Things to think about before starting a nail polish biz

I have loved every moment of this endeavor, but I can tell ya, there were things I did not think about. So if you're hoping to get on the polish-biz train, here's some things you should have figured out before you start getting serious:

Do you have enough time to take this seriously? Even if you're running it as a hobby, if you're selling to people, you need to take it seriously--that means staying stocked up, filling orders in a reasonable amount of time, going to the post office even when you don't wanna, answering emails and keeping up with problems. All of that takes more time when you're running it as a full business, as well as the time it takes to pack, to mix, to formulate new things, to handle all the website stuff, to source new supplies... It takes a while.

Can you afford to start this? It took me about 300$ to get off the ground, and now, almost two years in, I'm still not turning a profit--I'm breaking even, and that's enough for me right now, but not the goal of a business. If you're hoping to make a living off of your nail shop alone, you'll have to be much better at marketing and exposure-getting than I am, and the field is more crowded than ever!

Are you creative enough to stand out? There's so many shops out there right now, that some of them are starting to look similar in their offerings; can you create colors and combos and special effects that aren't anywhere else?

What's your purpose as a nail shop? I'm making geeky-themed colors to translate the colors I see anyway into nail polish; other people do music-themes, or scifi, or books, or places. These shops work best and are most cohesive when they're at least sort-of themed, so you can put on your cards what you do, and so people know what to expect from you.

 How often do you want to update with new colors? And how will you handle the balance between number of new colors and cost of supplies? I do it by making my orders bottle-by-bottle so that I don't have to have piles of unsold bottles around and can add colors to the shop more often, but the usual way is to mix ten or twelve bottles of one color at a time, and then sell those before starting new lines. Which will you choose?

 Are you willing to be judged? That sounds harsh, but it's basically what it comes down to--people will be looking at your stuff and deciding whether they'll buy it; when they buy it, they'll be deciding how good it is, and at least half will mention online whether they like it or not. Generally nail bloggers are very nice, but sometimes everyday people can get weird, and then there's also the Likes and Follows and so on. How tied up in all that is your self-worth, and is it draining or motivating for you?

 How good are you with money? It gets pricey when you're out of base and bottles and shipping envelopes AND printer ink all at the same time. You've got to plan ahead and order when you can so you don't run out, and make sure you have enough to pay your Etsy (or other retailer) bill and mail people's stuff.

So yeah, that's the stuff I had to learn along the way. Maybe you guys, if you're starting a shop, can go in with more info than I did!