The £200 - £1000 business challenge
I did warn you on Instagram... I may have lost the plot! But I am on a mission to show you all just how easy it can be to start a new side hustle or business. I started my business in early 2023, and it was the best thing I ever did. But I work with fellow mums daily on starting their own businesses, so I wanted to give a product based business a try so I can experience their struggles myself. We also wanted to earn some extra pennies for our house saving pot and our car has just been scrapped so the more emergency funds the better!
/*! elementor - v3.14.0 - 14-06-2023 */
.elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px}
I started the business challenge with £200...
I set myself a budget of £200. Mainly because I wanted it to be realistic for mums and also because if it failed I hadn't lots 100's and 1000's! So I went online and found a load of reduced stock. I also found some extra vouchers, so I got some extra stock for free. These are accessible to anyone!
When selecting the stock, I knew my ideal client was 'children between 6-10 who's parents have given them £10 to go and spend'. So I filled my basket with keyrings, fidget toys, scrunchies and all sorts of cute things! I spent about £170 on stock. Then an additional £25 on the pitch fee. If you are trading at summer fayres you will also need public liability insurance, I already have this as part of Oh My Socials, but you can get this for about £4 a month.
How did it go?
So we set off at around 10:30 am and the heavens decided to open.. luckily, it was just a passing shower so by time we got the fayre it had cleared... I was worried though! I was even more panicked when we didn't make a sale straight away... I don't know what I was expecting, maybe something like a scene from Black Friday in America... just hundreds of people rushing to get dino keyrings. But people trickled in and our first sale was two dinosaur keyrings for £8. Things picked up from there and we found ourselves rushed off our feet at times. As expected, most of our customers were 8-12 year old girls. The most popular item was the dinosaur plush keyrings, closely followed by the infinity fidget cubes and toilet fidgets!
We borrowed the table from our local football club (my dad is the chairman), the chairs were from our garden and the signs were made by me.. nothing fancy!
I can't work out how much profit we have made yet, as we didn't take all of the stock. We have a few more summer fayres booked in so by the end I will be able to tell you if I have reacher my £1000 goal.
/*! elementor - v3.14.0 - 14-06-2023 */
.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-item{display:inline-block;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:100%;max-width:100%;margin:0 auto}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-item img{margin:0 auto}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-item .gallery-caption{margin:0}.elementor-image-gallery figure img{display:block}.elementor-image-gallery figure figcaption{width:100%}.gallery-spacing-custom .elementor-image-gallery .gallery-icon{padding:0}@media (min-width:768px){.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-2 .gallery-item{max-width:50%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-3 .gallery-item{max-width:33.33%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-4 .gallery-item{max-width:25%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-5 .gallery-item{max-width:20%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-6 .gallery-item{max-width:16.666%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-7 .gallery-item{max-width:14.28%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-8 .gallery-item{max-width:12.5%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-9 .gallery-item{max-width:11.11%}.elementor-image-gallery .gallery-columns-10 .gallery-item{max-width:10%}}@media (min-width:480px) and (max-width:767px){.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-2 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-3 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-4 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-5 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-6 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-7 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-8 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-9 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-10 .gallery-item{max-width:50%}}@media (max-width:479px){.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-2 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-3 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-4 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-5 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-6 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-7 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-8 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-9 .gallery-item,.elementor-image-gallery .gallery.gallery-columns-10 .gallery-item{max-width:100%}}
How much did you make?
We made £285! I was buzzing with that. The summer fayre was in a small town with limited parking, so in hindsight it probably wasn't the best venue. It was only a tiny summer fayre too with a handful of stalls, so I am expecting to make much more this weekend. But I broke the finances down roughly to show you your potential earnings in one month:
Say you make £2300 in total
£700 of that goes on stock and pitch fees
Thats £1600 profit
You have done 8 summer fayres (Saturday and Sunday) which are four hours each.
That month you have earned a total of £1600 for 24 hours work.
That is £70 an hour.
So the point of this challenge is to show you just how easy making money can be. I started with £200 and I am planning to make £1000 from just a handful of fayres. I have got an exciting extra to add to our stall this week too... so I am excited to show you all!
How can I join the challenge?
You can join the challenge! I will continue to post weekly updates on my Instagram, TikTok and here!
You can also join our FREE community Facebook group here:
Or to start your own business you can join my 'The Stay-at-Home to Self-Employed Mum Club' course. next cohort starts on the 10th of July, and you are guaranteed to have your own business ready to launch after 6 weeks.
