Hi,

I receive our first comment!  I plan on posting my experience on how I started my own online candy wrapper business through this blog.  Please post your questions / comments here so I can post my answers and others will benefit from your posts.

Thanks for your comment and I look forward to see your posts!

Ed

First Things First

Hello Everyone,

Happy Holloween!

Many people that I speak to about my online wrapper business always ask, "How did you start and what did you do first?"  I've always respond by saying "First things First".  Before you begin purchasing equipment, insurance, deciding whether to incorporate and so on, you must understand all of the work that is ahead.  Are you willing to perform the necessary research that could take up a lot of our time.  It's easy to jump into a business head first, but once the money starts going out the window you'll come to your senses very quick.   Please, don't just jump into business without doing the proper research.    Don't forget, while the startup costs are relatively low, in comparison to other business, it's foolish to just start spending money without a business plan.  Now, a business plan does not have to be a formal document that you actually create and type.  If you have investors, this will be required before they will give you money.   I simply typed out my idea's, all of my idea's, in Word so I didn't forget anything.  This document was used as a reference to keep track of what I had done and where I was going.  It's a living document, so don't be afraid to update it as idea's come to mind.   Once all of your idea's, questions and directions are recorded start arranging what you will do first.  

As mentioned above I started by performing research.  Since I didn't know anything about the business, I did know that I wanted to get paid for my services once my site went live.  "How am I going to get paid?"  I looked at the many Merchant Services available on the Internet and through my local bank.  To accept credit cards, to ensure the transactions clear properly and the information is transmitted in a safe and secure manor, you'll need to find an affordable solution.  These Merchant services charge a setup fee, equipment fee, maintenance fee's, etc.   The initial start up fee's for a Merchant account can be very expensive.  Your business will need to have a lot of volume before this service will make business sense.   But regardless, since so much information is available on the Internet, do the research just for the education.  

In my next post we'll continue to discuss accepting payments through a Merchant Service.

Please spread the word about this Blog to any interested in starting Custom Candy Bar Wrapper business.  Much more information to come.  And remember, it's Free!

Please post your questions and comments.  It just makes it more interesting for everyone.

Thanks!   Ed

Welcome to the Custom Candy Bar Wrappers Chat

Hello Everyone,  

Well, I've been thinking about creating a blog for sometime and finally decided to take some time to create one.   Some might ask, "Why create blog?"  Blogs are often associated with celebrities, politicians or those who want to tell you about their daily lives.   Well, as you can tell from the welcome title of this blog, it is actually contains useful information.  We'll discuss the process of creating custom wrappers, questions about starting an online wrapper business, ideas and techniques of creating memorable wrappers.  I'll provide you with honest and true life information on this topic that most websites will charge you for.  There is no charge here.  While I've been in the custom wrappers business since 2000, I probably don't know EVERYTHING there is to know. But I'll be able to answer most questions or I'll at least be able to point you in the right direction.  

So you can get to know me a little better lets start with an introduction.   My name is Ed and I've been in the wrapper business since 2000.  While we started in 2000 I had been thinking about entering the business for about one year.  I finally decided to "do it" when I received a Candy Bar Birth Announcement.  While looking at the wrapper closely one thing came to my mind, "What a cheap looking wrapper this is!".  I couldn't believe someone would pay for this.  It was then I decided my wrappers designs and ideas would be a LARGE step above this sub-par product that I had received.  With little experience but a lot of motivation I began doing research from deciding on a business name, a domain name, wrapper ideas / designs and what type of corporation would I create.  I also spent a lot of time looking into PayPal to receive payments, web site design ideas, the State of New York tax site investigating what was required and benefits of creating a Tax Id Number.  From the time I decided to enter this business the first day of business it took about 3 months.   To some that might seem like a long time, but for those who know me, I don't start anything until I'm 100% confident I've investigated every angle.   Especially when providing an important service for your customers special life events.  You need to be able to perform right out of the box!  

If you've ever thought about entering this business and have a question, please feel free to post it here.  Also, post wrapper design questions or anything else that you have in mind regarding the custom wrapper business.   Please note, these are my experiences, results and opinions.  Your experiences and results will most likely differ so please don't feel I'm the end all be all of custom wrapper business information.   With that being said, I will be held harmless in the event if your results don't go according to plan.  (That was for the attorney's out there). 

Please feel free to post your questions or comments here.  I'm online every night checking email and this blog.  You're questions will be answered every night.

Within the next couple days I'll answer your questions and post more of my start-up business experiences.

Thanks for reading and visit again real soon!   Ed