kate mats

This weekend I went to the Seattle Gift Show.  My goal was to review some vendors and get ideas for an online drop shipping/retail site.  I must say I was pretty unimpressed.  There wasn’t a whole lot of vendors and the general opinion of people in attendance is that it wasn’t worth attending anymore since people are able to drum up business online and using the internet (which is preferable in favor of paying for a booth, travel, etc.).  I am beginning to think that even thought I would be a fabulous buyer and good at picking out merchandise that finding vendors and organizing it is going to be harder than I expected.  You really would think these things would be easy.  I mean if I made a good I would want ever potential seller to be well aware of my product and want to put it on their shelves.  I think I still have a lot to learn in this area.

So right now I am a bit sour on the idea of drop shipping, but I do think there is a ton of opportunity for an online retail site.  I think baby shower gifts is still a great idea and I am thinking about putting together a site to sell them.  I need to think it through a bit more and write a business plan.

While I was at the show I talked to about of girls who manufacture their own lines (one did accessories like scarves and necklaces).  I was highly unimpressed (maybe that is why they were *at* the show instead of being online like others).  However, I got to thinking if these girls could do it I definitely could.  I have so many handbag ideas and if I could pick the materials and have them made I firmly believe I could create a beautiful product.   Perhaps this is a better business idea.  However, I know a lot more about running an online retail business (thank you Amazon) than I do about actually producing goods.

On other notes, I think I want to incorporate my LLC so I am going to start researching the ins and outs of starting a business (some people have mentioned incorporating in Delaware and Las Vegas).  I bet there is a lot to learn and I will certainly post my findings.  I have also got my Kaplan GMAT book (I didn’t borrow it from the library because I wanted to be able to write in it and keep it as long as I want).  I read the first chapter and plan to take the diagnostic test this week and develop a study plan.  My goal is to have a concrete plan laid out by Friday.