars, a dollhouse, books on fairy tales, cartoons and poems, and so on).

There are also many different techniques in the production of this kind of books. For example, the pages themselves can be sewn from fabric (reinforced with a double-thread or padding polyester), or from felt. Can be done with or without inlay. All of fabric, all of felt. Different kinds binding and binding of pages. In principle, everyone will find something interesting for themselves!

Many women know how to sew, knit and are fond of other types of needlework, but they never think about making money from their hobby. Let's take the base of the plan for creating toys in the Teddy style as a basis.

Product

The first thing you have to do is decide what you will be making directly: bouquets of sweets, exclusive custom-made tori, soft toys or something else.

Photo by the author: Lyovkina Nadezhda, author in the magazine "The Wrong Side of Needlework", owner of the hand-made blog don-kupidon.livemaster.ru, Work experience: 3 years of study at the center - certificate of receipt additional education crochet with the right to teach, several years as a club leader applied arts, prize places in offline contests.

In our case, the product is soft toys made in the Teddy style. This is a special production technology in which all limbs of the toy are movable, while the mounts can be different types- bolted, cotter pin, thread. The traditional Teddy toy is a bear, but today there is a new term "friends of Teddy bears" - this is any animal (cats, dogs, hares, cows, horses, giraffes). The main thing is to adhere to the technological foundations of sewing.

Demand analysis

The next step is to conduct a demand analysis for the products you plan to manufacture. A free way to calculate market capacity is analysis search queries using wordstat.yandex.ru.

An example of analysis for the query "Teddy Bears":

On request "Toys self made»

On request "Handmade":

Production plan

The next questions to which you must find answers for yourself are: How to make toys? What equipment and materials will be required for this? What premises are required to start activities?

Requirements for the premises

The indisputable advantage of this type of activity is that to start a business there is no need to rent a production area, toys can be made at home.

Manufacturing technology

The process of making soft toys can be carried out either by hand or using a sewing machine. The basis of any toy is a pattern, on the basis of which the manufacturing process takes place.

An example of a German bear pattern:

It is important to remember that by creating your own unique pattern, you become its copyright holder.

Equipment and materials

For a full-fledged home production of Teddy-style toys, you will need the following equipment:

Expendable materials

Name	average price



fur (artificial / natural)


Holofiber:
Synthepukh:

Weighting agent (glass, silicone or iron granulate)

Hardboard disks
Additional fabrics and accessories for finishing	According to the requests of the master. The minimum amount is from 3000 rubles.

The cost of the finished product

The next step that needs to be done is to calculate the cost of manufacturing a product in order to understand how profitable it will be to produce it and whether your toy will be a competitor on the market.

The cost price is determined from the sums of direct costs and indirect costs.

Direct costs are directly, the cost of materials used to create a toy.
Indirect costs are electricity, the time of the master.

An example of identifying the cost of a Teddy-style toy:

Direct costs
Fabric consumption
Fabric cost
Fabric costs
Hardware costs (cotter pins, paints, eyes, noses, pendants, etc.)
Thread costs
Total direct costs
Indirect costs
The amount of time spent taking into account the average cost of your work (for example, 200 rubles / hour
Sewing machine power (Rm)
Light bulb power (Re)
Time to manufacture a product on a sewing machine (tm) and under electric lighting (te)
Cost of 1 kWh (a)
Total indirect costs
Total direct and indirect costs

Of course, this is a very conditional plan, and each master modifies it "for himself." For example, you needed to spend time on shopping trips in search of suitable fabrics and so on.

From practice: on average, tailoring a simple Teddy toy has a cost of materials - about 1000-1500 rubles. The time spent by each master is different.

Pricing

Now you know how much it will cost you to make a particular toy, then you need to decide on its retail price. On average, the cost of work is determined by the sum of direct and indirect costs multiplied by 2 (cost of work). But you can revise this system to a greater or lesser extent.

From practice: When determining the price, you need to be guided by the cost of handmade toys, Teddy Bears are their "colleagues in the shop":

Target audience and ways to promote products

The next step you need to take to open own business is that you need to understand who will actually buy your products and where to sell them.

Potential buyers

The main target audience of buyers of soft toys consists of women, and there are practically no age restrictions, as well as children. Collectors and hand-made lovers in general can also be attributed to potential buyers (by the way, there are also men among them).

Ways to promote products

The market for hand-made toys is very specific; for it, the most relevant way of selling is trading via the Internet.

