How did (or didn't) you scale?

[Former_Member]

I was just chatting with a wonderful seller who is having trouble keeping up with demand. She's had to stop taking wholesale orders because she can't even keep up with the sales of her direct-to-consumer sales.

Meanwhile, I read Supayana's post about her struggles and how she dealt with similar issues:
https://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2013/how-to-take-first-steps-toward-hiring-employees

I know no one seller's story of scaling their business is the same. But do you have any tips to share? Any lessons learned? How did you manage your growth in a way that prevented you from crashing and burning?

[SolProano]

Hi Vanessa,

This is a great question. I've hired friend's (from jewelry school) for help for very specific tasks and situations (assembling pieces for a Fab sale, and shipping for when I went on vacation last time), but I'm not sure how would it work as a permanent thing.

One thing I learned right away is that you have to be very specific with what you want and not assume the other person knows how you want things to be done - of course for certain things you should hear their input, they're not machines! I'd depend on the task, right?

Now, I would love to get some help with social media and PR but I don't really know where/how to find it, either paid or unpaid. So, any tips would be very appreciated.

[CopperLeafStudios]

I would love to hear more on this topic. This is something I am dealing with right now. I do a lot of larger commission work in addition to small online sales, and it can be tricky to juggle because they work in different ways. So far I have managed by using the larger pieces as a buffer, and I only take on as much small work as I can fit in. Most of my large pieces don't have hard deadlines so there is some flexibility built in.

My big issue is that I occasionally get large-scale commissions from businesses that want the work completed in a very short timeframe. At some point I will just have to have to hire someone. I'd like to have a something in place ahead of time so I can realistically spec out the projects. One issue is that my current studio isn't set up to accommodate an assistant -- I currently have workstations, and you can really only fit one person per station. It works great for just me, because I move from one station to another quickly and can access several tools at one time. But it isn't that great for teaching or overseeing someone else.

I hope to break ground on a new facility next spring, so I'm trying to factor a lot of these things in. My goal is to be able to work on three huge pieces simultaneously, with three large worktables, plus a lot of smaller spaces for small pieces. It will make it easier to balance several larger, long term projects with say wholesale orders where I just need a lot of "short term" space to work and store things as they get finished.

[Former_Member]

For me, I realized I needed to make designs that I had the ability to manufacture over and over again with ease. I found that clients would ask for designs that I had originally made for smaller quantity production, and when I tried to produce them in a large scale way, it was a challenge.This effected the materials used and the techniques that I would implement to make my work. Even something small like adding a dangle to a bead could add hours more time in production, so I've had to be choosy with what I make without sacrificing my aesthetic.

Another important thing I've had to realize was when was the right time to get help. With larger orders (like Fab.com, who I worked with earlier this year) I would just hire my friends to do the simple stuff while I would create the rest. At this point in time, I've begun the search for a production intern and am going through the motions to facilitate that. Being a Brooklyn/NYC based designer has allowed me to be picky with who I bring on, but It's exciting that my business has gotten to the point where I need to do this. I only hope to continue to grow!

[Former_Member]

Really great question. My husband now works with me, which is huge as he handles a lot of the more grinding tasks like dealing with vendors and listing management, and we also have an employee to help with some production tasks, but I feel that next year we will really be growing and I am going to have to parcel out more tasks, social media will probably be something I need to hand off, but I like doing it myself because I feel it's my authentic voice that way. Has anyone used a service for social media?

[ellainaboutique]

I've struggled with this over the years also. Back in 2009/2010 I was supplying 29 wholesale accounts on a regular basis and I had a baby underfoot, so I had to hire some help!

I tried many different avenues, paid interns, friends, a private contractor in another state, and two low minimum smaller scale factories. I had issues with all of them... My biggest issue was letting go of complete control and not being completely satisfied with other peoples sewing skills ~ after all it's my name on these garments!

If you can find a production facility that will take smaller minimums (like 100 or under) it can be a lifesaver for simple items or basic shells. For instance I had a shirt design that I was embellishing, so I bought all the fabric, made the patterns (they will require you make the flat patterns so they can cut them with the fabric saw) and they produced the basic shirt. I then did all the embellishing at home and shipped them out. Same with skirts, they made the basic skirt, then I added the embellished pockets, trims etc. Expect that the factory work will take a long time to get done, probably 3-4 times longer than it takes you, and you can expect about 15-20% to be sewn completely wrong! At least that was my experience with both companies I used.

