May 7, 2010
Stickers of the Month Club
Stickers of the Month Club By Diane Rosenberg www.creativemailings.net Listening to Dr. Laura gave me the strength to quit my job and open my own business. I started listening to Dr. Laura about 8 years ago when my husband walked out on me and our sons who were 1 and 2 at the time. He left us with nothing. I was in an expensive house with a new car and two babies to feed. My dream was to be a stay-at-home mom so I could raise my children, but to my dismay my dream was suddenly shattered. In search of a job I found a sales position selling advertising. Working in sales provided me with flexible hours so I could take time off to be with my kids for all of their activities. I tried to run my life as if I was a stay at home mom. Things were pretty good, I made good money and the kids were growing up to be wellbehaved happy children until about two years ago when my company was bought out.Unfortunately, the new company had no tolerance for families. I tried to side step them for a while but eventually I had to decide what I wanted to do with my life and how I would support myself and the kids. I could have looked for another position in another company but the nausea I felt every time I considered it made me realized that that wasn#146;t the right thing to do either. So I started my own home business. It#146;s a sticker of the month club for children 3 to 6 years of age. It is similar to a magazine subscription but instead of getting magazines the children receive stickers each month. Both kids and parents love it and it provides hours of entertainment. I love it because I can finally live my dream and my kids love having me home. Plus, they tell me that I#146;m calmer now that I#146;m not working outside of the home. Proof that when you enjoy your work and you#146;re home raising your children the entire family benefits. I came up with the idea when my oldest son turned 3 years old. A friend gave my son stickers as a birthday gift and said that he would be receiving them each month. This was what inspired me to eventually start my own Sticker of the Month Club. One of the first things I observed when my son received his stickers was that he didn#146;t get very many each month and several of them were duplicates from previous months. I knew I could do a better job and I thought it would be fun. I kept everything that this company sent me and put it away in my cabinet. From time to time I would mention the idea to friends and family and everyone shrugged at the idea and said it wouldn#146;t make any money. But, when my employer changed for the worse the stickers of the month idea just started sounding better and better. It took seven years for me to gain the strength to say #147;I can do this and it#146;s a good idea and it will work!#148; As soon as I made up my mind and decided that starting the stickers of the month club was my goal I had to figure out what to do first. I knew I needed to come up with a name for my company that was catchy and would let people know what I was selling. The name I decided on was Creative Mailings. Once you choose a name, you need to find out if the area you reside in needs youto have a business license and if you need to register your company name. Whenyou do this you also need to publish a fictitious name in a local paper. Make sure you check the cost for several different newspapers because some of the local papers are very pricey. The next thing that you might want to do is get a business phone line. I have a localand an 800 number. When you do this you should really sit down and plan out how andwhere in your home you will operate your business it is best to set a separate corner orroom aside just for your business. You will also need to get a sellers permit and a business bank account. I think it#146;simportant to keep your business expenses separate from your personal spending. The toughest challenge for me was getting money to finance my business venture. I looked into all sorts of loans and decided to take out an equity line of credit. That worked best for me because I wasn#146;t sure exactly how much money I would need. This allowed me to take a little out at a time and only pay for the amount that I borrowed. My monthly payment was much smaller than if I had taken a loan for a large amount. A few other things I had to find were vendors for merchandise, a good graphic artist to design a flyer or a brochure, a website and ways to advertise and promote my business. After you get your feet wet you will start revamping your ideas because you will findthat things that sounded so great in your head when you were getting started sometimes are not that great in reality. You may want to find a person who has a business to be your mentor or the Small Business Association has information to help you get started so you can develop a thriving business. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com

Posted by Staff at 1:44 AM