Some years ago, my sister and I attempted to start a business,
selling tea and coffee gift baskets online through Amazon. We barely
broke even at this venture. But looking back at
the project notes, product photos, and web pages, I feel something
suspiciously like pride.
Originally our motivation had been to provide the highest quality tea, coffee, and treats at a reasonable price, beautifully packaged and promptly delivered, that would be a joy to open and taste. This would be a concrete example of "providing a service," since the sender's love would be communicated through our products. In addition, it would give my sister and I a chance to work together.
We carefully chose the ideal tea and coffee (Taylors of Harrogate), chocolate (Chocolove), and cookies (Walkers Shortbread), selected quality packaging materials, located distributors, purchased insurance, and created our account to sell our products on Amazon. We soon realized, however, that small-time business people such as ourselves would always be undercut by large companies selling lower quality products.
Although our sales were steadily increasing, the percentage due to Amazon was just too high! That, in addition to insurance costs, drove the decision to shut the business down. But when I look at the photos we took of our gifts, it all comes back to me and I'm glad we made the attempt. I learned a lot about purchasing goods and working with distributors, about maintaining a business web site, and about customer relations. And we got to finish all of the leftover tea, cookies, and chocolate!