Describe your business:
My business Rolling Rock Dolls is mostly about dolls, I sell handmade doll clothes and accessories on Ebay, Etsy and Amazon handmade. I also do a lot of reselling on Ebay. I offer doll clothes for baby dolls like Bitty baby, Baby Alive and Luvabella. Most of the clothes that I offer is for the 18 inch dolls like American Girl. It is usually busy during the holiday season but I try to market during those “slow times” to get the word out about our online shops. My husband helps me with packaging, ordering supplies, inventory management and my 9 year old daughter helps with taking pictures and sometimes packaging so I consider this a family run business. I try to provide great customer service to our buyers or potential buyers. When I list an item, I think about how the buyer will think about the product (price, picture, description etc).
What is the most important piece of your business:
I am trying to promote the traditional sense of play, most kids now are into online games but I believe in the power of a child’s imagination. When you play with your kids, you tend to know how they react on certain situations, I say you’ll learn more about your kids if you provide them your time and you play with them, plus you’ll enjoy it too! My daughter is older now and we don’t “play” a whole lot anymore but now she helps me with dressing the dolls up for photos so it can also be a learning experience and bonding time for us.
Give some recommendations to moms from your perspective:
To those parents that are starting work at home jobs, it takes time to build a business so don’t give up easily. If you are already doing a business from home, try to be organized and still have time with your family, after all you are probably doing it not just for yourself but for them as well. Just being a stay at home mom without a business can already be exhausting so there will be times that you will get stressed. You can seek engagement from your family members to help you with chores and take it easy on yourself.
What’s mindset change you had after you began your practice:
It takes a lot of patience and determination to work from home. A lot of people I meet think that I have it easy but I probably spend more time doing this business that I would have if I have an 8 hour job. It takes a lot of time, as one or few people does everything like customer service, market research, listing, ordering supplies, packaging etc.
How can people start this same journey?
If somebody is thinking of using their skills to work from home whether it is sewing or something else, I say go for it. I don’t recommend that they quit their corporate jobs but they can start on it part time and see how it goes.
Analyze your potential market and study the competition. I like sewing and selling so this business works for me really well although at first I just wanted to learn how to sew. Enjoy what you do.
Thank you Jennifer for this opportunity to share my insights about my small business. To her readers, please check out our online shops (Rolling Rock Dolls).
Links:
Etsy- https://www.etsy.com/shop/RollingRockDolls
Ebay- http://stores.ebay.com/rollingrockdolls
Amazon Handmade – https://www.amazon.com/handmade/RollingRockDolls
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/rollingrockdolls/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/RollingRockDolls/
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