Opening up a store??

[eschillo]

yep, it's Diaper Parties!! I was a consultant for a few years and a few months ago the owner announced she was selling, so we bought! We just announced it yesterday...
They were on a consultant freeze for a while, but as of June 1st I'll be accepting applications again.

Lolobug, where do you live??

[lecialefty]

Originally Posted by eschillo yep, it's Diaper Parties!! I was a consultant for a few years and a few months ago the owner announced she was selling, so we bought! We just announced it yesterday... They were on a consultant freeze for a while, but as of June 1st I'll be accepting applications again. Lolobug, where do you live??

Yup, I was thinking of you. Congrats on your new business.

[Lolobug]

Originally Posted by eschillo yep, it's Diaper Parties!! I was a consultant for a few years and a few months ago the owner announced she was selling, so we bought! We just announced it yesterday... They were on a consultant freeze for a while, but as of June 1st I'll be accepting applications again. Lolobug, where do you live??

Pm'ing you!

[Lolobug]

Originally Posted by Hmicolucci I know of 2 stores in my area. I haven't been to the one. I only heard of it by word of mouth. The other, the mama runs out of her house. She also sells other stuff besides just cloth diapers to help people to be more green. She has an online website as well which I am sure helps her a ton. It's greenfamilyliving.com if you want to take a look to see what all she has to give you some ideas.

I'm going to look into this, thanks!!

[Kissed by the Moon]

It's super fun, but a lot of hard work and the profit margin is very slim (hence why you see so many stores open up and then close). there's tons of competition so you need to think about what differentiates you from them and you'll have to find your niche. Your goal will be totally different if you open a store online versus brick and mortar. B&M has a lot higher overhead with more insurance/liability needed. Shipping's very expensive now so you need to factor that in, as well as web site cost, paypal fees, designing a site, etc. You'll need a license, logo, as well.

[eschillo]

Originally Posted by lecialefty Yup, I was thinking of you. Congrats on your new business.

Thanks!! Although technically it's not a new business, Diaper Parties has been around since 2007, it's just getting a "makeover!"

I know alot of DS mama's had inquired about becoming a consultant, and the old owner had a freeze on hiring consultants for a while. I'll be opening that back up as of June 1st!

[Lolobug]

Originally Posted by Kissed by the Moon It's super fun, but a lot of hard work and the profit margin is very slim (hence why you see so many stores open up and then close). there's tons of competition so you need to think about what differentiates you from them and you'll have to find your niche. Your goal will be totally different if you open a store online versus brick and mortar. B&M has a lot higher overhead with more insurance/liability needed. Shipping's very expensive now so you need to factor that in, as well as web site cost, paypal fees, designing a site, etc. You'll need a license, logo, as well.

Any idea how much it costs to start up??

[mlhmrsdds]

Originally Posted by ursaminor I dont know about a diaper service, but I have heard the overhead for retail CD sales is massive and there is a very small profit margin.

this is the truth!

Originally Posted by eschillo yep, it's Diaper Parties!! I was a consultant for a few years and a few months ago the owner announced she was selling, so we bought! We just announced it yesterday... They were on a consultant freeze for a while, but as of June 1st I'll be accepting applications again. Lolobug, where do you live??

CONGRATS on your new investment!

Originally Posted by Lolobug Any idea how much it costs to start up??

$5000 minimum to really make a go at it, you can do it with less, but with so many stores out there you won't get anywhere with less inventory than that.

I have had my store for 3 years now and don't even make enough each month to cover my car payment.... it is definitely not a lucritive business. And I have a fairly decent size store and client base for a fully at home business. A lot of the larger stores have warehouses/storage spaces to store more inventory even if they don't have store fronts. To truely work fully from home you can't expect to make much more than just "spending money." You need to have a place to keep $10,000+ in inventory to really make money in my opinion.

But if you can swing the storefront and want to put in the time you can probably do better profit wise.

[ktbug87]

What exactly does a consultant do?

[eschillo]

Originally Posted by ktbug87 What exactly does a consultant do?

You'd host home diaper parties (same as a Scentsy or Tupperware) where you show your "stash" to all the party go-ers. Sometimes you'll have parties where everyone is new so you have to teach them everything about cloth diapering, sometimes you have parties where everyone has cloth diapered and they are just looking to order in bulk and take advantage of the party perks!

You also provide personal consultation to help people decide which diaper is right for them...I used to advertise on Craigslist and got a lot of local customers that way...

You also can help mama's setup their registries online.

It's A LOT of fun...