Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi guys,

First post in the forum and my name is Ben. I live in the great state of North Carolina. I am in high school and currently is a rising senior and 16...

I ran a small scale silk screen business. I do quite bit of custom orders and whatnot. I have been trying to get a website started for sometime now and I have contracted about 16 designers and I got several dozens of pretty good t-shirt designs. I started back in March it took me 3 month to raise all the money that I needed for my business, it was about $7,500. I personally never imagined a good t-shirt press +supplies can cost so much.

I would say the business is doing okay. I got a lot of willing friends who help out once in a while but they are all my age, so not exactly loaded with cash. I have a few long term contracts working though and I hope to do better in the future.

Now I want to go further. I am making money but not at a rate that I am happy with. I want to have an actual storefront and an e-commerce site. I been developing a different concept of selling shirts. I been doing a lot thinking and reading lately and I realizd there are a horde of different t-shirt websites out and to survive, you need to be unique. I met with a few local investors over the past few weeks but their responses are lukewarm. I been carefully researching and fine-tuning my business plan for the last few weeks and I personally think that it will be successful. But then again, I am always optimistic.

I would like to have about $20,000 and I got about $2,500 so far from an investor. I think I can really make something happen here. Now my question is where, where do I find the rest of the money? I cannt really do banks since I am under 18 and only had my checking account for a few months.I already got some money from my parents for my original investment and my family isn`t exactly the pinncale of wealth. SBA is a no-no, I called my local SBA-sponsored bank and the lady thought I was playing a bad prank. I do summer jobs in a futile effort to get that amount but the money I am making right now is nowhere near the capital I need. I also tried sites like prosper.com and the first thing it asks is my monthly income and credit rating...

So yeah any suggestions would be awesome.

Thanks

Ben. 

Ben,

First of all hats to you for hustling to get your business off the ground. 

I am no expert in the area but would be more than happy to share any advice and experience that i have gained over the years. I am also a young entreprenuer would be happy to help you out.

Send me an email or drop me a call.

Aaron

aaron@letutor.com
#- 480 - 626 -  5180

Ben--
Welcome to the StartUp Nation. It`s nice to see a young entrepreneur.
Unfortunately, finance isn`t really my bag, but, I do have a couple suggestions are: talk to friends and family. That might be a start.
Try bootstrapping. Is the 20 grand absolutely necessary. Can you start with that $2,500 and begin on a limited budget.
Check out this link: http://www.startupnation.com/pages/start/10Steps.asp and work the system.
The section on funding may be particularly helpful.
Hope this helps.

The Swaynester

Ben,

First, Welcome to SuN. I wish I had resources like this when I was your age. Second, congratulations on being a very young entreprenuer. One can feel your excitement in your post. Third, have you read over all the material here on the SuN website offered by the Sloan brothers and their partners?

If not, I second the above recommendation that you start by reading their 10 Step Plan:

http://www.startupnation.com/pages/start/10Steps.asp

Putting all of your ideas on paper will make them clearer.

Keep posting and communicating with the forum. We are here to help.

R@

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Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

Hey Ben~

Welcome to SUN.  You`re on a very good path recognizing that innovative selling techniques work well.  So do innovative marketing techniques.  One example of an innovative marketing technique might be to gift some of your best designs to a few young up and coming celebrities.  Caught on camera, what they`re wearing becomes a hot item.

As far as raising the bucks....here`s something to consider:  In addition to those long term contracts, hook up with a few companies willing to place orders in advance, securing the deal with a deposits or full payment if you`re lucky.  This may help get some of the upfront $$ you need to grow.

Ben, I recommend you start with the eCommerce site. It will cost less and will not limit you geographically like a physical location would. You can easily do it with the cash you have raised. Having done that you may decide that you can make more money online and not have the hassle of leasing and staffing a store.

Good luck


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I second that vote.  At least in the beginning.  Unless,  there is a significant lack of originality and access to cool clothes in your area focusing your efforts on a local market could be very lucrative.  Lots of brands started local.  Think about cool skateboard brands, those are the ulitmate garage t-shirt company.

*excluding the obvious corporate skate clothing co`s

Hi, Ben,

I would like to say that I feel jealous of your being able to start a business while you are very young. I did not have that chance and was not able to do my own business when I was of your age.

So, congratulations!

Like you, I tried many times and many investors. And eventually end up with nothing because I have not had enough income yet to attract the investors. So, I decided to use my own fund to start small business first. Capitalism is always looking for already-profitable opportunites. That`s the nature.

As Steve said, start from eCommerce first because it is pretty cheap to set up a website or to sell stuffs in eBay.

Another work around could be the B2B. For example, you try to use the limitted fund to make some samples and build a website to introduce your products. Then go to a B2B site to post your trade lead. If you are lucky enough to have an order from a client, then you can use that contract to secure the needed fund.

But you should be ready for the long lead time and to invest a lot of efforts to find clients. It`s really time and effort consuming. But it is worth trying.

Another thing is that you may need to negotiate with your manufacturer to make sure they can produce the products once you have an order instead of waiting for the money. This is important to satisfy your clients with on time delivery.

Hope this help a little bit. Good luck.


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YANG

Starting a new business...

Ben,

Another Idea:

The creators of the street brand FuBu started selling their shirts and hats on the streets out of a backpack for $5 to $10. 

I think this could be a great way for you to build a reputation, following, start up money$$$, and drive traffic to a website once you get it started.

If you can make a catchy pop culture t-shirt you can make 100 and go to the nearest university campus plaza where everyone hangs out and start selling them out of your backpack.  If you price them right $5 - $10 they will go like hot cakes.

* I do not endorse the following but it works and I`ve seen it first hand from some friends.

College students have a certain appreciation for t-shirts that are offensive or that are extremely pop culture.  Example:  "I`m Rick James" listen to hip hop music and take the hook from it and put it on a t-shirt, watch reality tv and put it on a t-shirt like what jessica simpson said, anything that is popular in the moment or offensive, crude, or otherwise will do really well on a college campus and can be converted into quick cash.

again if you want some more ideas shoot me an email and I would be happy to help you out.

Hi Ben! I agree with Steve about getting an inexpensive ecommerce site going. You might try www.zencart.com . I have heard good things about them. I know someone who custom designs templates for Zen Cart too if you are interested.

Also, if you can`t afford all of your equipment right now, maybe you can do some things on www.cafepress.com .

I think it`s so great that you are doing this at such a young age. Please stick around and keep us posted!