Distribution channels

Potential buyers can be found in thematic communities, on forums, in social networks.

Instagram
What "s App
Google Sheets
Flipagram

The social network Instagram allows you not only to share photos, but also to drive sales. Galina Protsenko from Moscow a year ago began to master this network for family business... Her @obgonay account was originally conceived to help her mother make money on toys - her mother had three stores. Today, the account has almost 87 thousand subscribers, foreign suppliers seek to cooperate with it, and the project's offline stores were closed due to their unprofitability. Galina Protsenko told the website about how to sell toys on the Internet and establish uninterrupted work through Instagram.

26 years old, entrepreneur, sells educational toys for children through his Instagram account. She graduated from the College of the Russian Foreign Ministry, after which she worked for 5 years at the Russian Embassy in Chile. In parallel with work, she graduated Financial University under the Russian government with a degree in innovation management. He has been selling toys through his Instagram account since February 2016. Today in her project "Overtake!" five employees (managers and a courier).

Internet to help sales

Initially, my mother built a business selling children's toys in our family; she opened 3 retail toy stores in Moscow in 2015. At that time I lived and worked in Chile. Mom really needed help, but how could I help from a distance? Decided to create a website to support her retail stores.

I was pregnant at that time and understood that soon I would have to leave work and do something else. Therefore, I took up the site with pleasure. We invested in it about 10 thousand dollars (about 600 thousand rubles) in six months. The site itself cost about 120 thousand rubles. Plus photos of toys about 60 thousand, investment in advertising - 230 thousand rubles. We bought the goods so that there is a balance of goods. But for six months this money has not fought back.

I began to think why this is happening. In an offline store, you are limited to the region or district where it is located. There you, as a business owner, can only rely on people living in your area. And your site can be seen by any resident of Russia if you pay for its promotion. But how to sell toys in an online store: the client comes and is left to himself. Many people leave the site simply because there is no one to consult them.

These 2 opposites gradually led me to the idea of Instagram. Your account replaces the sales assistant and makes the buying process more enjoyable. Here and in social networks in general, you need to show your face so that people know who they are buying from.

Explore a new channel

Instagram "Overtake!" I started leading in February 2016. I believe that in order to do something, you need to have some kind of understanding about this area. I went to study at the Arpine Instoshkol, my husband and daughter Ksyusha and I were already in Moscow. The training cost me 12 thousand rubles. And this was the most successful investment in our business for the entire 2016, no kidding.

I am a marketer by training. Therefore, I have an understanding of the market and the mechanics of sales. But the specifics of Instagram were not. I needed good specialist with experience that would help me figure it out. I probably would have reached everything myself, but I would have made a bunch of mistakes.

Arpine, the founder of the institute, is more of a psychologist. She said one thing, which I am mainly guided by. Social media in general and Instagram in particular is not a sales channel, but an entertainment channel. If you want to buy something, you go to the store, not Instagram. Therefore, the task of the instagrammer who sells is, first of all, to entertain.

You should have not just a showcase with a product, but something that will hook subscribers and make them stay: dialogues, tips, games, contests. On social media, mostly impulse purchases, and people do them on trust in you - a specific person who has an account and who sells something.

Arpine taught us to speak Russian on her Instagram - just like we speak in everyday life. It is important that the language is simple and conversational. If I speak the language that I use in everyday life, then people who are like me come to me. Therefore, my clients are on my wavelength, and I am very comfortable with them.

Stepbystep

I had and still have my own personal Instagram, but for business I created a new account - @obgonay. It had 0 subscribers. He could get followers on his own, but that would take a long time. You have to pay for the promotion. I promoted my account wisely - not because I was so smart, but because I had no money.

On Instagram, ads can be aimed at attracting followers or attracting orders. I can call to action - "Buy from me!" or "Follow me!" People who follow me don't make orders instantly. They sit with me, imbued with love and trust in me, and only then come to buy.

When I first started selling toys over the Internet, and I had no money, I could not afford such subscribers. I needed them to place orders with me right away. It was required to work in such a way that my advertisement would be fought off that very evening. Therefore, I did not advertise myself as a store, but specific products. I said: "This pyramid is so wonderful, it costs so much, you can buy it here." And people bought, conventionally, a pyramid. During the evening, advertising fought back, I could go further and launch new advertising with the money received.

