Live data from Hacker News

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

starterstory.com

1–10 of 139 posts

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

#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)

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

#6

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)

The danger here is that it's easy to get sucked into doing tech stuff, and not focusing on directly revenue generating things. I see so many people spinning their wheels with "free" things when low cost subscriptions would save them hours and hours and hours of effort.

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

#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 again ;) ... Knowing I had another year-long maternity leave on the horizon, I started brainstorming e-comm business ideas.

This doesn't sound good, basically kickstarting a company on another company's money.

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

#8
post #3

Beware. There's a whole lot of "start an e shop and get rich quick" bullshit out there. https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/117-the-worlds-most-ex...

> "PJ: That is the one thing that actually makes it look slightly scammy... like Nike's not like we just sold a pair of sneakers."

I do have to disagree on this. This is them trying to increase the "social proof", proof that you are making a solid choice in buying this item. Nike doesnt need to do this because everybody knows nike, and feels that they are good shoes worth their money.

Showing proof of other purchases increases that proof, and you are more inclined to buy it. Of course this all assumes legit "soAndSo bought it too" messages

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

#9

>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.

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

#10

>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…

>> 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?

Post reply on HN