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Like many of you, I am on the path to creating my own line. I plan to have Ace of All Trades out to the public by the beginning of May or June and as we all know starting up a business can be a hectic and mind wrecking endeavor, but it’s well worth it in the end win or lose because of the experiences incurred in the process. Learning is a day to day activity and by reaching out to others we can all learn something, so what I post here is a little check list that I’ve created listing the things that I felt I needed to have taken care of before launching, and to all those who are in the same boat post any checklists or do’s & don’ts that you may have that can help out and maybe we can compile one big list to help all who seek it. Everything isn’t listed in a strict order, it’s mainly just an outline of sorts that I’ve used for myself.

1. A Plan- Without direction, you will be lost so it’s best to sit down and go through the who, what, when, where and why’s to see what you want to accomplish with your business.

2. Info on your market- For those who read this blog faithfully you’re already on the right path. Try to find more sites like this that may help you out, read interviews from others in the industry, find sites that stay up to date with your industry so you know what’s going on and can get a feel for the direction your market and your consumer are headed in.

3. Legalities- Once you’ve got your mind made up that this is what you want to do, find out what legal aspects need to be taken care of before you launch. This means finding out what licenses, Tax ID numbers, and other documents you need to have as well as running your line name through the trademark website to make sure you can use it with out penalty.

4. Skill assessment- Understand your strengths and weaknesses. Are you stronger on the business side or the creative side or are you equally well at both? When starting up a lot of us try to take on everything by ourselves and this can cause major setbacks if you don’t have the patience or the skills to do everything (for those who can, you are the s#!* lol) If you can’t do everything yourself such as the business side, the designing, the screen printing/embroidery, the website, dealing with buyers, etc… try and find someone who can help out. It’s definitely hard because a lot of start ups are on shoe string budgets (I’m trying to stretch a little less than $2000 myself) so some advice would be to try and find people who are willing to help for free or check out the local colleges and post up some flyers looking for interns (it’s what I just did sunday). You’d be surprised at the amount of people who like to help out. Some have the same dreams and hopes as you but just never had anyone who connected with them and here is where you step in so each party can help each other.

5. Get down to business- Once you have all of your help on board and a finalized plan start lifting things off the ground. Take your time and don’t rush all of your ideas to print. Give your team and your self some time to grow, make sure you keep your target consumer in mind. Remember not to jump on a bandwagon because you see that a trend can make some quick money because first impressions are everything and you may not be able to erase the damage that you have done to your brand image. With your plan you should have marked down some marketing strategies and ideas for your promotional campaign, with these set start up the movement and keep it going strong so people can get a glimpse of what you’re about and how you and your company operate.

6. Getting ready for launch time- After getting everything down and set in stone it’s time to turn that final wheel. You’ve got your items finished meaning all printed/embroidered up, bagged and tagged and fit to the specifics of buyers, wholesalers, retailers etc… Marketing has built it’s buzz, your website is up and fully functional (even if you don’t plan on selling through your website make sure you have one that has info on the company and where they can pick up your stuff) You’ve got your shipping options all set (for those who are selling directly through websites and going directly to your consumer, I’ve heard that USPS does provide free tyvek envelopes which can fit between one and two shirts so you don’t have to buy boxes and such. (I’ll be checking this out this week to make sure) Now all you have to do is make it happen and keep it happening.

Remember this isn’t something set in stone or that goes in a down right specific order it’s just the way that I’ve prepared to get everything launched for me and like I said if you see something that can be changed or you just have your own way, post it up so we all can learn from each other and we all can be on the path to something great. Thanks for reading.

Ace of All Trades

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