How does your business look different now vs when you first started?

[tranguyen]

Happy Wednesday, everyone 🎉

For May, as we celebrate Small Business Month on the Seller Community, we will be sharing a Question of the Week that has been suggested by other sellers!

To start, let’s talk about how your business has grown! This week, we have a question from @JUYBoutique20: 

How does your business look different now vs when you first started?

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This week’s question is part of our Small Business Month celebration! Join this conversation and you’ll have the opportunity to earn a special achievement – a snazzy new badge for your community profile!*

 

 

*Badges will be rewarded periodically throughout May 2023. In order to earn the badge you must reply or comment on one or more Small Business Month 2023 posts between May 1 - May 31, 2023.

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Have you always wondered how other business owners handle slow sales? If you have a Question of the Week you'd like to ask the Seller Community, share it with us on this thread!

[RevocupSouth]

We use less of square services due to the price increases. Services that were free, or nominally prices, aren't anymore.

[AlaskaSawmill]

Being semi-retired and what started out as a hobby with turning pens and bottle stoppers on a lathe back in 2018, I found myself wanting to do some pens and bottle stoppers from some beautiful shimmering Birch Burl.  Most folks would have just purchased a small burl, but I had to have the one weighing about 900 lbs which needed a loader to put it in the back of my truck.  I found chainsaw milling was not the answer, so I found a local sawyer who milled my burl into slabs. He happened to be a forestry products dealer, I found myself purchasing a portable bandsaw sawmill from him, and much to my surprise, I found a little shop to rent in downtown Eagle River, Alaska, which I moved into on June 1, 2018.  I built a wood-drying kiln and started selling Kiln Dried Live Edge Slabs and milling logs for folks in the community.  It took about 6 months to get an idea of what I was doing.  Since then, I purchased a second larger mill which allowed me to mill logs up to 6' diameter, a 6'x18' commercial slab flattener, and other woodworking equipment, trailers, and established manufacturer direct dealerships for three brands of epoxy resins, oil, and other finishes and started providing shipping, building wood and epoxy resin tables, countertops, etc to customers and clients of Alaska and beyond.  I am happiest about all the high-caliber individuals and business owners who walk into my establishment with great attitudes! and customers from the lower 48 states outside the USA who have come to me with their special requests.  Square has been with me from the start, providing POS, payroll, and other services.  Square is not the cheapest POS provider available, but when sizing up their super customer service, available Apps and their integration to keep the business owner on real-time information, Square is hard to beat.  Ron W.  www.eagleriversawmill.com  

[Michael_L]

This is a great testimonial, and the wood items on your site are dazzling!!

[CathieLive]

When I first started my business it was all about my illustrations. I had them printed onto just about everything I could find in the drop-shipping shops. I soon realised that I had no control over the quality of my products and when I ordered some samples, I knew that drop-shipping definitely wasn't what I wanted to do.

I decided to go back to my passion of making physical items using my very old, tried and tested knitting, crochet and macrame skills. All I had to do was get back on the crafting couch, get the needles, hooks and a plethora of yarn out of my loft and start the journey. I haven't looked back. I love the way my business morphed from something that wasn't really me, to something that couldn't be more me. 

Being a one-woman-show hasn't been easy, but I have grand plans for the future of Colour My Dreams. 

[MudFire_Dex]

We just hit year 10 and created in what was personal space a program for 20 young business owners who are starting out as makers. It is a learning opportunity and teaching space as well as learning things like marketing, sales tax filings, tax prep, time management, social media marketing, photography, market sales, and so much more. Sometimes I forget about everything that we created here that is an extra layer to the primary business which is a community access pottery studio.

We also are able to pay our instructors approximately $25-35 per hour (tips fluctuate) for teaching pottery making to others.  With tips some make as much as $45 per hour. That feels like a GIANT achievement because when we took over MudFire no one was making any teaching income at all.

[TCSlaguna]

We opened our store 20 years ago in a small storefront hidden in a shopping center. Today, we are in a storefront that is three times the size and is on a major street. 

But what has changed the most for us in the last 20 years is how we now have data from Square at our fingertips, helping us make strategic decisions on what products and services to carry. Now we have an e-commerce website, our product mix has completely changed, and we now offer classes and events regularly 

[doc_choc]

The first 7 years in business were unpredictable in a predictable way. Every year we tried new things, ideas products, it was varied and the outcomes were uncertain, unpredictable, but with a backdrop of a more predictable society and macroeconomics, we only had to worry about the changes we made and the impact our decisions had on our business. The last three years have been irrational and unpredictable. A roller coaster controlled by factors and descions made out side of our control forcing our business to pivot, rock and roll so many times we had no choice but to adapt and obercome uncertainty and challenge. This has made us better, more focused, stronger. We are ready now for the next 10 years and what this may throw at us.

