The thought of starting my own business was daunting. There are so many things to consider in terms of size, locaiton, merchandise, etc. It’s hard to know where to even start. Luckily, I have an amazing group of friends and family that were able to connect me with other business owners in the community and learn from their experiences. I also did research online and still research on a weekly basis to improve my business.

I was thrilled to recently come across an article from Software Advice–an company that reviews consignment software. In their blog, Michael Koploy wrote ‘Five Tips for a Successful Consignment Store‘. It is such an insightful article and I was able to pull several items from the article that can help me take my business to the next level. Aligning with a national organization like NARTS is a great way to meet other peers in the resale. industry and pick their brain on issues you are facing. Also, thinking of other similar local businesses as allys rather than competitors is key. Aligning with them and doing join events is a great way to promote the area and your collective businesses.

A great example of how a ‘competitor’ helped me out was with regards to creating a contract for consignors. When I first started consigning items, I didn’t have a contract and  took garments on good faith. This model didn’t work out well and I had issues with keeping track of the inventory and also having the consigners pick up their items in a timely fashion if they didn’t sell. After talking with a local business woman about my issues, she showed me links online of consignment agreements and I was able to use them as a template and come up with my own contract terms which I now use with every consignor that does business with the store. It’s helped out tremendously and I wouldn’t have even know that such contracts existed if I didn’t reach out to local businesses for advice.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with gaining industry knowledge from their peers? What other advice do you have for starting and/or growing your resale business?

Blue Hawaii Vintage Storefront