But all this time they were not very willing to subscribe to me, because the advertisement was tailored for orders. I gained my first subscribers for two months. Then, in September-October, 15-20 thousand subscribers per month began to be added. When I was typing them, I was aware that they would not make an order with me now. And so it happened - they came with orders before the New Year: in November-December.

How to maintain an account about children's toys

I try to post in the morning and evening. I do the selling at least every other day, because if there are continuous selling posts, it looks like spam: the person seems to have subscribed to an advertisement. Selling posts contain a description of the toy, a price, a call to action. I try to write as if you came to visit me, and I would tell you about my toys.

One post takes an average of half an hour. First you need to think about what I want to say. Then think about how I want to say it - the thought in my head is different from the one that appears in the account.

It happens that you write selling posts, but there are not many responses. In August, this was the case several times. From objective reasons this is due to the fact that everyone is on vacation. And because in July we had an excellent offer: people have already bought everything for themselves. The fault on my part - I did not have time to make normal posts. I wrote about good toys 2-3 lines maximum. Plus - the toys that were already on sale with us are not new.

I periodically post my personal photos - of myself with my child, so that people know me. Some are already addressing me as "you", the relationship is friendly. Daughter Ksyu (she is 2 years and 3 months) helps me a lot with Instagram. She loves taking pictures and playing with all the new toys. And I use these photos in my account.

Since the task of Instagram is to entertain, then I should have beautiful and pleasing to the eye photos. I have a photographer whom I invite once a month. We select new items for the next month, take many, many photographs, which I then gradually exhibit.

But home photography without polish is a must-have when it comes to toys. When people see a toy as it is - in a normal bathroom or on the street with all the street attributes - then much more trust arises in me and my account. A person sees that this is not a photograph "combed" by the manufacturers, but how the toy looks in real life. For shopping, this is a very powerful tool.

I still monitor my account. I do it and see what effect. “Hmm, it’s interesting,” I think sometimes.

How sales work

I have a registered LLC, I run absolutely white business: official supplies of toys, contracts with suppliers, even an online checkout under the new law. There has always been a legal entity, but at first it was my mother's. And now I have LLC "Overtake!" I like this name. Since we have educational toys, our slogan is: "Overtake in development, play, discovery!" When you go to the tax office, some government agency or bank, or a notary, everyone immediately asks what I do.

I am a supporter of making it as easy for clients to work with me. The classic scheme in Instagram - write to place an order in WhatsApp to such and such a number. To do this, you need to write down the phone number in the phone book, but it is not copied - it must be written down somewhere and then transferred to the phone or memorized in parts and entered. Then save the number and only then write to WhatsApp. To place an order with us, you need to leave the word “I want” or something else in the comments (I announce in the post what to write). And then my work begins. I am the seller, and it is in my best interest to reach out to the client, and not vice versa.

I have a team to process orders. We are 5 people (together with me), all work from home. After a comment about the purchase, someone from the team contacts the client, specifies the address and phone number. We have a table in the "cloud" where we enter all this information. Our own courier service can collect delivery details from there. We work on a prepayment basis - the client first pays for the order.

I do not have a warehouse as some kind of large room, but I have some kind of supply of toys. I have such contracts with suppliers that they serve me promptly. We work only with official suppliers - this is how you sleep more peacefully.

Seasonality of demand

With toys, there is a classic decline - in January and during the three summer months. Everyone places orders before the New Year in December. But in January, customers come who make purchases that are 5 times the average order size. I understand that these are the ones who are New Year donated money. I have developing rugs, which are the most expensive of the new range. I sell no more than 10 of them a month, and in January I can sell 20, but only of them.

In July, we managed to come out with a very good offer to subscribers - with Canadian sandbox toys. And we beat December sales. At the same time, in June we had a classic recession month. By making good offers, you can avoid seasonality.

Supplier selection

In mom's stores, toys were of a different price segment than mine is now. I am not chasing the lowest price, I believe that other parameters (quality, benefit) are more important. And my model found a response, found her clients. As a result, we closed the retail stores, my mother became part of my team.

The quality of the toys comes first for me. In my opinion, this is a concept that is not even worth discussing when it comes to children's toys. We work with Swiss, Belgian, Canadian, Israeli and French companies. Recently, three Russian suppliers have appeared - these are startups with unique toys.

I am very mischievous in the choice of partners. Suppliers call us and ask how to sell their toys through our account. I very rarely agree. I have a list of requirements, so our toys are really very carefully selected. As a result, many clients say they trust my taste. Many people write that I need a toy for a nephew of this age the day after tomorrow, the budget is your choice. And I pick up a toy for them.

