A few months ago, I started sewing bucket hats out of boredom. After making a few for close friends, someone offered to buy one. Then another person, then another. Before I knew it, I was calling my friend Sophie asking her to help me start a business.
Starting Up
Starting the business was really easy. Sophie was in charge of all social media and I was in charge of making and sending the hats. At first, our only customers were family and friends. This made deadlines and finances really flexible, my orders were from people who just wanted to support me, the hats were secondary. The first thing that we did was start an Instagram page. Sophie runs that every day, she responds to requests, posts on the story and uploads pictures. Within the first week we were getting orders almost every day! The high demand wasn't a problem, being that it was summer. It wasn't until about a month in that things were too much. I was getting more requests than finishing hats and I didn't like the idea of our new customers having to wait too long. So, when people ordered Sophie and I would just say that we weren't accepting orders at the moment but we would soon. This worked out so well. I had time to finish the rest of the hats and I still got to our pending orders. Now that I'm back in school I can only sew on the weekends, luckily that hasn't been a problem at all.
By the way, the name of the shop is That Bucket Hat Girl.
Social Media (Sophie)
Being in charge of the social media entails a lot of things. I have to manage orders, edit and post pictures that Scout sends me, and I have to strategize things like how much I post. I also try to post fun things on our story as much as possible. Figuring out the timing is probably the hardest part. By this I mean how much, and at what time I think I should post (for the feed to get the most possible attention). My favorite part of it is editing the pictures and making them look really good. -Sophie
Making The Hats
I really enjoy sewing the hats, which is totally obvious but I felt it should be said. The only part I don't like, is cutting fabric; although, sometimes it can be really relaxing. My absolute favorite part is when I finish the hat, the idea that I made something wearable blows my mind. To get to that end product, I usually work for about 1-2 hours. Once I finish, I put it on, take a picture for Instagram, and then I pack it up and mail it.
Sales
For a lot of people, asking for money is the hardest part...not for me. I love asking people to pay me after they order, and I have NO idea why. The hats start at $15 but when people choose double sided hats, patches, or live out of state I charge accordingly. Another financial area is buying fabric. The fact that our hats are customizable make this so much easier. I don't have to guess what people want, they just tell me. If you're wondering how I keep track of orders, payments, etc., I have a notebook with all the info for each one.
Thank you so much for reading. If you want to check out That Bucket Hat Girl, here's a link to our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/thatbuckethatgirl_/
Have a super awesome day.
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