I had many part time employees that came to my house and worked beside me on simple tasks (my control issues again). Most of them were either friends or friends of friends. They were helpful and if you can squeeze them into your current workspace it's great. Plus they can likely work weird hours ~ a couple hours here and there. I let a few of them bring their kids over and it was like work/daycare :) My issues with my lovely in-home friend employees was, nonstop chitchatting (mostly me!), them showing up late constantly, and having to spend a lot of time teaching, but maybe that was just my group of friends, haha!

I'm currently just working by myself, but I'm only regularly supplying 2 wholesale accounts and I'm keeping up okay, despite having another baby underfoot :) I think if I get to the point where I need to hire again I will look for one or more experienced seamstresses that would work on a contract basis from their own homes/studios. Preferably in the same town, so that communication is easier.

I'm interested to hear what everyone else's experiences have been also.

[SHERIBERYL]

I decided that for wholesale I was going to focus on designs that I could easily reproduce in small quantities, high quality like my cast items. I have some pieces that can take a week or more like my cut out cuff but keep those more in my retail shop. I have worked with and tested several quality small 1-2 person shops that can help me produce small quantities if the need arose. So I am set on the production side, currently I do it my self. Right now I have a few wholesale accounts and several consignment stores that I regularly service which keeps me busy. I haven't really been tested, so I guess " I am ready for my close up"

[OrlyZeelon]

I am familiar with all the illnesses described in Sue's post about in-home employees.

I had many employees out of home, in Israel, and I had a person responsible to disperse the work among my employees, she was responsible for 2nd stage quality control and packing as well-this is a MUST.

So, before anything you need one good loyal employee [this is a major factor] – once you find this one, they are never to be let go. NEVER. When you close the light on your business [hopefully not], he/she should be the one hearing the “please turn off the light”-I cannot be clearer about it. This is the most important decision you will take about employment.

You need to be able not to go to work and still have everything functioning.
This person is your right/left hand and they need to know everything which concerns production-that is like a VP production. When selecting your number 2, you have to see how they handle everything without you. If they are too dependent they are not the right person, they have to be strong enough to sustain the everyday hassle of managing other people.

He/She should be well taken care of in terms of wages. This one employee has to be cherished by you so never pick one that you do not personally appreciate and like - I have had bad experience a good experience and the difference is overwhelming.

In terms of work I was the engineer of the process and she handled the operation. I also had a warehouse manager to help me-this was my other right hand person. I built product trees controlling the price of the items, and measuring the efficiency of the employees, I built the production line and of course handled all ERP issues from scratch. I barely had time to design.

The other employees are not your friends and should never be your friends, even if you are friendly. They are coming to you for work, not play. They should be treated with honesty ALWAYS, wages on time everything on time. Believe me you will be paid back and will be appreciated and you will just profit from being so. You should take care of their health and of a proper working environment.

My conclusion is that you should grow shoulder to shoulder with the business, and you MUST rely on people otherwise the business cannot grow.

The question is always why large businesses fall – this is because if you do not “grow” great products, your efficiency can be amazing but people will not buy your products.
So first comes the concept, then product and only then comes the operation surrounding it. So if you are a designer you must make time to design.
YOU are the most important part of your business.

[ideachic]

We created Idea Chic to scale. For 10 years Julie operated (still does) a custom wedding invitation and related business that is bound by her time. The retail model of Idea Chic was a better fit to allow more support and broader resources and utilizing all of our combined skills - my background is in recruiting and marketing. We learned that the assembly for Idea Chic was easier and we could hire part time help at a cost effective and fair rate to get more produced and ready to ship. We also found a local fulfillment company in case we get in a bind. Our goal is keep everything in-house but having a full-scale fulfillment company in Denver that we have found to be reliable and available puts us at ease that we can produce and package any size order that comes our way. I don't know if we will use them or not because we have not had trouble bringing in part time support when needed but this relationship has allowed us to grow our marketing plan and because of EW fast track our wholesale business plan.

My tips are to understand early on in your growth plan where you want to take your business and what you stand for. As any small business grows beyond one there has to be an understanding of your brand standards and promises with a solid communication and recruiting strategy that attracts the right people. The first hires represent your brand and become your culture so these decisions can't be taken lightly.

[ideachic]

There are so many thing that have to go well, I want to add a few more items that have proven beneficial to us and stop there ;)

Know your numbers. Accounting for every penny that used to seem irrelevant proves significant for maintaining margins. Shipping materials, taxes to volume discount pricing for materials are all important numbers.

Have great suppliers. My comments above also work because our materials are easy to buy and all of our suppliers ship in under two days from the US, they are predictable and have great customer service, on the phone, when we need them to work with us on rush orders. These things are huge.