When a supplier comes out with a proposal, I immediately have a question - what will happen if the toy breaks? By virtue of my philosophy, I will return the money. Out of pocket or will the supplier take responsibility for it? If he is ready to answer, then such cooperation is interesting to me.

We have water toys on a motor that periodically burns out due to water. We have special conditions with the supplier that they change all burned out motors. There is no such thing anywhere, we have it. Or there is somewhere, but I do not know about it.

There was such a case. In October, we sold Swiss crocodiles very well on the stock. Now they have come again. I made a post about it. And a client writes to me: "Our crocodile broke down in 2 days, it is lying idle." In general, Swiss crocodiles do not break, this is an extraordinary case. I asked why didn't they write right away? The client said that she was used to it when all the sellers deny and say that it was people who broke the toy themselves. We made an agreement with the supplier and exchanged this crocodile. They even took him away to study - because this is an extremely rare case when their toy breaks.

I have 150-170 items in my assortment. This is sufficient for normal operation. Each person buys his child a maximum of 10-15 toys per year. Why do I need a bloated assortment, it only hurts my head?

How to make money withInstagram

Basically, the monetization of my account is the same as in retail stores... I make a mark-up on the goods, which, among other things, includes courier services, payment for the services of assistants and packaging of toys. The difference in price is my income.

Sometimes we get additional bonus from the supplier. I'll tell you a story. We have a French brand Janod. He sells wooden magnetic puzzles - maps of Russia, in which each piece is a separate region. Such a card costs 4 thousand rubles, and by the day of Russia the supplier made a discount - 2 thousand rubles for such a puzzle. For retailers, the supplier has introduced an additional bonus for the sale of a certain number of cards. I don't remember this number already. But we exceeded it 10 times. And they sold more than anyone else in Russia, despite the fact that we are not even a store, but just an Instagram account.

Last February, when we started Instagram, the turnover was 50 thousand rubles a month. Now about a million rubles.

When everything was just beginning, I didn’t get out of my phone, with the child in my arms, and worked until the night. From the side of relatives, it looked strange. Imagine that you are all sitting at a table together, and someone is constantly on the phone. And you can't explain that it is you who are working now. Nobody understood this, it annoyed everyone. It took a long time until everyone got used to it. And the elderly relatives were surprised: “Do you get money for this? Alive and real? Can you spend them? "

Business costs

We have already burned ourselves in retail stores: you want it there, you don’t want it, but you have to pay rent, salary, and trade fees every month. I tried to avoid mandatory payments as much as possible. I am the kind of employer who pays my managers a percentage of sales. If there are no sales, then at least I'm not at a loss. But if we have prohibitive sales, then managers have high salaries. I don’t feel sorry for this money.

Every month I spend 3-5 thousand rubles on a photographer. Payment depends on the volume of photos. I can go to a well-promoted studio and pay 10 thousand rubles for filming. Or you can turn to a girl who is a good shooter, but is just starting - she needs to develop a portfolio, so the prices are lower. I don't lose anything in quality, but I pay less money.

Delivery

We have our own couriers who deliver orders in Moscow. The customer pays for delivery - 300 rubles, in Moscow with an order amount of 3000 rubles or more it becomes free.

We also send orders to St. Petersburg courier service KTS, and across Russia - "Russian Post". We cooperate with the post office as a legal entity, it is much more convenient than as a private trader. We don't stand in lines. I have mine Personal Area on the Russian Post website, I know in advance the track number of the parcel, even before sending it - at the stage of its registration. And then online I can track its movement. When a client asks me where is my package, I don't even need to enter the track number. I go to my personal account, where the statuses of the items are changed online.

The worst thing is when something is lost. If you are a private person, you need to come to the post office and attach a copy of the receipt. Those. you need to save it. And imagine, when you have 200 parcels, what does it mean to find the required check. Then you need to write a statement by hand to the department and wait about a month for an answer. And I have a manager of the Russian Post, to whom I write to e-mail loss letter. She answers in the evening that the parcel is there, they sent it there.

Promotion

I use three methods to promote on Instagram: advertising on other large Instagram accounts, follower contests, and collaborating with bloggers. I love advertising on other accounts: the price is average between bloggers and contests, but they bring you high-quality target audience.

