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Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

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Re: Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

#31

Post by skinnymuch »

ccozan wrote: post #19
emilfihlman wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about: -Vacation time is not paid time while maternity leave is time the employer has to pay for. -If working does accumulate vacation time (meaning it is paid) it's a fixed perk that the employer can take into account and knows when hiring you -You must still always negotiate when you are going to take that vacation, you can't just start at a new job and instantly take paid vacation time. -2 Weeks != Maternity l…

Vacation time not paid?? Probably US.

2 week vacations are almost always paid in the US.

Re: Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

#32

Post by JackFr »

bluedino wrote: post #11
joelhaasnoot wrote: post #4

My wife runs a small little shop in the creative space too: the margins can be quite high for nice, high quality stuff and customers are easy to draw in for multiple purchases. (also it helps I do the tech side of things and there is so much open source, free or cheap stuff available tech-wise)

A friend of mine's wife started a very high margin business selling scrapbook grabbags on eBay. She'd buy up clearance items and local craft/hobby stores, and bundle them up to sell on eBay. She made enough money that after two months, PayPal came along and froze her accounts, cutting her cashflow off, effectively killing the business.

> She made enough money that after two months, PayPal came along and froze her accounts

What does that mean?

Re: Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

#33

Post by anoncoward111 »

fabricexpert wrote: post #26

I run an almost identical fabric shop online. 20k/month revenue is great but remember this is not a SaaS with unlimited scale and low costs. It's actually a very traditional business model, and margins here are only going to about 20-30%, potentially a lot less if you have to pay for your storage space. You buy the fabric, typically you'll double the price when selling to customers. Then you take off additional posta…

Nice, thanks for the numbers! At a certain point you start competing with Home Depot, Michaels, Walmart, Amazon, whoever. You are in the product retail business, rather than the manufacturing or services business.

I think if you get really good at streamlining your marketing (Instagram photos and landing pages) as well as your pick/pack/ship operations (i.e running a warehouse), then you can expand into multiple niches. Fabrics, clothes, prints, whatever is super niche and high margin and can't be found on the shelves of a big box store.

Re: Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

#34

Post by allannienhuis »

emilfihlman wrote: post #15
bluedino wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> This doesn't sound good, basically kickstarting a company on another company's money. Can I work on my startup idea when I take 2 weeks vacation in the summer? What's the difference?

How about: -Vacation time is not paid time while maternity leave is time the employer has to pay for. -If working does accumulate vacation time (meaning it is paid) it's a fixed perk that the employer can take into account and knows when hiring you -You must still always negotiate when you are going to take that vacation, you can't just start at a new job and instantly take paid vacation time. -2 Weeks != Maternity l…

"maternity leave is time the employer has to pay for"

Not in Canada. Maternity leave is funded through the federal Employment Insurance program. The only obligation the employer has is to hold the job for a certain period of time.

Re: Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

#36

Post by ademup »

Afton wrote: post #29
Descartes1 wrote: post #23

I've always hated the concept of "revenues" in commerce. Honestly, who cares what your revenues are? Profits are all that matters.

I don't think that's true. If you have revenue from thousands of purchases, and lots of revenue, you have an avenue to reduce costs as your pipeline matures. It's not the only number you should care about, but it's hardly a who-cares item.

I respectfully disagree. Without context, revenue by itself is less than 'who cares', it can be something of a damaging number in the sense that it can lead financially illiterate people astray.

Re: Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

#38

Post by evfanknitram »

JackFr wrote: post #30
subpixel wrote: post #12

“Knowing I had another year-long maternity leave on the horizon...” said no American, ever.

Is using a year long maternity leave to start a business an argument for extended maternity leaves?

I think there's enough arguments for extended leaves already. This just seems like an added bonus to me.

At least where I live there's rules against making money when home with kid (government pay you to be home with kid).

Re: Bootstrapping an Online Fabric Shop and Growing to $20k per month

#40

Post by Scoundreller »

giarc wrote: post #9
emilfihlman wrote: post #7

>After returning from a year long maternity leave I found it difficult to juggle my new life as a mom working in the confines of a 9-5, I also came to the realization that the corporate life just wasn’t for me and became very unhappy. I was tired of faking it and really just wanted to follow my forever dream of doing my own thing and being my own boss. So, I did what anyone would do in that situation and got pregnant…

Maternity leave benefits in Canada are paid by the federal government through Employment Insurance (EI) program. New parents get 12-18 months of EI payments. Your employer is only required to hold a position for you, they are not obligated to pay your wage.

I wouldn’t say it’s funded by the federal government, but through EI premiums paid by employees and employers.

It’s a very regressive funding model paid by a flat income and payroll “tax” on earnings between $3500 and $50000.

Last I heard, it takes in billions more than it pays out.

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