How to Find Money to Buy Gift Basket Supplies
Two years before my daughter was born, I began saving money towards her college education.
I realize that such a feat isn’t on most people’s minds, especially because each of us lives in the “here and now.”
However, this is the type of forward thinking that’s necessary to have the funds to purchase gift basket supplies whenever it’s needed.
Here are two situations when the money crunch happens most often:
One way that I learned to create an inventory investment account for my business was to save a certain percentage of profits each month exclusively for buying merchandise.
For example, the profits I made in my first sales month in 1990 for selling baskets to celebrate New Year’s Day, birthdays, and new babies totaled $1,019. A sum of $102, or 10 percent of that amount was placed into my inventory account.
There are many ways to find cash for business, as the money sources pages at GiftBasketBusiness.com reveal.
The designers I mentor also save a portion of their profits so that they have monies readily available to buy inventory whenever needed. You can develop this same habit and benefit from knowing that you’ll always have the funds to buy inventory and generate sales.
Have you developed a similar investment savings plan, or is there another method of buy inventory that works for you?
Getting Paid Before Delivering Baskets
A designer who’s also a client recently asked if my ideas on setting up a merchant account had changed from what I’ve talked about here in the past.
Accepting credit cards is still a very important part of completing business transactions.
The one difference that has made collecting revenue easier is opening a PayPal account, which allows any and all customers to pay you ahead of time by depositing monies online.
It’s an option that wasn’t available or considered in previous years.
I asked for opinions about PayPal at Ask The Gift Basket Expert. There are plenty of comments below the article.
Updated options exist today for accepting credit cards, including one offered by a west coast bank that lets you open a merchant account online for access to approvals and payments.
Any form of payment collection that ensures a smooth transaction before the basket is shipped or delivered is the right plan for you.
Where Does the Money Go?
The rule of putting your profits back into the business has probably been drummed into your head since making your first gift basket.
However, saving a certain percentage of the profits for future business and personal requirements is an option worth considering.
For example, how do you:
I made a habit of apportioning my funds at the very beginning, but it’s not easy for all of us or even something that everyone in the industry can do.
Where else do you spend or invest your gift basket profits?
If There’s Not Enough Cash for Inventory, I…
One problem facing product-based businesses is that while we have a lot of inventory, there are still lots of items we want to buy.
That’s one situation that may happen to you during the upcoming holiday trade shows. You’ll attend but look at your budget and see that there’s not much money for buying containers, foods, and enhancements.
What are some of the ways you can raise money? Are you comfortable buying on credit? How about establishing a loan at your bank’s branch? What about selling some slow-moving items on Ebay?
You can also enter contests that give away cash as top prizes, but the money may not come fast enough if you win.
All of these solutions may seem far fetched, and they will surely take time to increase your cash flow, but many designers consider these options and more.
Back in 1998 I was in the same type of cash crunch. I had risked a substantial amount of money by exhibiting at an event thousands of miles from my home base.
That meant I not only spent money on a booth but also had to book airline tickets, a hotel room, and pay for meals.
The risk didn’t pay off, and I was not happy. Now, instead of having $3,000 for my holiday inventory, I had nothing and still had to earn a living.
It wasn’t easy, but I fought my way out of a bad situation and sold lots of gift baskets later in the year.
If you’re struggling to maximize your funds in order to buy products at this season’s trade shows, what’s your plan for finding money?
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