I choose other people's large accounts by topic so that there is the audience I need. Before placing ads, I look at the subscription, audience, reviews for each account. I choose those that are dedicated to children - as a rule, they give advice on care, upbringing, there is a discussion on various hot questions of mothers, and so on. These can be recipe channels where the main audience is women. And women, as a rule, have children. I cooperate with accounts about decor, because they are read by women who have moved with their families to a new apartment. Most likely, they also have a child.

From the contests that you hold, people come who want to win something, they do not need your toys in the first place. But this is one way to recruit subscribers.

Bloggers are much more expensive than advertising in other people's accounts or contests. And at the same time, you need to be able to negotiate with bloggers, because this industry is poorly regulated. It happens that you send goods to bloggers, you pay money. But you have no guarantee that they will make the post you need, post it when you need it, and keep it for as long as you want. By the way, you don't always pay them: the terms of cooperation depend on the size of the blogger's audience.

At the very beginning of my Instagram, I managed to very successfully negotiate with the blogger. I am lucky because she is a nice girl and honest. I sent toys to five of her children. She liked my product so much that in addition to a blog post, she made a video on YouTube. And we came up with an offer, and not just an advertisement: her subscribers were given a discount on toys from me. And it worked. My new account, which had 200 subscribers, received 78 orders overnight. And this result for me turned out only for the price of toys and payment for courier services.

Service above all

One of the rules of my work is service, and it applies to everything. Our couriers call customers and ask if it is possible to call the intercom, if the child will be sleeping at this time. They come to the park, beauty salon, anywhere. When waiting for an order, you don't have to be tied to your home. Our couriers travel by car, they do not make a tragedy from the fact that they have to drive up somewhere at another address - for example, to a park or a beauty salon.

We pack all toys in branded packaging and holiday packaging, if it is a gift. We do this on our own initiative and free of charge. We put gifts and, if necessary, batteries inside each order.

We never leave our customers after a purchase, if something happened to the product or there are doubts about its quality. Some people hesitate to contact me on such questions. I have to write in the posts such a phrase - "You are our customers and after the purchase, you are our customers all the time."

* Calculations are based on average data for Russia

The production and sale of goods for children is considered one of the most profitable areas for your own business. However, if you are planning to do such a "production" at home and on their own, then it is worth taking into account several basic nuances.

Features of making handmade toys

You can start your business with minimal investment and risks (in the worst case, if your business “doesn’t work”, you simply close the IP, and donate the unsold toys to friends and family). This is an interesting area with good prospects for development. However, this is also the disadvantage - the first few months of work should not count on large profits.

Most likely, you will have to invest all your proceeds in the further expansion of your production, purchase of materials, search for new buyers ... Many still fail to reach large sales volumes and their hobby remains a hobby that brings more pleasure than money. Unlike some other types of hobbies, making handmade toys is not the most profitable direction, since it has objective limitations both in terms of "production" and in terms of the target audience. Let's start with the latter. On the one hand, toys are usually intended for children. Parents spend a lot of money on them, try to choose the best and highest quality goods for their children.

However, handmade toys are less often intended for children, which significantly limits the possibilities for organizing their sale. As a rule, such toys are quite fragile, have a large number of small decorative elements and are rarely certified by manufacturers as products suitable for children. Thus, such toys are rather souvenir and are positioned as an original gift for adults.

Where to look for buyers for handmade toys

It is best to start looking for your first buyers in your environment. Sew several different toys and show them to your friends and acquaintances, create a group on social networks or your topic on a regional forum. Consult with your potential customers and listen to criticism. Offer small cafes and themed restaurants in your city your products to decorate their interiors. Recently, the style of shabby chic or retro is especially popular in the design of interiors of establishments. Catering and your naive toys can fit perfectly into such an environment.

Often, toys are provided to such establishments for free, but their creator gets the opportunity to place a sign next to them indicating his name and website or contact phone number, which will be a good advertisement. In addition, stylish handmade toys sell well through souvenir and gift shops, all kinds of "shops" with interior goods, through specialized online stores. Create your own website or at least a blog where you will post photos of your products, answer customer questions, post your master classes. Try to be as active as possible with your groups, topics, and resources.

Additional paid classes can become sources of your income on sewing author's toys, master classes, publishing articles in magazines devoted to needlework, as well as your own books with step-by-step photographs (for this you will need high-quality pictures your work in high resolution).

Expenses for starting a business of sewing designer toys

The initial costs for starting your own business of sewing designer toys will be no more than 5 thousand rubles. This money will be used to purchase materials and necessary equipment(for example, a sewing machine). But, most likely, you already have all of the above, as well as experience in making textile dolls, so you may not need additional investments at all. With this type of work, this direction can be considered more like a side job - a source of additional, not the main income.

