Page 104 - 597 Business Ideas You can Start from Home - doing what you LOVE! (Beginner Internet Marketing Series)

Step 5: Manufacture Your Idea into a Product 95

my gloves were, produce a sma]] run so that you can give samples
to buyers and let them try it out. If your product is expensive to
manufacture, you can exhibit at a trade show (more on that in Step
10) and make sales from the sample/prototype.

Ifyou need to wait for orders to produce any significant quantity
of your order, be up front with your buyers about how long it will
take for them to receive the product. Most companies are okay with
waiting four weeks for delivery, especially if they know ahead of
time. You should have all of your manufacturing "ready to go" so
when you get your initial orders, you can go right into production
and fill the orders in a timely fashion. By "ready to go," I mean hav­

ing all proofs/samples approved and all the kinks worked out so

that when you receive the order, you can give the buyer an accurate
ship date and you can tell your manufacturer to "Go into produc­
tion!" without further ado.

Storage

Put any extra money back into production so you can have more
product on hand. With luck, you can find room in your garage or
den for inventory as you continue to find buyers. If your product is
large or requires temperature control (e.g., candles or lip balms that
could melt if you store them in your garage during summertime),
you may have to rent a storage unit and, if necessary, a temperature­
controlled unit.

G overnment Rules a nd Regula tions

You will also need to research any governmental requirements and
guidelines that your product needs to follow. For example, with
our product, there are rules and regulations governing the garment
industry that we needed to implement. Most garments need to have
an inner label that states fabric content and care instructions. There
are rules and regulations for food production as well. If you have a
new kind of granola, you can only bake it at home for so long-soon