Example: Bella's Bookmarks

1. Finding a business idea:

Bella decides that she wants to make and sell bookmarks. She loves to read and thinks that bookmarks will be fun to make. She also believes that bookmarks will not have many limitations because they do not spoil or have any problems being stored. 

Below: Some of the bookmark ideas Bella considered creating

2. Research your product

Bella googles the steps to create bookmarks. She determines that she needs craft paper, scissors, glue, and markers to make her bookmarks. She also determines that she needs a laminator to laminate the bookmarks. Luckily, she has a laminator at home so she does not have to buy an expensive new one. 

She also looks at the bookmarks that are top-sellers on websites like Amazon and Etsy. In order to make her product stand out, Bella decides to donate 25% of her businesses profit to Helen Woodward Animal Center. She loves helping animals and donating some of the profits will help attract customers. 

Bella determines that it takes 1 piece of paper to make each bookmark. She can buy a pack of 200 pieces of paper from Michaels for $20. So it costs Bella $20 to make 200 products. 20/200 = 10. So it costs Bella 10 cents ($0.10)to make each product. **

She determines that she can sell each bookmark for around $5 (taking into account the value of her product as well as the value her donations bring). Profit=Revenue-Expenses . So Bella's profit-per-bookmark is $5 - $.10 = $4.90. So bella makes $4.90 off each bookmark.

Bella is donating 50% of her profits to a charity. She can chose to determine how much she donates based on individual items (she donates $2.45 per item) or can add up the total number of profits and take 50% of that value to donate. 

**(Bella doesn't take into account the cost of scissors, glue, markers or laminating sheets because she already has them at home, but to get a more accurate representation of the cost, she could determine how many products she can make with those materials.)

Below: Some local charities Bella considered donating to. 

3. Create a brand

Bella's favorite color is purple, so she determines that purple will be a reccuring theme in her business. At the market, the table cloth will be purple, her decorations will be purple, and she will wear purple clothes. She also creates a simple logo for her business that she can easily draw on the back of her bookmarks. This helps to make her business appear more official and personal to customers. 

Below: Some items Bella believes will help with the branding of her business. 

4. Build Inventory

Bella's next step is to begin building inventory so she has products to sell at the market. She makes sure she has all the materials she needs and starts creating bookmarks. Her goal is to make 50 bookmarks before the market. Even if she doesn't sell them all, having more products will give her customers more choices and in turn make them more likely to find a product they wish to purchase. She keeps tally of how many she makes so she will know when she reaches her goal. 

Below: Bella keeps tallies of how many bookmarks she makes using this table. 

5. Advertising

Bella begins the next step in preparing to sell her bookmarks- advertising. She and her parents send out an email to her family members sharing the date, time and location of the event. She shares posters of the event to her classmates and friends. Bella wants as many people as possible to attend the market so she has more potential customers to buy her product.

Bella also starts making posters to have at her table at the market. This will help potential customers see what she is selling and likely help increase her sales.

Example:

6. Optional :

Tracking Finances

At the date of the market, Bella has a sheet printed out to help her track her sales and profits. She will keep tally of how many bookmarks she sells and will later use this information to see her total profits. Bella also remembers to bring change to the market ($5s and $10s because her product is $5 so people will likely pay with $5s, $10s, and maybe $20s).

Bella determines that she sold 20 products at the market. Her total revenue (total money brought in) is $100. However, that is not her total profits. it costs her $0.10 to make each bookmark, so $2 for all 20. Her total profit is revenue-expenses or $100 - $2, so Bella made $98 total. With her donating 50% of her profits, she finds that 50% of $98 (98 x .5) is $49. So Bella donates $49 to Helen Woodward Animal Center and keeps $49 for all her hard work.

Below: An example guide to follow when tracking your business's finances.