[CakeryAdventure]

When we started we had a drawing I had made, and it has been 2 years since then . Now we sell products that are based on that first drawing ... I can't believe how far we've come! 

[IpomoeaOrganics]

We have only been doing this for a year, so there isn't as many changes as other people, but we went from doing a DIY candle kit, to making candles to sell, and now we have all organic bath and body products, as well as 100% coconut soy wax candles and wax melts. We are pretty proud of where we are at now, compared to where we were at last May!

[Michael_L]

Keep it up!  Growth like that is exciting 🙂

[MetroGalleryNeb]

Our business is about to hit 11 years, Metro Gallery Nebraska takes consignments of art from around the country and around the world from artists, collectors and estates. We took over the business just 5 months ago and in that time we have developed a weekly event for artist to gather and collaborate that has brought new and emerging artists to our gallery and brought new styles of art to our attention. We have now started making the gallery interactive by adding RFID cards and additional web pages. Customers can now walk by our gallery and scan cards in the window to find out about art and artists in the windows or come into Metro Gallery and scan any of the cards around the gallery to get more information. Our slogan is "Where Art Is!" and square is making is possible.

[lawnbrook]

6 years in and we're finally turning the perception of our business from a food business that does wine, to a distillery/winery that does food - no prizes for guessing where the profit 🤣

[Hailey]

What have you found has been the biggest impact in changing customer perceptions?

[lawnbrook]

It's a slow process. Honestly, COVID was a bit of a reset button for us. We previously did full table service, and more intricate food. During COVID we looked at what wasn't working. Dropped breakfasts, reduced our hours, became a distillery. Our turnover is larger than it was previously, with less complaints.

There are still those that call or show up for breakfasts, but there's the issue. If the last time we saw them was 3-4 years ago, it just proves our point.

One issue is our opening hours define my cellar door (Fri - Sun), Our restaurant is only open for 2 of those (Sat-Sun) so I still get a steady trickle of people coming in on Friday expecting food because Out Website/Google/The internet says your open... (Obviously these are restaurant first customers). Im still trying to work out how to address this and I think its more a matter of continuing to grow and promote the alcohol side of the business.

[Michael_L]

Night and day!

I opened SUB Photo by myself 14 years ago, and my wife helped out a little now and then.  It grew through a number of stages until now there are 12 permanent staff and 2-4 seasonal ones as well.

There were many reasons, and I'm blessed by many gifts that I couldn't have earned.  The location of my shop is a big part of it, and the team of people who work with me now are absolutely amazing.

[SunstoneDesigns]

When I first started I really had no idea what I was doing, it was just about occupying my hands and mind after a work related injury. Seventeen years later I am still working on focus and honing my craft. There have been many ups and downs but I am very happy to have stuck with it.

[Hailey]

That is such an inspiring story. You made something great from a seemingly bad situation. 

[JohnReardon]

A business takes time to grow, in fact sometimes years. Mine started because  I retired and had nothing to do, so at 73 started another business, importing and selling Specialised Smart Watched to the Elderly in the community..  It will grow over time.

https://UltimateSmartWatches.com

John

[JUYBoutique20]

We started out on a six ft table 8 years ago as a jewelry, handbag, and accessory business.  In April of 2020 we expanded and became a full-service women's boutique.  In June of 2021, we opened our 1st storefront location and later on that year begin our anime line.  In Feb of this year, we opened our 1st anime location.  It definitely was not an easy process, but I've enjoyed every minute of it.  It started off as a hobby for me and has now gown into my lifestyle.  

[SHOOKER]

We are almost 3!  We opened with trepidation during Covid, when we had originally planned to start this business in about 10 years from now, when I retired from teaching. The opportunities just presented themselves, and we would have been silly to pass up on a good deal. We own a small brick and mortar store selling sweets and chocolates imported from the UK. We are both British ex-pats, and saw that many ex-pats couldn’t access their favorite foods from their childhood, especially as travel at the time has become impossible. We have since expanded our space to double the size, and have a loyal customer base that travel for sometimes hours to come and visit us. We went with Square from the beginning, because I could see the benefits of having inventory control, remote access, easy reporting, and a nice point-of-sale system. It’s been a huge learning curve for all of us, but square has made it so much easier. I think if I wasn’t still teaching full-time as well, we might consider expanding into more locations. Maybe that is something in our future; time will tell. I couldn’t imagine being able to run this full-time business as well as hold down a full-time teaching job, if it wasn’t for the tools that square provides.  

[Hailey]

I love VERY close to your shop! I must come for a visit soon. One of my best friends is from the UK and always raves about the UK chocolate 😍