Shaking up your work life
Recent entrepreneurs offer tips on starting your own business
A thousand dollars, a dollop of passion and 60-hour weeks: Iksheeta Shah mixed those ingredients to whip up a home-based cocktail kit company that generated $100,000 in sales in the first seven months.
Launched in October 2020, Shaken & Stirred filled both a void in the market and Shah’s life after the pandemic claimed the Toronto management consultant’s job a year ago.
“It was fun, I’m not going to lie,” she says of testing recipes and assembling hard-to-find ingredients for customers to make fancy drinks at home.
Shah’s investment of $1,000 covered business registration, ingredients for testing and initial inventory, packaging and recipe cards. The solo operator is part of an army of entrepreneurs finding other ways to bring home the bacon after losing a job, finding themselves stretched thin financially or just looking for greener pastures.
Starting a home-based business on a shoestring calls for extra gumption, but it can be done, according to Alex Tucker, who wrote the blog on it, if not the book. Tucker, a writer and digital marketer in Belleville, Ont., crafted an advice-packed, step-by-step tutorial called “How to start a business in Ontario with little to no money” after doing it himself two years ago.
Tucker urges self-starters to pick something they enjoy: “That’s a key thing — enjoy what you do and have a reason for doing it.”
That’s how Shah’s brainchild was born. After COVID restrictions curbed their weekend outings, she and her partner started making gourmet meals at home, “but when it came to cocktails, it was really a challenge.” They couldn’t find the special bitters, syrups and dehydrated garnishes they wanted or in suitably small amounts, she recalls.
So Shah, who lost her job in May 2020, “built up the courage” to start her premium cocktail company despite a lack
of know-how in bartending or mixology. After online research, picking bartenders’ brains and designing a website with Shopify, she began selling and shipping kits for $35 to $45 each.
The now-certified mixologist advises other product-oriented startups to focus on quality, packaging and presentation. And shop around on Kijiji, Etsy or social media for “smaller players” who charge less for professional services such as printing or photography, Shah suggests.
For those who’d rather test the water before diving in, starting on a part-time basis or as a side hustle is an option, says Tucker, adding there’s some risk-taking involved because you’ll be investing
time and energy, if not money.
The list of home-based possibilities is almost endless but they include artisan crafts, cooking and catering, financial services, internet and digital services, sales and marketing, visual arts and graphic design, tutoring, consultancy, and computer and web training.
And, similar to Shah’s cocktail kits, there’s the “box-it” concept of selling packages of specialty items that can be delivered in a box.
Other ideas are up for grabs on Canada Startups’ website, Canadastartups.org, along with advice, tools, tips and resources.
But entrepreneurial wannabes need to do their homework before honing in on a specific business activity. A postmortem study by CB Insights, a technology platform and network, found that 42 per cent of startups fail because there’s no market need for their services or products.
Tucker saw “an endless supply of opportunity” among local and online businesses when he first thought about providing writing and marketing services.
During his first year of operation, he got a lot of help from his local small business centre, a free resource he recommends to other entrepreneurs.
He also advocates a good business strategy, with financial goals and objectives for what you expect to accomplish. A business plan with a clear breakdown of finances and other items is key for any venture, he says.
“That’s a key thing — enjoy what you do and have a reason for doing it.”
ALEX TUCKER SELF-EMPLOYED WRITER AND DIGITAL MARKETER
Even a dog walker, for example, needs to figure out numbers of dogs and hours as well as fees and costs such as treats and poop bags.
It’s worth spending $60 or $80 to register a business name with the province, according to Tucker. But if your plan is to sell stuff on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji, you only need an email address and social media accounts.
Virtual startup founders will find encouraging news in Best Accounting Software’s recent research showing that Canada is among the top 10 countries to launch an online business.
The financial software reviewer ranked countries in 20 categories, including internet coverage and penetration, social media users, e-commerce volume and startup procedures.
Among Canada’s highlights are the ease and low cost of setting up a business, the high number of internet users (93 per cent of the population) and high number of people who pay bills and make purchases online (90 per cent of the population).
Tucker cautions newbies not to undervalue what they do by charging too little for their services. He also warns against falling victim to “shiny object syndrome” in which you waste time chasing online ads for new training, tools or ideas to improve your business.
Finally, don’t fall down on the job of looking after yourself, he advises, noting it’s easy to spend all day working inside and not eating properly.
“You need to stay on top of your health as much as your business.”
For Iksheeta Shah, 12-hour days “don’t feel like work.” With the early success of Shaken & Stirred, she’s in business for the long haul.
“It’s energizing!” the cocktail connoisseur effervesces.