If you are considering starting a gift basket business as a home based business, I hope to give you direction in this article. I personally started my business from home, then operated a storefront gift basket store for 13 years, then went back to a home based business. For me, nothing can top starting work in pajamas, taking a lunch at home between errands, then taking a family break and working a few more hours at night in busy times without ever leaving the house. To me, being a homebody, having my gift basket business from home is a great match. I urge you to start a gift basket business as a home based business to save on operating costs then, if you are so inclined, progress to a storefront. There are many steps to establishing yourself as a gift basket business in your local area and/or online. The first step is to choose a business name, register it at your local economic development office and get some business cards printed. The second step in starting a gift basket business as a home based business is to plan out where in your home to put your setup. Whether you are starting out of your home in a spare bedroom or a garage, you will need to setup an area for your basket creation with extra room for holidays. An extra long table or two that you can pull out as necessary is fine. For your main setup area, you will want shelves to stack baskets, stuffing and basket accents as well as two counters or tables to work on. You will also need rolls above or under your work area to hold satin or wired ribbons, curling ribbon and a few types of cello. On your table, you will need a tool caddy with scissors, wire cutters, wire, glue gun and glue sticks and clear scotch tape as well as disinfectant spray and wipes. While I encourage you to get these basic supplies before starting up, I do not promote the senseless buying of a whole whack of products to put into your baskets before you have sales.
You will need to create yourself a portfolio so you will need to make a dozen or so mock baskets to showcase to potential customers. Keep in mind that to do this, you can reuse some of the content in one basket for another. For example, if you make a fruit basket, take a picture, then you can move the fruit to a larger basket, add gourmet items then take another picture. For the actual picture taking, make sure you setup an area with a neutral background so that your basket stands out and not the boxes of cereal at the back of your counter. If you want a complete, detailed plan to setup your home based gift basket business, the easiest way I have found to do this is to join the Basket Connectory. This Six Week program is a day-by-day plan of action to get your gift basket business up and running in six weeks.