How to Start a Gift Business from Home

I was lucky to have the opportunity to interview Akansha Sahgal a vivacious young lady who has a handmade customised gifts business.

How to Start a Gift Business from Home? In this interview you get to understand how this young lady customizes gifts for clients as well as promotes products which have been designed by them. We learn what costs are involved, how to set up such a business and most importantly what skills are required.

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Tell us about yourself and what you do?

I am Akansha Sahgal. I run a page called “Fashion ‘n’ Fiesta” on Instagram and Facebook. I am born and brought up in Delhi and belong to business family. I have completed my undergraduation recently and currently I am pursuing Spanish language.

What made you start the Gifting Business ?

There were two main reasons to start with this business. First, I really love crafting and curating new things and many people (including complete strangers sometimes) suggested to take it at a professional level, so I thought to go ahead with it.

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Also, I wanted to take our family business of eyewear to an online platform to extend our business.

Second reason was to provide people with good quality products at reasonable prices as I saw many people around me complaining about not getting good quality at reasonable prices.

I started this on 3rd February, 2018, so presently it’s almost 1 year now.

When do you get time to make the Gifts?

This is something I loved to do from very beginning so I don’t need to specially take time out for something I love to do.

She answers in one line but just understand … really understand what she is saying.

If you are really passionate about something you will make it work no matter what. If you keep working at anything, Universe or God will just open up new ways to help you.

If you are passionate give yourself a few years ( yes years not months).

Latha

Is there a schedule you follow?

I do not follow a schedule as such but usually, I work on the products in the evening or late at night since I have to manage my studies along with it as well.

My mother helps by giving advice on new ideas, working on that idea and also helps me in buying of raw materials. Also, my father helps me in looking after the financial aspects of the business.

Apart from this my whole family supports me a lot in my initiative.

How many hours per day do you spend on your business?

Usually, I spend maximum 4-5 hours a day but during busy weeks/months like around festivals etc the time can go up to 7-8 hours. But being on an online platform it requires 24*7 presence to attend the customers, do research and make plans accordingly.

It is not all play when you are in business. There is this misconception that if someone has a business they are rolling in money and they have all the time in the world.

I just wanted my readers to understand that she is always watching out for feedback from customers, new orders.

If you are not ready for such intense commitment, rethink what you want to do in life.

indianmomvlogs Latha

What motivates you to keep working on it?

The happy customers that we have served and the lovely family that we have made till now keeps us motivated to keep working.

How do you balance Life and Business?

I do not overload myself with orders at any point of time so that I can give time to family, friends and studies as well.

Also whenever I have a lot of personal commitments I inform everyone and take an off accordingly.

On an average what is the investment required for a gifting business?

By how many months can we see profits?

To start a business in handmade gifts field you can start with an investment as low as Rs 100 but for other stuff you need some decent investment if you want to maintain a good inventory.

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If you plan, target and market properly you can see profits within 2-3 months. But sometimes this time can be longer, so don’t be disheartened but rather keep on adopting better methods to market your products.

How much do you spend on your business? “Presently we spend “10000-15000 per month“.

Is it easy to get raw materials?

How much would these cost?

Initially it can be a little difficult to get good raw materials at affordable prices but once you get accustomed to markets and suppliers it becomes a little easy. They can cost as less as they can be and can go as high as possible.

Do you earn from your business?

Does it cover your expenses?

Yes, I earn from my business. It does cover my petty expenses presently, but for bigger expenses I go to my parents.

How do you price your products?

We try to keep the prices as affordable as they can be. We add very minimal margin and some amount equivalent to the time and efforts devoted on a product on the cost involved.

Any tips for people getting started with an Instagram business?

• First be sure enough in what products you want to deal in, understand what the customers of that product demand.
• Then make a plan and a budget and follow that only at every step. Also list your objectives very carefully and keep them realistic.
• Evaluate your working by comparing your desired goals and achieved goals, and in case of any discrepancy see where you went wrong and then draft a new plan, budget and objectives by incorporating the changes required.
• But the most important thing is to always be positive and confident (not over confident) about your products.

Can you tell us about your products?

We deal in all kinds of handmade and customised gifts, eyewear like sunglasses, spectacles and contact lenses, accessories like earrings, necklace etc. Recently we have started dealing in clothing and home goods as well.

Akansha Sahgal runs her shop from https://www.instagram.com/fashion_n_fiesta_/

If you were to start again what would you do differently?I have made a big family of happy customers and followers and that is because they liked our page from beginning, so there is not much to change. But one thing that I could’ve done better was to maintain a theme from the beginning as that makes the profile look much more attractive.

Any other thoughts?

I would like to say that do that thing only about which you are compassionate enough. Don’t do something about which you are not passionate only because someone else is doing it and earning from it.