You’re all decked out for a formal party at your home. Still you need to be in the kitchen preparing food while entertaining guests.
Do you put on a frumpy apron… or don a fabulously fashionable one?
The four entrepreneurs behind Flirty Aprons banked on a lot of women going for the latter – and they were right!
Originally started as a mall kiosk business in 2009, today the company has sold over 300,000 aprons.
With bold prints, sassy styles, and over 120 designs, these are definitely not your grandmother’s aprons!
The aprons like in the Tessi designer collection, are so fashionable, if you sewed a back on them you could skip the cooking part altogether and just wear them out to dinner!
The company also sells colorful over-sized toddler bibs, designer oven mitts, high-end kitchen gadgets, and a men’s line with sayings like “I Turn Grills On” and “Grill Sergeant.”
So would you like to cash in on this trend in high-end aprons?
Do you have a food-related or other on- or off-line store?
Are you a fan of the booming farmer’s market scene?
If you — or someone you know – said YES to any of these questions…
Or, if you just LOVE thinking outside the job box and want to hone your Business Idea Generation (B.I.G.) skills to see cool opportunities all around you – read on because…
Opportunity knocks.
Women’s aprons generally range from $35 to $45.
But you can apply to Flirty Aprons to purchase items wholesale and pocket the difference!
The only requirement is you purchase a minimum order of $200 over a 12-month period. How hard can that be?
Obviously if you already have a retail or online store or some sort of food-related business, you can do a test sale.
Or for as little as $200 you could get enough inventory to test at a farmer’s market, flea market, cooking/garden/home show, or other public venue.
If it goes well, stick with that location or go all out and open your own mall or holiday kiosk.
Most states and provinces also have large women’s conferences that include a tradeshow. The Massachusetts Women’s Conference happens just before Christmas and the times I’ve been there, items like scarves and jewelry fly off the shelves.
Don’t want to bother purchasing inventory? Sign up as an affiliate and earn 15% on anything sold via your affiliate link.
You’ll earn less than you would as a wholesaler, but if you already have a website and traffic, it’s an easy way to make some extra money.
Or build on the success of this product by coming up with your own!
What other products could you (or someone) create that would make mundane tasks like cooking, cleaning, gardening and so on a bit more glamorous or fun?
Next Steps for This — and All — Ideas
Have you noticed how when it comes to acting on our dream that the brains of otherwise intelligent, capable people suddenly turn to mush?
All the more so if you tend to become easily overwhelmed by lots of steps.
Here’s an exercise to “trick” the part of you that’s overwhelmed or afraid or just not sure where to begin.
Imagine your boss tells you to come up with a step-by-step plan for how an individual could make money re-selling Flirty Aprons.
Oh, and your boss needs your report ASAP!
Your first response might be, “OMG, I have no idea what to do!”
Yet, even with any initial brain fog or self-doubt (or both), the fact that your boss needs a plan, you’d figure it out to do it.
Am I right?
That’s when it can help to pretend you really were given this assignment and then figure it out!
To start:
- List all the things you’ll need to find out in order to complete your plan. Things like:
– wholesale price of Flirty Aprons in order to do sales projections
– the cost and logistics of getting a table or booth at various venues
– how to file for a state or provincial tax ID
- Make a plan for how you’ll get these answers – will you look online? Start making phone calls?
- Next, list all things someone would need to learn or understand or do well in order to succeed in this business:
– basic bookkeeping
– customer service
– marketing
- Then make a plan for how someone could gain the required knowledge or skills.
For instance, take a class or seek 1-1 counseling from your state’s Small Business Development Center or comparable program wherever you live.
Walk a local flea market, chatting with vendors about what it’s like to sell there.
- Once you have all the information you need, list the steps in the order they need to be to happen.
Hint: You don’t have to do everything all at once!
Turning ideas into action isn’t complicated. All you need is a plan and the effort to carry it out!
Stay tuned for Self-Bossing IDEA #2 in our series Make Your Own Make Your Own Cool Job!
Don’t want to wait?
Click here to learn everything you need to know about scheduling your personal Work at What You Love career session!
We’d Love to Hear from You!
If you had to pick just one take away from this story…
- What would it be?
- How will you use it to advance your own path to self-bossing?
