Greeting cards are for sale at 100,000 U.S. retail outlets.
Greeting cards can be purchased from 100,000 retail outlets in the United States alone, according to the Greeting Card Association. And one-third of the cards sold are created by freelancers. If you have skills in the creative arts and writing, as well as a desire to either freelance for the greeting card industry or to create your own independent line of cards, you may be a good candidate to start your own greeting cards business.
Instructions
Preparation
1. Research the greeting cards market. The first thing you must have in a greeting cards business is--greeting cards. You must know the market so as to both fit in and to stand apart from it. Try to discern trends by what you see in stores, and then see if you can find a niche or style of card that takes a fresh approach--that follows trends without copying them.
2. Gather the names of greeting card companies and request their submission guidelines to build a business via the freelance route. Home Biz Tools.com provides a partial list of greeting card companies. Don't be afraid of rejection. Submit samples of your ideas until you find a company that wants to buy them. Once you have that relationship you can concentrate on design and leave the business end of things to them.
3. Decide upon a name for your business if you want to operate independently of major greeting card companies. Contact your local city offices to apply for a business tax certificate (business license). Design a logo. Have business cards printed. Make a price list for your products---another advantage of knowing the market. Supply your home office with all the materials you'll need to be ready to start production.
4. Find the best markets for your greeting cards. Explore different printers and sources for materials such as paper and envelopes. Look into the possibility of hiring sales reps or distributors. Get pricing for all these so that you have things firmly in hand when the orders start to arrive.
5. Invite a friend to critique your designs before showing them to possible clients.
Show your greeting cards to friends. Ask them to critique the cards and to look for spelling errors, so you can make corrections before showing your wares to merchandisers.
Take Your Show on the Road
6. Give your business cards to likely clients. Leave cards with florists, boutiques, gift shops, bridal shops, small bookstores, art stores, catalog companies and nonprofit organizations. Make up a sample greeting card, representative of your style. Include information inside about your business and your contact information, and leave it with them.
7. Test drive your designs at a local flea market to see how they sell.
Rent a spot at a local flea market or farmer's market for a few weeks. Set out your greeting cards and see what happens. Solicit people's reactions. Try out different prices to see where the most successful price point seems to be. If you do well at these venues it will give you confidence that there is indeed a market for your work.
8. Research web hosting services that can help you set up a website with a shopping cart, a secure server, a merchant account for credit card payments and a payment gateway, to sell your cards online. Use high-quality photographs of your designs on the website.
9. Offer free e-cards on your website to attract people to the site, once there they can see your entire line of products. Offer to keep track of people's special dates and e-mail them a reminder---which is also be a reminder of your cards. Offer to promote the products of other websites on your site in return for their promotion of your designs on theirs. Offer to send a free sample card to anyone who asks so that they can get a feel for the real thing rather than just an online photo. Use social media to get the word out and drive traffic to your site.
10. Some stores may agree to try selling your greeting cards for a few months.
Take a selection of your cards to stores in which you'd like to sell them. Ask the proprietors to carry them for a few months to see how well they sell. If they do well the owner may agree to a more permanent arrangement. Always send thank you cards to everyone who accommodates you by agreeing to carry your designs.
11. Schedule time to create a steady flow of fresh new designs. Hire a sales rep when your volume of business exceeds what you can handle yourself. For a cut of the pay, a sales rep can help you expand your territory and number of clients. Pay attention to reports from your rep, as well as the numbers and types of cards being ordered. This data provides valuable insight as to what direction to take your designs and/or verses.
