The coronavirus crisis has millions of people out of work right now. Those who have not lost their jobs are biding their time at home, waiting for the day they can leave again. People everywhere are developing their musical, artistic and baking talents. They are posting videos and pictures of all their endeavors on Facebook and Instagram, making those of us who can’t cook incredibly jealous.
If you are itching to join the club of people working on personal development, this is the perfect time to start your own business. It may sound crazy to think about investing in and starting a business when we are in the middle of an economic crisis, but this is perfect timing for a new custom flag business.
Companies that survive the economic crisis will need to find the most cost-effective ways to promote their business, which is where your new company will offer relevant and necessary products. When a company can advertise their business with custom flags cheap, they will certainly jump on quickly and order your custom flags. As long as you do the work it takes to get your products out there in front of people who are looking, your new business will take only minimal—if any—investment.
Decide on a Framework for Operation
When it comes to making custom flags cheap, you have several options for how to go about building your business. You can invest in the equipment you need for the capability of creating the custom flags your customers want on demand; you could buy custom flags at a wholesale rate; or you could build a dropshipping business in custom flags. Each setup has its pros and cons.
Buying Equipment
Purchasing your own equipment can give you more flexibility, but it can also be more limiting. You have the freedom to operate on your own terms and provide services as you choose, but you are also constrained to the printing capabilities your equipment can provide. Unless you are prepared to spend a bigger chunk of money up front, your sizes and materials may be somewhat restricted.
Wholesale Custom Flags
Working with a wholesaler for your custom flag business gives you more flexibility in what you offer. Most companies can sell you custom flags cheap, and they have the capability to print whatever size and material your customer wants. You will get personal service and plenty of support with your orders. The downfall of this setup is that your ability to customize will be very limited because wholesale orders must come in bulk. Additionally, you will have to deal with inventory coming in, then shipping it back out.
Dropshipping Custom Flags
Dropshipping has become one of the most popular new ways of starting your own business because the only investment it requires is time. Your personalization options are similar to that of wholesale in that you have more choice with size and material, but not with specifying your custom flags to a particular company. However, all you need to do is set up a popular website, and the bulk of your work is done. Your customers put their orders in, and they get shipped out directly from the warehouse. The disadvantage to this business model is that it is very much a DIY business and there will be little support in setting up your designs.
Find Your Customers
You will have quite a range of potential customers, so you need to narrow your focus in order to effectively reach your market. If you are using the wholesale or the dropshipping methods, you need to come up with some designs before you can start promoting your business. Think about who you want your customers to be, then work on your designs. Graphic design skills come in handy, but there are some design sites that can help you at least get a basic mockup together.
Build Your Website
You can certainly promote your custom flag business locally, but you exponentially expand your customer base by having a website. Your website should be search engine optimized so you can get in front of exactly the businesses that you want to market to. Do your designs appeal mostly to restaurants? Retail locations? Make sure your website is fully directed at the businesses that will be using your custom flags.
Brand Your Business
What kind of expertise do you have that supports your customers? Are you able to help them with their advertising strategy? Is your customer service going to be outstanding? Are your custom flags the cheapest around? You need to develop some branding for your business even if it is entirely online, so your business stands out from the competition.
Be Patient
Your business is going to take some time to build, and it may also take a little trial-and-error as you figure out the best ways to operate and advertise. New websites that employ SEO strategies can generally expect to see results in four to six months. You can use that time to create awesome content that will get your website found faster, like a blog with business and marketing advice. You could even write about your own journey starting this business.
Hopefully, we will all be back to work soon, but this is the perfect opportunity to work on starting your own custom flag business and see where it takes you.