If you are counting on something more, then you should start by choosing a direction and carefully studying the market situation, competition in this segment and drawing up a business plan. It is widely believed that a business plan is required only when it is planned to open a large-scale enterprise and / or an entrepreneur is going to attract investors to his project. In fact, a business plan is necessary, even if you are starting a very small business, hoping to do it yourself and are ready to work on pure enthusiasm. When drawing up a plan, you will think over the direction of work, target audience, assortment, opportunities for expansion, pricing, and analyze the activities of competitors.

Algorithm for opening this type of business on the example of the production of knitted toys.

Knitted toys are intended primarily for younger children. preschool age, but can also be positioned as souvenir and gift products for adults. Such products are made from natural materials on special automated equipment. In general, the list of necessary equipment for making toys is not much different from the list of what is needed for the production of other knitted products.

In particular, you will need knitting machines (the exact number of machines depends on the planned production volume, but at first you can do with one or two), a buttonhole machine (the simplest semi-automatic one will do), a straight stitch machine for joining parts of one product, a chain stitch machine ( also for joining individual parts), overlock (for processing edges, joining parts, including clothing). Generally, knitted toys are different simple forms, therefore, for their production, at first, knitting machines and an overlock will be sufficient. You will also need an iron to steam the parts and finished products(it is often recommended to use a steam table for this, but you can get by with a cheaper option), and for processing and connecting individual parts, sewing on fittings - cutting and working tables.

Knitting machines belong to complex equipment, which is divided into classes, depending on the thickness of the thread used. The lower the class, the thicker the threads can be used (for example, for knitting bulky winter clothes). There are also universal machines that work with any type of yarn. They cost more than "specialized" equipment. Since children's toys are usually made from fine, delicate children's yarn with natural fibers, it is quite possible to get by with machines of a larger class, which are designed to work with thin threads.

Ready-made ideas for your business

So, organizing your own business for making knitted toys for children includes several stages. At the first stage, an assortment is developed, characters, their appearance, clothing, details, and accessories are thought out. Think about how you can save on equipment. Industrial knitting machines are not cheap, and the cost of purchasing them for making toys will definitely not pay off.

But it is possible to purchase simple used knitting machines with significant savings. However, experts advise: if you do not understand the equipment, be sure to consult with an expert in advance, otherwise you will later spend much more on repairs than you will save when buying. Even if you are not going to work in production yourself, try to master at least the basics of working with knitting machines and overlocks, as well as their maintenance.

Firstly, in emergency situations, you can replace a sick employee so that your production does not stand idle.

Secondly, you will be able to train new employees. As a rule, turnover at such enterprises is very high, and salaries- low.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Ideally, these small businesses operate like a family business - so you can be confident in both discipline and deadlines, as well as the quality of your products. Take care of finding a supplier of yarn and accessories in advance. It is better to buy them at small wholesale bases (you are unlikely to gain volumes at large wholesale in the first months of your work).

Distribution channels for handmade toys

There are not so many options for implementation. Basically, these are toy stores, as well as their own online store and small wholesale companies. If your toys are completely safe for children and meet all the requirements for such products (it is recommended to be certified as a product for children from three years old), then you can also sell them directly to children. preschool institutions- kindergartens and development centers. Sales of these toys are not very seasonally dependent, but usually there is a slight decline in summer, as in other industries (holiday season). In the summer, such enterprises reduce production and develop new collections of toys.

To start such a business, one or two knitting machines will be required, and the total cost of opening it will be about 70 thousand rubles (this money will go to the purchase of equipment and raw materials). At first, you can work independently by applying for an individual entrepreneur. To work in a medium-sized production facility, the following specialists will be required: a designer, knitting machine operators, seamstresses, a service technician and an accountant. A designer, as well as a setup mechanic and an accountant can work on a part-time basis, since you will not need their services every day, but from time to time. The return on investment will be about 8-10 months.

1,693 people are studying this business today.

Within 30 days, 103478 people were interested in this business.

Calculator for calculating the profitability of this business

If you consider felting as a business, and not just as a hobby, then you will need an initial investment of at least 20 thousand rubles.

Currently, the situation on Russian market toys are quite controversial. On the one hand, there is clearly no deficit here. The only problem is that the percentage of domestic products is produced ...

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