Starting a Store Part I
In addition to working as a content writer for Art of Where, I am a full time nursing student (upgrading from LPN to RN), and I also work occasionally in a research institute as a lab aid. The program I am in has me in school basically Monday through Friday, similar to a full time job and there is studying on top of that. All in all, I am probably in school, studying and working my jobs for a combined time of 70-80 hours a week. Working in a place like Art of Where has made me think of what kind of side hustle I could build for myself that would be relatively hands off once set up so that my semester goes by with a bit more income, therefore slightly less stress. The dream!!!
What I've decided to do is start my own store, using what I know (nursing) and documenting the process for the AOW blog. Through out my 3 years at AOW I have spoken to many customers who are running successful businesses. Some are selling prints of their paintings or photographs, some are creating custom clothing with a logo. There are so many ways to use our services and I thought, why not give it a try myself?
I decided on creating a store that was related to my area of study, nursing, because I can imagine what I would want as a gift, or to have at school or work as a nurse. Of course, after decided my theme, I immediately went online to check out what is already available. I Googled nurse gifts, searched on Etsy, on Amazon and other online market places to see what kinds of things people were offering.
There were a few things that I looked at that I thought "hmm, that's cute, I would want it" but after looking at stores for a couple of hours, I got the impression that I could still add something to the market. As a nursing student, I carry around A LOT of stuff. When we go to our clinical placements we have to bring our scrubs and shoes to change at the hospital, so that means we have a bag of clothes, paperwork, stethoscope, pen light, scissors, pens, ID, reference books, snacks, lunch, water bottle, and anything else we were told to bring. And the coffee! I cannot forget my travel mug! It's a lot to carry around.
For the past 3 semesters I have been using a 16" zipper carry-all as my clinical placement bag, stashing my stethoscope, pens, scissors, pen light and ID in it. It's so much easier than digging around in different pockets in my bag, and with everything in one place I won't forget anything at home. The carry-all goes in to my backpack or tote bag to go to clinical or school, and when I don't need the items I keep in it, I just put the bag on a shelf at home where it stays until I need it again! The zipper-carry alls are such a versatile item, it's a no-brainer that I should be offering it to nurses and nursing students. I also looked at t-shirts, notebooks and prints geared towards nurses and came up with a few ideas to test out.
The next step was to find someone to help me out with the art, because the only thing I can draw is blood.
What did you do when you were working on your business plan? Any tips or tricks or amazing resources? Let us know in the comments below!
Stay tuned for Part II!
