less than 1.5%. Note this can also take 3 months to set up, not sure why, so kick the process off well before your website is nearing completion. Obviously Paypal charges 3% plus, which is not a sensible alternative if you have high volume and relatively low value transactions. Stand design and images –
attend a few events yourself and see how small some company’s stalls are and they are probably doing as well as if they spent £’000s on a full-blown stand. Start small but do get a few good colourful graphics and strong lighting, this is where the investment should be.
Part-time staff to assist in
production and support at events – friends, students – once you find one they all seem to be linked and you can call on many more.
48 This Girl Means Business
Social media set up –
Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest to start. Here I needed help to set it up and post things to start the ball rolling. I have a strong view that for us social media is essential for keeping us fresh and maintaining the story, but I am yet to be convinced that it is driving many sales to our site. It could be construed as necessary froth, but not to have it is like having a shop with no windows. Having said that, froth or no froth, PR is essential to get your brand out there.
how did you finance it?
It took £50,000 to get started. We financed this out of our own personal funds and sacrificed various luxuries, so we didn’t have to go to the banks. Obviously this isn’t an option for many people so we feel really lucky that we could do this.